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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Hungarian officials urged American executives to invest in their country, saying that it could emerg</div>

Hungarian officials urged American executives to invest in their country, saying that it could emerg

<div>Hungarian officials urged American executives to invest in their country, saying that it could emerge as a base for serving the markets of both Western and Eastern Europe.The officials cited Hungary's transition to a democratic society with a market-oriented economy, its liberal new foreign investment law, an educated but inexpensive labor force, its plans to reduce restrictions on imports, its experience in trade with Eastern Europe and its location as factors that should entice Western business people.Despite General Electric Co.'s acquisition two weeks ago of Tungsram, a Hungarian light bulb manufacturer, American investment in Hungary remains relatively low.American companies account...

Hungarian officials urged American executives to invest in their country, saying that it could emerge as a base for serving the markets of both Western and Eastern Europe. The officials cited Hungary's transition to a democratic society with a market-oriented economy, its liberal new foreign investment law, an educated but inexpensive labor force, its plans to reduce restrictions on imports, its experience in trade with Eastern Europe and its location as factors that should entice Western business people.Despite General Electric Co.'s acquisition two weeks ago of Tungsram, a Hungarian light bulb manufacturer, American investment in Hungary remains relatively low. American companies account for only 30 of the 650 joint-venture agreements between Hungarian and foreign companies, and most of those are in services rather than manufacturing, trade minister Tamas Beck told a seminar at the World Trade Institute here. ''I hope in the near future this will change and that we will have more American companies dealing with production," Mr. Beck said. The incentives offered by his government include tax holidays for investments in some 20 categories and free repatriation of profits, he said. Mr. Beck said he hoped that Hungarian-U.S. trade could double by 1991 or 1992 from its present level of $560 million. Hungary would like to increase its exports to the United States of such goods as buses, bicycles, food products, garments, textiles, electrical equipment and pharmaceuticals, he said. He cited machinery, electrical equipment and chemicals as examples of American exports that could also rise. Trade between the two countries should receive a boost as the result of the Bush administration's decision to make Hungary eligible for participation in the Generalized System of Preferences, which allows certain products to enter the United States duty-free. In addition, American companies investing in Hungary can now obtain political risk insurance through the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. The agency also offers loans to small and medium-sized businesses, as well as loan guarantees of up to $50 million, an OPIC official said. Mr. Beck and the other Hungarian officials also outlined a series of ambitious plans for improving the nation's trade and investment relations with its European neighbors. Hungary would like to negotiate a free trade agreement with the 12-member European Community, said Endre Juhasz, director general of the nation's Ministry of Trade. But closer ties with the EC won't be achieved as quickly as Hungary would like, Mr. Beck admitted. "It's like love. It's working well only if both parties want it. We want it, but the EC has a waiting list," he said, citing Austria and Cyprus as nations that are ahead of Hungary on the waiting list. Another disadvantage for Hungary is its membership in the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet bloc's military alliance, he said. The Hungarian officials also said they would like closer ties with the six-member European Free Trade Association. Asked when Hungary's currency, the forint, might become convertible, Mr. Beck replied that the questioner should consult the Delphic Oracle. It will be very difficult to achieve this for at least three to five years, he added. Peter Reiniger, deputy minister of industry, cited Hungary's location as a key consideration for Western investors. "Hungary is in the heart of Europe," he said, noting that some 240 million people live within a 500-mile radius. "Hungary could serve as a springboard for business with Eastern Europe, especially the Soviet market," said Mr. Juhasz. He also said Hungary has proposed conducting its trade with the Soviet Union and other East European nations in hard currency by 1991 or 1992.

HUNGARY PROMOTES ITSELF AS BASE FOR TRADE WITH EAST AND WEST

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Robust automobile, steel and wind power equipment movements in 2024 put US ports on a strong footing, but tariffs and a shift in government priorities could temper progress this year.</div>

Robust automobile, steel and wind power equipment movements in 2024 put US ports on a strong footing, but tariffs and a shift in government priorities could temper progress this year.

