<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Port of Seattle wants to renegotiate the airline landing fee contract under which carriers paid </div>

The Port of Seattle wants to renegotiate the airline landing fee contract under which carriers paid

<div>The Port of Seattle wants to renegotiate the airline landing fee contract under which carriers paid for construction of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport nearly two decades ago.The 1969 agreement, which runs through the year 2001, calls for commercial landing fees to drop as other airport activities become more profitable. That reduces airline landing costs; the port, however, can make major profits on airport operations only if landing fees are eliminated.But some port commissioners said last week that Seattle-Tacoma International now is firmly enough established so that leverage could beapplied to get the airlines to accept terms more favorable to the...

The Port of Seattle wants to renegotiate the airline landing fee contract under which carriers paid for construction of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport nearly two decades ago. The 1969 agreement, which runs through the year 2001, calls for commercial landing fees to drop as other airport activities become more profitable. That reduces airline landing costs; the port, however, can make major profits on airport operations only if landing fees are eliminated.But some port commissioners said last week that Seattle-Tacoma International now is firmly enough established so that leverage could be applied to get the airlines to accept terms more favorable to the port. Executives at the airlines said the would prefer not to comment on that possibility until they discuss it with the port, but added that any change raising costs without an accompanying increase in benefits is likely to face opposition. The issue came up when Andrea Riniker, director of the Seattle airport, explained that landing fees at the airport are expected to drop from this year's $1.05 for each 1,000 pounds of landed weight to 82 cents next year. She said some airport costs once charged against the landing fees now are being charged against terminals and other ground facilities. The result, she said, is to ease the Seattle landing fee down, so that when major airport construction projects begin, the port will be able to boost landing fees without raising them way beyond the national average of $1.18-$1.22 for each 1,000 pounds of landed weight. That prompted commissioners Jack Block and Jim Wright to ask whether port couldn't, in fact, press airlines using Seattle-Tacoma to modify their financial agreement with the port. Mr. Block said he believes the port eventually must shift away from airline financing of airport facilities. If we're ever going to get facilities off the property tax rolls, we've got to do this, he said. If we do, I can envision the day when we'll have a real cash flow coming out of these facilities. Mr. Block, the Seattle port's senior commissioner, said because the year 2001 isn't too far away, he, as a long-time commissioner, wants the port to begin work now on a new agreement with the airlines. He suggested that the port should develop a method to internally finance future airport facilities, and so it could retain all the profits from airport development. For some reason, everybody's got the pervasive attitude that people at the port should just stick a potato sack over their head and let the airlines do any damn thing they want to, Mr. Block said. We have a lot of leverage on the airlines, and we can exercise that leverage, given Boston's experience. A lot of things have happened since that 1969 agreement was signed. Henry Aronson, port commission president, noted that while the port may not like the cost-sharing terms of its airline agreement, this agreement got air carriers to underwrite construction of Seattle airport facilities in 1969. Our underlying contractual arrangement with the airlines bars us (from financing and profiting from projects without giving airlines reduction of landing fees) until 2001 in exchange for their having essentially built Sea- Tac out of landing fees, he said. Until that time, they have a right to pay part for whatever is built at Sea-Tac in return for break-even costs. Mr. Aronson said the contract with the airlines calls for the port to tally up total costs, subtract earnings from ground services and charge the airlines a landing fee based strictly on the amount costs exceed expenses. Ms. Riniker said the port is studying whether the agreement might be changed to provide other financing options. There are times when both parties to an agreement might want to re- examine something in that agreement, she said. Should an opportunity like that come about, we want to have a clear idea of the things we would like to see changed. Mr. Block, however, said the port needs to take the initiative. He pointed out that the airport is currently involved in mediation with nearby residents that could result in serious problems for the airlines if a new financing agreement can't be reached. Who knows what the mediators are going to come up with? he said. They might come in and say 'No more night flights - to hell with it, people have had enough - if you can't get an alternative site for an airport, don't fly in here any more. Commissioner Wright agreed with Mr. Block's suggestion that new ways be sought to finance airport development. Mr. Wright suggested that the current financial deck is stacked in the airlines' favor. It just seems to me that we're giving up a tremendous financial capability by just saying, 'OK, we've got this agreement we made in 1969,' Mr. Wright said. Where does the bottomless landing fee end? He pointed out that the fees have dropped from $1.25 per 1,000 pounds to 82 cents a 1,000 pounds the last few years. The airlines keep the port from retaining profit on several key airport operations, he said. I want to this port to own the airport by the year 2001, he said. The only way that we're going to get (port-related) property taxes off the homeowners is to find a vehicle on which we can make money. I don't think it's right to continually be in a situation where the airlines are holding a financial gun to our heads. Mr. Wright said taxpayers supporting the Port of Seattle no longer need a financial partner, but should be getting a financial return on the investment they are making in port facilities. The Seattle port will receive about $27 million in King County property taxes this year. That tax is expected to rise to about $30 million next year.

