<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">While the largest US trucking company increased its daily volume 4.6% this fall following Yellow’s summertime collapse, year-over-year comparisons reveal a soft market. </div>

While the largest US trucking company increased its daily volume 4.6% this fall following Yellow’s summertime collapse, year-over-year comparisons reveal a soft market. 

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<div>FedEx is keeping much of the trucking volume it gained from bankrupt competitor Yellow, boosting its daily less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments at FedEx Freight by 4.6% in its fiscal second quarter ending Nov. 30 compared with the prior three-month period. The largest US trucking company by revenue, FedEx Freight added 4,366 shipments to its daily count in the most recent quarter, bringing its total to 99,001 priority and economy shipments a day, FedEx said Tuesday. Sequentially, revenue climbed 3% in the quarter to $2.4 billion at the parcel carrier’s LTL freight division. Year over year, however, FedEx Freight saw both its...

FedEx is keeping much of the trucking volume it gained from bankrupt competitor Yellow, boosting its daily less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments at FedEx Freight by 4.6% in its fiscal second quarter ending Nov. 30 compared with the prior three-month period. The largest US trucking company by revenue, FedEx Freight added 4,366 shipments to its daily count in the most recent quarter, bringing its total to 99,001 priority and economy shipments a day, FedEx said Tuesday. Sequentially, revenue climbed 3% in the quarter to $2.4 billion at the parcel carrier’s LTL freight division. Year over year, however, FedEx Freight saw both its daily bill count and revenue drop, with volume falling 5.1% and revenue slipping 3.8% from the same period a year ago — reminders that the distortion caused by the shutdown of Yellow masks an otherwise muted LTL freight market. “Market conditions remained soft, with demand lower than we anticipated,” Brie Carere, executive vice president and chief customer officer at FedEx, said during an earnings call with analysts Tuesday. That softer market came during what are typically trucking’s strongest months — September, October and November. FedEx’s latest earnings indicate the shakeout that followed Yellow’s collapse is slowing. “New customers that came over as a result of the Yellow shutdown are enjoying a better value proposition, and we have retained a majority of this volume,” Carere said. “If you look at the volume we took during the summer, we really like what we got,” she said. In the month or two after Yellow shut down, FedEx Freight picked up about 5,000 shipments a day, not all at once, but in waves, as freight bounced among carriers. That’s nearly 10% of the 49,050 daily shipments Yellow handled in 2022, and likely a greater share of the volume Yellow hauled in the first seven months of 2023. The daily bill count at Yellow’s four operating subsidiaries reportedly had dropped substantially by the time their terminals closed July 30. “We were actually quite surprised that we found some really high-yielding customers,” Carere said. Many of those customers came to FedEx after other LTL carriers looking to grab Yellow’s business failed to meet service and price expectations. Closing year-over-year gap There are signs that the US LTL sector is pulling out of the slump it entered in 2022. FedEx Freight volumes, while still lower year over year, are improving on a monthly sequential basis. In June, the carrier’s shipments were down 16% year over year, but by November were only down 4%. Likewise, the annualized gap in the carrier’s quarterly LTL volumes is narrowing. Average daily shipments at FedEx Freight have been down for seven straight fiscal quarters, but the year-over-year gap shrank from 17.6% in the three months ending May 31 to 5.1% in the latest period. As the largest carrier by revenue and volume — with $9.6 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year — FedEx Freight is a bellwether for the LTL sector. If current trends hold, FedEx Freight could reach an equilibrium in year-over-year volume in the first half of 2024 — the second half of its fiscal year ending May 31. But industrial weakness is holding back freight demand. FedEx as a whole has seen “demand weaken primarily because of a slowdown of industrial production across the world,” Raj Subramaniam, president and CEO, said during the earnings call. That slowdown is seen in lower weights per shipment. “Weights are not where they need to be,” Subramaniam said. “Shipment volume was decent, but it’s really the weight that we’re looking at and weight per shipment is still down dramatically.” FedEx Freight’s quarterly weight per shipment was down 5.6% year over year in the last three months, but only 0.9% from the period covering June through August. That’s a symptom of the weakness seen in the S&P Global US manufacturing PMI, which dropped 0.6 percentage points in November to 49.4. What’s not weak is the bottom line of FedEx Freight and other LTL providers. Operating profit at FedEx Freight in the last three months rose 10.6% year over year to $487 million. The division’s operating margin was 20.6%, giving it an operating ratio of 79.4 — one of the best in the LTL industry. FedEx Freight’s revenue per shipment rose 1% year over year in the most recent quarter, while revenue per hundredweight, including fuel surcharges, was up 7%. FedEx Freight did cut costs on a year-over-year basis. Total operating costs dropped 7%, led by a 21.8% drop in fuel costs and a 12.8% decline in purchased transportation. FedEx Freight also shut down 29 terminals in August just as a wave of displaced shipments from Yellow hit its docks. Those savings account for part of the profit improvement, but pricing also rose. LTL pricing remains “rational,” Carere said. The fall of Yellow sparked a surge in LTL pricing that sent the US producer price index for long-distance LTL up 5.9% from August through October, data from the US Census Bureau showed. “We are seeing, yes, a very disciplined freight market and I will say, I think we're leading in disciplined freight,” Carere said. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Trucking News