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<div class="phx-topic">Southeastern US ports anticipate growth in 2025 despite looming steel tariffs and energy policy changes that could shake up the US breakbulk and project cargo sector. At a Feb. 12 address, Georgia Ports President and CEO Griff Lynch announced that the Port of Brunswick has claimed the top spot as the busiest US port for automobiles and heavy equipment, handling over 2 million tons of roll-on/roll-of (ro-ro) cargo in 2024 following the completion of $262 million in improvements to the port.In becoming the leading US auto port, Brunswick surpasses the Port of Baltimore, which shut down for an extended period following the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024 <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/no-timeline-for-baltimore-port-reopening-following-bridge-collapse-5234333">after it was hit by a container ship</a>. The Port of Brunswick handled 901,912 units of automobiles in 2024, up 13.3% from the previous year, according to port data. It’s likely Brunswick benefited to some extent from cargo diversions from Baltimore, whose handling of automobiles dropped 11% last year to under 750,000 units. US President Donald Trump on Feb. 18 announced plans to impose tariffs of roughly 25% on automobile imports. According to the Port of Brunswick, US-made exports account for over 90% of autos moved by rail at the port’s Colonel Island Terminal.<h3>Steel, wind drive Houston activity</h3>US policy changes could alter cargo activity for some key commodities at Port Houston, the nation’s largest breakbulk and project cargo complex, following a busy 2024 for multiple segments. Steel accounted for about three-fourths of annual breakbulk volumes at the port in 2024, which recorded its second-highest steel volume in five years and third-highest in the last decade. On Feb. 11, Trump announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum.Meanwhile, the port recorded triple-digit growth for wind power equipment volumes amid growing demands across Texas, the nation’s largest producer of wind energy. Upon taking office, Trump issued an executive order halting new federal leases for offshore wind projects, while his administration has shifted its focus to fossil fuel production. John Mosley, chief commercial officer for Port Houston, told the Journal of Commerce that the port is monitoring ongoing changes in international trade tariff policies and how they might affect the region. The port is also planning $85 million in improvements to its multipurpose facilities over the next five years.“Looking ahead, we will approach our work as we always have,” he said. Mosley said steel volumes at Port Houston were strong in 2023 and 2024, with cargo reaching 4.5 million tons in 2024, a 1% increase over 2023.Asian and South American countries account for 76% of Houston’s steel imports as the port is a key destination for steel cargo from South Korea (34%), Vietnam (11%) Japan (10%), China (11%) and Brazil (10%), Mosley said, citing Port Houston data. Wind power equipment moving through Port Houston’s facilities totaled 1,300 tons, a 680% increase over 2023, according to port data provided to the Journal of Commerce. “Some of that shift can be attributed to expanding wind energy capacity in Texas by 2.5 gigawatts (GW) through the first half of 2024,” Mosley said, citing US Energy Information Administration data. Plywood cargo activity is on track to grow in 2025 to meet rising construction demand, Mosley said. Plywood volumes reached 97,634 tons in 2024, a 388% increase over the previous year.The public terminals managed by Houston’s port authority recorded 5.4 million tons in overall breakbulk and project cargo volume in 2024, up 0.5% from 2023, according to port data provided to the Journal of Commerce. Mosley said a small increase in steel imports of tubular goods used for oil and gas drilling helped carry the year forward. <h3>LNG powers project cargo boost</h3>Steel imports and project cargo volumes are set to keep pace with 2024 growth at the Port of New Orleans, Janine Mansour, the port’s director of trade development, told the Journal of Commerce. Cargo volumes of steel, the port’s largest breakbulk commodity, grew 2% in 2024 to 740,498 tons according to Port of New Orleans data, and Mansour said those levels should continue through 2025.Project cargo volume increased 50% to 50,912 tons in 2024 on movement of cargo for the $13.2 billion Venture Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility project in Plaquemines Parish, about 20 miles south of New Orleans, Mansour said. “Venture Global Plaquemines phase two is still in construction and a significant driver on project cargo, as well as import cement,” she said.In another growth area for the port, lumber imports for 2024 grew to 56,200 tons, a 132% increase over the previous year. Total volumes of bagged cargo — which include commodities such as cement, sugar, ferroalloys and coffee — fell 43% to 83,976 tons for the year, with volumes expected to remain the same in 2025. Mansour said the port has received inquiries on bagged cargo from the eastern coast of South America.“We see import cement in bags as a strong growth opportunity,” she said.Total breakbulk and project cargo tonnage last year in New Orleans slipped to 1.2 million tons, down 1.6% lower from 2023. “No additional spillover or significant changes are expected in 2025,” Mansour said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at <a href="mailto:autumn@autumngiusti.com">autumn@autumngiusti.com</a>.</div>

Southeastern US ports anticipate growth in 2025 despite looming steel tariffs and energy policy changes that could shake up the US breakbulk and project cargo sector. At a Feb. 12 address, Georgia Ports President and CEO Griff Lynch announced that the Port of Brunswick has claimed the top spot as the busiest US port for automobiles and heavy equipment, handling over 2 million tons of roll-on/roll-of (ro-ro) cargo in 2024 following the completion of $262 million in improvements to the port. In becoming the leading US auto port, Brunswick surpasses the Port of Baltimore, which shut down for an extended period following the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024 after it was hit by a container ship . The Port of Brunswick handled 901,912 units of automobiles in 2024, up 13.3% from the previous year, according to port data. It’s likely Brunswick benefited to some extent from cargo diversions from Baltimore, whose handling of automobiles dropped 11% last year to under 750,000 units. US President Donald Trump on Feb. 18 announced plans to impose tariffs of roughly 25% on automobile imports. According to the Port of Brunswick, US-made exports account for over 90% of autos moved by rail at the port’s Colonel Island Terminal. Steel, wind drive Houston activity US policy changes could alter cargo activity for some key commodities at Port Houston, the nation’s largest breakbulk and project cargo complex, following a busy 2024 for multiple segments. Steel accounted for about three-fourths of annual breakbulk volumes at the port in 2024, which recorded its second-highest steel volume in five years and third-highest in the last decade. On Feb. 11, Trump announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. Meanwhile, the port recorded triple-digit growth for wind power equipment volumes amid growing demands across Texas, the nation’s largest producer of wind energy. Upon taking office, Trump issued an executive order halting new federal leases for offshore wind projects, while his administration has shifted its focus to fossil fuel production. John Mosley, chief commercial officer for Port Houston, told the Journal of Commerce that the port is monitoring ongoing changes in international trade tariff policies and how they might affect the region. The port is also planning $85 million in improvements to its multipurpose facilities over the next five years. “Looking ahead, we will approach our work as we always have,” he said. Mosley said steel volumes at Port Houston were strong in 2023 and 2024, with cargo reaching 4.5 million tons in 2024, a 1% increase over 2023. Asian and South American countries account for 76% of Houston’s steel imports as the port is a key destination for steel cargo from South Korea (34%), Vietnam (11%) Japan (10%), China (11%) and Brazil (10%), Mosley said, citing Port Houston data. Wind power equipment moving through Port Houston’s facilities totaled 1,300 tons, a 680% increase over 2023, according to port data provided to the Journal of Commerce. “Some of that shift can be attributed to expanding wind energy capacity in Texas by 2.5 gigawatts (GW) through the first half of 2024,” Mosley said, citing US Energy Information Administration data. Plywood cargo activity is on track to grow in 2025 to meet rising construction demand, Mosley said. Plywood volumes reached 97,634 tons in 2024, a 388% increase over the previous year. The public terminals managed by Houston’s port authority recorded 5.4 million tons in overall breakbulk and project cargo volume in 2024, up 0.5% from 2023, according to port data provided to the Journal of Commerce. Mosley said a small increase in steel imports of tubular goods used for oil and gas drilling helped carry the year forward. LNG powers project cargo boost Steel imports and project cargo volumes are set to keep pace with 2024 growth at the Port of New Orleans, Janine Mansour, the port’s director of trade development, told the Journal of Commerce. Cargo volumes of steel, the port’s largest breakbulk commodity, grew 2% in 2024 to 740,498 tons according to Port of New Orleans data, and Mansour said those levels should continue through 2025. Project cargo volume increased 50% to 50,912 tons in 2024 on movement of cargo for the $13.2 billion Venture Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility project in Plaquemines Parish, about 20 miles south of New Orleans, Mansour said. “Venture Global Plaquemines phase two is still in construction and a significant driver on project cargo, as well as import cement,” she said. In another growth area for the port, lumber imports for 2024 grew to 56,200 tons, a 132% increase over the previous year. Total volumes of bagged cargo — which include commodities such as cement, sugar, ferroalloys and coffee — fell 43% to 83,976 tons for the year, with volumes expected to remain the same in 2025. Mansour said the port has received inquiries on bagged cargo from the eastern coast of South America. “We see import cement in bags as a strong growth opportunity,” she said. Total breakbulk and project cargo tonnage last year in New Orleans slipped to 1.2 million tons, down 1.6% lower from 2023. “No additional spillover or significant changes are expected in 2025,” Mansour said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at autumn@autumngiusti.com .

