<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Combine a wobbly economy with shifting supply-chain patterns, excess ship capacity and volatile pric</div>

Combine a wobbly economy with shifting supply-chain patterns, excess ship capacity and volatile pric

<div>Combine a wobbly economy with shifting supply-chain patterns, excess ship capacity and volatile pricing for fuel, and what do you get? Answer: A difficult environment for next spring's trans-Pacific service-contract negotiations.The No. 1 issue in next year's negotiations is expected to be fuel costs. After waiving most fuel surcharges in 2006 -- and paying a huge price when bunker costs rose -- carriers succeeded last spring in negotiating floating surcharges that passed more costs to shippers.Carriers will attempt to build on that success. They will try to recover a greater percentage of their bunker costs, especially on all-water services from...

Combine a wobbly economy with shifting supply-chain patterns, excess ship capacity and volatile pricing for fuel, and what do you get? Answer: A difficult environment for next spring's trans-Pacific service-contract negotiations. The No. 1 issue in next year's negotiations is expected to be fuel costs. After waiving most fuel surcharges in 2006 -- and paying a huge price when bunker costs rose -- carriers succeeded last spring in negotiating floating surcharges that passed more costs to shippers. Carriers will attempt to build on that success. They will try to recover a greater percentage of their bunker costs, especially on all-water services from Asia. They also will focus on their increased fuel costs for inland movement of containers by rail and truck. Railroads and motor carriers are imposing higher diesel fuel surcharges on ocean carriers, but shipping lines have failed to pass those costs to customers. Shipping lines estimate that over the past two years they have absorbed nearly $700 million of diesel fuel surcharges that they paid to railroads and trucking companies. Another hint of things to come: Importers on the East Coast could be in for a shock next year. For the first time in at least a decade, carriers may reduce capacity on all-water services from Asia. Although all-water services have high vessel utilization rates, costs have risen faster than revenue, and many carriers are losing money on the services. However, it appears that the only way shipping lines will win base-rate increases in the 2009-10 contracting year is if they are able to manage capacity in the Pacific the way they did this year. By all accounts, 2008 is shaping up as a bad year in the eastbound Pacific in terms of cargo volumes, and next year could be worse. Imports this year were down by more than 7 percent through August and are expected to be off about 8 percent for the entire year. The summer-fall peak season is shaping up as the worst since 2001, when the economy took a dip after the Sept. 11 attacks. Exports are up about 15 percent, which has helped carriers improve their round-trip revenue, but the eastbound is the dominant route in the Pacific for cargo volume and rates. Economic conditions are shaky. The U.S. housing market is projected to remain weak through 2009, especially if credit remains tight. That's bad news for shipping lines -- housing-related cargo accounts for more than 25 percent of the eastbound trade from Asia. Meanwhile, with consumer confidence in the doldrums, retailers are slashing their orders of consumer goods from Asia. Although industry analysts say the eastbound trade could pick up a bit in late 2009, carriers will be cautious in their capacity allocations. Robert Sappio, senior vice president of trans-Pacific trade at APL Ltd., said imports next year are expected to be flat. Even in the most optimistic scenario, carriers face potential overcapacity. The global container fleet is projected to increase by 10 to 12 percent in 2009 after an increase of more than 10 percent this year. Asia-Europe and intra-Asia routes have absorbed much of this capacity, but volume growth in those markets is slowing. Asia-Europe rates are reported to be as low as $700 per TEU, half of last year's levels. Carriers are scheduled to take delivery of about 65 ships with capacities of 8,000 TEUs or more during the next two years. Asia-Europe is the preferred route for these big ships, but some of them may end up on Asia-Southern California routes. That's the last thing carriers need, especially if cargo volume is flat or declining. "Carriers can ill afford to have empty ships in the water," Sappio said in an interview just days before APL announced that it was slashing capacity by some 20 percent in the trans-Pacific and 25 percent in the Asia-Europe trade. Shipping lines have taken several other steps to restrict capacity. On longer routes, they increased vessel strings by one ship, allowing ships to be operated at a slower speed. This stretches capacity while reducing fuel costs by about 20 percent for each two- to three-knot reduction in speed. Slow-steaming may not work on Asia-East Coast services through the Panama Canal, however, because the tight transit windows at the canal are based on normal vessel speeds. Carriers also are opting not to renew expiring charters for vessels, and are considering lay-ups of some of the ships they own. "When costs are up and rates are non-compensatory, you lose less money by keeping ships in lay-up rather than running them empty," Sappio said. Using these strategies, carriers have been able to maintain eastbound trans-Pacific rates even as cargo volumes dropped. According to weekly statistics provided by Drewry Shipping Consultants and published by The Journal of Commerce, spot rates from Hong Kong to the U.S. this year have consistently ranged between 16 and 20 percent higher than in the corresponding weeks in 2007. Many of the lines this past month have announced capacity reductions of as much as 15 percent during the upcoming slack shipping season. Cargo volumes during the slow winter months will have an impact on carrier decisions to return that capacity when cargo volumes begin to increase in the spring. Carriers say they intend to increase base freight rates in 2009, but this will be difficult in a down market. They may therefore have to concentrate on fuel surcharges and on reducing operating costs. Bunker fuel costs have dropped from a peak of about $700 a ton to about $500, but even at that level, fuel accounts for more than half of total voyage costs. The impact is especially severe on lengthy all-water routes, which generally require eight ships of about 4,000-TEU capacity, compared with four or five ships with a maximum of 8,000-TEU capacity on shorter trans-Pacific services to the West Coast. Rick Wen, vice president of business development at OOCL (USA), said that with bunker fuel at $500 per ton, it costs a carrier $1,363 per FEU for all-water service to the East Coast, compared with $861 per FEU to the West Coast. BNSF Railway, which depends on intermodal services from West Coast ports for a significant portion of its revenue, anticipates a shift of some East Coast cargo back to intermodal service through the West Coast in the coming year. Steve Branscum, group vice president for consumer products marketing, said ocean carriers have said in recent meetings that they are losing money, "in some cases, a considerable amount of money," on all-water services. If carriers continue to deploy larger vessels on their West Coast services to reduce their per-unit prices, and if bunker fuel costs remain high, Branscum expects BNSF to increase its market share in eastern markets such as New York, Columbus, Ohio, and Atlanta. During the last two years, BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad have lost market share to East Coast ports, largely because of increases of as much as 30 percent in intermodal rail rates as long-term contracts expired. Branscum said future intermodal rate increases would be more modest. To stem their losses on all-water services, carriers are considering a two-tiered pricing system for bunker fuel. The Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, a discussion agreement of westbound carriers, last month announced guidelines for bunker fuel surcharges on exports to Asia, with proposed rates of $1,515 per FEU (with bunker fuel at $690 per ton) from the East Coast, and $767 per FEU on export shipments from West Coast ports. The Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, representing 15 lines in the eastbound trade from Asia, is expected to come out with a two-tiered guideline for imports. Niels Erich, a spokesman for the two agreements, said the TSA guidelines for bunker fuel surcharges will differ some, but not greatly, from the WTSA's voluntary guidelines. Bill Mongelluzzo can be contacted at bmongelluzzo@joc.com .