Surface

FedEx Freight keeping LTL gains from Yellow as market settles

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Major carriers had lined up rate increases with the intention of strengthening their bargaining power during service contract negotiations, but overcapacity seems to have kept that tactic in check. </div>

Major carriers had lined up rate increases with the intention of strengthening their bargaining power during service contract negotiations, but overcapacity seems to have kept that tactic in check.

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<div class="phx-topic">Ocean carriers on the India-US trade lane are realizing they are in no position to push through rate increases in a market saddled with excess capacity and faltering demand. Reflecting that skepticism, most carriers have recalled their April rate increase notices -- mostly in the range of $500 per container -- for bookings from West India to the US East Coast, local freight forwarder sources told the Journal of Commerce this week. “Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM have canceled their GRI [general rate increase] plans scheduled for the early part of April, while Maersk has revised its peak season surcharge date to April 20,” a forwarder who didn’t want to be identified said. “Right now, it’s a shippers’ market.” Local sources at Mediterranean Shipping Co. were unavailable to confirm the status of its GRI plans for April. Forwarders generally believe with no void vessel calls declared for next month on the premier India-USEC routings as of now, carriers could even struggle to hold end-March rates up into the coming weeks. Sources at the lead carriers who spoke with the Journal of Commerce noted that recent GRIs could have worked better if smaller lines working on slot rights had also made similar attempts. “A few Asian carriers are very aggressive in their pricing to fill the weekly space they have,” a European carrier source said. “Rate efforts will fail so long as some carriers are undercutting achievable spot rates.” Forwarder sources put spot rate quotes from Cosco Shipping/OOCL and HMM at between $1,400 and $1,700 per FEU for bookings from Nhava Sheva to New York. Ocean Network Express is another liner usually quoting 20% to 25% lower than its established peers, sources say. Major carriers had arguably lined up rate increases effective March 1 and March 15 with the intention of strengthening their bargaining power during service contract negotiations, but overcapacity seems to have kept that tactic in check. Contact Bency Matthew at <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/bencymathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com.</a></div>

Ocean carriers on the India-US trade lane are realizing they are in no position to push through rate increases in a market saddled with excess capacity and faltering demand. Reflecting that skepticism, most carriers have recalled their April rate increase notices -- mostly in the range of $500 per container -- for bookings from West India to the US East Coast, local freight forwarder sources told the Journal of Commerce this week. “Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM have canceled their GRI [general rate increase] plans scheduled for the early part of April, while Maersk has revised its peak season surcharge date to April 20,” a forwarder who didn’t want to be identified said. “Right now, it’s a shippers’ market.” Local sources at Mediterranean Shipping Co. were unavailable to confirm the status of its GRI plans for April. Forwarders generally believe with no void vessel calls declared for next month on the premier India-USEC routings as of now, carriers could even struggle to hold end-March rates up into the coming weeks. Sources at the lead carriers who spoke with the Journal of Commerce noted that recent GRIs could have worked better if smaller lines working on slot rights had also made similar attempts. “A few Asian carriers are very aggressive in their pricing to fill the weekly space they have,” a European carrier source said. “Rate efforts will fail so long as some carriers are undercutting achievable spot rates.” Forwarder sources put spot rate quotes from Cosco Shipping/OOCL and HMM at between $1,400 and $1,700 per FEU for bookings from Nhava Sheva to New York. Ocean Network Express is another liner usually quoting 20% to 25% lower than its established peers, sources say. Major carriers had arguably lined up rate increases effective March 1 and March 15 with the intention of strengthening their bargaining power during service contract negotiations, but overcapacity seems to have kept that tactic in check. Contact Bency Matthew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com.