US policy changes could threaten breakbulk volume growth for ports

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The port’s recently approved five-year strategic plan details infrastructure, transloading and maritime support activities that it hopes will spur cargo growth by making the Northern California gateway more attractive to importers.</div>

The port’s recently approved five-year strategic plan details infrastructure, transloading and maritime support activities that it hopes will spur cargo growth by making the Northern California gateway more attractive to importers.

<div class="phx-topic">The Port of Oakland’s new five-year strategic growth plan lays out an ambitious program to modernize cargo-handling infrastructure and transloading capacity, a strategy that is intended to grow containerized imports at a gateway that is geared toward exports. The five-year strategic plan that was approved on Feb. 10 by Oakland’s Board of Port Commissioners focuses on key infrastructure projects including widening of its turning basins to enable uninterrupted two-way vessel traffic, redevelopment of the defunct Howard Terminal for maritime support activities and continued redevelopment of a former Army base for warehousing and rail-to-container transloading activities. Mike Jacob, president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA), which represents terminal operators and shipping lines on the West Coast, said Oakland’s strategic plan is generally on target in that it will make the Northern California gateway more attractive to importers and carriers on the trans-Pacific trade. “The port needs to be more competitive in the import space,” Jacob said. The trans-Pacific trade has always been weak in exports compared with imports, and exports could weaken further if the US incurs retaliatory tariffs from Asian trading partners, he noted. Data shows Oakland lagging other ports on the West Coast when it comes to imports from Asia. The Southern California port complex of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma had near-record years in 2024 for Asia imports, with year-on-year gains of 24.2% and 28.4%, respectively, according to PIERS, a Journal of Commerce sister product within S&amp;P Global. In Oakland, Asian imports increased 13.2%. More than 75% of the laden containers handled in Los Angeles-Long Beach are imports, whereas in Oakland laden imports account for 55% of the boxes handled, according to statistics on the ports’ websites. <h3>Oakland seeking first-call inbound service</h3>Imports attract first-call inbound services in the trans-Pacific. Vessels in Pacific Southwest services from Asia call first in Los Angeles-Long Beach, where about 80% of the containers are discharged. The vessels then call in Oakland to handle the remaining 20% of the containers. Ships are topped off primarily with agricultural exports from California’s Central Valley and protein (meat) products railed to Oakland from the Midwest. Oakland has no first-call inbound services from Asia. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="4e002908-4b97-4403-abc6-17a31473ce27"></dynamic-object></div>Bryan Brandes, Oakland’s maritime director, said the port is pursuing first-call inbound services, adding that an announcement could come in 2026. Among the goals outlined in Oakland’s strategic plan are capturing market growth and expanding the port’s economic base, while modernizing and upgrading infrastructure to support that growth, Brandes said. The project to widen Oakland’s Inner and Outer Harbor turning basins to allow the largest vessels deployed in the trans-Pacific to enter and leave the port without restrictions has been planned for several years and is progressing through the permitting process. The port is targeting 2027 to begin construction and 2029 as the completion date, said port COO Kristi McKenney. When completed, vessels will be able to enter and exit the port 24 hours a day without regard to the tidal variations they face now. This is critical to keeping vessel strings in the trans-Pacific on schedule, McKenney said. <h3>Development projects on tap</h3>Redevelopment of Howard Terminal for maritime and trucking-related activities is back on track after five years of being held up due to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/oaklands-howard-terminal-eyes-redevelopment-after-ballpark-proposal-strikes-out-5234580">plans by investors to build a stadium for the Oakland A’s baseball team</a>. That consideration went away in 2023 when the team’s owners chose to relocate the A’s and purchased land in Las Vegas for a baseball stadium. Although the Howard site is too small to support a modern container terminal, its location within the harbor is well-suited for support activities such as the overnight staging of trucks and containers. Eleven potential investors responded to the port’s “request for quote” (RFQ) for the site, McKenney said, adding the port authority will take about six months to “see what’s rising to the top” from the potential developers before moving forward. The 160-acre former Army base adjacent to the port is now a logistics center known as the Gateway Industrial District that has been under development for the past five years since road and rail improvements were completed. Warehouses, rail-to-container transloading facilities for exports and equipment storage are being developed, all of which will create synergy between importers and exporters, Brandes said. “Every exporter needs a box from an importer,” he said. Oakland is committed to continue developing green initiatives such as electrical charging infrastructure for EV trucks and cargo-handling equipment at marine terminals. The port is assisting the private sector in these areas primarily through grant funding from state and federal sources, McKenney said. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at <a href="mailto:bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com">bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com</a></div>