Forwarding

Next yearÍs contracts: What to expect

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Sources at some of the big liners say there’s been a noticeable decline in their traditional India-Mediterranean volumes due to the new competition taking advantage of Red Sea-linked shipping dislocations that have created a “new normal” operating environment. </div>

Sources at some of the big liners say there’s been a noticeable decline in their traditional India-Mediterranean volumes due to the new competition taking advantage of Red Sea-linked shipping dislocations that have created a “new normal” operating environment.

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<div class="phx-topic">Mainline operators predominant on the India-Mediterranean trade lane are being challenged for market share by a new crop of regional or secondary carriers differentiating themselves with direct Suez Canal sailings and lower rate asks. Leading that charge are Turkon Line and Arkas Line, two Turkish carriers that recently began a vessel-sharing agreement (VSA) between West India and the Red Sea region with relay options for other larger sourcing markets, including North Europe and North America. The joint loop has had a stronger-than-expected start, with its recent sailings reporting 90%-plus capacity utilization, industry sources say. The vessels have an average combined space allocation of 2,200 TEUs per call out of the Indian ports of Nhava Sheva and Mundra, port data shows. Local sources at some of the mega lines who spoke with the Journal of Commerce agreed that there has been a noticeable decline in their traditional India-Mediterranean volumes due to the new competition amid Red Sea-linked shipping dislocations that have created a “new normal” operating environment. “Our pre-and post-Red Sea trade assessment (between the latter parts of 2023 and 2024) indicates a 33% dip in the overall export market hold for the lead carriers,” a regional executive at a European liner who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. “The entry of more opportunistic Red Sea-centric operators and (non-vessel-operating common carriers) has refueled this shift into 2025.” <h3>Rate variance near $500 per container </h3>Forwarder sources in Mumbai have reported an average variance of up to $500 per container between spot rates quoted by mega carriers and those offered by newcomers for Indian loads to the Mediterranean, dependent on the ports of discharge. For Nhava Sheva-Alexandria (Egypt) bookings, Turkon/Arkas rates are in the range of $1,400 per TEU and $1,800 per FEU, compared to $2,083 and $2,341 for CMA CGM sailings through April, sources say. “So-called Red Sea players trying to exploit a disruption have used aggressive pricing and other commercial strategies to take business away from established liners continuing to reroute vessels around the southern Africa axis,” an industry observer said. Most carriers since late 2023 have diverted their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea launched by Houthi militants operating from Yemen. The source also noted that major carriers are now generally selective about the freight they haul, concentrating on light-weight commodities instead of heavy loads that are more regular in 20-foot container bookings. Anecdotal industry data puts Indian containerized exports to the Mediterranean at between 600,000 to 700,000 TEUs annually, with India-Turkey trade accounting for about 100,000 TEUs of that. By normal pattern, Mediterranean Shipping Co. has held a 20% share of that market, followed by Maersk at 18%, CMA CGM at 12% and Hapag-Lloyd at 11%, recent estimates reveal. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com.</a></div>

