<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Tough new certification requirements for textiles, footwear and apparel moving into Mexico will rema</div>

Tough new certification requirements for textiles, footwear and apparel moving into Mexico will rema

<div>Tough new certification requirements for textiles, footwear and apparel moving into Mexico will remain in place despite the outcry from companies that re-export the products from the United States, a top Mexican commerce official said.Mexico's continued problems with third-country exports of Chinese-made products necessitate a tough policy since there have been clear abuses, said Eduardo Perez Mota, subsecretary of industrial policy for the Secretaria de Comercio y Fomento Industrial (Secofi), Mexico's commerce agency.Mr. Perez said Mexico has no plans to change its certificate-of-origin rules that took effect in August."The evidence we have is that when we are flexible is precisely...

Tough new certification requirements for textiles, footwear and apparel moving into Mexico will remain in place despite the outcry from companies that re-export the products from the United States, a top Mexican commerce official said. Mexico's continued problems with third-country exports of Chinese-made products necessitate a tough policy since there have been clear abuses, said Eduardo Perez Mota, subsecretary of industrial policy for the Secretaria de Comercio y Fomento Industrial (Secofi), Mexico's commerce agency.Mr. Perez said Mexico has no plans to change its certificate-of-origin rules that took effect in August. "The evidence we have is that when we are flexible is precisely when we have problems," the Secofi official said. In an effort to stem the flow of Chinese goods through countries like North Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam, Mexico in August imposed stiff rules on all merchandise coming from countries not belonging to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the rule-making body on world trade. In doing so, Secofi made it very difficult to sell in Mexico for retailers like Wal-Mart and J.C. Penney, as well as for apparel manufacturers like Nike and large apparel re-exporters who import Asian products. They feel they are being denied access to the Mexican market since most import into the United States and until August re-exported a portion of their shipment to Mexico. The National Retail Federation, on behalf of both retailers and U.S. textile and apparel importers, is in Mexico City this week with a proposal to Secofi to allow self-certification. This would ease import restrictions by having companies enter into accords with the commerce agency for inspection and verification. As of late August, Secofi began requiring that original certificates of origin be presented, making re-exporting to Mexico impossible. The U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel proposed that Mexico accept certified copies of the original certificates of origin presented to U.S. Customs. However, Mr. Perez frowned on that idea, saying the United States is also having a problem with fraudulent certificates from Asia. "If the North American (U.S.) government is also suffering from this problem that people are not declaring the real origin of the products, why should we think that this declaration that they have that the American government doesn't think is valid - why should it come to us?" Mr. Perez said of the proposal to use certified copies. Textile and apparel re-exporters complained that the Secofi official is overstating the problem of false certificates in the United States. "The percentage of any kind of false certificates of origin compared to the vast amount of goods coming in (to the United States) is nothing. You're talking about $30 billion in imports," said Laura Jones, who heads the apparel importers' group. "They find like 60,000 dozen of something, it is like a drop in the ocean. That's ridiculous as far as I'm concerned." However, Mr. Perez suggested that large importers in Mexico like a Wal-Mart or a Nike can use a fairly recent amendment to the nation's customs laws to become their own customs brokers - a move many have shunned because of liability questions. He also noted that the August laws allow importers to set up verification and audit procedures which, if approved by Secofi, will allow for an easier regimen. ''With the United States we have no problems in these products. That's why we signed the Nafta. But it is a problem with third parties, and it's not different from the problems in the United States," the Secofi official said, pointing out that U.S. trade officials are looking to renegotiate the Multi- Fibre Arrangement in part because of their own third-party problems. U.S. retailers countered that while they are not importing products from Nafta countries, they operate in Nafta countries and should be heard. "We have failed. We have been unable to get people at high levels of the (Clinton) administration to pay attention to this," said Robin Lanier, vice president of the International Mass Retailers Association. Retailing executives have been denied requests to meet with Trade Representative Mickey Kantor and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, she said. While trade officials at the civil-service level appreciate their predicament, she added, the political appointees in trade posts view the issue as an import problem in Mexico and not a difficulty facing U.S. exporters.

MEXICAN OFFICIAL SAYS ORIGIN RULES WON'T BE SOFTENED

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Smaller forwarders on the trade lane are pooling their cargo volumes in formal and informal arrangements to get vessel space at favorable fixed rates as some carriers focus primarily on larger customers.</div>

Smaller forwarders on the trade lane are pooling their cargo volumes in formal and informal arrangements to get vessel space at favorable fixed rates as some carriers focus primarily on larger customers.

