<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The National Industrial Transportation League is asking the federal government to find out how China’s recently implemented value-added tax on freight transportation relates to international cargo movements.</div>

The National Industrial Transportation League is asking the federal government to find out how China’s recently implemented value-added tax on freight transportation relates to international cargo movements.

<div>The National Industrial Transportation League is asking the federal government to find out how China’s recently implemented value-added tax on freight transportation relates to international cargo movements.Although China said the 6 percent VAT, imposed Aug. 1, applies to domestic shipping, logistics and forwarding in China,<a> there is confusion on how it applies to international freight traffic</a>, NITL President and CEO Bruce Carlton wrote in a letter to the Department of State, the Federal Maritime Commission and the Maritime Administration. Despite NITL’s belief that the VAT doesn’t apply to international freight, there have been reports of ocean carriers and non-vessel-operating common...

The National Industrial Transportation League is asking the federal government to find out how China’s recently implemented value-added tax on freight transportation relates to international cargo movements. Although China said the 6 percent VAT, imposed Aug. 1, applies to domestic shipping, logistics and forwarding in China, there is confusion on how it applies to international freight traffic , NITL President and CEO Bruce Carlton wrote in a letter to the Department of State, the Federal Maritime Commission and the Maritime Administration. Despite NITL’s belief that the VAT doesn’t apply to international freight, there have been reports of ocean carriers and non-vessel-operating common carriers charging shippers for the VAT via surcharges or service charges. “In general, there appears to be widespread confusion over the application of the new VAT enacted by the PRC, as well as its implementation by service providers,” Carlton wrote. “This is clearly generating considerable market uncertainty for shippers not only in the region but here in the U.S. as well."

Container lines

Shippers Seek Clarification From US on China's VAT

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A total of 68 sailings globally are expected to be canceled during April, according to maritime consultancy Drewry, with about half of the cancellations in trans-Pacific services.</div>

A total of 68 sailings globally are expected to be canceled during April, according to maritime consultancy Drewry, with about half of the cancellations in trans-Pacific services.

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<div class="phx-topic">Ocean carriers plan to blank more sailings through much of April as freight rates hit new lows for 2025 and more ships are expected to hit the water in the coming months. The withdrawal of capacity also comes as ocean carriers look to finalize annual service contracts with shippers. A total of 68 sailings globally are expected to be canceled during April, according to maritime consultancy Drewry, with about half of the cancellations in trans-Pacific services. The blankings are occurring across a variety of weekly services to major US ports. Mediterranean Shipping Co. last week said it would blank six voyages between Asia and the US, with most of the cancellations for sailings originally scheduled for the second half of April. MSC said it would cancel late-April voyages scheduled to the US West Coast on both its Orient service from northern China and its Pearl service from Vietnam and southern China. MSC will also cancel a weekly sailing on its Empire and America services to the US East Coast and another sailing on its Lone Star Express service to the US Gulf Coast. Schedules from other carriers also show more capacity being withdrawn in the coming weeks. Ocean Network Express’ (ONE’s) export schedule for Shanghai shows the Premier Alliance will have no vessels for mid-April sailings on both its EC1 service to the US East Coast and the EC2 service calling the Port of Manzanillo in Mexico and the US Southeast. ONE also canceled a mid-April sailing on its MS2 service between Asia and the US West Coast and a sailing originally scheduled this week on its PN3 service to the ports of Vancouver and Tacoma. Ocean Alliance member Cosco Shipping also appears to be removing trans-Pacific capacity in the short term. It has no weekly voyage scheduled in the second week of April for its Manhattan Bridge service to the US East Coast. The carrier’s Bohai and Hibiscus Express services to the US West Coast also do not have vessels scheduled for the same week. <h3>Blanks come with trans-Pacific spot rates at fresh lows </h3>Joseph Firrincieli, a New York-based sales manager for forwarder OEC Group, told the Journal of Commerce that the blanked sailings are part of the typical tactic ocean carriers use in an attempt to firm up rates as they look to finalize annual service contracts with shippers by May 1. The raft of blank sailings comes as trans-Pacific spot rates sit at 15-month lows. Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global, pegged rates from North Asia to the West Coast at $1,600 per FEU as of Monday, with rates to the East Coast at $2,600 per FEU. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="e7a65aab-9aac-4f07-9b74-1793746c01ef"></dynamic-object></div>“The reason for the increase in blanked sailings is to create an artificial supply and demand imbalance to justify increasing the floating rates,” Firrincieli said. The blanked sailings also come amid expectations of more ships hitting the water in the coming months. Trans-Pacific container capacity to the US West Coast is expected to increase 19% from March to April, according to data provider eeSea, going from 1.159 million TEUs to 1.379 million TEUs. By May, trans-Pacific capacity is expected to hit 1.426 million TEUs. With the newbuilds being delivered, Firrincieli said ocean carriers may need to blank even more sailings in the coming weeks to bolster rates. While shippers don’t appear to be impacted by the blank sailings yet, he said the threat of tariffs and the potential that shippers will try to frontload imports to avoid them means that there is a risk that container capacity will be limited during late spring. “Right now, there is a lull in the market,” Firrincieli said. “But if the blankings persist into June or July, then shippers may find it more difficult to find space.” Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Ocean carriers plan to blank more sailings through much of April as freight rates hit new lows for 2025 and more ships are expected to hit the water in the coming months. The withdrawal of capacity also comes as ocean carriers look to finalize annual service contracts with shippers. A total of 68 sailings globally are expected to be canceled during April, according to maritime consultancy Drewry, with about half of the cancellations in trans-Pacific services. The blankings are occurring across a variety of weekly services to major US ports. Mediterranean Shipping Co. last week said it would blank six voyages between Asia and the US, with most of the cancellations for sailings originally scheduled for the second half of April. MSC said it would cancel late-April voyages scheduled to the US West Coast on both its Orient service from northern China and its Pearl service from Vietnam and southern China. MSC will also cancel a weekly sailing on its Empire and America services to the US East Coast and another sailing on its Lone Star Express service to the US Gulf Coast. Schedules from other carriers also show more capacity being withdrawn in the coming weeks. Ocean Network Express’ (ONE’s) export schedule for Shanghai shows the Premier Alliance will have no vessels for mid-April sailings on both its EC1 service to the US East Coast and the EC2 service calling the Port of Manzanillo in Mexico and the US Southeast. ONE also canceled a mid-April sailing on its MS2 service between Asia and the US West Coast and a sailing originally scheduled this week on its PN3 service to the ports of Vancouver and Tacoma. Ocean Alliance member Cosco Shipping also appears to be removing trans-Pacific capacity in the short term. It has no weekly voyage scheduled in the second week of April for its Manhattan Bridge service to the US East Coast. The carrier’s Bohai and Hibiscus Express services to the US West Coast also do not have vessels scheduled for the same week. Blanks come with trans-Pacific spot rates at fresh lows Joseph Firrincieli, a New York-based sales manager for forwarder OEC Group, told the Journal of Commerce that the blanked sailings are part of the typical tactic ocean carriers use in an attempt to firm up rates as they look to finalize annual service contracts with shippers by May 1. The raft of blank sailings comes as trans-Pacific spot rates sit at 15-month lows. Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, pegged rates from North Asia to the West Coast at $1,600 per FEU as of Monday, with rates to the East Coast at $2,600 per FEU. “The reason for the increase in blanked sailings is to create an artificial supply and demand imbalance to justify increasing the floating rates,” Firrincieli said. The blanked sailings also come amid expectations of more ships hitting the water in the coming months. Trans-Pacific container capacity to the US West Coast is expected to increase 19% from March to April, according to data provider eeSea, going from 1.159 million TEUs to 1.379 million TEUs. By May, trans-Pacific capacity is expected to hit 1.426 million TEUs. With the newbuilds being delivered, Firrincieli said ocean carriers may need to blank even more sailings in the coming weeks to bolster rates. While shippers don’t appear to be impacted by the blank sailings yet, he said the threat of tariffs and the potential that shippers will try to frontload imports to avoid them means that there is a risk that container capacity will be limited during late spring. “Right now, there is a lull in the market,” Firrincieli said. “But if the blankings persist into June or July, then shippers may find it more difficult to find space.” Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Trans-Pacific