Container Shipping News

Port News

Container lines

North American ports

International ports

Maritime

Carriers jettison India-US April rate hike plans after shaky March recovery erodes

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Acquisitions continue in the domestic freight market, with Descartes buying 3GTMS to continue a decade-long spree of purchases. </div>

Acquisitions continue in the domestic freight market, with Descartes buying 3GTMS to continue a decade-long spree of purchases.

<div class="phx-topic">Logistics software company Descartes has acquired 3GTMS, a widely used domestic transportation management system (TMS) provider, the companies said Tuesday. The $115 million all-cash deal strengthens Descartes’ TMS reach within the US shipper community, especially in managing truckload, less-than-truckload and parcel shipments. 3GTMS adds to an existing catalog of TMS products that Descartes offers, including ones specifically for shippers and brokers. Descartes Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Roszko, in a statement, called the two TMSs “highly complementary” for domestic modes. “The acquisition also expands our carrier reach in North America, including the addition of a network of [application programming interface]-integrated LTL carriers,” he said. Founded in 2013 by TMS pioneer Mitch Weseley, 3GTMS initially came to market to serve the needs of shippers with complicated transportation networks. The product eventually came to be used by third-party logistics providers as well. The deal is Descartes’ 32nd acquisition since 2016 across a range of different transportation and global trade functions. The acquisition continues a recent trend of consolidation in the domestic transportation software and data landscape, with Triumph Financial having acquired <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/triumph-acquires-broker-focused-pricing-technology-provider-greenscreensai-5951484">truckload pricing data provider Greenscreens.ai</a> in late February and brokerage pricing and visibility software vendor <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/dat-acquires-trucker-tools-in-move-to-reduce-load-board-driver-churn-5907848">Trucker Tools being acquired by DAT Freight &amp; Analytics</a> in December. The TMS market in which Descartes and 3GTMS operate is highly fragmented, with large players such as Oracle, SAP and Blue Yonder competing against small low-cost options targeted at brokers, carriers or shippers. Additionally, many brokers use homegrown TMSs. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Logistics software company Descartes has acquired 3GTMS, a widely used domestic transportation management system (TMS) provider, the companies said Tuesday. The $115 million all-cash deal strengthens Descartes’ TMS reach within the US shipper community, especially in managing truckload, less-than-truckload and parcel shipments. 3GTMS adds to an existing catalog of TMS products that Descartes offers, including ones specifically for shippers and brokers. Descartes Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Roszko, in a statement, called the two TMSs “highly complementary” for domestic modes. “The acquisition also expands our carrier reach in North America, including the addition of a network of [application programming interface]-integrated LTL carriers,” he said. Founded in 2013 by TMS pioneer Mitch Weseley, 3GTMS initially came to market to serve the needs of shippers with complicated transportation networks. The product eventually came to be used by third-party logistics providers as well. The deal is Descartes’ 32nd acquisition since 2016 across a range of different transportation and global trade functions. The acquisition continues a recent trend of consolidation in the domestic transportation software and data landscape, with Triumph Financial having acquired truckload pricing data provider Greenscreens.ai in late February and brokerage pricing and visibility software vendor Trucker Tools being acquired by DAT Freight & Analytics in December. The TMS market in which Descartes and 3GTMS operate is highly fragmented, with large players such as Oracle, SAP and Blue Yonder competing against small low-cost options targeted at brokers, carriers or shippers. Additionally, many brokers use homegrown TMSs. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Truckload

Truck brokers

Logistics Technology News

Descartes snaps up rival to double down on domestic TMS market

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">CEO Stefan Paul told the company’s annual capital markets event in London that while K+N will focus on organic growth, it will also make bolt-on acquisitions “if they make sense.” </div>

CEO Stefan Paul told the company’s annual capital markets event in London that while K+N will focus on organic growth, it will also make bolt-on acquisitions “if they make sense.”