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<div class="phx-topic">Smaller non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) in the eastbound trans-Pacific are being advised to pool their volumes to secure vessel capacity and more favorable rates given that carrier-direct bookings on the trade are at their highest level since last April. The suggestion also comes as sources say some carriers are signing fixed-rate contracts only with the largest forwarders. “Smaller NVOs have to pool their cargo with a number of other NVOs. They do that [through co-loading in Asia] a lot,” an industry consultant who was formerly the logistics manager at two national retailers told the Journal of Commerce. Co-loading occurs mostly on an ad-hoc basis. A second method some NVOs choose for pooling cargo volumes is to participate in a formal working relationship with aggregators where fixed-rate, or named account (NAC), bookings are secured on a continuous basis year-round. Jon Monroe, an aggregator with more than two dozen forwarder partners in Asia, said an increasing number of mostly smaller NVOs have been participating in the aggregator model this past year as carriers have been focusing more on larger direct shippers and NVOs as spot and freight-all-kinds (FAK) rates remain high and space tight in the eastbound trans-Pacific. “This started some time ago,” Monroe said. “If you ship less than 500 TEUs a month, where do you go?” In May 2024, NVOs controlled 48.1% of the bookings in the eastbound Pacific. By December, NVO bookings had dropped to 45.9% of the market, according to data from PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="4d1e7d47-859e-462d-9790-935e20f623d3"></dynamic-object></div>Some NVOs say the fixed-rate allocations in their current 2024-25 contracts, many of which expire at the end of April, have not been affected by the price and capacity trends in the market. One NVO source said he hasn’t experienced any difficulties in securing space, adding that the forwarder has “rock solid” allocations. <h3>Clear trend toward carrier focus on larger accounts </h3>Still, some NVOs are becoming increasingly agitated by what they describe as a clear trend among some carriers to focus on their larger accounts while ignoring smaller forwarders. “If the carriers keep this up at the current pace, it’s going to do away with the small to mid-size broker and forwarder,” said an NVO who did not want to be identified. But a carrier source told the Journal of Commerce it’s not accurate to make a blanket statement that carriers will deal only with larger NVOs. “Carriers are very aware of refusing to handle someone’s cargo,” the source said. “No one is going to get refused. Everyone will get an offer.” Other sources said the problem from the perspective of smaller NVOs is that the carriers tell them to book their freight at the higher-priced FAK rates, which in the current market are much higher than the fixed-rate contracts the larger NVOs have with carriers. As carrier costs have increased in recent years, they have cut back on their sales staff and reduced travel budgets and the carriers began to concentrate on fewer, but larger, clients, the consultant source said. “The greater the number of clients you have to deal with as a carrier, the more your costs go up,” he said. A second carrier source said some liners operate under a model in which they get 80% of their business from 20% of their customers. “For the smaller NVOs, it’s ‘Sorry, not interested. You can book on the spot market,’” the source said. On the other hand, a few carriers have built their business plan on the forwarder model and continue to deal with most forwarders, no matter their size. “My view of the market is the guy who books 5 TEUs today will book 500 TEUs tomorrow,” a third carrier source said. “We nurture those accounts.” <h3>Global changes offer opportunities for new relationships </h3>Carriers and forwarders say the uncertainties facing global shipping -- including changes among alliance carriers, the possibility of shipping’s return to the Suez Canal and the rollout of tariffs by the Trump administration -- have created an environment in which both parties should consider updating their relationships. “Our NAC accounts are still the same (until May 1), but we’ve started to look at the new market and the individual carriers,” said Rachel Shames, vice president of pricing and procurement at the forwarder CV International. In the general trans-Pacific market, NVOs seem to be looking at the Premier Alliance carriers of Ocean Network Express, Yang Ming and HMM as liners that are receptive to freight tendered by smaller forwarders, Shames said. Carriers and NVOs say the new Gemini Cooperation alliance between Maersk Line and Hapag-Lloyd has raised some uncertainties among shippers with its hub-and-spoke network designed to improve on-time performance on major trade lanes. The concern is that secondary ports in Asia and the US could lose direct services or that transit times will increase, they say. Other carriers view the alliance changes as an opportunity to attract new customers and additional cargo. “The alliance changes are causing some concern among shippers and NVOs,” a fourth carrier source said. “Some carriers could backfill their vessels from these customers.” Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at <a href="mailto:bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com">bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com</a>Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:laura.robb@spglobal.com">laura.robb@spglobal.com.</a></div>