Air Cargo

NEW FEE CONTRACT SOUGHT IN SEATTLE

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The broader goal of NYSHEX’s new container index is to provide rate information that will support the use of hedging tools for shippers, NVOs and carriers against increased volatility. </div>

The broader goal of NYSHEX’s new container index is to provide rate information that will support the use of hedging tools for shippers, NVOs and carriers against increased volatility.

Feature image

<div class="phx-topic">The New York Shipping Exchange (NYSHEX) has unveiled two new indexes covering inbound US container trades that are designed to underpin index-based freight contracts between shippers and their shipping line and forwarder partners. The free-to-use indexes will initially provide rate levels on the eastbound trans-Pacific and westbound trans-Atlantic lanes, with data provided by a panel of carriers and forwarders that give NYSHEX access to the price a shipper actually paid to be loaded on a vessel the week prior. That methodology, NYSHEX said this week, will be a differentiator for the index — called the NYFI — over the range of existing container freight rate indexes already in use in the market. Those indexes include the Shanghai Container Freight Index, the Drewry World Container Index, the Xeneta Shipping Index, the Freightos Baltic Index and Platts Container Index. The NYFI was developed in conjunction with the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which owns the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), with ICE <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/nyshex-says-will-launch-ocean-freight-rate-indexes-next-year-5820643">part of an investment into NYSHEX</a> last November. NYSHEX signaled it would be developing the index at that time. The launch this week is part of a beta phase for the NYFI, with a planned rollout across global lanes by the end of the year. <h3>Prior reticence eroding </h3>NYSHEX said during a launch event this week in New York that the index is specifically designed to be used in long-term, index-linked contracts that are then supported by financial derivative products, such as freight futures or options. The index will be based on freight rates captured on a freight invoice or rate bill of lading over the prior week. Essentially, the idea is that an index built using transacted rates that are close to real-time, facilitated by an exchange trusted by global financial markets, will give the container shipping industry more confidence to use in index-linked contracts and to experiment with financial derivatives to hedge against extreme price movements. The industry has been hesitant to use such instruments in years past, but a new period of rate volatility since the pandemic, with higher rate ceilings and larger amplitude between spot and contract, might induce a <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/freight-futures-get-second-look-amid-increased-risk-trading-volumes-5970973">more serious consideration of the tools</a>. Reticence in the market has come from both the demand and supply side. Outside of fuel, logistics teams aren’t generally accustomed to using hedging tools unless they are in commodities. But several shippers have indicated to the Journal of Commerce that their finance departments are now interested in exploring ways to mitigate ocean freight rate volatility. Ocean carriers have likewise avoided the indexes which might underpin financial derivatives because they saw those tools as commoditizing their services. But several ocean carriers are NYSHEX customers and board members, so NYSHEX’s development of an index to support both index-linked contracts and derivatives is a signal they are more ready than ever to participate in those developments. NYSHEX said that shippers, non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) and carriers are all part of the governance of the index. The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has regulatory oversight of NYSHEX since its core product provides the digital infrastructure for binding ocean freight contracts between shippers and NVOs and carriers. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The New York Shipping Exchange (NYSHEX) has unveiled two new indexes covering inbound US container trades that are designed to underpin index-based freight contracts between shippers and their shipping line and forwarder partners. The free-to-use indexes will initially provide rate levels on the eastbound trans-Pacific and westbound trans-Atlantic lanes, with data provided by a panel of carriers and forwarders that give NYSHEX access to the price a shipper actually paid to be loaded on a vessel the week prior. That methodology, NYSHEX said this week, will be a differentiator for the index — called the NYFI — over the range of existing container freight rate indexes already in use in the market. Those indexes include the Shanghai Container Freight Index, the Drewry World Container Index, the Xeneta Shipping Index, the Freightos Baltic Index and Platts Container Index. The NYFI was developed in conjunction with the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which owns the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), with ICE part of an investment into NYSHEX last November. NYSHEX signaled it would be developing the index at that time. The launch this week is part of a beta phase for the NYFI, with a planned rollout across global lanes by the end of the year. Prior reticence eroding NYSHEX said during a launch event this week in New York that the index is specifically designed to be used in long-term, index-linked contracts that are then supported by financial derivative products, such as freight futures or options. The index will be based on freight rates captured on a freight invoice or rate bill of lading over the prior week. Essentially, the idea is that an index built using transacted rates that are close to real-time, facilitated by an exchange trusted by global financial markets, will give the container shipping industry more confidence to use in index-linked contracts and to experiment with financial derivatives to hedge against extreme price movements. The industry has been hesitant to use such instruments in years past, but a new period of rate volatility since the pandemic, with higher rate ceilings and larger amplitude between spot and contract, might induce a more serious consideration of the tools . Reticence in the market has come from both the demand and supply side. Outside of fuel, logistics teams aren’t generally accustomed to using hedging tools unless they are in commodities. But several shippers have indicated to the Journal of Commerce that their finance departments are now interested in exploring ways to mitigate ocean freight rate volatility. Ocean carriers have likewise avoided the indexes which might underpin financial derivatives because they saw those tools as commoditizing their services. But several ocean carriers are NYSHEX customers and board members, so NYSHEX’s development of an index to support both index-linked contracts and derivatives is a signal they are more ready than ever to participate in those developments. NYSHEX said that shippers, non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) and carriers are all part of the governance of the index. The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has regulatory oversight of NYSHEX since its core product provides the digital infrastructure for binding ocean freight contracts between shippers and NVOs and carriers. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Maritime

