<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Spot rates from Asia to the US rose to highs this week as a looming dockworker strike on Jan. 15, the early Lunar New Year in Asia and the threat of tariffs under the new administration are keeping front-loading of imports at unusually high levels for December. </div>

Spot rates from Asia to the US rose to highs this week as a looming dockworker strike on Jan. 15, the early Lunar New Year in Asia and the threat of tariffs under the new administration are keeping front-loading of imports at unusually high levels for December.

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<div>Container spot rates from Asia to the United States in the remaining weeks of 2024 are spiking to highs not registered since the December of the first year of the pandemic-driven rush. Imports are surging ahead of a January strike threat on the US East and Gulf coasts and thanks to a compressed post-holiday shipping schedule. The spot rate from Asia to the West Coast increased to the mid-$4,000s per FEU from $2,500 on Nov. 29, following general rate increases (GRIs) by individual carriers of almost $2,000 per FEU, forwarders told the Journal of Commerce. The East Coast spot rate...

Container spot rates from Asia to the United States in the remaining weeks of 2024 are spiking to highs not registered since the December of the first year of the pandemic-driven rush. Imports are surging ahead of a January strike threat on the US East and Gulf coasts and thanks to a compressed post-holiday shipping schedule. The spot rate from Asia to the West Coast increased to the mid-$4,000s per FEU from $2,500 on Nov. 29, following general rate increases (GRIs) by individual carriers of almost $2,000 per FEU, forwarders told the Journal of Commerce. The East Coast spot rate jumped to the mid-$5,000s to low $6,000s per FEU from $4,367 just two weeks ago with GRIs of about $1,500 to $1,600 per FEU. Container spot rates to West and East coasts last week surged 99% and 55%, respectively, from the prior week, as measured by Platts, a Journal of Commerce sister company within S&P Global. December is historically a slow month for the trans-Pacific trades since goods needed for the winter holidays have already been shipped. However, this December is marked by a convergence of three factors that have been pushing retailers and other importers to front-load merchandise — the likelihood of a second strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association when its extended contract expires on Jan. 15, an early Lunar New Year on Jan. 29 and the threat of large tariffs on imports from major US trading partners . Retailers are forecasting a strong close to December and a double-digit increase in US imports from Asia in January. Global Port Tracker, which is published monthly by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, forecast a 14.3% year-over-year increase in import volume in December and a 12% increase in January. These factors have produced a near-historic rise in spot rates this week. The last time spot rates reached this lofty level in December, which is normally a slow month, was in mid-December 2021, when the West Coast rate was $8,760 per FEU and the East Coast rate was $10,300, according to Platts. The trans-Pacific in late 2021 came back strongly from the pandemic when US imports from Asia had plunged. Tight vessel space, cargo rolling Spot rates to both the East and West coasts are high because vessel space is tight and in some cases vessels are overbooked, a carrier executive told the Journal of Commerce on the condition of anonymity. “Ships are full. [The carriers] have started roll pools in Asia,” the carrier executive said. Container roll pools are formed at Asian load ports when individual voyages are over-booked and the containers that do not make it on the intended voyage are rolled over to the next departure. Given there is one month remaining until a possible second ILA strike in mid-January, and transit time from Asia to the East Coast is 30 days or longer, non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) say they are surprised that vessels on all-water services are still full. “I can’t understand why East Coast numbers continue to rise,” said Steve Nothdurft, vice president of sales North America at MOL Consolidation Service. “Who [is] throwing freight on a ship going to the East Coast right now, unless they don’t want the cargo, which ... if you’re looking for somewhere to beat the tariffs with free storage, the strike could work.” The carrier executive said customers are weighing the costs of shipping all-water to the East Coast, knowing that their containers could sit idle on vessels outside of East Coast ports for a week or two, compared with shipping to the West Coast and incurring high intermodal rail costs to the Midwest and East Coast. “Big retailers don’t want to overdo it,” the carrier executive said. “Land [transportation] costs are much higher than shipping to the East Coast.” Yet enough importers are diverting discretionary cargo from the East and Gulf coasts to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to further contribute to the rail congestion issues that have been plaguing the Southern California gateway for several months now. James Caradonna, executive vice president at the NVO Spedag Americas Inc., said some importers are beginning to divert inland point intermodal (IPI) shipments to container yard delivery in Southern California to avoid rail congestion at the ports. “It’s a little bit of a mess right now,” Caradonna said. Although West Coast spot rates surged this week, there is still sufficient capacity to keep special “bullet” rates for specific trade lanes and commodities about $100 to $200 lower than the listed freight all kinds (FAK) rates charged to forwarders, said Christian Sur, executive vice president, ocean freight contract logistics at the NVO Unique Logistics International. The larger alliance carriers must compete with a handful of smaller, non-alliance carriers in the trans-Pacific that generally charge lower rates, Sur said. High spot rates through January Spot rates to the West Coast are likely to remain high into the new year, said Rachel Shames, vice president, pricing and procurement at the forwarder CV International. “Vessels are full through the end of the month. It looks like January will be strong too,” Shames said, adding that at least one carrier is informing customers of another GRI effective Jan. 1. Kurt McElroy, executive vice president of the NVO Kerry Apex, said that as long as import volumes remain elevated leading up to the factory closures in Asia for the Lunar New Year holidays beginning on Jan. 29, carriers may well seek another GRI. “It’s a learned behavior,” he said. “Throw the rates out there and see what sticks.” Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com .Contact Laura Robb at laura.robb@spglobal.com .