April blank sailings ramp up amid push to finalize long-term contracts

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">As shippers race to get goods from Mexico and Canada into the US before full implementation of 25% tariffs Wednesday, they’re beginning to rethink supply chains.</div>

As shippers race to get goods from Mexico and Canada into the US before full implementation of 25% tariffs Wednesday, they’re beginning to rethink supply chains.

<div class="phx-topic">Cross-border supply chains are being tested and reshaped as US importers rush to bring goods into the US before 25% tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods take full effect Wednesday, along with an unknown number of potential global “reciprocal” tariffs. US importers and exporters are feeling the impact of those tariffs already in the form of rising cross-border transportation costs, disrupted supply lines, and in some cases, broken relationships with suppliers and customers on the other side of the US border. On the US-Mexico border, “there’s definitely been a sense of panic yesterday and today,” Jordan Dewart, president of Redwood Mexico, part of third-party logistics provider (3PL) Redwood Logistics, told the Journal of Commerce Tuesday. “We are seeing a really big push to get goods across the border today.” That push has been building over the last two weeks, similar to the push or pull-forward of goods before the original March 4 deadline for the US tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Leading up to Wednesday, only 51% of Mexican and 62% of Canadian goods have been subjected to the tariffs. That is slated to change on April 2, when 25% duties will be placed on all imports from the two largest US trading partners, except for some energy products. Cross-border freight at ports of entry such as Laredo in Texas screeched to a halt March 4 but then gathered speed after the White House delayed tariffs on goods that complied with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement’s (USMCA’s) North American content standards until April 2. “We fully expect a hold [by shippers] on crossings at the Mexican border Wednesday and potentially a longer holding pattern depending on whether the tariffs stick for a longer period,” Dewart said. Shippers can expect added delays at border crossings. “Cross-border shipping is a highly orchestrated and complex process that requires preplanning of inbound southbound capacity to meet northbound demand,” Dewart said. “These situations really create a massive bottleneck on either side of the border.” The 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods looks increasingly like the tip of a much larger iceberg, including perhaps a universal tariff covering all US imports. President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement on reciprocal tariffs Wednesday. “It’s unclear whether tariffs on goods from Mexico might be reassessed, whether the current exemption for USMCA-compliant goods might expire or how soon the new tariff on auto parts will go into effect,” said Mike Burkhart, vice president of North America surface transportation at logistics provider C.H. Robinson Worldwide. The tariff threat has tightened capacity across C.H. Robinson’s network of more than 1,000 Mexican trucking companies, “as customers hedge their bets,” by bringing more goods to the border, Burkhart said. Dewart said many shippers are playing a “wait-and-see” game, holding inventories at the border or “in-country,” a strategy he said is not sustainable in the long term. “Some smaller companies have even said that if tariffs go into full effect, their model will just not work and they will have to rethink their entire business,” he said. <h3>Overhauling supply chains </h3>That “rethink” is already happening at many companies, according to Paul Brashier, vice president of global logistics at 3PL ITS Logistics. “This is having a pretty large effect on North American supply chains,” Brashier told the Journal of Commerce Tuesday. “We’ve seen a lot of projects involving Mexico and Canada put on the back burner. You’re going to have complete supply chain overhauls.” Brashier has already seen annual contracting plans change radically due to the tariffs. “Usually at this time of the year we’re buttoning up [requests for proposals] and going into new contracts, but now we’re seeing a lot more second-quarter redesign, repricing and minibids,” he said. ITS Logistics has been grabbing all the southbound truck capacity it can over the past month to get trucks to the US-Mexico border to move northbound loads, Brashier said. But that’s difficult as northbound loads can outnumber southbound loads by four to one. Overall, the US freight market is still soft, despite the pull-forward of freight ahead of tariffs. “The change in the flow is what’s creating all the work,” said Brashier. “While there’s plenty of supply, we’re changing tack and changing the way capacity moves.” The US has seen an increase in <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/pre-tariff-imports-seen-driving-us-flatbed-spot-demand-higher-5973654">flatbed truck demand</a> linked to tariffs, with spot flatbed volumes and rates soaring in recent weeks. <h3>Canadian capacity strained </h3>On the northern US border, truck capacity is scarcer than it used to be. “Tariff uncertainty is impacting carrier supply in Canada,” Burkhart said. “Elevated spot prices have provided short-term opportunities for carriers, but for some, that hasn’t offset the disruption of long-standing cross-border trade flows,” he said. As a result, some motor carriers are downsizing, further limiting available capacity. Spot rates in lanes from Canada to the US have been elevated much of this year, rising as much as 75% in some cases, driven by high cross-border volumes. As of April 1, dry-van spot rates in the busy Toronto-to-Chicago spot truck lane are 20 cents higher in a seven-day rolling average at $1.81 per mile, excluding fuel, than the March average rate of $1.61 per mile, according to DAT Freight &amp; Analytics. Toronto-to-Chicago dry-van spot rates are up 25% from January. Rates from Chicago to Toronto, also excluding fuel, climbed from $1.45 per mile in December to $2.01 per mile in March but are down to $1.71 in a seven-day rolling average as of April 1. Other supply chain constraints are cutting into available truck capacity in Canada. “For the past several weeks, rail congestion has significantly impacted intra-Canada long-haul capacity,” Burkhart said. “As a backup of container ships at many ports and rail backlogs persist, more shippers are turning to full truckload to mitigate delays.” That’s placing additional demand on an already constrained market and creating upward pressure on truckload rates, he said. That upward pressure could flip after tariffs are implemented and higher costs dampen consumer demand, which already appears to be falling. “I see this as similar to a peak produce season,” Brashier said. “It’s short-lived until inventory either gets right-sized or new sourcing patterns come into play.” Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Cross-border supply chains are being tested and reshaped as US importers rush to bring goods into the US before 25% tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods take full effect Wednesday, along with an unknown number of potential global “reciprocal” tariffs. US importers and exporters are feeling the impact of those tariffs already in the form of rising cross-border transportation costs, disrupted supply lines, and in some cases, broken relationships with suppliers and customers on the other side of the US border. On the US-Mexico border, “there’s definitely been a sense of panic yesterday and today,” Jordan Dewart, president of Redwood Mexico, part of third-party logistics provider (3PL) Redwood Logistics, told the Journal of Commerce Tuesday. “We are seeing a really big push to get goods across the border today.” That push has been building over the last two weeks, similar to the push or pull-forward of goods before the original March 4 deadline for the US tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Leading up to Wednesday, only 51% of Mexican and 62% of Canadian goods have been subjected to the tariffs. That is slated to change on April 2, when 25% duties will be placed on all imports from the two largest US trading partners, except for some energy products. Cross-border freight at ports of entry such as Laredo in Texas screeched to a halt March 4 but then gathered speed after the White House delayed tariffs on goods that complied with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement’s (USMCA’s) North American content standards until April 2. “We fully expect a hold [by shippers] on crossings at the Mexican border Wednesday and potentially a longer holding pattern depending on whether the tariffs stick for a longer period,” Dewart said. Shippers can expect added delays at border crossings. “Cross-border shipping is a highly orchestrated and complex process that requires preplanning of inbound southbound capacity to meet northbound demand,” Dewart said. “These situations really create a massive bottleneck on either side of the border.” The 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods looks increasingly like the tip of a much larger iceberg, including perhaps a universal tariff covering all US imports. President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement on reciprocal tariffs Wednesday. “It’s unclear whether tariffs on goods from Mexico might be reassessed, whether the current exemption for USMCA-compliant goods might expire or how soon the new tariff on auto parts will go into effect,” said Mike Burkhart, vice president of North America surface transportation at logistics provider C.H. Robinson Worldwide. The tariff threat has tightened capacity across C.H. Robinson’s network of more than 1,000 Mexican trucking companies, “as customers hedge their bets,” by bringing more goods to the border, Burkhart said. Dewart said many shippers are playing a “wait-and-see” game, holding inventories at the border or “in-country,” a strategy he said is not sustainable in the long term. “Some smaller companies have even said that if tariffs go into full effect, their model will just not work and they will have to rethink their entire business,” he said. Overhauling supply chains That “rethink” is already happening at many companies, according to Paul Brashier, vice president of global logistics at 3PL ITS Logistics. “This is having a pretty large effect on North American supply chains,” Brashier told the Journal of Commerce Tuesday. “We’ve seen a lot of projects involving Mexico and Canada put on the back burner. You’re going to have complete supply chain overhauls.” Brashier has already seen annual contracting plans change radically due to the tariffs. “Usually at this time of the year we’re buttoning up [requests for proposals] and going into new contracts, but now we’re seeing a lot more second-quarter redesign, repricing and minibids,” he said. ITS Logistics has been grabbing all the southbound truck capacity it can over the past month to get trucks to the US-Mexico border to move northbound loads, Brashier said. But that’s difficult as northbound loads can outnumber southbound loads by four to one. Overall, the US freight market is still soft, despite the pull-forward of freight ahead of tariffs. “The change in the flow is what’s creating all the work,” said Brashier. “While there’s plenty of supply, we’re changing tack and changing the way capacity moves.” The US has seen an increase in flatbed truck demand linked to tariffs, with spot flatbed volumes and rates soaring in recent weeks. Canadian capacity strained On the northern US border, truck capacity is scarcer than it used to be. “Tariff uncertainty is impacting carrier supply in Canada,” Burkhart said. “Elevated spot prices have provided short-term opportunities for carriers, but for some, that hasn’t offset the disruption of long-standing cross-border trade flows,” he said. As a result, some motor carriers are downsizing, further limiting available capacity. Spot rates in lanes from Canada to the US have been elevated much of this year, rising as much as 75% in some cases, driven by high cross-border volumes. As of April 1, dry-van spot rates in the busy Toronto-to-Chicago spot truck lane are 20 cents higher in a seven-day rolling average at $1.81 per mile, excluding fuel, than the March average rate of $1.61 per mile, according to DAT Freight & Analytics. Toronto-to-Chicago dry-van spot rates are up 25% from January. Rates from Chicago to Toronto, also excluding fuel, climbed from $1.45 per mile in December to $2.01 per mile in March but are down to $1.71 in a seven-day rolling average as of April 1. Other supply chain constraints are cutting into available truck capacity in Canada. “For the past several weeks, rail congestion has significantly impacted intra-Canada long-haul capacity,” Burkhart said. “As a backup of container ships at many ports and rail backlogs persist, more shippers are turning to full truckload to mitigate delays.” That’s placing additional demand on an already constrained market and creating upward pressure on truckload rates, he said. That upward pressure could flip after tariffs are implemented and higher costs dampen consumer demand, which already appears to be falling. “I see this as similar to a peak produce season,” Brashier said. “It’s short-lived until inventory either gets right-sized or new sourcing patterns come into play.” Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Supply chain