Smaller non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) in the eastbound trans-Pacific are being advised to pool their volumes to secure vessel capacity and more favorable rates given that carrier-direct bookings on the trade are at their highest level since last April. The suggestion also comes as sources say some carriers are signing fixed-rate contracts only with the largest forwarders. “Smaller NVOs have to pool their cargo with a number of other NVOs. They do that [through co-loading in Asia] a lot,” an industry consultant who was formerly the logistics manager at two national retailers told the Journal of Commerce. Co-loading occurs mostly on an ad-hoc basis. A second method some NVOs choose for pooling cargo volumes is to participate in a formal working relationship with aggregators where fixed-rate, or named account (NAC), bookings are secured on a continuous basis year-round. Jon Monroe, an aggregator with more than two dozen forwarder partners in Asia, said an increasing number of mostly smaller NVOs have been participating in the aggregator model this past year as carriers have been focusing more on larger direct shippers and NVOs as spot and freight-all-kinds (FAK) rates remain high and space tight in the eastbound trans-Pacific. “This started some time ago,” Monroe said. “If you ship less than 500 TEUs a month, where do you go?” In May 2024, NVOs controlled 48.1% of the bookings in the eastbound Pacific. By December, NVO bookings had dropped to 45.9% of the market, according to data from PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Some NVOs say the fixed-rate allocations in their current 2024-25 contracts, many of which expire at the end of April, have not been affected by the price and capacity trends in the market. One NVO source said he hasn’t experienced any difficulties in securing space, adding that the forwarder has “rock solid” allocations. Clear trend toward carrier focus on larger accounts Still, some NVOs are becoming increasingly agitated by what they describe as a clear trend among some carriers to focus on their larger accounts while ignoring smaller forwarders. “If the carriers keep this up at the current pace, it’s going to do away with the small to mid-size broker and forwarder,” said an NVO who did not want to be identified. But a carrier source told the Journal of Commerce it’s not accurate to make a blanket statement that carriers will deal only with larger NVOs. “Carriers are very aware of refusing to handle someone’s cargo,” the source said. “No one is going to get refused. Everyone will get an offer.” Other sources said the problem from the perspective of smaller NVOs is that the carriers tell them to book their freight at the higher-priced FAK rates, which in the current market are much higher than the fixed-rate contracts the larger NVOs have with carriers. As carrier costs have increased in recent years, they have cut back on their sales staff and reduced travel budgets and the carriers began to concentrate on fewer, but larger, clients, the consultant source said. “The greater the number of clients you have to deal with as a carrier, the more your costs go up,” he said. A second carrier source said some liners operate under a model in which they get 80% of their business from 20% of their customers. “For the smaller NVOs, it’s ‘Sorry, not interested. You can book on the spot market,’” the source said. On the other hand, a few carriers have built their business plan on the forwarder model and continue to deal with most forwarders, no matter their size. “My view of the market is the guy who books 5 TEUs today will book 500 TEUs tomorrow,” a third carrier source said. “We nurture those accounts.” Global changes offer opportunities for new relationships Carriers and forwarders say the uncertainties facing global shipping -- including changes among alliance carriers, the possibility of shipping’s return to the Suez Canal and the rollout of tariffs by the Trump administration -- have created an environment in which both parties should consider updating their relationships. “Our NAC accounts are still the same (until May 1), but we’ve started to look at the new market and the individual carriers,” said Rachel Shames, vice president of pricing and procurement at the forwarder CV International. In the general trans-Pacific market, NVOs seem to be looking at the Premier Alliance carriers of Ocean Network Express, Yang Ming and HMM as liners that are receptive to freight tendered by smaller forwarders, Shames said. Carriers and NVOs say the new Gemini Cooperation alliance between Maersk Line and Hapag-Lloyd has raised some uncertainties among shippers with its hub-and-spoke network designed to improve on-time performance on major trade lanes. The concern is that secondary ports in Asia and the US could lose direct services or that transit times will increase, they say. Other carriers view the alliance changes as an opportunity to attract new customers and additional cargo. “The alliance changes are causing some concern among shippers and NVOs,” a fourth carrier source said. “Some carriers could backfill their vessels from these customers.” Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com Contact Laura Robb at laura.robb@spglobal.com.

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Small trans-Pac forwarders, feeling ignored by carriers, stay agile to secure capacity

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Taiwanese carrier is joining an industrywide shift away from methanol that accelerated last year amid growing supply concerns.</div>

The Taiwanese carrier is joining an industrywide shift away from methanol that accelerated last year amid growing supply concerns.