Maritime

Supply chain

Trans-Pacific

Asia-US container spot rates spiking to year-end highs

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">DCLI equipping domestic chassis with GPS fills an information gap on when shippers sit on cargo excessively.</div>

DCLI equipping domestic chassis with GPS fills an information gap on when shippers sit on cargo excessively.

<div class="phx-topic">DCLI will equip more than 152,000 of its domestic chassis with GPS devices over the next two years, a project aimed at filling an information gap about where and when shippers fail to unload their freight to free-up the equipment. Freight inside rail-owned containers traveling on CSX Transportation and Union Pacific Railroad trains and non-J.B. Hunt cargo on BNSF Railway all use DCLI chassis, as do Hub Group and UPS parcel loads. While Hub Group, J.B. Hunt, and Schneider have GPS units on their containers, railroads have not completed work to do the same on their boxes using DCLI chassis, leaving no way to track the status of all freight outside the terminal. DCLI said the devices track mileage, which assist in proactively scheduling maintenance before breakdowns. When chassis are due for Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration inspections, GPS locates the units before mounting additional cargo. The rollout will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by late 2026. The aim behind the investment is that information that encourages shippers to turn equipment and helps DCLI reposition chassis during cargo surges leads to more equipment availability, on-time pickups, and on-time deliveries. This would ultimately increase shipper satisfaction with intermodal service. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

DCLI will equip more than 152,000 of its domestic chassis with GPS devices over the next two years, a project aimed at filling an information gap about where and when shippers fail to unload their freight to free-up the equipment. Freight inside rail-owned containers traveling on CSX Transportation and Union Pacific Railroad trains and non-J.B. Hunt cargo on BNSF Railway all use DCLI chassis, as do Hub Group and UPS parcel loads. While Hub Group, J.B. Hunt, and Schneider have GPS units on their containers, railroads have not completed work to do the same on their boxes using DCLI chassis, leaving no way to track the status of all freight outside the terminal. DCLI said the devices track mileage, which assist in proactively scheduling maintenance before breakdowns. When chassis are due for Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration inspections, GPS locates the units before mounting additional cargo. The rollout will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by late 2026. The aim behind the investment is that information that encourages shippers to turn equipment and helps DCLI reposition chassis during cargo surges leads to more equipment availability, on-time pickups, and on-time deliveries. This would ultimately increase shipper satisfaction with intermodal service. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