Trucking News

Truckload

Truck brokers

Flatbed

Surface

Disrupted cross-border freight shipping braces for US tariffs

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The initiative, called RailGreen, will allow intermodal customers to purchase verified carbon certificates reflecting their use of lower-emission freight options.</div>

The initiative, called RailGreen, will allow intermodal customers to purchase verified carbon certificates reflecting their use of lower-emission freight options.

<div class="phx-topic">Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) has introduced a new program aimed at helping shippers measure and reduce their supply chain emissions by transporting goods via rail instead of truck. The initiative, called RailGreen, will allow intermodal customers to purchase verified carbon certificates reflecting their use of lower-emission freight options. The certificates, known as <a href="https://www.epa.gov/green-power-markets/energy-attribute-certificates-eacs">environmental attribute certificates</a> (EACs), can be used in corporate sustainability reports and filings related to so-called Scope 3 emissions, which are indirect emissions from a company’s supply chain. Shippers can sign up for RailGreen either directly through Norfolk Southern or via intermodal partners such as Hub Group, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Swift Intermodal or non-asset-based intermodal marketing companies. The railroad is partnering with 123Carbon, a Netherlands-based firm that specializes in emissions tracking using blockchain technology. The company ensures transparency and traceability of each ton of reduced carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) through certificates that are independently verified and meet international sustainability auditing standards, according to the railroad. “Data is very important and that’s why we’ve engaged with 123Carbon blockchain technology to create a transparent, verifiable emissions reduction program that shippers can count on using international standards for calculations,” Josh Raglin, NS’ chief sustainability officer, told the Journal of Commerce Monday. “Even though we’ve been reducing our Scope 1 emissions from using biodiesel, we have not had a way to pass that information along to our customers.” RailGreen will use a “book-and-claim system” functioning similarly to renewable energy credits. Even if a shipper’s individual container doesn’t directly benefit from biofuel use, the emissions reductions are pooled across the network and attributed through verified certificates. For example, renewable energy credits don’t track how much clean energy is powering a specific building, but a company can still support the use of greener power overall and can claim the benefit. RailGreen does the same for freight transportation. “We don’t have a way to track the biofuel at the shipment level,” Raglin said. “We can’t say, ‘these molecules were used for your shipment versus another.’ What we do is called mass balancing.” Norfolk Southern has doubled its use of biofuel blends with ultra-low sulfur diesel in the last two years. Biofuels, which are produced from sources such as soybeans, waste vegetable oil, woody biomass and algae, emit fewer greenhouse gases than traditional fossil fuels. According to Raglin, over 20% of NS’ fuel included a biofuel blend, resulting in roughly 9 million gallons of biofuels used.<h3>Other efforts to make railroading greener </h3>Norfolk Southern is not alone in investing in lower-emission rail technologies. CSX Transportation unveiled a hydrogen-powered locomotive in April 2024, developed in partnership with Canadian Pacific Kansas City. The prototype is being tested for performance and feasibility. Meanwhile, NS, BNSF Railway and Union Pacific are piloting hybrid-electric locomotives, which operate similarly to hybrid cars. Raglin likened the hybrid locomotives to a 200-ton Toyota Prius, noting that they run primarily on battery power but include a small diesel engine for recharging when needed or can be plugged in at a station. NS has also invested in modernizing nearly 1,000 locomotives since 2016 and is upgrading intermodal cranes to hybrid or fully electric models to further reduce emissions. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) has introduced a new program aimed at helping shippers measure and reduce their supply chain emissions by transporting goods via rail instead of truck. The initiative, called RailGreen, will allow intermodal customers to purchase verified carbon certificates reflecting their use of lower-emission freight options. The certificates, known as environmental attribute certificates (EACs), can be used in corporate sustainability reports and filings related to so-called Scope 3 emissions, which are indirect emissions from a company’s supply chain. Shippers can sign up for RailGreen either directly through Norfolk Southern or via intermodal partners such as Hub Group, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Swift Intermodal or non-asset-based intermodal marketing companies. The railroad is partnering with 123Carbon, a Netherlands-based firm that specializes in emissions tracking using blockchain technology. The company ensures transparency and traceability of each ton of reduced carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) through certificates that are independently verified and meet international sustainability auditing standards, according to the railroad. “Data is very important and that’s why we’ve engaged with 123Carbon blockchain technology to create a transparent, verifiable emissions reduction program that shippers can count on using international standards for calculations,” Josh Raglin, NS’ chief sustainability officer, told the Journal of Commerce Monday. “Even though we’ve been reducing our Scope 1 emissions from using biodiesel, we have not had a way to pass that information along to our customers.” RailGreen will use a “book-and-claim system” functioning similarly to renewable energy credits. Even if a shipper’s individual container doesn’t directly benefit from biofuel use, the emissions reductions are pooled across the network and attributed through verified certificates. For example, renewable energy credits don’t track how much clean energy is powering a specific building, but a company can still support the use of greener power overall and can claim the benefit. RailGreen does the same for freight transportation. “We don’t have a way to track the biofuel at the shipment level,” Raglin said. “We can’t say, ‘these molecules were used for your shipment versus another.’ What we do is called mass balancing.” Norfolk Southern has doubled its use of biofuel blends with ultra-low sulfur diesel in the last two years. Biofuels, which are produced from sources such as soybeans, waste vegetable oil, woody biomass and algae, emit fewer greenhouse gases than traditional fossil fuels. According to Raglin, over 20% of NS’ fuel included a biofuel blend, resulting in roughly 9 million gallons of biofuels used. Other efforts to make railroading greener Norfolk Southern is not alone in investing in lower-emission rail technologies. CSX Transportation unveiled a hydrogen-powered locomotive in April 2024, developed in partnership with Canadian Pacific Kansas City. The prototype is being tested for performance and feasibility. Meanwhile, NS, BNSF Railway and Union Pacific are piloting hybrid-electric locomotives, which operate similarly to hybrid cars. Raglin likened the hybrid locomotives to a 200-ton Toyota Prius, noting that they run primarily on battery power but include a small diesel engine for recharging when needed or can be plugged in at a station. NS has also invested in modernizing nearly 1,000 locomotives since 2016 and is upgrading intermodal cranes to hybrid or fully electric models to further reduce emissions. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

Intermodal providers

North-American rail

Norfolk Southern launches program to certify carbon emissions

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Both volumes and rates in the flatbed sector of the truckload spot market are rising as importers rush industrial products through US ports and across the border.</div>

Both volumes and rates in the flatbed sector of the truckload spot market are rising as importers rush industrial products through US ports and across the border.

<div class="phx-topic">With tariff deadlines looming, importers are rushing to get industrial goods into the US, sending spot market demand for flatbed trucks soaring in recent weeks. That indicates importers are struggling to find the capacity to move transactional loads of goods such as machinery, steel coils and beams and agricultural equipment ahead of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, while also trying to beat new levies on steel and aluminum as well as cars and trucks from all sources. Add to that list reciprocal tariffs on a broad range of global imports that are scheduled to take effect April 2. Tariffs on Mexico and Canada are slated to be expanded April 2 as well. “No one is able to quantify how this is going to impact things, but if your business makes things with aluminum or steel or lumber, you’re buying now,” said Michael Regan, shipper consultant and chief customer relationship officer with logistics management firm TranzAct Technologies. Flatbed spot rates rose 8.3% from late February through March 25 to $2.36 per mile on the 50 largest US truckload lanes, according to DAT Freight &amp; Analytics. Excluding fuel surcharges, flatbed spot rates on Truckstop’s load boards are up about 7.5% year over year, according to research firm and Truckstop partner FTR Transportation Intelligence. Year over year, posted flatbed spot loads moved are up by double-digit percentages — 34% last week, according to FTR, and 42% on DAT’s load boards. That doesn’t indicate an inflection is coming in overall truckload demand or pricing, however. There is even a split between the spot and contract flatbed markets. Instead, the sudden increase in transactional flatbed demand and rates appears more a market distortion caused by normal seasonality combined with pre-tariff demand. “It really feels like it’s not domestic production-driven but is import activity,” said Avery Vise, vice president of trucking at FTR. Vise points out that spot market flatbed activity is strong in much of the US, especially the Southeast, but also in the Northeast and Midwest, areas with strong port gateways. “We’re seeing increases in the West as well, but much more recently than in the East,” he said. Capital goods imported from Asia would typically arrive in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and move inland by rail, rather than flatbed truck, he said. “It would make sense to see a much stronger increase [in flatbed spot demand] in the East than in the West” if import volumes of heavy goods were rising, said Vise. <h3>Accelerated demand </h3>The speed and timing of the recent increase in flatbed spot activity also points to a pre-tariff pull-forward of goods, said Dean Croke, principal analyst at DAT. “We typically see flatbed demand and pricing move up over a longer trajectory headed toward May,” said Croke. “This year we’ve seen pricing move up quickly in March.” Neither the US housing market nor the manufacturing sector have seen the type of surge that would account for the spike in flatbed demand, Croke and Vise both told the Journal of Commerce. Shrinking flatbed spot market capacity is one factor in the spike, Croke said. “The overall attrition of carriers is having an effect on the specialized part of the market,” he said. Contract flatbed rates have remained stable over the past three months, rising only 2 cents to $2.57 per mile, excluding fuel surcharges, in March, according to DAT. “Large contract [flatbed] carriers are still decreasing rates to hold volume,” Croke said. The DAT flatbed replacement contract rate index is down 6.2% year over year. “The market for moving things like roofing shingles is oversupplied,” he said. It’s also likely that those large contract carriers are shifting more assets to the spot market. The flatbed volume spike will likely diminish after US tariffs take effect — if it is largely due to those tariffs. “There’s a lot of reason to think this is the case, but we’ll only know after the fact,” said Vise. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