The Port of Oakland’s new five-year strategic growth plan lays out an ambitious program to modernize cargo-handling infrastructure and transloading capacity, a strategy that is intended to grow containerized imports at a gateway that is geared toward exports. The five-year strategic plan that was approved on Feb. 10 by Oakland’s Board of Port Commissioners focuses on key infrastructure projects including widening of its turning basins to enable uninterrupted two-way vessel traffic, redevelopment of the defunct Howard Terminal for maritime support activities and continued redevelopment of a former Army base for warehousing and rail-to-container transloading activities. Mike Jacob, president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA), which represents terminal operators and shipping lines on the West Coast, said Oakland’s strategic plan is generally on target in that it will make the Northern California gateway more attractive to importers and carriers on the trans-Pacific trade. “The port needs to be more competitive in the import space,” Jacob said. The trans-Pacific trade has always been weak in exports compared with imports, and exports could weaken further if the US incurs retaliatory tariffs from Asian trading partners, he noted. Data shows Oakland lagging other ports on the West Coast when it comes to imports from Asia. The Southern California port complex of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma had near-record years in 2024 for Asia imports, with year-on-year gains of 24.2% and 28.4%, respectively, according to PIERS, a Journal of Commerce sister product within S&P Global. In Oakland, Asian imports increased 13.2%. More than 75% of the laden containers handled in Los Angeles-Long Beach are imports, whereas in Oakland laden imports account for 55% of the boxes handled, according to statistics on the ports’ websites. Oakland seeking first-call inbound service Imports attract first-call inbound services in the trans-Pacific. Vessels in Pacific Southwest services from Asia call first in Los Angeles-Long Beach, where about 80% of the containers are discharged. The vessels then call in Oakland to handle the remaining 20% of the containers. Ships are topped off primarily with agricultural exports from California’s Central Valley and protein (meat) products railed to Oakland from the Midwest. Oakland has no first-call inbound services from Asia. Bryan Brandes, Oakland’s maritime director, said the port is pursuing first-call inbound services, adding that an announcement could come in 2026. Among the goals outlined in Oakland’s strategic plan are capturing market growth and expanding the port’s economic base, while modernizing and upgrading infrastructure to support that growth, Brandes said. The project to widen Oakland’s Inner and Outer Harbor turning basins to allow the largest vessels deployed in the trans-Pacific to enter and leave the port without restrictions has been planned for several years and is progressing through the permitting process. The port is targeting 2027 to begin construction and 2029 as the completion date, said port COO Kristi McKenney. When completed, vessels will be able to enter and exit the port 24 hours a day without regard to the tidal variations they face now. This is critical to keeping vessel strings in the trans-Pacific on schedule, McKenney said. Development projects on tap Redevelopment of Howard Terminal for maritime and trucking-related activities is back on track after five years of being held up due to plans by investors to build a stadium for the Oakland A’s baseball team . That consideration went away in 2023 when the team’s owners chose to relocate the A’s and purchased land in Las Vegas for a baseball stadium. Although the Howard site is too small to support a modern container terminal, its location within the harbor is well-suited for support activities such as the overnight staging of trucks and containers. Eleven potential investors responded to the port’s “request for quote” (RFQ) for the site, McKenney said, adding the port authority will take about six months to “see what’s rising to the top” from the potential developers before moving forward. The 160-acre former Army base adjacent to the port is now a logistics center known as the Gateway Industrial District that has been under development for the past five years since road and rail improvements were completed. Warehouses, rail-to-container transloading facilities for exports and equipment storage are being developed, all of which will create synergy between importers and exporters, Brandes said. “Every exporter needs a box from an importer,” he said. Oakland is committed to continue developing green initiatives such as electrical charging infrastructure for EV trucks and cargo-handling equipment at marine terminals. The port is assisting the private sector in these areas primarily through grant funding from state and federal sources, McKenney said. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com

Oakland pins growth on attracting imports, first-call inbound service

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Dayton Freight Lines and A. Duie Pyle are partnering to provide next-day service from the East Coast to all parts of Ohio as shippers demand more speed. </div>

Dayton Freight Lines and A. Duie Pyle are partnering to provide next-day service from the East Coast to all parts of Ohio as shippers demand more speed.