Intermodal providers

Trucking News

DCLI adding GPS to domestic chassis

<div class="phx-topic">Container spot rates from Asia to the United States in the remaining weeks of 2024 are spiking to highs not registered since the December of the first year of the pandemic-driven rush. Imports are surging ahead of a January strike threat on the US East and Gulf coasts and thanks to a compressed post-holiday shipping schedule. The spot rate from Asia to the West Coast increased to the mid-$4,000s per FEU from $2,500 on Nov. 29, following general rate increases (GRIs) by individual carriers of almost $2,000 per FEU, forwarders told the Journal of Commerce. The East Coast spot rate jumped to the mid-$5,000s to low $6,000s per FEU from $4,367 just two weeks ago with GRIs of about $1,500 to $1,600 per FEU. Container spot rates to West and East coasts last week surged 99% and 55%, respectively, from the prior week, as measured by Platts, a Journal of Commerce sister company within S&amp;P Global. December is historically a slow month for the trans-Pacific trades since goods needed for the winter holidays have already been shipped. However, this December is marked by a convergence of three factors that have been pushing retailers and other importers to front-load merchandise — <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/domino-effects-await-if-ila-strikes-again-analyst-5907768">the likelihood of a second strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association</a> when its extended contract expires on Jan. 15, an early Lunar New Year on Jan. 29 and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-importers-dabbling-in-frontloading-ahead-of-new-tariff-threat-5821448">the threat of large tariffs on imports from major US trading partners</a>. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="2ecc4047-dc26-42cb-b96b-59e87470ff6a"></dynamic-object></div>Retailers are forecasting a strong close to December and a double-digit increase in US imports from Asia in January. Global Port Tracker, which is published monthly by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, forecast a 14.3% year-over-year increase in import volume in December and a 12% increase in January. These factors have produced a near-historic rise in spot rates this week. The last time spot rates reached this lofty level in December, which is normally a slow month, was in mid-December 2021, when the West Coast rate was $8,760 per FEU and the East Coast rate was $10,300, according to Platts. The trans-Pacific in late 2021 came back strongly from the pandemic when US imports from Asia had plunged. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="fccc9664-d311-4974-8f12-ba650c67c37f"></dynamic-object></div><h3>Tight vessel space, cargo rolling </h3>Spot rates to both the East and West coasts are high because vessel space is tight and in some cases vessels are overbooked, a carrier executive told the Journal of Commerce on the condition of anonymity. “Ships are full. [The carriers] have started roll pools in Asia,” the carrier executive said. Container roll pools are formed at Asian load ports when individual voyages are over-booked and the containers that do not make it on the intended voyage are rolled over to the next departure. Given there is one month remaining until a possible second ILA strike in mid-January, and transit time from Asia to the East Coast is 30 days or longer, non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) say they are surprised that vessels on all-water services are still full. “I can’t understand why East Coast numbers continue to rise,” said Steve Nothdurft, vice president of sales North America at MOL Consolidation Service. “Who [is] throwing freight on a ship going to the East Coast right now, unless they don’t want the cargo, which ... if you’re looking for somewhere to beat the tariffs with free storage, the strike could work.” The carrier executive said customers are weighing the costs of shipping all-water to the East Coast, knowing that their containers could sit idle on vessels outside of East Coast ports for a week or two, compared with shipping to the West Coast and incurring high intermodal rail costs to the Midwest and East Coast. “Big retailers don’t want to overdo it,” the carrier executive said. “Land [transportation] costs are much higher than shipping to the East Coast.” Yet enough importers are diverting discretionary cargo from the East and Gulf coasts to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to further contribute to the rail congestion issues that have been plaguing the Southern California gateway for several months now. James Caradonna, executive vice president at the NVO Spedag Americas Inc., said some importers are beginning to divert inland point intermodal (IPI) shipments to container yard delivery in Southern California to avoid rail congestion at the ports. “It’s a little bit of a mess right now,” Caradonna said. Although West Coast spot rates surged this week, there is still sufficient capacity to keep special “bullet” rates for specific trade lanes and commodities about $100 to $200 lower than the listed freight all kinds (FAK) rates charged to forwarders, said Christian Sur, executive vice president, ocean freight contract logistics at the NVO Unique Logistics International. The larger alliance carriers must compete with a handful of smaller, non-alliance carriers in the trans-Pacific that generally charge lower rates, Sur said. <h3>High spot rates through January </h3>Spot rates to the West Coast are likely to remain high into the new year, said Rachel Shames, vice president, pricing and procurement at the forwarder CV International. “Vessels are full through the end of the month. It looks like January will be strong too,” Shames said, adding that at least one carrier is informing customers of another GRI effective Jan. 1. Kurt McElroy, executive vice president of the NVO Kerry Apex, said that as long as import volumes remain elevated leading up to the factory closures in Asia for the Lunar New Year holidays beginning on Jan. 29, carriers may well seek another GRI. “It’s a learned behavior,” he said. “Throw the rates out there and see what sticks.” Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at <a href="mailto:bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com">bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com</a>.Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:laura.robb@spglobal.com">laura.robb@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The opening of a second span across the Laredo border will benefit CPKC trains to Atlanta and Chicago along with other transport providers such as Union Pacific Railroad and its customers. </div>