With tariff deadlines looming, importers are rushing to get industrial goods into the US, sending spot market demand for flatbed trucks soaring in recent weeks. That indicates importers are struggling to find the capacity to move transactional loads of goods such as machinery, steel coils and beams and agricultural equipment ahead of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, while also trying to beat new levies on steel and aluminum as well as cars and trucks from all sources. Add to that list reciprocal tariffs on a broad range of global imports that are scheduled to take effect April 2. Tariffs on Mexico and Canada are slated to be expanded April 2 as well. “No one is able to quantify how this is going to impact things, but if your business makes things with aluminum or steel or lumber, you’re buying now,” said Michael Regan, shipper consultant and chief customer relationship officer with logistics management firm TranzAct Technologies. Flatbed spot rates rose 8.3% from late February through March 25 to $2.36 per mile on the 50 largest US truckload lanes, according to DAT Freight & Analytics. Excluding fuel surcharges, flatbed spot rates on Truckstop’s load boards are up about 7.5% year over year, according to research firm and Truckstop partner FTR Transportation Intelligence. Year over year, posted flatbed spot loads moved are up by double-digit percentages — 34% last week, according to FTR, and 42% on DAT’s load boards. That doesn’t indicate an inflection is coming in overall truckload demand or pricing, however. There is even a split between the spot and contract flatbed markets. Instead, the sudden increase in transactional flatbed demand and rates appears more a market distortion caused by normal seasonality combined with pre-tariff demand. “It really feels like it’s not domestic production-driven but is import activity,” said Avery Vise, vice president of trucking at FTR. Vise points out that spot market flatbed activity is strong in much of the US, especially the Southeast, but also in the Northeast and Midwest, areas with strong port gateways. “We’re seeing increases in the West as well, but much more recently than in the East,” he said. Capital goods imported from Asia would typically arrive in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and move inland by rail, rather than flatbed truck, he said. “It would make sense to see a much stronger increase [in flatbed spot demand] in the East than in the West” if import volumes of heavy goods were rising, said Vise. Accelerated demand The speed and timing of the recent increase in flatbed spot activity also points to a pre-tariff pull-forward of goods, said Dean Croke, principal analyst at DAT. “We typically see flatbed demand and pricing move up over a longer trajectory headed toward May,” said Croke. “This year we’ve seen pricing move up quickly in March.” Neither the US housing market nor the manufacturing sector have seen the type of surge that would account for the spike in flatbed demand, Croke and Vise both told the Journal of Commerce. Shrinking flatbed spot market capacity is one factor in the spike, Croke said. “The overall attrition of carriers is having an effect on the specialized part of the market,” he said. Contract flatbed rates have remained stable over the past three months, rising only 2 cents to $2.57 per mile, excluding fuel surcharges, in March, according to DAT. “Large contract [flatbed] carriers are still decreasing rates to hold volume,” Croke said. The DAT flatbed replacement contract rate index is down 6.2% year over year. “The market for moving things like roofing shingles is oversupplied,” he said. It’s also likely that those large contract carriers are shifting more assets to the spot market. The flatbed volume spike will likely diminish after US tariffs take effect — if it is largely due to those tariffs. “There’s a lot of reason to think this is the case, but we’ll only know after the fact,” said Vise. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Pre-tariff imports seen driving US flatbed spot demand higher

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Forwarders say they are seeing utilization only near 50% on the Asia-Mexico lane amid seasonally low demand and tariff uncertainties. </div>

Forwarders say they are seeing utilization only near 50% on the Asia-Mexico lane amid seasonally low demand and tariff uncertainties.