<div class="phx-topic">Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine has confirmed inking two deals worth up to $3.2 billion for the order of 11 24,000-TEU vessels capable of sailing on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Six of the megaships will be built at South Korean yard Hanhwa Ocean and five at Guangzhou Shipyard International Co. in China at a unit cost between $265 million and $295 million, Evergreen said in a statement Thursday. No delivery data was provided by the carrier, but with shipyards filled with orders from container shipping lines, the vessels are not expected to start coming online until 2028. The Evergreen order is a switch in fuel direction following <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/evergreen-confirms-orders-for-24-methanol-ready-container-ships-5245271">an order for 24 methanol-capable dual-fuel ships the carrier made in 2023</a>. While Evergreen did not provide a reason for the decision to invest in LNG-capable vessels, it is part of a wholesale industry shift toward LNG amid growing methanol supply concerns. The need to keep fuel options open was illustrated in a recent Maersk order for dual-fuel vessels totaling 800,000 TEUs <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/maersks-lng-order-hedges-bet-on-green-fuel-technology-ceo-5703200">capable of sailing on methanol as well as LNG</a>, a deviation from the carrier’s deep dive into methanol. About 70% of the total 1.7 million TEUs of orders made last year were for ships capable of sailing on methanol or LNG, with LNG comprising 63% of the new orders, according to data from Sea-web, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. In 2023, the methanol-LNG split was 66% in favor of methanol ships, Sea-web data shows. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="1a054077-7728-4ffd-abb8-b7aff17c3235"></dynamic-object></div>Peter Keller, chairman of industry coalition SEA-LNG, said the existing LNG infrastructure, including storage, bunkering and distribution, provided a significant advantage over other alternative fuels that require building new infrastructure from scratch. “The combination of availability, infrastructure, energy density and potential for price advantages makes LNG an attractive and competitive option for ship owners and operators during this transition period before other alternatives become more viable,” Keller told the Journal of Commerce. Determining just how viable and at what scale was a huge challenge for the shipping industry, according to Tristan Smith of the climate change research group UCL Energy Institute. In a recent report, Smith said finding the fuel of the future was more a process of capital allocation than a development of technology. He pointed out that a large amount of existing infrastructure would become obsolete because it was aligned with the supply of fossil fuels to the shipping industry and would likely not have a role in 15 years. “So how does someone make a business case for something if it’s an applicable solution in the 2030s but doesn’t have any role in the 2040s?” Smith asked. “How does the fleet make the right decision at the right point in time so that it doesn’t become obsolete? “Those are all the difficult decisions that people across the energy supply system, national governments and the people who buy and finance ships are all having to factor in,” he added. “It’s quite tough.” Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine has confirmed inking two deals worth up to $3.2 billion for the order of 11 24,000-TEU vessels capable of sailing on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Six of the megaships will be built at South Korean yard Hanhwa Ocean and five at Guangzhou Shipyard International Co. in China at a unit cost between $265 million and $295 million, Evergreen said in a statement Thursday. No delivery data was provided by the carrier, but with shipyards filled with orders from container shipping lines, the vessels are not expected to start coming online until 2028. The Evergreen order is a switch in fuel direction following an order for 24 methanol-capable dual-fuel ships the carrier made in 2023 . While Evergreen did not provide a reason for the decision to invest in LNG-capable vessels, it is part of a wholesale industry shift toward LNG amid growing methanol supply concerns. The need to keep fuel options open was illustrated in a recent Maersk order for dual-fuel vessels totaling 800,000 TEUs capable of sailing on methanol as well as LNG , a deviation from the carrier’s deep dive into methanol. About 70% of the total 1.7 million TEUs of orders made last year were for ships capable of sailing on methanol or LNG, with LNG comprising 63% of the new orders, according to data from Sea-web, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. In 2023, the methanol-LNG split was 66% in favor of methanol ships, Sea-web data shows. Peter Keller, chairman of industry coalition SEA-LNG, said the existing LNG infrastructure, including storage, bunkering and distribution, provided a significant advantage over other alternative fuels that require building new infrastructure from scratch. “The combination of availability, infrastructure, energy density and potential for price advantages makes LNG an attractive and competitive option for ship owners and operators during this transition period before other alternatives become more viable,” Keller told the Journal of Commerce. Determining just how viable and at what scale was a huge challenge for the shipping industry, according to Tristan Smith of the climate change research group UCL Energy Institute. In a recent report, Smith said finding the fuel of the future was more a process of capital allocation than a development of technology. He pointed out that a large amount of existing infrastructure would become obsolete because it was aligned with the supply of fossil fuels to the shipping industry and would likely not have a role in 15 years. “So how does someone make a business case for something if it’s an applicable solution in the 2030s but doesn’t have any role in the 2040s?” Smith asked. “How does the fleet make the right decision at the right point in time so that it doesn’t become obsolete? “Those are all the difficult decisions that people across the energy supply system, national governments and the people who buy and finance ships are all having to factor in,” he added. “It’s quite tough.” Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Evergreen makes $3.2 billion order for LNG-capable megaships