Mainline operators predominant on the India-Mediterranean trade lane are being challenged for market share by a new crop of regional or secondary carriers differentiating themselves with direct Suez Canal sailings and lower rate asks. Leading that charge are Turkon Line and Arkas Line, two Turkish carriers that recently began a vessel-sharing agreement (VSA) between West India and the Red Sea region with relay options for other larger sourcing markets, including North Europe and North America. The joint loop has had a stronger-than-expected start, with its recent sailings reporting 90%-plus capacity utilization, industry sources say. The vessels have an average combined space allocation of 2,200 TEUs per call out of the Indian ports of Nhava Sheva and Mundra, port data shows. Local sources at some of the mega lines who spoke with the Journal of Commerce agreed that there has been a noticeable decline in their traditional India-Mediterranean volumes due to the new competition amid Red Sea-linked shipping dislocations that have created a “new normal” operating environment. “Our pre-and post-Red Sea trade assessment (between the latter parts of 2023 and 2024) indicates a 33% dip in the overall export market hold for the lead carriers,” a regional executive at a European liner who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. “The entry of more opportunistic Red Sea-centric operators and (non-vessel-operating common carriers) has refueled this shift into 2025.” Rate variance near $500 per container Forwarder sources in Mumbai have reported an average variance of up to $500 per container between spot rates quoted by mega carriers and those offered by newcomers for Indian loads to the Mediterranean, dependent on the ports of discharge. For Nhava Sheva-Alexandria (Egypt) bookings, Turkon/Arkas rates are in the range of $1,400 per TEU and $1,800 per FEU, compared to $2,083 and $2,341 for CMA CGM sailings through April, sources say. “So-called Red Sea players trying to exploit a disruption have used aggressive pricing and other commercial strategies to take business away from established liners continuing to reroute vessels around the southern Africa axis,” an industry observer said. Most carriers since late 2023 have diverted their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea launched by Houthi militants operating from Yemen. The source also noted that major carriers are now generally selective about the freight they haul, concentrating on light-weight commodities instead of heavy loads that are more regular in 20-foot container bookings. Anecdotal industry data puts Indian containerized exports to the Mediterranean at between 600,000 to 700,000 TEUs annually, with India-Turkey trade accounting for about 100,000 TEUs of that. By normal pattern, Mediterranean Shipping Co. has held a 20% share of that market, followed by Maersk at 18%, CMA CGM at 12% and Hapag-Lloyd at 11%, recent estimates reveal. Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com.

Container Shipping News

International ports

Maritime

Mega carriers ceding market share to new entrants on India-Med trade

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">But the huge scale of the acquisition means it could take up to two years before DB Schenker’s business is fully integrated to create the world’s largest forwarder.</div>

But the huge scale of the acquisition means it could take up to two years before DB Schenker’s business is fully integrated to create the world’s largest forwarder.

<div class="phx-topic">The last two jurisdictional hurdles in the regulatory path to DSV’s $16 billion acquisition of DB Schenker have now been cleared, with the takeover process to be completed on April 30. Approval from the European Commission and the expiration of the applicable waiting period in the US mean the transaction and the integration process can now go ahead, DSV told investors in a statement Tuesday. ”As of today, all closing conditions for DSV’s pending acquisition of...DB Schenker...have been fulfilled,” the Denmark-based forwarder said. A total of 36 regulatory bodies across the world were required to give the green light before the lengthy integration process could begin. The scale of the acquisition means it could take up to two years before DB Schenker’s business is fully integrated to create the world’s largest forwarder, DSV CEO Jens Lund said during an earnings call in February. DB Schenker is DSV’s largest acquisition, having previously taken over Agility’s Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) in 2021 for $4.2 billion, Panalpina in 2019 for $4.6 billion and UTi in 2015 for $1.35 billion. However, the global forwarding market is so fragmented that the combined DSV-DB Schenker operation will still only have a market share of 6% to 7%. The top 20 forwarders have an estimated global market share of 30% to 40% combined, with the rest of the market consisting of multiple regional and local players. While DSV and DB Schenker prepare to finalize the transaction, other forwarders are already circling and picking off customers. During Kuehne + Nagel’s capital markets day in late March, CEO Stefan Paul said the Switzerland-based forwarder had already <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/kuehne-nagel-says-gaining-market-share-key-to-driving-earnings-growth-5969587">captured several air cargo customers from its North Europe</a> rivals in the fourth quarter. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The last two jurisdictional hurdles in the regulatory path to DSV’s $16 billion acquisition of DB Schenker have now been cleared, with the takeover process to be completed on April 30. Approval from the European Commission and the expiration of the applicable waiting period in the US mean the transaction and the integration process can now go ahead, DSV told investors in a statement Tuesday. ”As of today, all closing conditions for DSV’s pending acquisition of...DB Schenker...have been fulfilled,” the Denmark-based forwarder said. A total of 36 regulatory bodies across the world were required to give the green light before the lengthy integration process could begin. The scale of the acquisition means it could take up to two years before DB Schenker’s business is fully integrated to create the world’s largest forwarder, DSV CEO Jens Lund said during an earnings call in February. DB Schenker is DSV’s largest acquisition, having previously taken over Agility’s Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) in 2021 for $4.2 billion, Panalpina in 2019 for $4.6 billion and UTi in 2015 for $1.35 billion. However, the global forwarding market is so fragmented that the combined DSV-DB Schenker operation will still only have a market share of 6% to 7%. The top 20 forwarders have an estimated global market share of 30% to 40% combined, with the rest of the market consisting of multiple regional and local players. While DSV and DB Schenker prepare to finalize the transaction, other forwarders are already circling and picking off customers. During Kuehne + Nagel’s capital markets day in late March, CEO Stefan Paul said the Switzerland-based forwarder had already captured several air cargo customers from its North Europe rivals in the fourth quarter. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Air Cargo Forwarder News

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Supply chain

Last regulatory hurdles cleared for DSV takeover of DB Schenker

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">US importers and their Mexican logistics and customs partners are experiencing longer wait times when northbound shipments arrive at border towns, and that’s inevitably raising transportation costs and leading to supply chain disruptions.</div>

US importers and their Mexican logistics and customs partners are experiencing longer wait times when northbound shipments arrive at border towns, and that’s inevitably raising transportation costs and leading to supply chain disruptions.