The opening of a second span across the Laredo border will benefit CPKC trains to Atlanta and Chicago along with other transport providers such as Union Pacific Railroad and its customers.

Patrick J. Ottensmeyer International Railway Bridge.JPG (1)

<div class="phx-topic">Canadian Pacific Kansas City‘s (CPKC’s) completion of a second span of a bridge connecting Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas boosts the regular intermodal capacity and reliability of its cross-border services. The new bridge, which cost approximately $100 million, comes at an important juncture as CPKC, CSX Transportation, and Schneider launched a service Dec. 1 from San Luis Potosi and Atlanta, with onward service into Florida, looking to capture freight that historically moved on trucks. By allowing one span to handle one direction of truck traffic on the International Railway Bridge for four hours with another span handling the other direction of traffic for the same period, rail services can cross unheeded. That’s expected to shield intermodal services from flare-up of compounding delays near Laredo. “Completion of this internationally important project more than doubles our capacity to move freight through the border at the largest international trade port of entry in North America,” CPKC CEO Keith Creel said in a statement Wednesday. Intermodal represents between 10% and 15% of cross-border traffic since the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in the 1990s, but it <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/north-american-railroads-have-ambitious-plans-to-win-share-from-trucks-in-mexico-5707096">has fallen into the single digits this year</a> despite new CPKC and Ferromex-Union Pacific Railroad routes introduced over the last 18 months. A struggling auto sector has been the primary culprit of the struggles of the intermodal industry to translate new services into stronger volume. Adding a second bridge to cross into Laredo will provide additional capacity to capitalize when the auto sector turns around and new shippers nearshore to Monterrey, San Luis Potosi and Mexico City. Bison Transport, Fastfrate Group, and Schneider National customers will benefit as the exclusive partners of CPKC on cross-border service to the US and Canada. Other intermodal providers also stand to gain because CPKC operates trains with domestic containers that switch to Union Pacific Railroad in Laredo. The additional capacity also aids CPKC’s effort to co-locate temperature-controlled warehousing in Mexico and Kansas City inside the terminal. That would allow the railroad to haul reefer loads up to 58,000 pounds, compared with a limit of about 40,000 to 45,000 using trucks. CPKC said the new span will also utilize surveillance cameras and a railcar inspection system used on the other span called VACIS, which scans trains to spot weapons, explosives, drugs, or other unauthorized freight or passengers onboard. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="ari.ashe@spglobal.com ">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Canadian Pacific Kansas City‘s (CPKC’s) completion of a second span of a bridge connecting Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas boosts the regular intermodal capacity and reliability of its cross-border services. The new bridge, which cost approximately $100 million, comes at an important juncture as CPKC, CSX Transportation, and Schneider launched a service Dec. 1 from San Luis Potosi and Atlanta, with onward service into Florida, looking to capture freight that historically moved on trucks. By allowing one span to handle one direction of truck traffic on the International Railway Bridge for four hours with another span handling the other direction of traffic for the same period, rail services can cross unheeded. That’s expected to shield intermodal services from flare-up of compounding delays near Laredo. “Completion of this internationally important project more than doubles our capacity to move freight through the border at the largest international trade port of entry in North America,” CPKC CEO Keith Creel said in a statement Wednesday. Intermodal represents between 10% and 15% of cross-border traffic since the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in the 1990s, but it has fallen into the single digits this year despite new CPKC and Ferromex-Union Pacific Railroad routes introduced over the last 18 months. A struggling auto sector has been the primary culprit of the struggles of the intermodal industry to translate new services into stronger volume. Adding a second bridge to cross into Laredo will provide additional capacity to capitalize when the auto sector turns around and new shippers nearshore to Monterrey, San Luis Potosi and Mexico City. Bison Transport, Fastfrate Group, and Schneider National customers will benefit as the exclusive partners of CPKC on cross-border service to the US and Canada. Other intermodal providers also stand to gain because CPKC operates trains with domestic containers that switch to Union Pacific Railroad in Laredo. The additional capacity also aids CPKC’s effort to co-locate temperature-controlled warehousing in Mexico and Kansas City inside the terminal. That would allow the railroad to haul reefer loads up to 58,000 pounds, compared with a limit of about 40,000 to 45,000 using trucks. CPKC said the new span will also utilize surveillance cameras and a railcar inspection system used on the other span called VACIS, which scans trains to spot weapons, explosives, drugs, or other unauthorized freight or passengers onboard. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