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Adding to the space pressure, forwarders reported three West India-USEC vessel blankings for February, including one on CMA CGM’s Indamex service and two on Ocean Network Express’ WIN loop. </div>

Adding to the space pressure, forwarders reported three West India-USEC vessel blankings for February, including one on CMA CGM’s Indamex service and two on Ocean Network Express’ WIN loop.

<div class="phx-topic">The India-US East Coast trade is facing a capacity crunch due to sailing cancellations and shippers moving more cargo out to complete their export orders ahead of the Indian fiscal year closing at the end of March. Local freight forwarders who spoke with the Journal of Commerce complained that some carriers have stopped accepting spot bookings for upcoming February calls out of Nhava Sheva and Mundra. Blank sailings are nothing new amid ongoing network changes and lingering Red Sea issues, but the year-end cargo rush has flipped the supply-demand scenario, forwarders noted. Additionally, major carriers have had rollover cargo to manage from a series of calls that were voided in January — reportedly five, which included a Hapag-Lloyd vessel gap in week four. Adding to that pressure, forwarders have reported three West India-USEC vessel blankings for February, including one on CMA CGM’s Indamex service and two on Ocean Network Express’ WIN loop. “Ships on all major USEC routings already have a full load situation for February,” an executive at a Mumbai-based forwarding house told the Journal of Commerce. “We expect this space crunch to persist through March.” Sources at Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM in India confirmed the temporary spot booking restrictions. CMA CGM also pulled back slots usually allotted to its Indamex partner Cosco Shipping on the most recent voyage. “February capacity is tight due to the blanks,” a CMA CGM Agency (India) sales executive who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. However, Maersk shrugged off market talk of a halt in spot bookings. “Spot bookings on our MECL service are open for customers,” said Bhavik Mota, Maersk’s director of regional ocean management for India/Middle East/Africa. <h3>Rate moves </h3>All carriers on the trade lane have already jettisoned rate hike announcements they were planning to push through during February. But carrier sources believe they will be able to stick with the increases lined up for March, mostly in the range of $1,000 per container, because of the more favorable supply-demand situation unfolding in the market. Continued lower capacity is also in the cards, with Hapag-Lloyd already declaring a vessel cut for week 12. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="893ffa5c-0a69-45c7-a555-425e44318711"></dynamic-object></div>At the same time, industry observers say the shipper push for vessel capacity is merely a blip rather than an indication of a peak starting to build. “The market is expected to be flat and it’s unlikely any hikes will work for now,” a market analyst said. That appears more plausible as market leader Hapag-Lloyd on Thursday pushed Nhava Sheva-New York spot booking rates down for March to $1,500 per TEU and $1,645 per FEU, about $300 per box lower than early February. Spot rates on the India-USEC trade, meanwhile, were pegged at $1,350 per FEU as of Feb. 12, unchanged over the week but down from $1,520 a month ago, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com</a>. </div>