<div class="phx-topic">Gains in market share, especially in both sea and air logistics, will help Kuehne + Nagel outperform growth in the wider freight forwarding sector, senior company executives said Tuesday. CEO Stefan Paul said the company is aiming for growth of one and a half times the market rate, equal to average GDP growth, between now and 2030. “For sea and air logistics, our reference metric is volume growth; for road and contract logistics, it is net turnover growth,” Paul said during the company’s capital markets day in London. But K+N is also forecasting a more subdued 2025, with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of between $1.7 billion and $2 billion. That compares with EBIT of $1.9 billion last year. “The lower end of our guidance reflects an increased level of uncertainty at this relatively early stage of the year 2025,” CFO Markus Blanka-Graff said during Tuesday’s event. Company executives admitted they were over-optimistic how the market would develop after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic when they targeted EBIT growth of 17% to 19% between 2019 and 2024. Actual average growth was 11%, and while that was an improvement compared with pre-pandemic growth rates, “it means we are clearly tracking below our expectations,” Paul said. He said the new growth targets are based on three assumptions. Aside from global long-term economic growth, they comprise increasing supply chain complexity due to trade barriers and other disruptions in supply or demand, and further market consolidation “because scale matters.” Paul said while K+N will focus on organic growth, it will also make bolt-on acquisitions “if they make sense,” such as the prior takeovers of Apex Logistics, US drayage firm IMC and Canadian customs broker Farrow. Commenting on the growth targets, Paul indicated that Kuehne + Nagel had already taken on new air freight customers in the fourth quarter because of <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/approvals-from-europe-us-among-last-hurdles-in-dsvs-takeover-of-db-schenker-5937453">DSV’s agreement to acquire DB Schenker</a>. And he expects a major shift in customers will come after that deal is completed, saying a combined DSV-Schenker could lose between 20% and 25% of its business to other logistics providers, mostly in the second half of this year. That is largely due to shipper procurement policies and governance issues in terms of how much business they can allocate to one provider rather than quality or service issues, Paul added. <h3>Expanding in smaller markets </h3>Michael Aldwell, K+N’s executive vice president of sea logistics, said the company would intensify its focus on key trades such as the trans-Atlantic, intra-Asia and Asia to North America and Europe, especially in areas such as healthcare, consumer goods, high-tech and industrial. “We will expand our network in smaller markets where we find attractive growth potential,” Aldwell said. “So far, we are now serving 41 new markets since the beginning of 2023, out of the initial goal of 50 by 2026.” At least another 20 new markets will be added in the next few years, including in Japan, Central Europe and Central and Latin America, he said. The forwarder is also increasing its focus to attract more small and medium-sized firms, which currently account for about 49% of its customer base. Yngve Ruud, K+N’s executive vice president of air logistics, was confident about the air freight outlook, with global volumes expected to increase 3% between 2025 and 2028. “Demand will exceed capacity in specific regions and trade lanes,” Ruud said, without giving details. He expected the forwarder would also meet its earnings growth target by launching new services for shippers later this year and in 2026, including “an end-to-end cool corridor in health care.” Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>.</div>

Gains in market share, especially in both sea and air logistics, will help Kuehne + Nagel outperform growth in the wider freight forwarding sector, senior company executives said Tuesday. CEO Stefan Paul said the company is aiming for growth of one and a half times the market rate, equal to average GDP growth, between now and 2030. “For sea and air logistics, our reference metric is volume growth; for road and contract logistics, it is net turnover growth,” Paul said during the company’s capital markets day in London. But K+N is also forecasting a more subdued 2025, with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of between $1.7 billion and $2 billion. That compares with EBIT of $1.9 billion last year. “The lower end of our guidance reflects an increased level of uncertainty at this relatively early stage of the year 2025,” CFO Markus Blanka-Graff said during Tuesday’s event. Company executives admitted they were over-optimistic how the market would develop after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic when they targeted EBIT growth of 17% to 19% between 2019 and 2024. Actual average growth was 11%, and while that was an improvement compared with pre-pandemic growth rates, “it means we are clearly tracking below our expectations,” Paul said. He said the new growth targets are based on three assumptions. Aside from global long-term economic growth, they comprise increasing supply chain complexity due to trade barriers and other disruptions in supply or demand, and further market consolidation “because scale matters.” Paul said while K+N will focus on organic growth, it will also make bolt-on acquisitions “if they make sense,” such as the prior takeovers of Apex Logistics, US drayage firm IMC and Canadian customs broker Farrow. Commenting on the growth targets, Paul indicated that Kuehne + Nagel had already taken on new air freight customers in the fourth quarter because of DSV’s agreement to acquire DB Schenker . And he expects a major shift in customers will come after that deal is completed, saying a combined DSV-Schenker could lose between 20% and 25% of its business to other logistics providers, mostly in the second half of this year. That is largely due to shipper procurement policies and governance issues in terms of how much business they can allocate to one provider rather than quality or service issues, Paul added. Expanding in smaller markets Michael Aldwell, K+N’s executive vice president of sea logistics, said the company would intensify its focus on key trades such as the trans-Atlantic, intra-Asia and Asia to North America and Europe, especially in areas such as healthcare, consumer goods, high-tech and industrial. “We will expand our network in smaller markets where we find attractive growth potential,” Aldwell said. “So far, we are now serving 41 new markets since the beginning of 2023, out of the initial goal of 50 by 2026.” At least another 20 new markets will be added in the next few years, including in Japan, Central Europe and Central and Latin America, he said. The forwarder is also increasing its focus to attract more small and medium-sized firms, which currently account for about 49% of its customer base. Yngve Ruud, K+N’s executive vice president of air logistics, was confident about the air freight outlook, with global volumes expected to increase 3% between 2025 and 2028. “Demand will exceed capacity in specific regions and trade lanes,” Ruud said, without giving details. He expected the forwarder would also meet its earnings growth target by launching new services for shippers later this year and in 2026, including “an end-to-end cool corridor in health care.” Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Forwarding