North-American rail

Rail News

CPKC’s bridge expansion boosts US-Mexico capacity, reliability

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The risk of an East and Gulf coast port strike, US tariffs on China, and service disruptions through the launch of new alliances and networks await the industry in the first two months of 2025, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi. </div>

The risk of an East and Gulf coast port strike, US tariffs on China, and service disruptions through the launch of new alliances and networks await the industry in the first two months of 2025, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

<div class="phx-topic"><div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/5908324_0.1.jpg"></img></div>The New Year is set to kick off with multiple bangs. Fifteen days in, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) will strike, unless there’s a late Christmas miracle or container lines capitulate, knowing that <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/trumps-backing-of-ila-puts-pressure-on-carriers-to-cave-to-unions-demands-5905168">Donald Trump will back labor</a> when he’s sworn into office five days later. Even if a strike at US East and Gulf coast ports lasts just an hour, there will still be modest disruptions. Amid mounting fears of a strike, in the days ahead of the Jan. 15 deadline, truckers will evacuate containers, US Class I railroads will stop accepting exports and marine terminals will no longer accept empty container equipment, as they did before the expiration of the Oct. 1 contract.That three-day strike <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/domino-effects-await-if-ila-strikes-again-analyst-5907768">reduced effective capacity</a> by tying up ships on the trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific trades and throwing transshipment hubs out-of-whack. Rippling as well through north-south trades, the work disruption compounded congestion at key ports along the east of coast of South America. Most US East and Gulf coast ports reduced the strike-associated ship backlogs within weeks, but a longer work stoppage this time around could challenge even the most efficient marine terminals. There is plenty of cargo coming down the pipe. US retailers aren’t expecting to let up on pulling through a <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-import-surge-to-persist-into-spring-amid-continued-frontloading-retailers-5878711">surge of imports until early spring</a> at the soonest, according to the latest Global Port Tracker. Five days after the tentative contract deadline expires, Donald Trump is set to begin his second term and can trigger his threatened US tariffs on Chinese goods on day one by citing security issues. Trump’s other threat of a 25% US tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods shows not even near-shoring is safe from his reach. Even if Trump holds back on unleashing higher US tariffs on goods from China and other trading partners in his first 90 days in office, the specter that provoked multiple waves of varying degrees of front-loading ahead of the tariffs imposed in his first term hangs over all US trades into at least 2025. <h3>New alliance growing pains</h3>Meanwhile, on Feb. 1, two new shipping alliances launch simultaneously. The industry’s attention will be focused on the rollout of the Gemini Cooperation, the alliance between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, as it will be the most ambitious hub-and-spoke network the industry has seen. Gemini’s strategy has been tested using a “digital twin” in the hypothetical, but not physical world. The Premier alliance launches its own network on the same day, without former THE alliance partner Hapag-Lloyd. Overlapping Gemini’s hub-and-spoke network will be the more conventional, direct networks of Premier, composed of Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM and Yang Ming and OCEAN alliance, which launches in April. With its strong lead in tonnage, Mediterranean Shipping