The India-US East Coast trade is facing a capacity crunch due to sailing cancellations and shippers moving more cargo out to complete their export orders ahead of the Indian fiscal year closing at the end of March. Local freight forwarders who spoke with the Journal of Commerce complained that some carriers have stopped accepting spot bookings for upcoming February calls out of Nhava Sheva and Mundra. Blank sailings are nothing new amid ongoing network changes and lingering Red Sea issues, but the year-end cargo rush has flipped the supply-demand scenario, forwarders noted. Additionally, major carriers have had rollover cargo to manage from a series of calls that were voided in January — reportedly five, which included a Hapag-Lloyd vessel gap in week four. Adding to that pressure, forwarders have reported three West India-USEC vessel blankings for February, including one on CMA CGM’s Indamex service and two on Ocean Network Express’ WIN loop. “Ships on all major USEC routings already have a full load situation for February,” an executive at a Mumbai-based forwarding house told the Journal of Commerce. “We expect this space crunch to persist through March.” Sources at Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM in India confirmed the temporary spot booking restrictions. CMA CGM also pulled back slots usually allotted to its Indamex partner Cosco Shipping on the most recent voyage. “February capacity is tight due to the blanks,” a CMA CGM Agency (India) sales executive who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. However, Maersk shrugged off market talk of a halt in spot bookings. “Spot bookings on our MECL service are open for customers,” said Bhavik Mota, Maersk’s director of regional ocean management for India/Middle East/Africa. Rate moves All carriers on the trade lane have already jettisoned rate hike announcements they were planning to push through during February. But carrier sources believe they will be able to stick with the increases lined up for March, mostly in the range of $1,000 per container, because of the more favorable supply-demand situation unfolding in the market. Continued lower capacity is also in the cards, with Hapag-Lloyd already declaring a vessel cut for week 12. At the same time, industry observers say the shipper push for vessel capacity is merely a blip rather than an indication of a peak starting to build. “The market is expected to be flat and it’s unlikely any hikes will work for now,” a market analyst said. That appears more plausible as market leader Hapag-Lloyd on Thursday pushed Nhava Sheva-New York spot booking rates down for March to $1,500 per TEU and $1,645 per FEU, about $300 per box lower than early February. Spot rates on the India-USEC trade, meanwhile, were pegged at $1,350 per FEU as of Feb. 12, unchanged over the week but down from $1,520 a month ago, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com .

India-USEC spot bookings slow amid capacity crunch from fewer sailings: forwarders

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The first in a series of “development flights” loaded with packages from Hong Kong landed at the Scottish west coast airport this week with a view to launching scheduled weekly services in March.</div>

The first in a series of “development flights” loaded with packages from Hong Kong landed at the Scottish west coast airport this week with a view to launching scheduled weekly services in March.

<div class="phx-topic">China’s top online marketplaces — Temu, Shein and Tik Tok — put Glasgow Prestwick Airport’s e-commerce hub aspirations to the test this week by sending a freighter loaded with packages ordered online to the airport on Scotland’s west coast. The 60 metric tons of e-commerce that arrived on a Hong Kong Air Cargo freighter mark the first in a series of “development flights” put together by the online platforms with a view to launch scheduled flights between Hong Kong and Prestwick in March. “We have made significant investments over the past year to improve our cargo handling capabilities and attract traffic from the Far East, but we have also designed an end-to-end solution for the e-commerce platforms,” Nico le Roux, business development manager at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, told the Journal of Commerce in an interview this week. “Temu, Shein and Tik Tok have all visited Prestwick to view the e-commerce operations we have built, and they have been very supportive,” he added. The market Prestwick is targeting is enormous. Le Roux estimates that China’s top four online marketplaces were responsible for sending 1,000 metric tons of e-commerce to UK airports from Hong Kong every day. “That is just Temu, Shein, Tik Tok and Alibaba and I’m not even talking about the hundreds of tiers two and three platforms,” he said. “We started interacting with one of the second-tier platforms and they are also supporting the Hong Kong Air Cargo flights.” But even as Prestwick pursues its e-commerce hub goals, there are two sizeable challenges facing the airport: how to fill the backhaul flights to make freighter services more commercially viable and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/europe-joins-us-in-call-for-end-to-e-commerce-de-minimis-exemption-5943108">the looming clampdown on the so-called de minimis exemption</a> on low-value packages that threatens to disrupt the e-commerce air cargo model. <h3>Chicken-egg situation </h3>Le Roux acknowledged the chicken-egg situation regarding filling outbound flights, with Scottish exporters of seafood requiring frequent, scheduled flights for their high-value cargo. “There are huge volumes of seafood and whisky leaving the UK for global markets and most of that traffic is transferred south to Heathrow by road or air for export, and for good reason,” he said. “When we speak to these producers and exporters, frequencies [of flights] are of the utmost importance and they use Heathrow because if they miss a flight, there’s another two or three flights to the same destination on the same day,” le Roux added. Offsetting fewer services, however, is Prestwick’s selling point that revolves around one of the most important commodities in air freight — time. E-commerce cargo from arriving flights goes into a bonded warehouse where it is consolidated all the way down to package level and handed over to last-mile provider Royal Mail. “In doing that, we save between 12 and 18 hours in processing time and shippers save on the trucking time to Heathrow,” le Roux said. “Exporters can take that shelf life back for their products, and we are seeing a lot of interest from seafood shippers and forwarders. “Whisky doesn’t have the shelf-life issues of seafood, but the distillers we have spoken to are all looking for more frequent flights from Prestwick to Asia,” he added. <h3>Rising de minimis scrutiny </h3>Overshadowing Prestwick’s e-commerce hub aspirations is the growing scrutiny of imports from China that fall below the de minimis value threshold of £135 ($168) in the UK and €150 ($155) in the European Union. This means those imports enter the market duty free, which has led to growing concerns from the retail industry that online platforms are being given an unfair competitive advantage over local business. While the UK has yet to take action, the European Commission last week called for the removal of the de minimis exemption for low-value parcels. The de minimis issue is also under review in the US. Le Roux said Prestwick was keeping a close eye on these developments that are already prompting the Chinese retail platforms to build warehouses in the US that will lead to a shift of e-commerce from air to ocean. “It depends on what the UK and Europe will do, but we will likely follow in the same footsteps, and we need to be prepared for that,” he said. “Before we make any investments in equipment and infrastructure, we take into consideration the sustainability and longevity of this e-commerce business,” le Roux added. “It is always in the back of our minds.” Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