Container lines

Forwarding

Container Shipping News

NYSHEX enters container index fray targeting floating rate contract adoption

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Less-than-truckload companies are reporting low volumes and customers stressed by trade wars, but contract rates are climbing.</div>

Less-than-truckload companies are reporting low volumes and customers stressed by trade wars, but contract rates are climbing.

<div class="phx-topic">US less-than-truckload (LTL) providers have defied economic gravity through much of the three-year freight downcycle, and they appear to be doing so again, gaining rate increases from shippers in the first quarter despite a broad drop in demand. But there are signs gravity is tugging harder at LTL carriers. National LTL carrier Saia saw a change in the market’s demand “backdrop” late in the first quarter and in April. ”This year, shipments in total for the company were only modestly improved from March to April, which we attribute primarily to the uncertain macroenvironment,” Saia CEO Frederick J. Holzgrefe said during a first-quarter earnings call last week. Shippers, Holzgrefe said, are taking a <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/jb-hunt-customers-waiting-for-dust-to-settle-on-tariffs-5986129">“wait-and-see” approach</a>, shipping less than normal. “We estimate the revenue impact of the sub-seasonal trends to be approximately $25 million to $40 million,” said Holzgrefe. Demand began to stall in March, the CEO said, and didn’t pick up in April. “We’re not going to predict May or June or frankly, the rest of the year,” he said. The uncertainty Saia reported is due to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/tariff-related-disruption-spreading-as-us-shippers-pause-plans-5989017">US tariffs rising</a> as part of the Trump administration’s trade war with China and disputes with Canada, Mexico and other trading partners. The frontloading of imports earlier this year ahead of tariffs is giving way to canceled purchase orders, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/uneasy-west-coast-ports-watch-as-first-signs-of-trade-dispute-with-china-emerge-5995887">blanked sailings</a> and lower factory output in the middle of the second quarter. “We’re getting the first signs of some real deceleration taking place,” Keith Prather, managing partner at Armada Corporate Intelligence, said during an SMC3 webinar Tuesday on the outlook for the US economy and LTL sector. "We’re going through this period of 60 to 90 days where we’ve got such uncertainty that everything is stalling.” Even where the freight economy is not stalling, “customers are producing less,” ABF Freight System President Matthew R. Godfrey said during an earnings call last week. Shipments in the first quarter were down 0.4% from a year ago at ABF, a subsidiary of ArcBest. <h3>LTL rates still climbing </h3>Despite an overall decline in freight demand and volume, however, contractual LTL renewal rates are rising year over year, typically in the mid-single digits, climbing about 4% to 6% on average on an annualized basis in the first quarter. LTL capacity is still lower than it was in 2023, before the <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/yellows-collapse-already-pushing-ltl-rates-higher-as-capacity-tightens-5216052">collapse of Yellow</a>, then the third-largest LTL provider. And although LTL carriers are still bringing more capacity to market, including former Yellow terminals, they’re slowing expenditures to match the market. Although LTL volumes have dropped by double digits since 2022, according to carriers and analysts, rates paid by shippers are now even higher than their peak in June of that year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index (PPI) for LTL trucking. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="397d0614-9019-449a-8ca0-64a882efbfbf"></dynamic-object></div>The long-distance LTL PPI, which includes transactional and contract LTL rates and surcharges paid by shippers, was up 6% on average in the first quarter. That validates carrier claims of mid-single-digit percentage gains in pricing. “We’re a very disciplined industry, and we’re not seeing any of our peers lose any discipline” when it comes to pricing, Mario Harik, CEO of XPO, the third-largest LTL carrier, told the Journal of Commerce Wednesday. Shippers can still find LTL savings if they have the right freight in the right lane for the right carrier, according to Mike Regan, chief relationship officer at TranzAct Technologies, a transportation technology and consulting firm. “Pricing has been bizarre,” Regan said. In negotiations with carriers, “we’re giving customers savings, but we were anticipating increases,” he said. The savings come from aligning freight and lanes with the network and needs of the LTL carrier. ”We’ve seen one shipper enter into negotiations expecting a 3% to 5% increase and instead it’s going to be a 14% reduction,” Regan said. That’s a sign that “we’re not in a balanced market anymore,” he said. Carriers, both LTL and truckload, have for years called for greater alignment between shipper freight and their networks, but low freight volumes may heighten the need to more carefully match shipments and lanes, creating new opportunities for shippers. <h3>Shelter from the storm </h3>While LTL carriers aren’t immune to changes in the US and global economies, they’re a bit more sheltered than their truckload counterparts or drayage providers. That’s thanks to increases in US inventory, according to XPO’s Harik. “At forwarders or <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-drayage-providers-bracing-for-container-plunge-say-rebound-could-reset-market-5994621">drayage companies</a>, if inbound ocean containers are down, it will impact their business directly,” he said. “But at LTL companies, the product comes into the US and then it goes into inventory, and that’s a buffer for us. We see more of an indirect impact, and it’s more spread out.” The bigger impact comes when those inventories are drawn down, triggering replenishment demand. Even then, “if you have less inventory there’s a high likelihood you won’t have enough product to complete a truckload shipment,” Harik said. With some shippers sourcing more inputs and freight within the US, “it’s very hard to estimate what the impact will be on LTL volumes” as the trade war drags on, he said. Like ocean carriers and drayage providers, Harik warns that there will be an “uptick following the downdraft” in freight, and that may impact LTL volumes as well. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a> </div>