<div class="phx-topic">Regional less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers in the US are redrawing their service maps by buying new terminals, merging with competitors and forming partnerships to build density in their freight networks and offer their shipper customers more services to more locations. Two of the largest US regional LTL providers, Dayton Freight Lines and A. Duie Pyle, on Tuesday said they would partner to expand their service territories, with A. Duie Pyle gaining next-day lanes throughout Ohio and Dayton pushing into Pennsylvania. The partnership follows the purchase of Ohio-based <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/ma-activity-redrawing-regional-ltl-map-in-us-midwest-and-beyond-5917864">Sutton Transport</a> by Pittsburgh-based Pitt Ohio and smaller deals that are consolidating LTL regional capacity in the Midwest, such as the acquisition of RMX Freight Systems last year by <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/smaller-us-ltl-carriers-increasingly-merging-in-sink-or-swim-market-5783875">Moran Transportation</a>. Pyle and Dayton have been partners since 2003, exchanging two-day shipments at Pyle’s Streetsboro, Ohio, terminals and Dayton’s Cleveland service center. The new initiative upgrades two-day service to next-day, meeting shipper demand for faster transit. For Pyle, increased <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-ltl-rates-rising-as-industrial-outlook-shipper-confidence-improve-5944443">LTL competition</a> made the need to expand into Ohio clear, said John Luciani, chief operating officer of the West Chester, Pennsylvania-based company. “We needed to provide overnight service from New Jersey to the state of Ohio,” Luciani said. “There’s competition providing overnight service, so we were at a disadvantage,” he told the Journal of Commerce Wednesday. “We worked for a little over a year with Dayton to work out ways to infuse next-day shipments into each other’s networks.” Pyle is expanding its terminal network in Ohio to facilitate next-day service. “We’ve purchased a service center in Bowling Green [Ohio] and we will build in Columbus and lease in Toledo,” complementing service centers in Streetsboro and Cleveland, Luciani added. “We had customers tell us that if we were in Columbus we’d be handling their business going to the Northeast, and that was all the motivation we needed,” he said. “Our customers have asked us to expand to provide the high-quality service they want.” Dayton is the third-largest regional US LTL provider ranked by revenue, while Pyle is sixth-largest, according to data from SJ Consulting Group. Its next-day service expansion will be rolled out over the next few quarters, Luciani said. Closing coverage gaps LTL carriers in the Midwest are not just looking to grow, they are filling a gap left by the loss of USF Holland, a leading regional LTL carrier in the Midwest and a subsidiary of bankrupt LTL provider Yellow. Holland shut down along with Yellow’s other carriers in July 2023. “I still think there’s a hole” in the LTL landscape left by Holland, Mike Moran, president of Moran Transportation, told the Journal of Commerce. Holland, acquired by Yellow in 2005, covered the entire Midwest and parts of the south central and southeast United States. Despite decades of offshoring of manufacturing jobs, the Midwest is still home to many US manufacturers, with five of the 10 largest manufacturing states in the US and more than 57,000 manufacturing companies, according to industrial data provider MNI. As the Dayton-Pyle partnership underscores, the Midwest is also a gateway to the Northeast market. R+L Carriers, a Wilmington, Ohio-based national LTL provider, acquired Yellow’s 304-door Maybrook, New York, terminal in December to expand in the Northeast. ”The Midwest is a critical link [in LTL networks] and it’s often overlooked,” said Kevin Huntsman, president of Mastio &amp; Company, a transportation market research firm. The Midwest is a key hub for shipments from the West, East and Gulf coasts, he said. “There’s a strong connection between the Midwest and the Dallas and Houston markets,” Huntsman said. Pitt Ohio recently launched an express LTL service from Ohio to Texas, and LTL carriers are looking to make more <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-ltl-providers-seeking-bigger-share-of-mexico-cross-border-trucking-5929402">Midwest-to-Mexico</a> connections. Regional LTL carriers across the US are also positioning themselves to compete against national carriers and multiregional companies such as Knight-Swift, which has three regional subsidiaries and is <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/knight-swift-puts-ltl-buyouts-on-hold-as-us-freight-market-flattens-5928140">seeking a fourth LTL provider</a> in the Northeast. “There’s a lot happening with regional carriers and I’d expect a lot of consolidation or strategic partnerships,” said Dean Jones, chief commercial officer at AFS Logistics. LTL providers are also watching FedEx Freight, the largest US LTL provider, which is being spun off by parcel carrier FedEx. It is unclear how an independent FedEx Freight <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/fedex-freight-spinoff-is-latest-move-to-reshape-us-ltl-market-5909683">might alter the competitive balance</a> and reshape the LTL market. More density, freight Tim Haitz, chief commercial officer at Wisconsin-based regional LTL provider Standard Forwarding Freight, sees more freight flowing to regional companies. "When freight is going only 500 miles, a long-haul LTL carrier probably touches it more in transit than a regional guy, just because of how the long-haul network is set up to service the whole country,” said Haitz, who worked for decades for Yellow and Roadway. “That’s why you’re seeing a lot of mergers and acquisitions and partnerships among regional carriers all over the country,” Haitz said. “If you can integrate systems and hand off freight, you can extend your networks and become more important to the customer.” Standard Forwarding Freight itself was acquired at the end of 2024 from DHL by Sakaem Logistics, an investment firm owned by the family that used to own defunct car hauler Jack Cooper Transport. The regional LTL carrier has 14 terminals across the Midwest. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Regional less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers in the US are redrawing their service maps by buying new terminals, merging with competitors and forming partnerships to build density in their freight networks and offer their shipper customers more services to more locations. Two of the largest US regional LTL providers, Dayton Freight Lines and A. Duie Pyle, on Tuesday said they would partner to expand their service territories, with A. Duie Pyle gaining next-day lanes throughout Ohio and Dayton pushing into Pennsylvania. The partnership follows the purchase of Ohio-based Sutton Transport by Pittsburgh-based Pitt Ohio and smaller deals that are consolidating LTL regional capacity in the Midwest, such as the acquisition of RMX Freight Systems last year by Moran Transportation . Pyle and Dayton have been partners since 2003, exchanging two-day shipments at Pyle’s Streetsboro, Ohio, terminals and Dayton’s Cleveland service center. The new initiative upgrades two-day service to next-day, meeting shipper demand for faster transit. For Pyle, increased LTL competition made the need to expand into Ohio clear, said John Luciani, chief operating officer of the West Chester, Pennsylvania-based company. “We needed to provide overnight service from New Jersey to the state of Ohio,” Luciani said. “There’s competition providing overnight service, so we were at a disadvantage,” he told the Journal of Commerce Wednesday. “We worked for a little over a year with Dayton to work out ways to infuse next-day shipments into each other’s networks.” Pyle is expanding its terminal network in Ohio to facilitate next-day service. “We’ve purchased a service center in Bowling Green [Ohio] and we will build in Columbus and lease in Toledo,” complementing service centers in Streetsboro and Cleveland, Luciani added. “We had customers tell us that if we were in Columbus we’d be handling their business going to the Northeast, and that was all the motivation we needed,” he said. “Our customers have asked us to expand to provide the high-quality service they want.” Dayton is the third-largest regional US LTL provider ranked by revenue, while Pyle is sixth-largest, according to data from SJ Consulting Group. Its next-day service expansion will be rolled out over the next few quarters, Luciani said. Closing coverage gaps LTL carriers in the Midwest are not just looking to grow, they are filling a gap left by the loss of USF Holland, a leading regional LTL carrier in the Midwest and a subsidiary of bankrupt LTL provider Yellow. Holland shut down along with Yellow’s other carriers in July 2023. “I still think there’s a hole” in the LTL landscape left by Holland, Mike Moran, president of Moran Transportation, told the Journal of Commerce. Holland, acquired by Yellow in 2005, covered the entire Midwest and parts of the south central and southeast United States. Despite decades of offshoring of manufacturing jobs, the Midwest is still home to many US manufacturers, with five of the 10 largest manufacturing states in the US and more than 57,000 manufacturing companies, according to industrial data provider MNI. As the Dayton-Pyle partnership underscores, the Midwest is also a gateway to the Northeast market. R+L Carriers, a Wilmington, Ohio-based national LTL provider, acquired Yellow’s 304-door Maybrook, New York, terminal in December to expand in the Northeast. ”The Midwest is a critical link [in LTL networks] and it’s often overlooked,” said Kevin Huntsman, president of Mastio & Company, a transportation market research firm. The Midwest is a key hub for shipments from the West, East and Gulf coasts, he said. “There’s a strong connection between the Midwest and the Dallas and Houston markets,” Huntsman said. Pitt Ohio recently launched an express LTL service from Ohio to Texas, and LTL carriers are looking to make more Midwest-to-Mexico connections. Regional LTL carriers across the US are also positioning themselves to compete against national carriers and multiregional companies such as Knight-Swift, which has three regional subsidiaries and is seeking a fourth LTL provider in the Northeast. “There’s a lot happening with regional carriers and I’d expect a lot of consolidation or strategic partnerships,” said Dean Jones, chief commercial officer at AFS Logistics. LTL providers are also watching FedEx Freight, the largest US LTL provider, which is being spun off by parcel carrier FedEx. It is unclear how an independent FedEx Freight might alter the competitive balance and reshape the LTL market. More density, freight Tim Haitz, chief commercial officer at Wisconsin-based regional LTL provider Standard Forwarding Freight, sees more freight flowing to regional companies. "When freight is going only 500 miles, a long-haul LTL carrier probably touches it more in transit than a regional guy, just because of how the long-haul network is set up to service the whole country,” said Haitz, who worked for decades for Yellow and Roadway. “That’s why you’re seeing a lot of mergers and acquisitions and partnerships among regional carriers all over the country,” Haitz said. “If you can integrate systems and hand off freight, you can extend your networks and become more important to the customer.” Standard Forwarding Freight itself was acquired at the end of 2024 from DHL by Sakaem Logistics, an investment firm owned by the family that used to own defunct car hauler Jack Cooper Transport. The regional LTL carrier has 14 terminals across the Midwest. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Regional LTL partnership to speed service linking Midwest, Northeast