China’s top online marketplaces — Temu, Shein and Tik Tok — put Glasgow Prestwick Airport’s e-commerce hub aspirations to the test this week by sending a freighter loaded with packages ordered online to the airport on Scotland’s west coast. The 60 metric tons of e-commerce that arrived on a Hong Kong Air Cargo freighter mark the first in a series of “development flights” put together by the online platforms with a view to launch scheduled flights between Hong Kong and Prestwick in March. “We have made significant investments over the past year to improve our cargo handling capabilities and attract traffic from the Far East, but we have also designed an end-to-end solution for the e-commerce platforms,” Nico le Roux, business development manager at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, told the Journal of Commerce in an interview this week. “Temu, Shein and Tik Tok have all visited Prestwick to view the e-commerce operations we have built, and they have been very supportive,” he added. The market Prestwick is targeting is enormous. Le Roux estimates that China’s top four online marketplaces were responsible for sending 1,000 metric tons of e-commerce to UK airports from Hong Kong every day. “That is just Temu, Shein, Tik Tok and Alibaba and I’m not even talking about the hundreds of tiers two and three platforms,” he said. “We started interacting with one of the second-tier platforms and they are also supporting the Hong Kong Air Cargo flights.” But even as Prestwick pursues its e-commerce hub goals, there are two sizeable challenges facing the airport: how to fill the backhaul flights to make freighter services more commercially viable and the looming clampdown on the so-called de minimis exemption on low-value packages that threatens to disrupt the e-commerce air cargo model. Chicken-egg situation Le Roux acknowledged the chicken-egg situation regarding filling outbound flights, with Scottish exporters of seafood requiring frequent, scheduled flights for their high-value cargo. “There are huge volumes of seafood and whisky leaving the UK for global markets and most of that traffic is transferred south to Heathrow by road or air for export, and for good reason,” he said. “When we speak to these producers and exporters, frequencies [of flights] are of the utmost importance and they use Heathrow because if they miss a flight, there’s another two or three flights to the same destination on the same day,” le Roux added. Offsetting fewer services, however, is Prestwick’s selling point that revolves around one of the most important commodities in air freight — time. E-commerce cargo from arriving flights goes into a bonded warehouse where it is consolidated all the way down to package level and handed over to last-mile provider Royal Mail. “In doing that, we save between 12 and 18 hours in processing time and shippers save on the trucking time to Heathrow,” le Roux said. “Exporters can take that shelf life back for their products, and we are seeing a lot of interest from seafood shippers and forwarders. “Whisky doesn’t have the shelf-life issues of seafood, but the distillers we have spoken to are all looking for more frequent flights from Prestwick to Asia,” he added. Rising de minimis scrutiny Overshadowing Prestwick’s e-commerce hub aspirations is the growing scrutiny of imports from China that fall below the de minimis value threshold of £135 ($168) in the UK and €150 ($155) in the European Union. This means those imports enter the market duty free, which has led to growing concerns from the retail industry that online platforms are being given an unfair competitive advantage over local business. While the UK has yet to take action, the European Commission last week called for the removal of the de minimis exemption for low-value parcels. The de minimis issue is also under review in the US. Le Roux said Prestwick was keeping a close eye on these developments that are already prompting the Chinese retail platforms to build warehouses in the US that will lead to a shift of e-commerce from air to ocean. “It depends on what the UK and Europe will do, but we will likely follow in the same footsteps, and we need to be prepared for that,” he said. “Before we make any investments in equipment and infrastructure, we take into consideration the sustainability and longevity of this e-commerce business,” le Roux added. “It is always in the back of our minds.” Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

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Scotland’s Prestwick airport tested by China’s e-commerce giants

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The top 15 liners in the Journal of Commerce rankings collectively carried 18.8 million TEUs to the US from Asia last year, up 17.3% from 2023. </div>

The top 15 liners in the Journal of Commerce rankings collectively carried 18.8 million TEUs to the US from Asia last year, up 17.3% from 2023.