US less-than-truckload (LTL) providers have defied economic gravity through much of the three-year freight downcycle, and they appear to be doing so again, gaining rate increases from shippers in the first quarter despite a broad drop in demand. But there are signs gravity is tugging harder at LTL carriers. National LTL carrier Saia saw a change in the market’s demand “backdrop” late in the first quarter and in April. ”This year, shipments in total for the company were only modestly improved from March to April, which we attribute primarily to the uncertain macroenvironment,” Saia CEO Frederick J. Holzgrefe said during a first-quarter earnings call last week. Shippers, Holzgrefe said, are taking a “wait-and-see” approach , shipping less than normal. “We estimate the revenue impact of the sub-seasonal trends to be approximately $25 million to $40 million,” said Holzgrefe. Demand began to stall in March, the CEO said, and didn’t pick up in April. “We’re not going to predict May or June or frankly, the rest of the year,” he said. The uncertainty Saia reported is due to US tariffs rising as part of the Trump administration’s trade war with China and disputes with Canada, Mexico and other trading partners. The frontloading of imports earlier this year ahead of tariffs is giving way to canceled purchase orders, blanked sailings and lower factory output in the middle of the second quarter. “We’re getting the first signs of some real deceleration taking place,” Keith Prather, managing partner at Armada Corporate Intelligence, said during an SMC3 webinar Tuesday on the outlook for the US economy and LTL sector. "We’re going through this period of 60 to 90 days where we’ve got such uncertainty that everything is stalling.” Even where the freight economy is not stalling, “customers are producing less,” ABF Freight System President Matthew R. Godfrey said during an earnings call last week. Shipments in the first quarter were down 0.4% from a year ago at ABF, a subsidiary of ArcBest. LTL rates still climbing Despite an overall decline in freight demand and volume, however, contractual LTL renewal rates are rising year over year, typically in the mid-single digits, climbing about 4% to 6% on average on an annualized basis in the first quarter. LTL capacity is still lower than it was in 2023, before the collapse of Yellow , then the third-largest LTL provider. And although LTL carriers are still bringing more capacity to market, including former Yellow terminals, they’re slowing expenditures to match the market. Although LTL volumes have dropped by double digits since 2022, according to carriers and analysts, rates paid by shippers are now even higher than their peak in June of that year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index (PPI) for LTL trucking. The long-distance LTL PPI, which includes transactional and contract LTL rates and surcharges paid by shippers, was up 6% on average in the first quarter. That validates carrier claims of mid-single-digit percentage gains in pricing. “We’re a very disciplined industry, and we’re not seeing any of our peers lose any discipline” when it comes to pricing, Mario Harik, CEO of XPO, the third-largest LTL carrier, told the Journal of Commerce Wednesday. Shippers can still find LTL savings if they have the right freight in the right lane for the right carrier, according to Mike Regan, chief relationship officer at TranzAct Technologies, a transportation technology and consulting firm. “Pricing has been bizarre,” Regan said. In negotiations with carriers, “we’re giving customers savings, but we were anticipating increases,” he said. The savings come from aligning freight and lanes with the network and needs of the LTL carrier. ”We’ve seen one shipper enter into negotiations expecting a 3% to 5% increase and instead it’s going to be a 14% reduction,” Regan said. That’s a sign that “we’re not in a balanced market anymore,” he said. Carriers, both LTL and truckload, have for years called for greater alignment between shipper freight and their networks, but low freight volumes may heighten the need to more carefully match shipments and lanes, creating new opportunities for shippers. Shelter from the storm While LTL carriers aren’t immune to changes in the US and global economies, they’re a bit more sheltered than their truckload counterparts or drayage providers. That’s thanks to increases in US inventory, according to XPO’s Harik. “At forwarders or drayage companies , if inbound ocean containers are down, it will impact their business directly,” he said. “But at LTL companies, the product comes into the US and then it goes into inventory, and that’s a buffer for us. We see more of an indirect impact, and it’s more spread out.” The bigger impact comes when those inventories are drawn down, triggering replenishment demand. Even then, “if you have less inventory there’s a high likelihood you won’t have enough product to complete a truckload shipment,” Harik said. With some shippers sourcing more inputs and freight within the US, “it’s very hard to estimate what the impact will be on LTL volumes” as the trade war drags on, he said. Like ocean carriers and drayage providers, Harik warns that there will be an “uptick following the downdraft” in freight, and that may impact LTL volumes as well. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com

