<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">North America&amp;rsquo;s trains are getting longer every year.</div>

North America&rsquo;s trains are getting longer every year.

<div>North America&amp;rsquo;s trains are getting longer every year. That trend, which takes advantage of an engineering shift to improve railroad productivity, allows major cross-country lines to cut the number of average daily trains and crew starts to haul the same amount of cargo.From the shippers&amp;rsquo; viewpoint, it can mean fewer train schedule choices when moving a few carloads, or having to bring more loads together for a big unit train carrying a single commodity.It&amp;rsquo;s part of the cost-cutting strategy railroads were using even before the 2008-09 recession, and the growing use of the strategy is one reason railroads maintained strong...

North America&rsquo;s trains are getting longer every year. That trend, which takes advantage of an engineering shift to improve railroad productivity, allows major cross-country lines to cut the number of average daily trains and crew starts to haul the same amount of cargo. From the shippers&rsquo; viewpoint, it can mean fewer train schedule choices when moving a few carloads, or having to bring more loads together for a big unit train carrying a single commodity. It&rsquo;s part of the cost-cutting strategy railroads were using even before the 2008-09 recession, and the growing use of the strategy is one reason railroads maintained strong profits even as volume declined. What makes it possible, railroaders say, is &ldquo;distributed power&rdquo; &mdash; a concept for getting more control of a train&rsquo;s speed and movement dynamics by interspersing locomotives throughout a train, with the lead unit controlling them all. That&rsquo;s far different than the traditional method of having a couple lead locomotives pulling, or just adding a couple on the end to assist. Spreading power units among the loads reduces slack in the train and wear on railcar couplings. It offers a more stable ride, and allows the train to take more railcars. It also means equipping locomotives with the right gear. Canadian National Railway, which has been pressing for longer trains on its routes, began using DP-equipped locomotives in 2004, spokesman Mark Hallman said. By the end of 2012, he said, the company expects to have about 41 percent of its 1,100 long-haul locomotives so equipped. &ldquo;CN has developed a comprehensive operating plan that employs longer, more productive trains in mainline corridors&rdquo; with DP locomotives, Hallman said. That brings better utilization of equipment and manpower, plus safer train operations, he said. At Union Pacific Railroad, spokesman Tom Lange said this type of equipment helped UP reduce the rate of train derailments to its best-ever level in 2010. That, in turn, helps keep the rail network open and improve use of railcar inventory, cycling the same freight cars through the system more often. The longer train operations also save UP 4 to 6 percent in fuel costs depending on the route. The carrier moved about 62 percent of its gross ton-miles by distributed power last year, up from 35 percent in 2008. UP began distributing its power units first through coal trains, has since deployed them in intermodal service and mixed-cargo manifest trains, and now orders any new locomotives to come DP-equipped. Just in the past three years, Lange said, &ldquo;distributed power has helped us increase manifest train size by 6 percent (81 to 86 cars), coal trains by 2 percent (126 to 128 cars) and intermodal trains by 7 percent (154 to 165 cars). Without distributed power, this would translate into another 50 to 60 trains running on our network every day. So, using distributed power increases network capacity.&rdquo; UP tested the outer limits of the tactic early last year with a 3.5-mile train, two to three times the usual length, through Southern California. That effort surprised local officials, however, and UP said it was merely a test of operating efficiency. Hallman said CN sees a maximum length for DP-equipped trains of 12,000 feet &mdash; or more than two miles. Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com .

Rail News

Railroads Look Longer

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Insufficient volumes, including on the lane between the Port of Virginia and Memphis, has forced the railroad to reallocate resources to areas where it believes container business will grow in the future.</div>

Insufficient volumes, including on the lane between the Port of Virginia and Memphis, has forced the railroad to reallocate resources to areas where it believes container business will grow in the future.