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">As the new US administration looks to strengthen its regional sphere of influence, bipartisan political support is building to boost US shipbuilding, and thus, the country’s ability to project power in the Arctic and reduce dependence on foreign carriers. </div>

As the new US administration looks to strengthen its regional sphere of influence, bipartisan political support is building to boost US shipbuilding, and thus, the country’s ability to project power in the Arctic and reduce dependence on foreign carriers.

<div class="phx-topic"><div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/5946735_0.1.jpg"></img></div>US President Donald Trump has maritime on the mind, flexing an expansionist worldview to expand regional control and limit Chinese and Russian influence in the Western Hemisphere. In just the very early days of the new administration, the White House has cited the security threat of Russian and Chinese shipping in Arctic waters as justification for Trump’s designs on Greenland and Canada and has escalated pressure on Panama to push out a Hong Kong-based marine terminal operator it deems under China’s sway.  The president’s missives, importantly, have not impacted container shipping, but they are noteworthy, nonetheless. Commercial shipping and the extensions of military power, most visible via navies and strategic port investment such as China’s Belt and Road, have rarely come into conflict while sharing the same waters. But increased geopolitical risks, driven largely by heightened tensions between China and the United States, are pushing the commercial and government spheres closer together. As the US looks to strengthen its regional sphere of influence, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-flag-vessel-owners-investors-tout-wave-of-support-for-expanding-fleet-5819921">bipartisan political attention is building to boost US shipbuilding</a>, and thus, its ability to project power in the Arctic and reduce dependence on foreign carriers. While political interest for a US shipbuilding renaissance might be the most favorable since the Nixon administration, the challenge is daunting. Rebuilding an industry that has been in decline since World War II would take massive and consistent multiyear investment — unlike, say, renaming a body of water shared with Mexico and Cuba. Once at more than 2,000 vessels and 300 shipyards, the US international merchant fleet now numbers approximately 80 and just 20 or so of domestic shipyards. During a call in November with the president of South Korea, Trump <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=255141">expressed interest</a> in the increased cooperation between the two countries’ shipbuilding industries, according to Nikkei Asia. Hanwhan Systems and Hanwha Ocean acquired Philly Shipyard, which builds US-flag ships for Jones Act trades, in December for approximately $100 million. The outgoing Biden administration, which like Trump defended US Steel from Japanese buyers, blasted Chinese steel subsidies for unfairly propping up Chinese shipbuilding. Trump on Feb. 10 announced a 25% tariff on US imports of steel and aluminum, effective March 12.  US shipbuilding proponents are encouraged by Trump filling his new cabinet with three men known to have supported US shipbuilding while in Congress — former congressmen Mike Waltz and Jamieson Greer are now national security advisor and US trade representative, respectively, while ex-Sen. Marco Rubio is Secretary of State.  The Trump administration has a legislative vehicle at its disposal via the newly introduced SHIPS Act. The <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/legislation-aims-to-mandate-rising-share-of-china-imports-on-expanded-us-flag-fleet-5909698">SHIPS Act</a>, introduced in the Senate and House and backed by both sides of the aisle, would require all government cargoes to be shipped via the US-flag fleet. The legislation, if passed, would mandate that an annually increasing percentage of commercial goods imported from China move on US-flag ships starting in 2029, eventually reaching 10%. The legislation as of mid-February had yet to start moving through either of the respective Senate or House committees. <h3>Panama squeeze</h3>More immediately, the Trump administration is putting the heat on Panama’s government for allowing Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) to operate a port on either side of the Panama Canal through a long-standing concession that began in 1997 and was renewed in 2021. Louis Sola, newly tapped by Trump as chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission and a one-time Panama resident, told senators during a Jan 28 that <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/fmc-chair-questions-level-playing-field-in-panama-canal-operations-5932469">US terminal operators did not get a fair shake</a> in the country due to corruption in the government. US-based SSA Marine, Singapore-based PSA and Taiwan-based Evergreen Terminal also have terminals in Panama. Panama announced on Feb. 7 that it would not renew its membership in China’s Belt and Road initiative, the massive infrastructure investment designed to string ports, including Cosco Shipping’s newly opened mega-terminal in Peru, like proverbial pearls. Trump has proposed a massive US sovereign investment fund, which could hypothetically aid the canal in a $2 billion project to ensure it has enough water to fully support its locks. CK Hutchison Group’s container division, spanning 298 berths and 53 ports in 24 countries, reports that <a href="https://centerformaritimestrategy.org/publications/part-2-can-the-greatest-maritime-infrastructure-project-ever-provide-even-more-benefits-to-the-united-states/">8.9% of its revenue</a> comes from its Panama operations, which contributes 1.3% to its global berthage, analyst John McCown of the Center for Maritime Strategy wrote. “It is unreasonable to consider a de minimis segment of a conglomerate that actually has nothing to do with the canal to be a national security risk,” McCown wrote in a Feb. 18 analysis. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are laying out the legal argument that the US could retake control of the canal if the neutrality has been violated. And Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trump’s special envoy for Latin America, told Politico in early February that the US Army Corps of Engineers <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/12/mauricio-claver-carone-interview-trump-latin-america-00203718">could help the canal</a>, with the condition that the US could get a “piece of it.” Expanding the remit of the Panama Canal Authority to the management of port concessions could be one way to increase US oversight without trying to force a cancellation of HPH’s concessions, which are in place until 2047, or retaking control of the waterway. Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com">mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

US President Donald Trump has maritime on the mind, flexing an expansionist worldview to expand regional control and limit Chinese and Russian influence in the Western Hemisphere. In just the very early days of the new administration, the White House has cited the security threat of Russian and Chinese shipping in Arctic waters as justification for Trump’s designs on Greenland and Canada and has escalated pressure on Panama to push out a Hong Kong-based marine terminal operator it deems under China’s sway.  The president’s missives, importantly, have not impacted container shipping, but they are noteworthy, nonetheless. Commercial shipping and the extensions of military power, most visible via navies and strategic port investment such as China’s Belt and Road, have rarely come into conflict while sharing the same waters. But increased geopolitical risks, driven largely by heightened tensions between China and the United States, are pushing the commercial and government spheres closer together. As the US looks to strengthen its regional sphere of influence, bipartisan political attention is building to boost US shipbuilding , and thus, its ability to project power in the Arctic and reduce dependence on foreign carriers. While political interest for a US shipbuilding renaissance might be the most favorable since the Nixon administration, the challenge is daunting. Rebuilding an industry that has been in decline since World War II would take massive and consistent multiyear investment — unlike, say, renaming a body of water shared with Mexico and Cuba. Once at more than 2,000 vessels and 300 shipyards, the US international merchant fleet now numbers approximately 80 and just 20 or so of domestic shipyards. During a call in November with the president of South Korea, Trump expressed interest in the increased cooperation between the two countries’ shipbuilding industries, according to Nikkei Asia. Hanwhan Systems and Hanwha Ocean acquired Philly Shipyard, which builds US-flag ships for Jones Act trades, in December for approximately $100 million. The outgoing Biden administration, which like Trump defended US Steel from Japanese buyers, blasted Chinese steel subsidies for unfairly propping up Chinese shipbuilding. Trump on Feb. 10 announced a 25% tariff on US imports of steel and aluminum, effective March 12.  US shipbuilding proponents are encouraged by Trump filling his new cabinet with three men known to have supported US shipbuilding while in Congress — former congressmen Mike Waltz and Jamieson Greer are now national security advisor and US trade representative, respectively, while ex-Sen. Marco Rubio is Secretary of State.  The Trump administration has a legislative vehicle at its disposal via the newly introduced SHIPS Act. The SHIPS Act , introduced in the Senate and House and backed by both sides of the aisle, would require all government cargoes to be shipped via the US-flag fleet. The legislation, if passed, would mandate that an annually increasing percentage of commercial goods imported from China move on US-flag ships starting in 2029, eventually reaching 10%. The legislation as of mid-February had yet to start moving through either of the respective Senate or House committees. Panama squeeze More immediately, the Trump administration is putting the heat on Panama’s government for allowing Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) to operate a port on either side of the Panama Canal through a long-standing concession that began in 1997 and was renewed in 2021. Louis Sola, newly tapped by Trump as chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission and a one-time Panama resident, told senators during a Jan 28 that US terminal operators did not get a fair shake in the country due to corruption in the government. US-based SSA Marine, Singapore-based PSA and Taiwan-based Evergreen Terminal also have terminals in Panama. Panama announced on Feb. 7 that it would not renew its membership in China’s Belt and Road initiative, the massive infrastructure investment designed to string ports, including Cosco Shipping’s newly opened mega-terminal in Peru, like proverbial pearls. Trump has proposed a massive US sovereign investment fund, which could hypothetically aid the canal in a $2 billion project to ensure it has enough water to fully support its locks. CK Hutchison Group’s container division, spanning 298 berths and 53 ports in 24 countries, reports that 8.9% of its revenue comes from its Panama operations, which contributes 1.3% to its global berthage, analyst John McCown of the Center for Maritime Strategy wrote. “It is unreasonable to consider a de minimis segment of a conglomerate that actually has nothing to do with the canal to be a national security risk,” McCown wrote in a Feb. 18 analysis. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are laying out the legal argument that the US could retake control of the canal if the neutrality has been violated. And Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trump’s special envoy for Latin America, told Politico in early February that the US Army Corps of Engineers could help the canal , with the condition that the US could get a “piece of it.” Expanding the remit of the Panama Canal Authority to the management of port concessions could be one way to increase US oversight without trying to force a cancellation of HPH’s concessions, which are in place until 2047, or retaking control of the waterway. Contact Mark Szakonyi at mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com .