<div class="phx-topic">Monterrey, Mexico — On the US-Mexico border, it’s not just the actual tariff amount that’s making trouble for shippers, but also the delays and increased paperwork associated with those levies, logistics managers said at the Redwood Logistics Cross-Border Logistics Council here. US importers and their Mexican logistics and customs partners are experiencing longer wait times when northbound shipments arrive at border towns such as Nuevo Laredo, the gateway to Laredo, Texas, the largest US land border crossing point. That’s inevitably pushing up transportation costs and leading to supply chain disruptions — whether goods are subject to tariffs or not, shippers and speakers at the event said. How high costs go depends on many factors, but the increases come with a bite. “We’re seeing Mexican soldiers opening trucks, breaking seals, as they search for fentanyl,” Alonso Gonzalez, vice president at GONTOR Logistics, a US and Mexican customs broker in Laredo, said at the conference last week. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum deployed her country’s National Guard to the border in February <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/02/06/nx-s1-5288667/mexico-us-border-tariff-national-guard">to crack down on drug smuggling</a>. That has added another layer of delay and uncertainty for shippers in a suddenly more complex cross-border market. “Everything is being double- or triple-checked at the border when it’s crossing and [US-bound] exports are taking more time,” said Claudia Montemayor, international trade manager at H-E-B, a Texas-based supermarket chain with 70 stores in Mexico. That’s critical to H-E-B, which ships many foods with short shelf lives. Long delays northbound or southbound at the border can reduce the shelf life of products or extend the use of temperature-controlled tractor-trailers, driving transportation costs higher. A Redwood survey of more than 100 shippers found that more logistics managers were concerned about supply chain disruptions (38%) and inflation (37%) than higher tariffs (17%). “There are too many touchpoints when freight gets to the border,” said Jessica Solis, Mexico operations director for Redwood Mexico, a division of Redwood Logistics. In terms of freight volume headed to the US, “it’s been a mini-marathon every month,” she said. February, March and April all had tariff deadlines that <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/disrupted-cross-border-freight-shipping-braces-for-us-tariffs-5974787">pushed goods toward the border</a> in waves, Solis said. Although there’s no deadline for Mexico in May, “we anticipate a crazy end to April,” she said. “This is the peak season now [for 2025].” <h3>Riding the yo-yo </h3>For Dometic, a maker of outdoor products from camping stoves to marine electronics, “it’s been a yo-yo effect the past few months,” said Bill Fogt, the company’s senior vice president for the Americas. Dometic chose not to “pull forward” imports before the 25% tariff on Mexico went into effect. “We didn’t want to take a risk on growing inventories,” Fogt said, adding that has created a “yo-yo” effect. “We were stopping production, and weren’t sending anything across the border, and then we turned it back on two days later,” he said. “It was up and down.” Dometic was caught with too much inventory in 2022 when the market for recreational vehicles dropped post-pandemic, Fogt said. The shipper didn’t want to repeat that. “We kept our inventory low and then we just played the yo-yo game,” he said. The company has also delayed shipments to ensure they’re compliant with the rules of origin in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Most of the shippers at the Redwood Mexico conference said their shipments were USMCA-compliant, so far avoiding the 25% duty. However, proving a shipment is USMCA-compliant can be a costly and time-consuming process. Since the tariff was implemented in March, “our work has doubled or tripled,” said GONTOR Logistics’ Gonzalez. “Where we used to need only one HTS [Harmonized Tariff Schedule] code, we now may need as many as four or five codes,” he said. That’s because US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) wants verification that both products and their components conform to the USMCA rules. “A lot of shippers are going back and revisiting their USMCA content,” Gonzalez said. “They’re looking at percentages of aluminum and steel.” It’s as if a shipment once treated as a doll is now seen as a Russian nesting doll, and the origin of each of the interior dolls needs to be exactly accounted for under the USMCA. More frequent audits of customs brokers are likely. “We’ve never seen anything like this,” Gonzalez said. “Some of you have already been charged an increase by your US customs broker and if not, you will be. The rates are all going to go up.” Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Monterrey, Mexico — On the US-Mexico border, it’s not just the actual tariff amount that’s making trouble for shippers, but also the delays and increased paperwork associated with those levies, logistics managers said at the Redwood Logistics Cross-Border Logistics Council here. US importers and their Mexican logistics and customs partners are experiencing longer wait times when northbound shipments arrive at border towns such as Nuevo Laredo, the gateway to Laredo, Texas, the largest US land border crossing point. That’s inevitably pushing up transportation costs and leading to supply chain disruptions — whether goods are subject to tariffs or not, shippers and speakers at the event said. How high costs go depends on many factors, but the increases come with a bite. “We’re seeing Mexican soldiers opening trucks, breaking seals, as they search for fentanyl,” Alonso Gonzalez, vice president at GONTOR Logistics, a US and Mexican customs broker in Laredo, said at the conference last week. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum deployed her country’s National Guard to the border in February to crack down on drug smuggling . That has added another layer of delay and uncertainty for shippers in a suddenly more complex cross-border market. “Everything is being double- or triple-checked at the border when it’s crossing and [US-bound] exports are taking more time,” said Claudia Montemayor, international trade manager at H-E-B, a Texas-based supermarket chain with 70 stores in Mexico. That’s critical to H-E-B, which ships many foods with short shelf lives. Long delays northbound or southbound at the border can reduce the shelf life of products or extend the use of temperature-controlled tractor-trailers, driving transportation costs higher. A Redwood survey of more than 100 shippers found that more logistics managers were concerned about supply chain disruptions (38%) and inflation (37%) than higher tariffs (17%). “There are too many touchpoints when freight gets to the border,” said Jessica Solis, Mexico operations director for Redwood Mexico, a division of Redwood Logistics. In terms of freight volume headed to the US, “it’s been a mini-marathon every month,” she said. February, March and April all had tariff deadlines that pushed goods toward the border in waves, Solis said. Although there’s no deadline for Mexico in May, “we anticipate a crazy end to April,” she said. “This is the peak season now [for 2025].” Riding the yo-yo For Dometic, a maker of outdoor products from camping stoves to marine electronics, “it’s been a yo-yo effect the past few months,” said Bill Fogt, the company’s senior vice president for the Americas. Dometic chose not to “pull forward” imports before the 25% tariff on Mexico went into effect. “We didn’t want to take a risk on growing inventories,” Fogt said, adding that has created a “yo-yo” effect. “We were stopping production, and weren’t sending anything across the border, and then we turned it back on two days later,” he said. “It was up and down.” Dometic was caught with too much inventory in 2022 when the market for recreational vehicles dropped post-pandemic, Fogt said. The shipper didn’t want to repeat that. “We kept our inventory low and then we just played the yo-yo game,” he said. The company has also delayed shipments to ensure they’re compliant with the rules of origin in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Most of the shippers at the Redwood Mexico conference said their shipments were USMCA-compliant, so far avoiding the 25% duty. However, proving a shipment is USMCA-compliant can be a costly and time-consuming process. Since the tariff was implemented in March, “our work has doubled or tripled,” said GONTOR Logistics’ Gonzalez. “Where we used to need only one HTS [Harmonized Tariff Schedule] code, we now may need as many as four or five codes,” he said. That’s because US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) wants verification that both products and their components conform to the USMCA rules. “A lot of shippers are going back and revisiting their USMCA content,” Gonzalez said. “They’re looking at percentages of aluminum and steel.” It’s as if a shipment once treated as a doll is now seen as a Russian nesting doll, and the origin of each of the interior dolls needs to be exactly accounted for under the USMCA. More frequent audits of customs brokers are likely. “We’ve never seen anything like this,” Gonzalez said. “Some of you have already been charged an increase by your US customs broker and if not, you will be. The rates are all going to go up.” Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Trucking News