<div class="phx-topic">The Mexican Pacific ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo are experiencing delays of up to five days as they face operational challenges caused by bigger ships calling the gateways. “A couple of years ago, the biggest ship arriving in Mexico was about 10,000 TEUs,” said Nicolas Portenza, president of Eternity International Freight Forwarder México. “Now you have Maersk, MSC [Mediterranean Shipping Company] and CMA CGM arriving with vessels between 12,000 TEUs and 16,000 TEUs to a port that is the same size.” As such, sources say carriers had difficulty in March filling vessels, many of which were <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/carriers-boost-tonnage-on-asia-wcsa-to-meet-growing-manufacturing-demand-5950892">brought on recently due to manufacturing growth in Latin America</a>. Freight forwarders say they are seeing utilization near 50% as seasonally low demand combined with tariff uncertainties drive down demand on the Asia-Mexico lane. But despite the bearish market signals, some sources expect a turnaround soon. “I think it will recover during April and May,” Portenza told the Journal of Commerce. “Demand is not weak per se, it’s just not keeping up with the [vessel] supply.” Still, industry sources are paying attention to talk of even more capacity to come serving Central America and the West Coast of South America (WCSA). “There is news of new services to Mexico and also to WCSA,” said a forwarder source with cargo on the lane. “It will be a bloodbath if they come.” <h3>Decreasing blank sailings </h3>Meanwhile, the Asia to West Coast South America and Central America lane is positioned for fewer blanks in April as forwarders report green shoots of demand, although it may not be enough to offset the increased vessel sizes and excess capacity. eeSea as of Monday reports that no blanks are forecast on the lane in April, down from 12 blank sailings in March that accounted for about 12.2% of the total capacity for WCSA imports from Asia. March marked the highest number of blank sailings observed on the trade since September, a likely response to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/new-capacity-coming-to-asia-mexico-trade-despite-recent-rate-pressure-5967003">several capacity injections on the lane</a> in the past several months. According to Eternity International, the Asia to Mexico lane had a total of five blank sailings spread among four carriers in March, although that is expected to drop to three blanks in April, all from Cosco. Spot rates from Asia to WCSA were pegged at $1,400 per FEU as of Monday, down 46.1% from the first week of January and lower by the same amount year over year, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:Laura.Robb@spglobal.com">laura.robb@spglobal.com</a>.  </div>

The Mexican Pacific ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo are experiencing delays of up to five days as they face operational challenges caused by bigger ships calling the gateways. “A couple of years ago, the biggest ship arriving in Mexico was about 10,000 TEUs,” said Nicolas Portenza, president of Eternity International Freight Forwarder México. “Now you have Maersk, MSC [Mediterranean Shipping Company] and CMA CGM arriving with vessels between 12,000 TEUs and 16,000 TEUs to a port that is the same size.” As such, sources say carriers had difficulty in March filling vessels, many of which were brought on recently due to manufacturing growth in Latin America . Freight forwarders say they are seeing utilization near 50% as seasonally low demand combined with tariff uncertainties drive down demand on the Asia-Mexico lane. But despite the bearish market signals, some sources expect a turnaround soon. “I think it will recover during April and May,” Portenza told the Journal of Commerce. “Demand is not weak per se, it’s just not keeping up with the [vessel] supply.” Still, industry sources are paying attention to talk of even more capacity to come serving Central America and the West Coast of South America (WCSA). “There is news of new services to Mexico and also to WCSA,” said a forwarder source with cargo on the lane. “It will be a bloodbath if they come.” Decreasing blank sailings Meanwhile, the Asia to West Coast South America and Central America lane is positioned for fewer blanks in April as forwarders report green shoots of demand, although it may not be enough to offset the increased vessel sizes and excess capacity. eeSea as of Monday reports that no blanks are forecast on the lane in April, down from 12 blank sailings in March that accounted for about 12.2% of the total capacity for WCSA imports from Asia. March marked the highest number of blank sailings observed on the trade since September, a likely response to several capacity injections on the lane in the past several months. According to Eternity International, the Asia to Mexico lane had a total of five blank sailings spread among four carriers in March, although that is expected to drop to three blanks in April, all from Cosco. Spot rates from Asia to WCSA were pegged at $1,400 per FEU as of Monday, down 46.1% from the first week of January and lower by the same amount year over year, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Contact Laura Robb at laura.robb@spglobal.com . 