Trump’s expansionist worldview puts US maritime interests in spotlight

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The forwarder reported solid results to close 2024 as unknowns linked to US longshore labor, tariff policy and changes to de minimis rules fueled trans-Pacific freight demand. </div>

The forwarder reported solid results to close 2024 as unknowns linked to US longshore labor, tariff policy and changes to de minimis rules fueled trans-Pacific freight demand.

<div class="phx-topic">Frontloading of air and ocean cargo pushed earnings higher for Expeditors International during the fourth quarter as a litany of uncertainties from port labor to tariffs to geopolitics prodded shippers to move their freight as quickly as possible. The trans-Pacific forwarder reported Q4 2024 earnings of $1.68 per share, up 54% from a year ago and well above the $1.43 S&amp;P Capital IQ consensus estimate. Revenue for the quarter was up 30% to $2.95 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $2.8 billion. Expeditors Chief Executive Jeffrey Musser said in a statement Tuesday the results were driven by “strong demand from Asia, along with heavy de minimis-driven e-commerce business and increased demand for technology products” that helped drive an 11% year-on-year gain in air freight kilos during the fourth quarter. Musser said Expeditors moved its most air freight since the end of 2021. The company’s air segment saw revenue rise 22% year over year in the fourth quarter to just over $1 billion. The forwarder’s ocean freight volumes increased 14% during the quarter, with segment revenue rising 77% year over year to $908 million. Along with higher volumes, Musser said Expeditors was able to capitalize on the spread between its contract rates with ocean carriers and rates shippers paid to move freight during the quarter. “Strong demand generally for ocean transportation combined with longer transit times and capacity issues caused by the disruptions in the Red Sea resulted in significant increases in overall average buy and sell rates and growth in volumes,” Musser said. The knock-on effect of higher volumes across air and ocean freight also drove a 9% revenue increase in Expeditors’ customs brokerage and related services business. Musser said it was unclear whether the market volatility will ease given the uncertainty about US polices on de minimis shipments, new tariffs from the Trump administration and whether ocean carriers will resume Red Sea transits anytime soon. He added that “geopolitical words and actions are driving disruption at a faster pace than we can ever recall, and national policies regarding tariffs and other similar measures are highly unclear in many countries around the globe.” Separately, Musser announced that he will step down from the chief executive role in March and be replaced by Daniel Wall, Expeditors’ president of global geographies.   Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a></div>

Frontloading of air and ocean cargo pushed earnings higher for Expeditors International during the fourth quarter as a litany of uncertainties from port labor to tariffs to geopolitics prodded shippers to move their freight as quickly as possible. The trans-Pacific forwarder reported Q4 2024 earnings of $1.68 per share, up 54% from a year ago and well above the $1.43 S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate. Revenue for the quarter was up 30% to $2.95 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $2.8 billion. Expeditors Chief Executive Jeffrey Musser said in a statement Tuesday the results were driven by “strong demand from Asia, along with heavy de minimis-driven e-commerce business and increased demand for technology products” that helped drive an 11% year-on-year gain in air freight kilos during the fourth quarter. Musser said Expeditors moved its most air freight since the end of 2021. The company’s air segment saw revenue rise 22% year over year in the fourth quarter to just over $1 billion. The forwarder’s ocean freight volumes increased 14% during the quarter, with segment revenue rising 77% year over year to $908 million. Along with higher volumes, Musser said Expeditors was able to capitalize on the spread between its contract rates with ocean carriers and rates shippers paid to move freight during the quarter. “Strong demand generally for ocean transportation combined with longer transit times and capacity issues caused by the disruptions in the Red Sea resulted in significant increases in overall average buy and sell rates and growth in volumes,” Musser said. The knock-on effect of higher volumes across air and ocean freight also drove a 9% revenue increase in Expeditors’ customs brokerage and related services business. Musser said it was unclear whether the market volatility will ease given the uncertainty about US polices on de minimis shipments, new tariffs from the Trump administration and whether ocean carriers will resume Red Sea transits anytime soon. He added that “geopolitical words and actions are driving disruption at a faster pace than we can ever recall, and national policies regarding tariffs and other similar measures are highly unclear in many countries around the globe.” Separately, Musser announced that he will step down from the chief executive role in March and be replaced by Daniel Wall, Expeditors’ president of global geographies.   Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com

String of market uncertainties helped drive strong Q4 for Expeditors

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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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