Truckload

Truck brokers

Surface

Tariff uncertainty pushing up transportation costs at US-Mexico border

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Some ships are leaving China just half-full as the Trump administration’s rush of tariffs sends shippers into contortions about what to do with their freight. </div>

Some ships are leaving China just half-full as the Trump administration’s rush of tariffs sends shippers into contortions about what to do with their freight.

<div class="phx-topic">Ocean carriers on the eastbound trans-Pacific are poised to blank more voyages after a slew of booking cancellations last week that could leave some ships departing China half-empty through May. As the uncertainty around US tariffs on Chinese goods drags out, shippers face on-the-fly decisions about what to do with their suddenly more expensive freight. Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said Friday that 12 sailings from China to the US West Coast in May have been canceled due to the Trump administration’s decision to put tariffs of 145% on most goods from China. Those dozen cancellations would put May’s blanks above April’s, according to data from third-party logistics provider Spedag Americas, which recorded 11 blanked voyages to Los Angeles during April, including three weekly voyages from a small independent carrier with about 2,000 TEUs of capacity. Ocean Alliance member Evergreen Marine, which operates the CPS service to Los Angeles, will have the service’s last scheduled voyage from Shanghai depart on Tuesday. No further sailings from China are scheduled until May 21, according to China-based shipping agents and the latest CPS schedule, which would mark four straight weeks of blanked service. The canceled voyages would remove 32,000 TEUs of capacity from the trans-Pacific over that period. Evergreen declined a request for comment about the CPS service. James Caradonna, executive vice president of Spedag Americas, told the Journal of Commerce that April’s blank sailings were for just one or two non-consecutive weeks. Carriers had been expected to start bringing more ships into service as 2025–26 annual service contracts are signed and seasonal summer shipments start. “Four consecutive weeks [of blank sailings on the service] is extreme,” Caradonna said. <h3>Half-full ships from China </h3>A senior vice president for an independent ocean carrier in the trans-Pacific trades told the Journal of Commerce that his company saw an immediate 30% drop in container bookings out of China last week due to the new tariffs. Other customers are requesting that containers already in-gated at origin not be loaded on ships, while others have asked that containers be pulled completely from the port, the source said, not an easy task inside of China’s high-volume gateways. Likewise, the source said there is concern that cargo already loaded on ships from China may be abandoned at US ports due to the tariff costs. He expects that ships leaving China for the US in the coming weeks will be less than half-full as the cancellations continue, forcing the carrier to blank more voyages. “People are canceling and putting cargo [from] China on pause,” the source said. “It will accelerate our blank sailing schedule because vessel utilization is dropping.” While utilization out of China is falling, he said ships in the Southeast Asia trade are seeing 90% to 100% utilization as US shippers seek to use the 90-day reprieve from reciprocal tariffs on other countries to frontload cargo, adding that vessels in China-US trades could be redeployed to Southeast Asia. Likewise, Asia-Mediterranean trades are seeing increasing strength, sending vessels in yet another direction. The longer the US and China engage in a back-and-forth on tariffs, the more it will force a long-term reconsideration of the carrier’s trans-Pacific network and whether there is enough volume out of China to support calls. “Our short-term reaction is to blank,” the source said. “But as people are accelerating their alternative sourcing — and this is giving everyone reason to accelerate those efforts — the effect is that we have to look at our rotations. We would probably eliminate some of the China ports.” Jason Cook, managing director of non-vessel-operating common carrier (NVO) Ardent Global Logistics, told the Journal of Commerce he’s seen a 60% drop in bookings out of China this week due to the tariffs. While the cancellations were initially among intermittent, low-volume shippers, he said the concerns about tariffs are now spreading to larger shippers with regular, consistent volume. “Whatever [was] leaving China on April 9, we [were] told to cancel it,” Cook said. “It’s not only the smaller customers, but the big ones as well saying we’re going to pause for two weeks.” April 9 was the date country-specific reciprocal tariffs took effect; they have since been paused for 90 days. But the China reciprocal tariffs remain in place. Ardent’s customers are also asking that their US-bound cargo at Chinese ports not be loaded or be removed from the marine terminal, Cook said. One customer tried to have the goods returned to the Chinese manufacturer, but it refused, he added. “The lack of clarity about tariffs has left so many customers confused that they are canceling all bookings, even if the container was already gated into the terminal,” Cook said. Cook is now fielding requests for use of bonded warehouses and foreign trade zones in the US as a short-term way to deal with the tariffs. He also expects that there will much more demand for freight out of Southeast Asia and India that will keep ships on those trades full. But with most of the empty containers still in China, US shippers may see delays at origin. “Once cargo out of China dries up, Southeast Asia is going to go a bit ballistic,” Cook said. “There’s not enough equipment and not enough calls. It’s setting up for some serious disruption.” <h3>Preparing for decline in volumes </h3>A New Jersey-based executive with a forwarder that handles 40,000 containers per year into the US told the Journal of Commerce there has been about a 20% drop in China-origin freight over the past week due to the tariffs. He said that most of the cancellations are among intermittent or low-volume shippers with about 2,000 containers per year. So far, the cancellations mostly just cover anything that would land in May, but as the tariff policy remains in place, he expects to see the cancellations start to affect cargo further out in June. The forwarder said some ocean carriers are deferring 2025 contract signings until May due to the uncertainty around tariffs. “I think this can get worse,” he said. A US-based executive for an alliance ocean carrier said that while some shippers immediately canceled bookings from China, other major customers are still proceeding with their shipments. But he said caution is increasing the longer Trump’s trade war with China drags out, adding that he expects tariffs will eventually cause more shippers to halt their freight from China. “Orders may be canceled or delayed until there’s more clarity on tariffs, so we’re preparing for a potential [volume] dip in the coming months,” the source said. And if the tariffs on China persist, the issue could reach far beyond volume retractions. According to Sanjay Tejwani, CEO of consulting firm 365 Logistics, the third quarter could bring tough decisions for some shippers moving Chinese cargo. “In Q3, if it remains as-is, some people are not going to ship,” said Tejwani. “Some things are just unaffordable. I am hearing that [some] containers might get abandoned. The importers may not even take delivery because they don’t want to pay the duties.” Benton Kauffman, head of trans-Pacific air and sea logistics at the forwarder DSV Global, told the Journal of Commerce Monday that overall eastbound freight in the trans-Pacific is down about 20%, but 60% of that volume is out of China. “I think in the next two weeks we will see Southeast Asia bounce back,” Kauffman said. A second carrier source said most retailers and direct importers are covered for at least the next three months because they have sufficient inventory to get them well into the summer. After that, they will have to decide how much they have to import and from which countries in the second half of the year, he said. “Eventually they will have to restock,” the carrier executive said. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>. Senior Editor Bill Mongelluzzo and Associate Editor Laura Robb contributed to this report. </div>