Trucking News

Surface

US LTL rates rising despite falling volumes, more cautious shippers

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">While ongoing port congestion in North Europe and longer voyages around the Cape of Good Hope will help to absorb incoming vessels, it will also leave the trade lane open to volatile shifts in capacity that cannot be planned for, a Journal of Commerce webinar was told. </div>

While ongoing port congestion in North Europe and longer voyages around the Cape of Good Hope will help to absorb incoming vessels, it will also leave the trade lane open to volatile shifts in capacity that cannot be planned for, a Journal of Commerce webinar was told.

<div class="phx-topic">The suspension of shipments from China to the US and the swathe of blank sailings on the trans-Pacific could result in a significant shift of capacity to other trade lanes, including Asia-Europe and the trans-Atlantic, according to Kuehne + Nagel’s Alexandra Ilascu. While the ongoing port congestion in North Europe and longer voyages around the Cape of Good Hope will help to absorb incoming vessels, it will also leave the trade lane open to volatile shifts in capacity that cannot be planned for, Ilascu told the Journal of Commerce’s Asia-Europe webinar this week. “There is a clear trend from the carrier side of cutting capacity on Asia-US and China-US specifically, and what will happen next is they take these ships and distribute them across various trades,” she said. “The first trade will be Latin America, then Africa and then to Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean,” added Ilascu, K + N’s global sea logistics trade manager for Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Europe. The issue for forwarders and their customers is that sailing schedules and the Asia-Europe shipping networks will be stabilized around the incoming capacity. But when the China-US situation is resolved or tariffs are lowered and demand returns to the trans-Pacific, the vessels shifted to Asia-Europe will be quickly moved back to Asia. “The volatility and the peaks and the lows of the capacity could potentially happen during the peak season,” Ilascu warned. Bookings for China to the US <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/trans-pacific-capacity-cuts-accelerating-amid-sharp-reduction-in-chinese-cargo-5992769">dropped nearly 54% during the week of April 21–28</a> versus the comparable week in March, according to maritime visibility provider Vizion and data and analytics company Dun &amp; Bradstreet. Some of the US big box retailers have resumed shipments, but there are no signs that the 145% tariffs imposed by the US and the 125% reciprocal tariffs from China will be lifted anytime soon. <h3>China floating promotional deals to Europe retailers </h3>The slowdown in cargo shipments from China to the US has seen Chinese manufacturers extending promotional offers or more flexible rate options to European importers, said Toni Rigalos, managing partner at ShiftX, a firm that handles carrier procurement for cargo owners in Europe. So far there has been little interest in the discount options, Rigalos told the webinar. “We have several big retail customers, and they are not jumping on these promotional deals from the manufacturers,” he said. “The demand is not really picking up here in Europe, so they are also conservative in what they are doing.” <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="1aa96cfa-0835-49d5-9d5a-b7a5d7243d23"></dynamic-object></div>Europe’s major economies are struggling for growth and consumer demand remains weak across the continent, yet carriers on Asia-Europe have eased back on blank sailings in May while at the same time deploying record amounts of capacity. Data from eeSea shows that deployed capacity in May will reach 1.13 million TEUs with 73,000 TEUs being blanked, possibly an indication that carriers are expecting a surge in volume from the disrupted trans-Pacific. <h3>Blank sailings – structural or commercial? </h3>There are differing perspectives on the blank sailings. Ilascu believes they are structural and generated by the Red Sea diversions around Africa and port congestion in Europe that has resulted in each loop in the Asia-Europe network being two or three ships short. “Most of the carriers are fighting for market share in Asia-Europe and they are trying to deploy as much capacity as possible,” she said. “The rates are more or less stable for now, so these are not commercial blankings, they are structural.” Rigalos disagreed, noting that demand in May and June was not very strong and the carriers were making commercial decisions to manage their capacity and ensure a smooth roll out of the new alliance networks. “In the past two or three months, the carriers have been putting their utmost efforts into bringing ships into position so they can show good on-time performance,” he said. “Now they are seeing maybe a little too much capacity and are trying to balance that out.” Spot rates on Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean routes have flattened out in the last two weeks after dropping steeply since late December. Data from Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global, shows Asia-North Europe rates at $1,800 per FEU this week, down 64% since Dec. 30. Asia-Mediterranean rates have followed a similar path and are at $2,733/FEU, a decline of 48%. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The suspension of shipments from China to the US and the swathe of blank sailings on the trans-Pacific could result in a significant shift of capacity to other trade lanes, including Asia-Europe and the trans-Atlantic, according to Kuehne + Nagel’s Alexandra Ilascu. While the ongoing port congestion in North Europe and longer voyages around the Cape of Good Hope will help to absorb incoming vessels, it will also leave the trade lane open to volatile shifts in capacity that cannot be planned for, Ilascu told the Journal of Commerce’s Asia-Europe webinar this week. “There is a clear trend from the carrier side of cutting capacity on Asia-US and China-US specifically, and what will happen next is they take these ships and distribute them across various trades,” she said. “The first trade will be Latin America, then Africa and then to Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean,” added Ilascu, K + N’s global sea logistics trade manager for Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Europe. The issue for forwarders and their customers is that sailing schedules and the Asia-Europe shipping networks will be stabilized around the incoming capacity. But when the China-US situation is resolved or tariffs are lowered and demand returns to the trans-Pacific, the vessels shifted to Asia-Europe will be quickly moved back to Asia. “The volatility and the peaks and the lows of the capacity could potentially happen during the peak season,” Ilascu warned. Bookings for China to the US dropped nearly 54% during the week of April 21–28 versus the comparable week in March, according to maritime visibility provider Vizion and data and analytics company Dun & Bradstreet. Some of the US big box retailers have resumed shipments, but there are no signs that the 145% tariffs imposed by the US and the 125% reciprocal tariffs from China will be lifted anytime soon. China floating promotional deals to Europe retailers The slowdown in cargo shipments from China to the US has seen Chinese manufacturers extending promotional offers or more flexible rate options to European importers, said Toni Rigalos, managing partner at ShiftX, a firm that handles carrier procurement for cargo owners in Europe. So far there has been little interest in the discount options, Rigalos told the webinar. “We have several big retail customers, and they are not jumping on these promotional deals from the manufacturers,” he said. “The demand is not really picking up here in Europe, so they are also conservative in what they are doing.” Europe’s major economies are struggling for growth and consumer demand remains weak across the continent, yet carriers on Asia-Europe have eased back on blank sailings in May while at the same time deploying record amounts of capacity. Data from eeSea shows that deployed capacity in May will reach 1.13 million TEUs with 73,000 TEUs being blanked, possibly an indication that carriers are expecting a surge in volume from the disrupted trans-Pacific. Blank sailings – structural or commercial? There are differing perspectives on the blank sailings. Ilascu believes they are structural and generated by the Red Sea diversions around Africa and port congestion in Europe that has resulted in each loop in the Asia-Europe network being two or three ships short. “Most of the carriers are fighting for market share in Asia-Europe and they are trying to deploy as much capacity as possible,” she said. “The rates are more or less stable for now, so these are not commercial blankings, they are structural.” Rigalos disagreed, noting that demand in May and June was not very strong and the carriers were making commercial decisions to manage their capacity and ensure a smooth roll out of the new alliance networks. “In the past two or three months, the carriers have been putting their utmost efforts into bringing ships into position so they can show good on-time performance,” he said. “Now they are seeing maybe a little too much capacity and are trying to balance that out.” Spot rates on Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean routes have flattened out in the last two weeks after dropping steeply since late December. Data from Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, shows Asia-North Europe rates at $1,800 per FEU this week, down 64% since Dec. 30. Asia-Mediterranean rates have followed a similar path and are at $2,733/FEU, a decline of 48%. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Trans-Pacific