<div class="phx-topic">Cosco Shipping and its OOCL subsidiary held their position as the leading carrier for containerized US imports from Asia in 2024, increasing tonnage by more than 20% on the year while expanding market share slightly, according to the Journal of Commerce’s rankings of the top 15 ocean carriers as measured by US imports from Asia. Cosco/OOCL carried 3.06 million TEUs in imports last year, up from 2.5 million TEUs in 2023. Their combined market share nudged higher — to 16.1% from 15.8%. CMA CGM maintained the second spot in the trans-Pacific rankings, hauling 2.65 million TEUs, up almost 15%, while posting a 13.9% market share, down slightly from 2023. The rest of the top five shifted slightly. Ocean Network Express (ONE) grabbed the third spot with 2.23 million TEUs and an 11.7% market share, moving up from number four. Mediterranean Shipping Co., which did not break into the top five in 2023, moved to the fourth spot in 2024. The carrier imported 2.17 million TEUs to the US from Asia, up more than 24% from the year prior. Its share of the eastbound trans-Pacific market climbed slightly to 11.4%. MSC knocked former 2M Alliance partner Maersk out of the top five, with Maersk sliding to the sixth spot with 1.84 million TEUs, up just 3.8% from 2023. Its 9.7% share of the market was down from 10.9%. Evergreen Marine moved down two spots to number five in 2024, carrying 2.05 million TEUs, up 2.1%, while its market share fell to 10.8% from 12.5%. Overall, the top five carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific hauled 12.2 million TEUs in imports to the US in 2024, good for a 64% market share. Rounding out the top 10 were Zim Integrated Shipping Services, HMM, Yang Ming and Hapag-Lloyd. The top 15 carriers collectively hauled 18.8 million TEUs to the US from Asia, up 17.3% from 2023. The <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/asia-us-container-spot-rates-spiking-to-year-end-highs-5908460">elevated 2024 volumes</a> can be largely attributed to increased demand compared with 2023 amid frontloading linked to new US tariffs and the threat of labor unrest on the East and Gulf coasts. Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:laura.robb@spglobal.com">laura.robb@spglobal.com</a>.  </div>

Cosco Shipping and its OOCL subsidiary held their position as the leading carrier for containerized US imports from Asia in 2024, increasing tonnage by more than 20% on the year while expanding market share slightly, according to the Journal of Commerce’s rankings of the top 15 ocean carriers as measured by US imports from Asia. Cosco/OOCL carried 3.06 million TEUs in imports last year, up from 2.5 million TEUs in 2023. Their combined market share nudged higher — to 16.1% from 15.8%. CMA CGM maintained the second spot in the trans-Pacific rankings, hauling 2.65 million TEUs, up almost 15%, while posting a 13.9% market share, down slightly from 2023. The rest of the top five shifted slightly. Ocean Network Express (ONE) grabbed the third spot with 2.23 million TEUs and an 11.7% market share, moving up from number four. Mediterranean Shipping Co., which did not break into the top five in 2023, moved to the fourth spot in 2024. The carrier imported 2.17 million TEUs to the US from Asia, up more than 24% from the year prior. Its share of the eastbound trans-Pacific market climbed slightly to 11.4%. MSC knocked former 2M Alliance partner Maersk out of the top five, with Maersk sliding to the sixth spot with 1.84 million TEUs, up just 3.8% from 2023. Its 9.7% share of the market was down from 10.9%. Evergreen Marine moved down two spots to number five in 2024, carrying 2.05 million TEUs, up 2.1%, while its market share fell to 10.8% from 12.5%. Overall, the top five carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific hauled 12.2 million TEUs in imports to the US in 2024, good for a 64% market share. Rounding out the top 10 were Zim Integrated Shipping Services, HMM, Yang Ming and Hapag-Lloyd. The top 15 carriers collectively hauled 18.8 million TEUs to the US from Asia, up 17.3% from 2023. The elevated 2024 volumes can be largely attributed to increased demand compared with 2023 amid frontloading linked to new US tariffs and the threat of labor unrest on the East and Gulf coasts. Contact Laura Robb at laura.robb@spglobal.com . 

Cosco/OOCL maintain top spot for carriers hauling US imports from Asia

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

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Shippers save money, time with automated transportation bidding tools

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

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Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

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