Supply chain

Kuehne + Nagel says gaining market share key to driving earnings growth

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Oil and gas project developers pin hopes on legislative support and tax breaks for supporting carbon capture buildouts in the US, but the future of those projects could be at a crossroads under the Trump administration.</div>

Oil and gas project developers pin hopes on legislative support and tax breaks for supporting carbon capture buildouts in the US, but the future of those projects could be at a crossroads under the Trump administration.

<div class="phx-topic">The development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities is gaining momentum along the US Gulf Coast, and the buildout could generate a windfall of project cargo and breakbulk shipments. But the future of these projects could be at a crossroads in the US as federal energy priorities under the Trump administration are at odds when it comes to CCS. A climate mitigation strategy favored by the oil and gas industry, CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide emitted from power plants and factories and storing it underground.The Gulf Coast accounts for 56% of US permit applications for underground carbon injection wells, known as Class VI wells, with 147 applications for sites across Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, according to data the Global CCS Institute provided to the Journal of Commerce. Jared Daniels, CEO of the Global CCS Institute, said the region’s carbon capture and storage boom could provide a significant source of project and breakbulk cargo as it would create a need to transport and install components including compressors, pumps, pipelines, chemical plant equipment, heavy machinery and raw materials. There are also opportunities for the transport of carbon dioxide captured from operational facilities. Daniels said although pipelines are the most common mode of CO2 transport, there is substantial research and development activity underway globally to create the potential to transport large volumes of CO2 by ship for storage purposes. “These could present new commercial opportunities, especially for the Gulf Coast, given the region’s ports, infrastructure and CO2 storage resources,” he said. The Trump administration has been working to dismantle policies and resources that support environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, including zero-carbon goals. But the administration has also prioritized support for the oil and gas industry, which is backing several CCS projects. In January, Trump ended a Biden-era moratorium on export permits for liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects — some of which are pursuing carbon capture and storage to power their facilities. Daniels said high interest rates — combined with new tariffs and ongoing reviews of Biden-era infrastructure funding — present “significant” cost and financing challenges for CCS project developers. “These factors could delay or increase the costs of critical projects, adding uncertainty to the pace of deployment with potential impacts on energy security, exports, and jobs,” he said.<h3>Multimodal support in place</h3>Across the Gulf Coast, there are 31 CCS projects under development, with operational dates through 2028, according to a 2024 report by the National Technology Energy Laboratory and KeyLogic Inc.Energy majors including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Talos Energy Inc. and Occidental have CCS projects in development on the Gulf Coast. Key projects include ExxonMobil’s Gulf Coast CCS Network, which would be the nation’s largest offshore carbon dioxide capture and storage site, and the Bayou Bend CCS project — a joint venture between Chevron, TotalEnergies and Equinor to develop the first offshore Class VI CO2 injection well in Texas state waters. Last June, San Francisco-based carbon technologies company Heirloom announced plans to build the first of two direct air capture (DAC) facilities at the Port of Caddo-Bossier in northwest Louisiana. Direct air capture is a decarbonization method that is complementary to carbon capture and storage. Whereas CCS captures carbon dioxide from industrial sources such as power plants and factories, DAC removes CO2 directly from the atmosphere.Caitlyn Cain, community engagement lead for Heirloom, told the Journal of Commerce that Louisiana’s ports are uniquely positioned to support industries such as CCS because of their immediate access to rail, trucking and barge facilities.“That multimodality is incredibly appealing for industries like direct air capture and other industrial processes that want to take advantage of existing infrastructure to be able to transport cargo and to move product for industrial operations,” Cain said. Shen said project materials, including steel and feedstock, will come primarily from domestic sources via truck and rail. Once operational, Heirloom’s facility will be able to capture up to 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide at the Port of Caddo-Bossier and then transport the CO2 via pipeline to a Class VI well in central Louisiana.Construction is slated to begin on the facility by late 2026, starting with a $457 million plant that will be Heirloom’s first DAC facility in Louisiana and its second in North America. The second facility under design is part of Project Cypress, a public-private development that would create one of Louisiana’s largest DAC hubs. Project Cypress is pursuing up to $600 million in federal funds and will consist of Heirloom’s plant in Caddo Parish and a southwest Louisiana DAC facility being developed by DAC technology developer Climeworks. <h3>Sizeable cargo demands</h3>Cargo considerations for CCS projects are significant, often involving superload shipments that require extensive permitting and resources.Paul Betts, project manager for heavy-haul transport company Sarens, told the Journal of Commerce that six months of planning went into its December overland move of components for the Shell Polaris CCS project in Alberta, Canada, given the sheer size of the load and the permitting it required.The project called for the transport and installation of three massive components. Betts said the heaviest load weighed in at 655 tons, including trucks, trailers and equipment, and transporting it required 56 axle lines on two hydraulic platform trailers. “This was the biggest thing that moved in Alberta in a lot of years,” Betts said.The project has been in the works since 2021, and Sarens was awarded the cargo transport job in spring 2024. Preparing the 66-mile route entailed removing railway arms, securing bridge capacities, and coordinating power line adjustments 45 days in advance. “This was over and above normal heavy-haul procedures,” Betts said.The heavy lifting took a total of eight days in October, November and December and included the placement of all three components by crane, with the largest structure towering at nearly 235 feet tall. Betts said CCS is shaping up to be an active project segment over the next five years, with even larger projects to come. “There are a whole bunch of them popping up everywhere, so I think it’s a trend that’s going to carry on,” he said.Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at <a href="mailto:autumn@autumngiusti.com">autumn@autumngiusti.com</a>.</div>