Asia-Europe

Shift in ocean capacity from trans-Pacific spells trouble for Asia-Europe

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">While the second quarter is typically strong for freight demand, the logistics provider said the market is far from normal after the Trump administration’s tariffs spooked its customers. </div>

While the second quarter is typically strong for freight demand, the logistics provider said the market is far from normal after the Trump administration’s tariffs spooked its customers.

<div class="phx-topic">C.H. Robinson on Thursday reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings that benefited from firmer pricing in its truckload business and market share gains. Despite the second quarter typically being strong for freight demand, the company said US tariffs on China will likely impact results as its forwarding customers pause and cancel shipments. The largest US truck brokerage reported 2025 first-quarter earnings of $1.17 per share, which beat a consensus average estimate of $1.05 per share from Capital IQ Estimates, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. C.H. Robinson’s trucking business fueled the earnings gain. Despite revenue from its North American surface transportation business declining 4% to $2.8 billion, the segment’s operating income rose 32% to $143 million. Michael Castagnetto, C.H. Robinson’s president of surface transportation, said during the company’s earnings call that overall surface volumes were down 1% from a year ago versus a 6.3% drop in the Cass Freight Shipment index. Along with taking more market share, Castagnetto said C.H. Robinson got a better rate on each shipment, with the average gross profit on each shipment up 4% from a year earlier. “Our team of freight experts continues to respond to the challenging freight environment with pricing discipline,” he said. “All of this led to improvement in the average gross profit yield within both our transactional and our contractual truckload business and in our less-than-truckload business.” A similar dynamic played out in C.H. Robinson’s forwarding business, where revenue fell 10% to $774 million due to lower overall freight rates. However, segment operating income rose 36% to $42.9 million thanks to higher yields on each ocean and air shipment and a lower headcount in the forwarding unit. But that unit is heavily exposed to China, which accounts for 25% of C.H. Robinson’s forwarding volume. Chief Executive David Bozeman said the company will feel the effects of the Trump administration’s tariffs against China as many customers canceled or paused purchase orders, “causing ocean bookings out of China to decline in Q2.” While the second quarter is typically strong for freight demand, Bozeman said it was unclear whether that seasonal trend would take shape due to the economic uncertainty created by tariffs. “The new tariffs and fluid trade policies have created market uncertainty and a lack of clarity, making planning activities more difficult and causing many customers to adopt a wait-and-see approach until they understand the impact on consumer spending and global demand,” he said during the conference call. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