Ocean carriers on the eastbound trans-Pacific are poised to blank more voyages after a slew of booking cancellations last week that could leave some ships departing China half-empty through May. As the uncertainty around US tariffs on Chinese goods drags out, shippers face on-the-fly decisions about what to do with their suddenly more expensive freight. Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said Friday that 12 sailings from China to the US West Coast in May have been canceled due to the Trump administration’s decision to put tariffs of 145% on most goods from China. Those dozen cancellations would put May’s blanks above April’s, according to data from third-party logistics provider Spedag Americas, which recorded 11 blanked voyages to Los Angeles during April, including three weekly voyages from a small independent carrier with about 2,000 TEUs of capacity. Ocean Alliance member Evergreen Marine, which operates the CPS service to Los Angeles, will have the service’s last scheduled voyage from Shanghai depart on Tuesday. No further sailings from China are scheduled until May 21, according to China-based shipping agents and the latest CPS schedule, which would mark four straight weeks of blanked service. The canceled voyages would remove 32,000 TEUs of capacity from the trans-Pacific over that period. Evergreen declined a request for comment about the CPS service. James Caradonna, executive vice president of Spedag Americas, told the Journal of Commerce that April’s blank sailings were for just one or two non-consecutive weeks. Carriers had been expected to start bringing more ships into service as 2025–26 annual service contracts are signed and seasonal summer shipments start. “Four consecutive weeks [of blank sailings on the service] is extreme,” Caradonna said. Half-full ships from China A senior vice president for an independent ocean carrier in the trans-Pacific trades told the Journal of Commerce that his company saw an immediate 30% drop in container bookings out of China last week due to the new tariffs. Other customers are requesting that containers already in-gated at origin not be loaded on ships, while others have asked that containers be pulled completely from the port, the source said, not an easy task inside of China’s high-volume gateways. Likewise, the source said there is concern that cargo already loaded on ships from China may be abandoned at US ports due to the tariff costs. He expects that ships leaving China for the US in the coming weeks will be less than half-full as the cancellations continue, forcing the carrier to blank more voyages. “People are canceling and putting cargo [from] China on pause,” the source said. “It will accelerate our blank sailing schedule because vessel utilization is dropping.” While utilization out of China is falling, he said ships in the Southeast Asia trade are seeing 90% to 100% utilization as US shippers seek to use the 90-day reprieve from reciprocal tariffs on other countries to frontload cargo, adding that vessels in China-US trades could be redeployed to Southeast Asia. Likewise, Asia-Mediterranean trades are seeing increasing strength, sending vessels in yet another direction. The longer the US and China engage in a back-and-forth on tariffs, the more it will force a long-term reconsideration of the carrier’s trans-Pacific network and whether there is enough volume out of China to support calls. “Our short-term reaction is to blank,” the source said. “But as people are accelerating their alternative sourcing — and this is giving everyone reason to accelerate those efforts — the effect is that we have to look at our rotations. We would probably eliminate some of the China ports.” Jason Cook, managing director of non-vessel-operating common carrier (NVO) Ardent Global Logistics, told the Journal of Commerce he’s seen a 60% drop in bookings out of China this week due to the tariffs. While the cancellations were initially among intermittent, low-volume shippers, he said the concerns about tariffs are now spreading to larger shippers with regular, consistent volume. “Whatever [was] leaving China on April 9, we [were] told to cancel it,” Cook said. “It’s not only the smaller customers, but the big ones as well saying we’re going to pause for two weeks.” April 9 was the date country-specific reciprocal tariffs took effect; they have since been paused for 90 days. But the China reciprocal tariffs remain in place. Ardent’s customers are also asking that their US-bound cargo at Chinese ports not be loaded or be removed from the marine terminal, Cook said. One customer tried to have the goods returned to the Chinese manufacturer, but it refused, he added. “The lack of clarity about tariffs has left so many customers confused that they are canceling all bookings, even if the container was already gated into the terminal,” Cook said. Cook is now fielding requests for use of bonded warehouses and foreign trade zones in the US as a short-term way to deal with the tariffs. He also expects that there will much more demand for freight out of Southeast Asia and India that will keep ships on those trades full. But with most of the empty containers still in China, US shippers may see delays at origin. “Once cargo out of China dries up, Southeast Asia is going to go a bit ballistic,” Cook said. “There’s not enough equipment and not enough calls. It’s setting up for some serious disruption.” Preparing for decline in volumes A New Jersey-based executive with a forwarder that handles 40,000 containers per year into the US told the Journal of Commerce there has been about a 20% drop in China-origin freight over the past week due to the tariffs. He said that most of the cancellations are among intermittent or low-volume shippers with about 2,000 containers per year. So far, the cancellations mostly just cover anything that would land in May, but as the tariff policy remains in place, he expects to see the cancellations start to affect cargo further out in June. The forwarder said some ocean carriers are deferring 2025 contract signings until May due to the uncertainty around tariffs. “I think this can get worse,” he said. A US-based executive for an alliance ocean carrier said that while some shippers immediately canceled bookings from China, other major customers are still proceeding with their shipments. But he said caution is increasing the longer Trump’s trade war with China drags out, adding that he expects tariffs will eventually cause more shippers to halt their freight from China. “Orders may be canceled or delayed until there’s more clarity on tariffs, so we’re preparing for a potential [volume] dip in the coming months,” the source said. And if the tariffs on China persist, the issue could reach far beyond volume retractions. According to Sanjay Tejwani, CEO of consulting firm 365 Logistics, the third quarter could bring tough decisions for some shippers moving Chinese cargo. “In Q3, if it remains as-is, some people are not going to ship,” said Tejwani. “Some things are just unaffordable. I am hearing that [some] containers might get abandoned. The importers may not even take delivery because they don’t want to pay the duties.” Benton Kauffman, head of trans-Pacific air and sea logistics at the forwarder DSV Global, told the Journal of Commerce Monday that overall eastbound freight in the trans-Pacific is down about 20%, but 60% of that volume is out of China. “I think in the next two weeks we will see Southeast Asia bounce back,” Kauffman said. A second carrier source said most retailers and direct importers are covered for at least the next three months because they have sufficient inventory to get them well into the summer. After that, they will have to decide how much they have to import and from which countries in the second half of the year, he said. “Eventually they will have to restock,” the carrier executive said. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com . Senior Editor Bill Mongelluzzo and Associate Editor Laura Robb contributed to this report.