The development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities is gaining momentum along the US Gulf Coast, and the buildout could generate a windfall of project cargo and breakbulk shipments. But the future of these projects could be at a crossroads in the US as federal energy priorities under the Trump administration are at odds when it comes to CCS. A climate mitigation strategy favored by the oil and gas industry, CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide emitted from power plants and factories and storing it underground. The Gulf Coast accounts for 56% of US permit applications for underground carbon injection wells, known as Class VI wells, with 147 applications for sites across Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, according to data the Global CCS Institute provided to the Journal of Commerce. Jared Daniels, CEO of the Global CCS Institute, said the region’s carbon capture and storage boom could provide a significant source of project and breakbulk cargo as it would create a need to transport and install components including compressors, pumps, pipelines, chemical plant equipment, heavy machinery and raw materials. There are also opportunities for the transport of carbon dioxide captured from operational facilities. Daniels said although pipelines are the most common mode of CO2 transport, there is substantial research and development activity underway globally to create the potential to transport large volumes of CO2 by ship for storage purposes. “These could present new commercial opportunities, especially for the Gulf Coast, given the region’s ports, infrastructure and CO2 storage resources,” he said. The Trump administration has been working to dismantle policies and resources that support environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, including zero-carbon goals. But the administration has also prioritized support for the oil and gas industry, which is backing several CCS projects. In January, Trump ended a Biden-era moratorium on export permits for liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects — some of which are pursuing carbon capture and storage to power their facilities. Daniels said high interest rates — combined with new tariffs and ongoing reviews of Biden-era infrastructure funding — present “significant” cost and financing challenges for CCS project developers. “These factors could delay or increase the costs of critical projects, adding uncertainty to the pace of deployment with potential impacts on energy security, exports, and jobs,” he said. Multimodal support in place Across the Gulf Coast, there are 31 CCS projects under development, with operational dates through 2028, according to a 2024 report by the National Technology Energy Laboratory and KeyLogic Inc. Energy majors including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Talos Energy Inc. and Occidental have CCS projects in development on the Gulf Coast. Key projects include ExxonMobil’s Gulf Coast CCS Network, which would be the nation’s largest offshore carbon dioxide capture and storage site, and the Bayou Bend CCS project — a joint venture between Chevron, TotalEnergies and Equinor to develop the first offshore Class VI CO2 injection well in Texas state waters. Last June, San Francisco-based carbon technologies company Heirloom announced plans to build the first of two direct air capture (DAC) facilities at the Port of Caddo-Bossier in northwest Louisiana. Direct air capture is a decarbonization method that is complementary to carbon capture and storage. Whereas CCS captures carbon dioxide from industrial sources such as power plants and factories, DAC removes CO2 directly from the atmosphere. Caitlyn Cain, community engagement lead for Heirloom, told the Journal of Commerce that Louisiana’s ports are uniquely positioned to support industries such as CCS because of their immediate access to rail, trucking and barge facilities. “That multimodality is incredibly appealing for industries like direct air capture and other industrial processes that want to take advantage of existing infrastructure to be able to transport cargo and to move product for industrial operations,” Cain said. Shen said project materials, including steel and feedstock, will come primarily from domestic sources via truck and rail. Once operational, Heirloom’s facility will be able to capture up to 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide at the Port of Caddo-Bossier and then transport the CO2 via pipeline to a Class VI well in central Louisiana. Construction is slated to begin on the facility by late 2026, starting with a $457 million plant that will be Heirloom’s first DAC facility in Louisiana and its second in North America. The second facility under design is part of Project Cypress, a public-private development that would create one of Louisiana’s largest DAC hubs. Project Cypress is pursuing up to $600 million in federal funds and will consist of Heirloom’s plant in Caddo Parish and a southwest Louisiana DAC facility being developed by DAC technology developer Climeworks. Sizeable cargo demands Cargo considerations for CCS projects are significant, often involving superload shipments that require extensive permitting and resources. Paul Betts, project manager for heavy-haul transport company Sarens, told the Journal of Commerce that six months of planning went into its December overland move of components for the Shell Polaris CCS project in Alberta, Canada, given the sheer size of the load and the permitting it required. The project called for the transport and installation of three massive components. Betts said the heaviest load weighed in at 655 tons, including trucks, trailers and equipment, and transporting it required 56 axle lines on two hydraulic platform trailers. “This was the biggest thing that moved in Alberta in a lot of years,” Betts said. The project has been in the works since 2021, and Sarens was awarded the cargo transport job in spring 2024. Preparing the 66-mile route entailed removing railway arms, securing bridge capacities, and coordinating power line adjustments 45 days in advance. “This was over and above normal heavy-haul procedures,” Betts said. The heavy lifting took a total of eight days in October, November and December and included the placement of all three components by crane, with the largest structure towering at nearly 235 feet tall. Betts said CCS is shaping up to be an active project segment over the next five years, with even larger projects to come. “There are a whole bunch of them popping up everywhere, so I think it’s a trend that’s going to carry on,” he said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at autumn@autumngiusti.com .