Co. <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/mscs-global-scale-enables-standalone-network-coverage-5726563">no longer needs an alliance partner</a> for its February launch but is striking slot-sharing pacts with the Premier alliance and Zim Integrated Shipping Services, nonetheless. “While operational disruptions from fleet deployment on [Gemini’s] routes may not be immediately apparent in the first three to four voyages, I believe port operational capabilities will be tested,” said analyst Heather Hwang, team leader of market intelligence analysis at South Korea-based LX Pantos. The concentration of ultra-large container ships at hub ports will require Gemini to tap more feeder vessels than before, which, coupled with potentially higher volumes caused by US tariffs, will challenge transshipment hubs from the onset, Hwang said. The launch of new alliances will take out a significant amount of capacity, even if for only a few weeks, said Alphaliner senior analyst Jan Tiedemann. “Ships will have to be emptied of cargo, filled again, change services, wait for phase-in into their designated new service,” he said. “They will miss sailing windows and skip ports to catch up.” There is little buffer capacity if something goes severely wrong in early 2025. Just 0.5% of the fleet was idled as of late November, according to Alphaliner. Through most of 2026, the analyst forecasts container lines will receive 100,000 to 200,000 TEUs monthly in capacity from shipyards after successfully absorbing new tonnage in 2024. Carriers have little incentive to start scrapping. “In times of frequent trade disruptions, better hold on to the tonnage you have,” Tiedemann said. “It might come in handy.” <h3>Stretching price elasticity </h3>Whatever the source of disruption, the container lines can be expected to capitalize on the opening to seek higher rates, as they did in the final weeks of December. Carriers usually seek price increases before the lull in shipments due to Lunar New Year celebrations, but they’ve been rewarded by pushing harder and faster on those increases, most recently in the wake of Red Sea diversions. While carriers may seek general rate increases (GRIs) and get none or just a portion of the amount sought, they are setting their aims higher. In a small sign of this more aggressive approach to dynamic pricing, no carrier in 2023 was seeking more than $1,000 per FEU in terms of early and mid-month GRIs filed with the US Federal Maritime Commission. Now, four of the eight top carriers operating on the trans-Pacific trades are seeking upward of $3,000 per FEU twice a month. Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com">mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The New Year is set to kick off with multiple bangs. Fifteen days in, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) will strike, unless there’s a late Christmas miracle or container lines capitulate, knowing that Donald Trump will back labor when he’s sworn into office five days later. Even if a strike at US East and Gulf coast ports lasts just an hour, there will still be modest disruptions. Amid mounting fears of a strike, in the days ahead of the Jan. 15 deadline, truckers will evacuate containers, US Class I railroads will stop accepting exports and marine terminals will no longer accept empty container equipment, as they did before the expiration of the Oct. 1 contract. That three-day strike reduced effective capacity by tying up ships on the trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific trades and throwing transshipment hubs out-of-whack. Rippling as well through north-south trades, the work disruption compounded congestion at key ports along the east of coast of South America. Most US East and Gulf coast ports reduced the strike-associated ship backlogs within weeks, but a longer work stoppage this time around could challenge even the most efficient marine terminals. There is plenty of cargo coming down the pipe. US retailers aren’t expecting to let up on pulling through a surge of imports until early spring at the soonest, according