C.H. Robinson on Thursday reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings that benefited from firmer pricing in its truckload business and market share gains. Despite the second quarter typically being strong for freight demand, the company said US tariffs on China will likely impact results as its forwarding customers pause and cancel shipments. The largest US truck brokerage reported 2025 first-quarter earnings of $1.17 per share, which beat a consensus average estimate of $1.05 per share from Capital IQ Estimates, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. C.H. Robinson’s trucking business fueled the earnings gain. Despite revenue from its North American surface transportation business declining 4% to $2.8 billion, the segment’s operating income rose 32% to $143 million. Michael Castagnetto, C.H. Robinson’s president of surface transportation, said during the company’s earnings call that overall surface volumes were down 1% from a year ago versus a 6.3% drop in the Cass Freight Shipment index. Along with taking more market share, Castagnetto said C.H. Robinson got a better rate on each shipment, with the average gross profit on each shipment up 4% from a year earlier. “Our team of freight experts continues to respond to the challenging freight environment with pricing discipline,” he said. “All of this led to improvement in the average gross profit yield within both our transactional and our contractual truckload business and in our less-than-truckload business.” A similar dynamic played out in C.H. Robinson’s forwarding business, where revenue fell 10% to $774 million due to lower overall freight rates. However, segment operating income rose 36% to $42.9 million thanks to higher yields on each ocean and air shipment and a lower headcount in the forwarding unit. But that unit is heavily exposed to China, which accounts for 25% of C.H. Robinson’s forwarding volume. Chief Executive David Bozeman said the company will feel the effects of the Trump administration’s tariffs against China as many customers canceled or paused purchase orders, “causing ocean bookings out of China to decline in Q2.” While the second quarter is typically strong for freight demand, Bozeman said it was unclear whether that seasonal trend would take shape due to the economic uncertainty created by tariffs. “The new tariffs and fluid trade policies have created market uncertainty and a lack of clarity, making planning activities more difficult and causing many customers to adopt a wait-and-see approach until they understand the impact on consumer spending and global demand,” he said during the conference call. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Supply chain

C.H. Robinson’s forwarding business faces muddy Q2 on China uncertainty

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Los Angeles-Long Beach complex, which handles about half of all US imports from Asia, is so far due to experience 59 blanked sailings between May 1 and June 30.</div>

The Los Angeles-Long Beach complex, which handles about half of all US imports from Asia, is so far due to experience 59 blanked sailings between May 1 and June 30.