Energy projects

Project cargo

Breakbulk News

US support for carbon capture in question as projects boom along Gulf Coast

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">An alliance of global shippers is calling on the IMO to use the April gathering of its Marine Environment Protection Committee to meet the “urgency of the moment” when it comes to lowering emissions from shipping.</div>

An alliance of global shippers is calling on the IMO to use the April gathering of its Marine Environment Protection Committee to meet the “urgency of the moment” when it comes to lowering emissions from shipping.

<div class="phx-topic">An alliance of global cargo owners is urging the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to use its upcoming Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting to approve “a clear, comprehensive, globally consistent set of measures” that will accelerate the transition to clean energy. The 176 member states of the IMO will gather <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-in-holding-pattern-over-imo-membership-dnv-5967501">for the 83rd MEPC meeting</a> April 7–11 in London, where topping the agenda will be the design of a greenhouse gas (GHG) fuel intensity regulation and an economic measure for taxing carbon emissions. It is critical that the meeting ends with consensus over both “mid-term measures,” said Ingrid Irigoyen, president and CEO of the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA). “Given shipping’s essential role in global trade and private sector actors ready to invest in innovative fuels and technologies under the right conditions, it is critical the IMO succeeds in delivering much-needed regulatory clarity and incentivizes the most scalable, long-term solutions,” Irigoyen wrote in an open letter to IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez. She pointed out that the 40 global freight buyers within ZEMBA who rely on maritime shipping embarked on their own first-mover initiative in March 2023 to accelerate the market for low- and zero-emission fuels and urged the IMO to match the urgency shown by the private sector shippers. <h3>‘Urgency of the moment’ </h3>The inaugural tender from ZEMBA, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/hapag-lloyd-wins-asia-europe-green-shipping-tender-to-launch-next-year-5240949">won by Hapag-Lloyd</a>, is expected to prevent at least 82,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions in 2025 and 2026 through deployment of waste-based, third-party certified maritime biomethane sourced from landfill gas and livestock manure. ZEMBA’s second tender, launched in February, is far more ambitious and seeks commitments from ocean carriers to power at least 80 billion metric ton-nautical miles of ocean shipping using e-fuels. “Our private sector partners are moving quickly to match the urgency of the moment, and we encourage the IMO to act with deliberate speed and ambition as well,” Irigoyen wrote in the open letter. “As global employers and customers of the shipping industry, freight buyers have a significant stake in the sector’s energy transition and the decisions that the IMO will make this year,” she added. The IMO in 2023 revised its roadmap for the industry’s transition that set an end goal of net-zero GHG emissions by or around 2050 and includes key checkpoints for the journey: at least a 20% GHG emissions reduction, and striving for 30%, by 2030; and at least a 70% GHG emissions reduction, striving for 80%, by 2040. The checkpoints are compared to a 2008 GHG emissions baseline. Drawing on the experience gained from ZEMBA, Irigoyen said it was critical that consensus was received over aligning the midterm measures with the trajectories laid out in the GHG strategy. She said the fuel standard must apply to a full “well-to-wake” lifecycle, and the midterm measures must be designed with adequate financial incentives to foster a viable market for long-term scalable fuels and technologies essential to shipping’s transition. “Miscalibration of the financial rewards for fuels and technologies risks locking the sector into unsustainable short-term options, undermining market confidence and increasing the cost of the transition overall,” she wrote. Irigoyen also urged the IMO meeting to develop a “transparent, robust fuel certification framework” with the IMO data collection system updated to support transparent and effective reporting under the midterm measures. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com.</a></div>