to the latest Global Port Tracker. Five days after the tentative contract deadline expires, Donald Trump is set to begin his second term and can trigger his threatened US tariffs on Chinese goods on day one by citing security issues. Trump’s other threat of a 25% US tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods shows not even near-shoring is safe from his reach. Even if Trump holds back on unleashing higher US tariffs on goods from China and other trading partners in his first 90 days in office, the specter that provoked multiple waves of varying degrees of front-loading ahead of the tariffs imposed in his first term hangs over all US trades into at least 2025. New alliance growing pains Meanwhile, on Feb. 1, two new shipping alliances launch simultaneously. The industry’s attention will be focused on the rollout of the Gemini Cooperation, the alliance between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, as it will be the most ambitious hub-and-spoke network the industry has seen. Gemini’s strategy has been tested using a “digital twin” in the hypothetical, but not physical world. The Premier alliance launches its own network on the same day, without former THE alliance partner Hapag-Lloyd. Overlapping Gemini’s hub-and-spoke network will be the more conventional, direct networks of Premier, composed of Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM and Yang Ming and OCEAN alliance, which launches in April. With its strong lead in tonnage, Mediterranean Shipping Co. no longer needs an alliance partner for its February launch but is striking slot-sharing pacts with the Premier alliance and Zim Integrated Shipping Services, nonetheless. “While operational disruptions from fleet deployment on [Gemini’s] routes may not be immediately apparent in the first three to four voyages, I believe port operational capabilities will be tested,” said analyst Heather Hwang, team leader of market intelligence analysis at South Korea-based LX Pantos. The concentration of ultra-large container ships at hub ports will require Gemini to tap more feeder vessels than before, which, coupled with potentially higher volumes caused by US tariffs, will challenge transshipment hubs from the onset, Hwang said. The launch of new alliances will take out a significant amount of capacity, even if for only a few weeks, said Alphaliner senior analyst Jan Tiedemann. “Ships will have to be emptied of cargo, filled again, change services, wait for phase-in into their designated new service,” he said. “They will miss sailing windows and skip ports to catch up.” There is little buffer capacity if something goes severely wrong in early 2025. Just 0.5% of the fleet was idled as of late November, according to Alphaliner. Through most of 2026, the analyst forecasts container lines will receive 100,000 to 200,000 TEUs monthly in capacity from shipyards after successfully absorbing new tonnage in 2024. Carriers have little incentive to start scrapping. “In times of frequent trade disruptions, better hold on to the tonnage you have,” Tiedemann said. “It might come in handy.” Stretching price elasticity Whatever the source of disruption, the container lines can be expected to capitalize on the opening to seek higher rates, as they did in the final weeks of December. Carriers usually seek price increases before the lull in shipments due to Lunar New Year celebrations, but they’ve been rewarded by pushing harder and faster on those increases, most recently in the wake of Red Sea diversions. While carriers may seek general rate increases (GRIs) and get none or just a portion of the amount sought, they are setting their aims higher. In a small sign of this more aggressive approach to dynamic pricing, no carrier in 2023 was seeking more than $1,000 per FEU in terms of early and mid-month GRIs filed with the US Federal Maritime Commission. Now, four of the eight top carriers operating on the trans-Pacific trades are seeking upward of $3,000 per FEU twice a month. Contact Mark Szakonyi at mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com .