<div class="phx-topic">Ports and marine terminals along the US West Coast are bracing for what could be a massive drop in imports moving across their docks in the coming weeks as the tangible impacts of blank sailings and half-empty container ships arriving from China become apparent. The effects of the US trade war with Beijing will be most visible in Southern California, where stakeholders at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — the US’ busiest gateway — expect a huge cut in imports in May, with a 35% decline in Los Angeles and 38% in Long Beach compared with their normal monthly volumes. “Leading indicators forecast a significant dip in container ship arrivals in the next one to two weeks,” Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, said. The Los Angeles-Long Beach complex, which handles about half of all US imports from Asia, is so far due to experience 59 blanked, or canceled, sailings between May 1 and June 30, according to both ports. That number, which could rise, means that about 65,000 to 71,000 TEUs of imports won’t be landing in Southern California each week for the next few weeks. A spokesperson for the Port of Los Angeles said 17 blank sailings are scheduled for May and 12 for June. Long Beach is scheduled to have 13 blanked sailings in May and 17 in June, according to Noel Hacegaba, the port’s chief operating officer. The impact of the blanked sailings will vary from terminal to terminal depending on the lines that call there and the origin of the imports, said Alan McCorkle, president and CEO of Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles. “We’re all experiencing it to some degree,” he said. “We expect a couple of blanks in May.” When cargo volumes drop precipitously, terminal operators generally reduce their gate hours, McCorkle said. “We’ll close two or three gates a week to right-size our operation.” <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="1c1d9578-c129-4d4e-a136-e220473bd136"></dynamic-object></div>While dockworkers won’t face lower pay or job cuts given their contract protections, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) nonetheless savaged the Trump administration this week for implementing the tariffs and for the trade dispute they ignited with China. “Tariffs are taxes. These and other reckless, shortsighted policies have begun to devastate American workers, harm critical sectors of the economy, and line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy at the expense of hardworking families,” the union said in a statement. “Hundreds of thousands of jobs are dependent on or connected to global trade,” the ILWU added. “Constricted trade between the world’s two largest economies could lead to devastating job losses for workers employed in the global supply chain.” <h3>Imports to drop in Oakland and NWSA </h3>Further up the West Coast, the Port of Oakland likewise anticipates a drop in vessel calls and import volumes over the next two months. “In recent weeks, vessel service reductions have increased,” a port spokesperson said. “Between April and June, 39 blank sailings have been announced across multiple shipping alliances calling Oakland. These reductions tighten available vessel capacity for both imports and exports.” The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) of Seattle and Tacoma does not have formal projections on volumes, a port spokesperson said. But while import volumes to date this year have been strong, that appears to be changing. “We are seeing some vessels coming in with less cargo than anticipated, and we are hearing from exporters and importers directly on canceled orders, especially with China,” the spokesperson said. “These impacts are real and will likely be reflected in our data in the coming months.” China accounts for 51% of NWSA imports and 40% of the port complex’s total trade, the spokesperson noted. <h3>Vancouver unaffected </h3>The Port of Vancouver does not anticipate a drop in import volumes due to the US tariffs on imports from China, said Rosanna Lau, manager of trade development at the Vancouver-Fraser Port Authority. “Our forecasts for the coming weeks indicate that container volumes at the Port of Vancouver will remain consistent with seasonal norms,” Lau said. “It is worth noting that the overwhelming majority of container traffic moving through the port is Canadian trade and not directly affected by US tariffs.” The Port of Prince Rupert said 17 blank sailings are scheduled across May and June; that is five more blanks than the same period last year, a port spokesperson said. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at <a href="mailto:bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com">bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Ports and marine terminals along the US West Coast are bracing for what could be a massive drop in imports moving across their docks in the coming weeks as the tangible impacts of blank sailings and half-empty container ships arriving from China become apparent. The effects of the US trade war with Beijing will be most visible in Southern California, where stakeholders at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — the US’ busiest gateway — expect a huge cut in imports in May, with a 35% decline in Los Angeles and 38% in Long Beach compared with their normal monthly volumes. “Leading indicators forecast a significant dip in container ship arrivals in the next one to two weeks,” Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, said. The Los Angeles-Long Beach complex, which handles about half of all US imports from Asia, is so far due to experience 59 blanked, or canceled, sailings between May 1 and June 30, according to both ports. That number, which could rise, means that about 65,000 to 71,000 TEUs of imports won’t be landing in Southern California each week for the next few weeks. A spokesperson for the Port of Los Angeles said 17 blank sailings are scheduled for May and 12 for June. Long Beach is scheduled to have 13 blanked sailings in May and 17 in June, according to Noel Hacegaba, the port’s chief operating officer. The impact of the blanked sailings will vary from terminal to terminal depending on the lines that call there and the origin of the imports, said Alan McCorkle, president and CEO of Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles. “We’re all experiencing it to some degree,” he said. “We expect a couple of blanks in May.” When cargo volumes drop precipitously, terminal operators generally reduce their gate hours, McCorkle said. “We’ll close two or three gates a week to right-size our operation.” While dockworkers won’t face lower pay or job cuts given their contract protections, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) nonetheless savaged the Trump administration this week for implementing the tariffs and for the trade dispute they ignited with China. “Tariffs are taxes. These and other reckless, shortsighted policies have begun to devastate American workers, harm critical sectors of the economy, and line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy at the expense of hardworking families,” the union said in a statement. “Hundreds of thousands of jobs are dependent on or connected to global trade,” the ILWU added. “Constricted trade between the world’s two largest economies could lead to devastating job losses for workers employed in the global supply chain.” Imports to drop in Oakland and NWSA Further up the West Coast, the Port of Oakland likewise anticipates a drop in vessel calls and import volumes over the next two months. “In recent weeks, vessel service reductions have increased,” a port spokesperson said. “Between April and June, 39 blank sailings have been announced across multiple shipping alliances calling Oakland. These reductions tighten available vessel capacity for both imports and exports.” The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) of Seattle and Tacoma does not have formal projections on volumes, a port spokesperson said. But while import volumes to date this year have been strong, that appears to be changing. “We are seeing some vessels coming in with less cargo than anticipated, and we are hearing from exporters and importers directly on canceled orders, especially with China,” the spokesperson said. “These impacts are real and will likely be reflected in our data in the coming months.” China accounts for 51% of NWSA imports and 40% of the port complex’s total trade, the spokesperson noted. Vancouver unaffected The Port of Vancouver does not anticipate a drop in import volumes due to the US tariffs on imports from China, said Rosanna Lau, manager of trade development at the Vancouver-Fraser Port Authority. “Our forecasts for the coming weeks indicate that container volumes at the Port of Vancouver will remain consistent with seasonal norms,” Lau said. “It is worth noting that the overwhelming majority of container traffic moving through the port is Canadian trade and not directly affected by US tariffs.” The Port of Prince Rupert said 17 blank sailings are scheduled across May and June; that is five more blanks than the same period last year, a port spokesperson said. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com .

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Uneasy West Coast ports watch as first signs of trade dispute with China emerge

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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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