An alliance of global cargo owners is urging the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to use its upcoming Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting to approve “a clear, comprehensive, globally consistent set of measures” that will accelerate the transition to clean energy. The 176 member states of the IMO will gather for the 83rd MEPC meeting April 7–11 in London, where topping the agenda will be the design of a greenhouse gas (GHG) fuel intensity regulation and an economic measure for taxing carbon emissions. It is critical that the meeting ends with consensus over both “mid-term measures,” said Ingrid Irigoyen, president and CEO of the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA). “Given shipping’s essential role in global trade and private sector actors ready to invest in innovative fuels and technologies under the right conditions, it is critical the IMO succeeds in delivering much-needed regulatory clarity and incentivizes the most scalable, long-term solutions,” Irigoyen wrote in an open letter to IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez. She pointed out that the 40 global freight buyers within ZEMBA who rely on maritime shipping embarked on their own first-mover initiative in March 2023 to accelerate the market for low- and zero-emission fuels and urged the IMO to match the urgency shown by the private sector shippers. ‘Urgency of the moment’ The inaugural tender from ZEMBA, won by Hapag-Lloyd , is expected to prevent at least 82,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions in 2025 and 2026 through deployment of waste-based, third-party certified maritime biomethane sourced from landfill gas and livestock manure. ZEMBA’s second tender, launched in February, is far more ambitious and seeks commitments from ocean carriers to power at least 80 billion metric ton-nautical miles of ocean shipping using e-fuels. “Our private sector partners are moving quickly to match the urgency of the moment, and we encourage the IMO to act with deliberate speed and ambition as well,” Irigoyen wrote in the open letter. “As global employers and customers of the shipping industry, freight buyers have a significant stake in the sector’s energy transition and the decisions that the IMO will make this year,” she added. The IMO in 2023 revised its roadmap for the industry’s transition that set an end goal of net-zero GHG emissions by or around 2050 and includes key checkpoints for the journey: at least a 20% GHG emissions reduction, and striving for 30%, by 2030; and at least a 70% GHG emissions reduction, striving for 80%, by 2040. The checkpoints are compared to a 2008 GHG emissions baseline. Drawing on the experience gained from ZEMBA, Irigoyen said it was critical that consensus was received over aligning the midterm measures with the trajectories laid out in the GHG strategy. She said the fuel standard must apply to a full “well-to-wake” lifecycle, and the midterm measures must be designed with adequate financial incentives to foster a viable market for long-term scalable fuels and technologies essential to shipping’s transition. “Miscalibration of the financial rewards for fuels and technologies risks locking the sector into unsustainable short-term options, undermining market confidence and increasing the cost of the transition overall,” she wrote. Irigoyen also urged the IMO meeting to develop a “transparent, robust fuel certification framework” with the IMO data collection system updated to support transparent and effective reporting under the midterm measures. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@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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