Container Shipping News

Port News

Container lines

Trans-Atlantic

North American ports

Marine terminals

Longshore labor

New Year heralds triple threat to US container shipping

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The acquisition of Trucker Tools will give DAT access to carrier positioning data to arm its truckload broker customers. </div>

The acquisition of Trucker Tools will give DAT access to carrier positioning data to arm its truckload broker customers.

<div class="phx-topic">The largest US load board provider DAT Freight &amp; Analytics on Tuesday said it has acquired Trucker Tools LLC, one of the most prominent US suppliers of visibility, booking and freight matching software vendor to truckload freight brokers. The acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, gives DAT access to execution-oriented tools and carrier location information for the hundreds of thousands of drivers that have downloaded the Trucker Tools mobile app. “Real-time load tracking and digital freight matching are among the most dynamic technologies in our industry today and part of an important evolution in how truckload freight transactions are conducted,” DAT CEO Jeff Clementz said in a statement Tuesday. “Tracking and visibility have become critical needs for all of our customers.” The acquisition will expand DAT’s ability to provide real-time GPS tracking and load optimization within its DAT One load board, where the company said more than 668,000 spot truckloads are posted daily. Ken Adamo, chief of analytics and corporate development at DAT, told the Journal of Commerce that the usefulness of the Trucker Tools app for drivers will enable stickiness on DAT’s marketplace. “Their app is free for carriers and offers a lot of amenities, so we won’t see as much, if any, cyclical market churn,” he said. Trucker Tools operates its own load board, focused on automation to help brokers make their carrier reps more efficient, the companies said in the statement. Trucker Tools’ existing subscriptions and customer support won’t be affected by the acquisition, DAT said.Trucker Tools CEO Kary Jablonski will become vice president and general manager of Trucker Tools and broker growth at DAT as part of the acquisition. Jablonski joined as CEO in 2021 as part of Trucker Tools’ previous acquisition by private equity group Alpine Investors, replacing founder Prasad Gollapalli. Trucker Tools, founded in 2009, started as an app provider for drivers, eventually building a big enough network of downloads to build tracking, matching and booking tools that leveraged driver location and status of in-network drivers. Those tools are sold to freight brokers to find capacity, sequence moves, and track loads on behalf of shippers. Trucker Tools has 750 broker customers, and its app is used by more than 350,000 owner-operators and carriers. All 40 Trucker Tools employees have been offered positions at DAT, a DAT spokesman told the Journal of Commerce. Jablonski said in the statement that Trucker Tools, which will remain as a standalone unit, can benefit from the resources available with DAT to scale their business. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The largest US load board provider DAT Freight & Analytics on Tuesday said it has acquired Trucker Tools LLC, one of the most prominent US suppliers of visibility, booking and freight matching software vendor to truckload freight brokers. The acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, gives DAT access to execution-oriented tools and carrier location information for the hundreds of thousands of drivers that have downloaded the Trucker Tools mobile app. “Real-time load tracking and digital freight matching are among the most dynamic technologies in our industry today and part of an important evolution in how truckload freight transactions are conducted,” DAT CEO Jeff Clementz said in a statement Tuesday. “Tracking and visibility have become critical needs for all of our customers.” The acquisition will expand DAT’s ability to provide real-time GPS tracking and load optimization within its DAT One load board, where the company said more than 668,000 spot truckloads are posted daily. Ken Adamo, chief of analytics and corporate development at DAT, told the Journal of Commerce that the usefulness of the Trucker Tools app for drivers will enable stickiness on DAT’s marketplace. “Their app is free for carriers and offers a lot of amenities, so we won’t see as much, if any, cyclical market churn,” he said. Trucker Tools operates its own load board, focused on automation to help brokers make their carrier reps more efficient, the companies said in the statement. Trucker Tools’ existing subscriptions and customer support won’t be affected by the acquisition, DAT said. Trucker Tools CEO Kary Jablonski will become vice president and general manager of Trucker Tools and broker growth at DAT as part of the acquisition. Jablonski joined as CEO in 2021 as part of Trucker Tools’ previous acquisition by private equity group Alpine Investors, replacing founder Prasad Gollapalli. Trucker Tools, founded in 2009, started as an app provider for drivers, eventually building a big enough network of downloads to build tracking, matching and booking tools that leveraged driver location and status of in-network drivers. Those tools are sold to freight brokers to find capacity, sequence moves, and track loads on behalf of shippers. Trucker Tools has 750 broker customers, and its app is used by more than 350,000 owner-operators and carriers. All 40 Trucker Tools employees have been offered positions at DAT, a DAT spokesman told the Journal of Commerce. Jablonski said in the statement that Trucker Tools, which will remain as a standalone unit, can benefit from the resources available with DAT to scale their business. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

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DAT acquires Trucker Tools in move to reduce load board driver churn

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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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Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

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