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The world of LTL is slow to embrace change. Business anachronisms permeate current supply chain processes. These vestiges of the way things used to work define the LTL freight transportation procurement process of many modern shippers.David Knuth, logistics specialist at IEWC, a global supplier of cable and wire based in Wisconsin, is happy to have modernized the RFP process, automating the entire LTL bidding procedure with Bid$ense, SMC³’s automated truckload and LTL freight transportation sourcing solution. But when prompted, he can still recall what once was.In his previous job, a large part of his duties were consumed by creating an intermodal bid package for carriers. In a spreadsheet, Knuth detailed the company’s volumes lane by lane, taking care to delete any errant keystrokes or misleading data. He would then email out the information to each carrier, taking time to respond to detailed technical questions about the spreadsheet data. Finally, he had to compile all the results, create an algorithm that would compare the carriers on each lane, and award the business.“It was a huge undertaking. It took about four months to do,” Knuth said of the old process. “It was almost a full-time job for that part of the year, every year.”In his new job at IEWC, he sat down with Bid$ense on day one and was amazed at the capabilities. Knuth had never before used a bid tool. SMC³’s latest versions of Bid$ense automate the process even further, taking truckload and LTL RFPs entirely online. The tool draws on RFP best-practices protocols to streamline the bidding communication process, enabling bidding carriers to respond accurately and promptly to shipper requests. The solution also does all the distribution work automatically, electronically submitting shipper bid data to carriers based on their actual service capabilities and performance records. Carriers are alerted with timely prompts for RFP deliverables, so shippers aren’t waiting by the phone for responses.Another benefit of automating the process is the data-cleansing assistance. When Knuth sent spreadsheets to carriers, data errors might cloud the bidding process; he might have to resend data or simply accept a price that did not truly reflect the costs of doing business. Data cleansing is incredibly beneficial, he said.The spreadsheet technique also made bidding analysis an onerous task. Since Bid$ense automates and streamlines the entire RFP process, intensive examination is now simple. SMC³ knows that each bid has more than one best outcome. With uniform responses from each carrier, shippers can quickly rank results and create an unlimited quantity of what-if scenarios to make the optimal procurement decision.Jesse Burnett of Central Garden &amp; Pet experiences many of the same benefits. Founded in 1980, Central Garden &amp; Pet has spent the last three decades growing from a small garden supply company to a provider of a range of products from dog chews and bird seed to soil supplements and natural insecticides. For much of its life, the company shipped these disparate goods via LTL and truckload carriers to retailers throughout the country, relying on each business unit to negotiate directly with their freight transportation providers. This arrangement worked fairly well for a small company, but as Central Garden &amp; Pet expanded, leadership decided to consolidate decision making.Burnett helped centralize the transportation decision making in 2015 with SMC³’s Bid$ense. Before Bid$ense, every business unit operated independently as far as negotiating with carriers.“There were a lot of different things just floating around,” he said. “We didn’t have master agreements in place; no national pricing at all. The pricing from carriers was just all over the place, depending on where you were.”The transformations he saw with Bid$ense were immediate. Burnett has been using the tool about every other year since its implementation at the company. Central Garden and Pet’s $19.6 million 2019 LTL bid saved the company just more than 9 percent when compared to its historical average. For Burnett, though, bid automation extends far beyond savings.“We knew that we weren’t getting the best pricing offer from our carriers just because nothing was centralized,” he continued. “We knew that if we combined everything from all these business units and paired it with one corporate offering, then it would drive some cost benefit with it.”When the company initially decided to centralize bid procurement, executives researched a number of different methodologies and technologies. In the end, though, Burnett found that Bid$ense was both widespread and well known, and that his carrier partners already knew how to use the application. Burnett also highlighted the data-cleansing process as a major benefit, saying the rigorous process ensures that carriers always return the best price.“It definitely has helped drive savings,” he said. “Any time you go out there and you drive that competitiveness with the carriers and they know they’re in a bid environment, it seems to sharpen their pencils.”Transportation procurement is an integral part of the modern supply chain. With Bid$ense, shippers can develop a strategic implementation plan that saves them time and money, but also helps them create strong relationships with their carrier partners. These carriers appreciate the solution’s data-cleansing process; when carriers receive a complete shipment history and future volume forecast, they don’t have to guess on pricing. Carriers that receive more data from shippers get a complete picture of that shipper’s freight, allowing them to accurately plan instead of simply preparing for the worst-case scenario. Clean data presented through an automated system can lead to both bigger shipment savings and a lasting partnership between carrier and customer.Whether customers are looking to streamline over-the-road transportation bidding by automating the RFP process or create an entirely new, centralized sourcing process, Bid$ense has the analytical horsepower to get the job done.SMC³ 2020 Customer Case Study

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Shippers save money, time with automated transportation bidding tools

If there’s one immutable truth in the world of logistics, it’s this: LTL is an inherently complex form of transportation. Tariffs, rates, DIM weights, transit times — it’s enough to confuse even seasoned logistics professionals. The solution to this knowledge gap has historically been on-the-job training or university supply chain education, but for a variety of reasons there is now a pressing need for third-party, remote LTL training that prepares logistics workers for transportation success. Global Scope Can Overlook Local Intricacies In the past, professionals looking to move into a supply chain career learned about the basics of supply chain from universities. However, many of these college supply chain programs are now global in scope, focusing on worldwide supply chain management instead of the intricacies of specialized domestic transportation. And even these programs, which used to be widespread, are becoming less common. LTL is not an industry of broad-brush strokes; supply chain professionals really need a pointillistic understanding of the logistics of LTL in order to excel in the industry. Accelerating Need for Dedicated LTL Education This lack of specified training put the onus on employers to prepare new hires with the LTL knowledge needed to do their jobs. Dedicated LTL study is a necessity, not a luxury. At the same time, changes in LTL and the broader supply chain world are accelerating. The reliance on e-commerce has ballooned since the start of the pandemic, and last-mile LTL shipments and related e-commerce strains on the supply chain won’t diminish once social distancing abates. That genie isn’t going back into the bottle. So supply chain employers need logistics workers that are fully versed in all aspects of the industry, ready to solve unique shipping and delivery problems based on their extensive supply chain knowledge But why care about LTL? It’s been reported that some shippers in today’s world are no longer concerned with what mode is used to ship their goods. A Multimodal Approach Ensures On-Time Delivery This mode agnosticism means supply chain stakeholders have to be well versed in all modes of transportation. As unforeseen weather events and other disruptions, such as protests, become more common, savvy logistics employees will need to be armed with familiarity of all modes, not just the most popular, to ensure that freight is delivered on time, without damage, and in the most financially expedient way possible. Offerings like SMC³’s LTL online education courses cover a wide range of topics from LTL basics and operations to more advanced concepts like pricing analytics and transportation law. The company also has plans to continually refresh content, adding new expert presenters and taking the feedback of students to make the courses even better as time goes on. Learn more about&nbsp;<a href="https://logisticstrainingcenter.com/smc3-courses/" rel="noreferrer" class="joc_admin__link">SMC³’s LTL Online Education program</a>&nbsp;and view the 2021 hybrid schedule, featuring live industry experts,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.smc3.com/onlinelearning2021/" rel="noreferrer" class="joc_admin__link">here.</a>

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