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Trans-Pacific blank sailings set to rise after China bookings drop sharply

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Ongoing market uncertainty is expected to upend rates as the breakbulk sector continues to digest tariff ramifications on the specialized sector.</div>

Ongoing market uncertainty is expected to upend rates as the breakbulk sector continues to digest tariff ramifications on the specialized sector.

<div class="phx-topic">Bellwether multipurpose shipping indexes are bucking the instability trend overshadowing the specialized freight market, although experts warn of a lag that could soon catch up with freight rates.In its April multipurpose vessel (MPV) market briefing, shipbroker Toepfer said its Toepfer Multipurpose Index (TMI) is “performing better than anticipated.” The April TMI is $12,821 per day, up 0.16% month over month and up 4.58% from April 2024.<div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="ea382181-08cd-4298-912f-87c79836bcf7"></dynamic-object></div>Uncertainty around the impact of US import tariffs and the proposal to charge fees to operators of Chinese-built ships calling at US ports is still affecting the MPV market, creating a “wait-and-see attitude,” Yorck Niclas Prehm, head of research with Toepfer Transport, told the Journal of Commerce. Toepfer noted that of the 14 US-flagged MPVs in its database, 12 are Chinese-built. This has led to a “significant slowdown in both spot and forward bookings towards the Americas,” Prehm added. Consequently, freight rates on those routes are under “considerable pressure.” Toepfer warned that its index’s suggestion of stability could change rapidly as sentiment falters. Mirroring that stability, Drewry’s General Cargo Index rose 2.9% month over month to 141 points in March, although its Project Cargo Transport Index dropped 1.16% to 171 points over the same period. The base point for both indexes is 100 starting on January 2019 — meaning that the calculations begin from that point onward. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="1e7f3686-4313-47cb-9fe9-d40ac8e832e6"></dynamic-object></div>Toepfer’s TMI is based on expected average rates for six- to 12-month time charters for 12,500-deadweight-ton (dwt) “F-Type” vessels with safe working loads of 240-360 metric tons, as reported to Toepfer by owners and operators.A shipper who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce that continued demand for imported steel products and even a revival of some breakbulk products in advance of tariffs has kept the breakbulk market buoyant, but that “the real problem is still the uncertainty.”In its newbuilding analysis, Toepfer reported that prices for a 12,500-dwt MPV built in China were $31.25 million in March, down 0.25% from the previous month.“We see a continuous sideways movement of newbuilding prices,” Toepfer said, adding that ordering activities for the first quarter fell compared with the end of 2024 as MPV operators wait to see the extent of the proposed tariff on port calls by China-built ships before placing orders.Contact Carly Fields at <a href="mailto:carly.fields@spglobal.com">carly.fields@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Bellwether multipurpose shipping indexes are bucking the instability trend overshadowing the specialized freight market, although experts warn of a lag that could soon catch up with freight rates. In its April multipurpose vessel (MPV) market briefing, shipbroker Toepfer said its Toepfer Multipurpose Index (TMI) is “performing better than anticipated.” The April TMI is $12,821 per day, up 0.16% month over month and up 4.58% from April 2024. Uncertainty around the impact of US import tariffs and the proposal to charge fees to operators of Chinese-built ships calling at US ports is still affecting the MPV market, creating a “wait-and-see attitude,” Yorck Niclas Prehm, head of research with Toepfer Transport, told the Journal of Commerce. Toepfer noted that of the 14 US-flagged MPVs in its database, 12 are Chinese-built. This has led to a “significant slowdown in both spot and forward bookings towards the Americas,” Prehm added. Consequently, freight rates on those routes are under “considerable pressure.” Toepfer warned that its index’s suggestion of stability could change rapidly as sentiment falters. Mirroring that stability, Drewry’s General Cargo Index rose 2.9% month over month to 141 points in March, although its Project Cargo Transport Index dropped 1.16% to 171 points over the same period. The base point for both indexes is 100 starting on January 2019 — meaning that the calculations begin from that point onward. Toepfer’s TMI is based on expected average rates for six- to 12-month time charters for 12,500-deadweight-ton (dwt) “F-Type” vessels with safe working loads of 240-360 metric tons, as reported to Toepfer by owners and operators. A shipper who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce that continued demand for imported steel products and even a revival of some breakbulk products in advance of tariffs has kept the breakbulk market buoyant, but that “the real problem is still the uncertainty.” In its newbuilding analysis, Toepfer reported that prices for a 12,500-dwt MPV built in China were $31.25 million in March, down 0.25% from the previous month. “We see a continuous sideways movement of newbuilding prices,” Toepfer said, adding that ordering activities for the first quarter fell compared with the end of 2024 as MPV operators wait to see the extent of the proposed tariff on port calls by China-built ships before placing orders. Contact Carly Fields at carly.fields@spglobal.com .

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

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Shippers save money, time with automated transportation bidding tools

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

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Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

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