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<div class="phx-topic">Norfolk Southern Railway will eliminate international intermodal service on more than 20 routes along the US East Coast, including trains between the Port of Virginia and the key inland hub of Memphis, due to insufficient container volumes. The service changes will take effect May 31, according to a notice NS sent to customers that was obtained by the Journal of Commerce. The railroad did not make a formal public announcement, but confirmed the details. “By reallocating those resources, we’re reinforcing our broader network to better serve our customers and to ensure we are investing in growth where it’s most impactful,” Norfolk Southern said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce. The railroad said the services could be restored if a business case arises. Among the affected lanes are two notable routes: the Port of Virginia to Memphis and Chicago to Jacksonville. Norfolk Southern launched trains from Virginia to Memphis with <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/new-ns-norfolk-memphis-service-aims-to-grab-east-coast-cargo-shift-5202715">much fanfare in March 2023</a>, but the service never caught on among ocean carriers or shippers who had other options via the ports of Charleston and Savannah. “While we initially saw some interest from the international community for Port of Virginia–Memphis service, the volume ultimately was not strong enough to support the service sustainably over the long term,” NS said. “Our commitment to supporting international trade through the Port of Virginia remains strong, and we continue to focus on providing reliable, high-quality service for the lanes where customers need it most.” The Virginia Port Authority did not respond to requests for comment. <h3>Onward business to Puerto Rico affected </h3>NS will also discontinue service between Chicago and Jacksonville, which will impact onward business to Puerto Rico. Each year, Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation move an estimated 16,000 to 22,000 ocean containers between Chicago and Jacksonville, according to a Journal of Commerce analysis of data from the US Surface Transportation Board. While the lane was heavily utilized southbound into Florida, northbound demand remained limited. Jacksonville serves as the launching point for Jones Act services to Puerto Rico operated by Crowley Maritime, Tote Maritime and Trailer Bridge. “Ultimately, the low density of international volumes challenged our ability to provide the consistent and reliable service product that our customers expect,” NS said in its statement of the Chicago-Jacksonville service. “We have been in close communication with our ocean carrier partners to fully understand their needs and priorities. We’ve worked to ensure they have access to alternative service options that continue to support critical trade flows, including the important Puerto Rico market.” While Norfolk Southern will discontinue international trains, CSX will remain an option for shippers moving ocean boxes between Chicago and Jacksonville. NS will still operate domestic intermodal trains between the two cities for 53-foot containers or ocean boxes with local drayage arrangements from its Jacksonville terminal. The other lanes affected by the Norfolk Southern service changes handled minimal international container traffic. For example, international trains will no longer run between Atlanta and Chicago — a high-volume domestic intermodal route that is served by ports in Baltimore, New York-New Jersey and Virginia for ocean freight. NS will also terminate international service between the Port of Charleston and Huntsville, Ala., though service will continue from Savannah. The railroad also plans to convert the Norfolk Portlock Yard exclusively for domestic intermodal operations, shifting a small amount of remaining international cargo back to on-dock facilities within the Port of Virginia. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Norfolk Southern Railway will eliminate international intermodal service on more than 20 routes along the US East Coast, including trains between the Port of Virginia and the key inland hub of Memphis, due to insufficient container volumes. The service changes will take effect May 31, according to a notice NS sent to customers that was obtained by the Journal of Commerce. The railroad did not make a formal public announcement, but confirmed the details. “By reallocating those resources, we’re reinforcing our broader network to better serve our customers and to ensure we are investing in growth where it’s most impactful,” Norfolk Southern said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce. The railroad said the services could be restored if a business case arises. Among the affected lanes are two notable routes: the Port of Virginia to Memphis and Chicago to Jacksonville. Norfolk Southern launched trains from Virginia to Memphis with much fanfare in March 2023 , but the service never caught on among ocean carriers or shippers who had other options via the ports of Charleston and Savannah. “While we initially saw some interest from the international community for Port of Virginia–Memphis service, the volume ultimately was not strong enough to support the service sustainably over the long term,” NS said. “Our commitment to supporting international trade through the Port of Virginia remains strong, and we continue to focus on providing reliable, high-quality service for the lanes where customers need it most.” The Virginia Port Authority did not respond to requests for comment. Onward business to Puerto Rico affected NS will also discontinue service between Chicago and Jacksonville, which will impact onward business to Puerto Rico. Each year, Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation move an estimated 16,000 to 22,000 ocean containers between Chicago and Jacksonville, according to a Journal of Commerce analysis of data from the US Surface Transportation Board. While the lane was heavily utilized southbound into Florida, northbound demand remained limited. Jacksonville serves as the launching point for Jones Act services to Puerto Rico operated by Crowley Maritime, Tote Maritime and Trailer Bridge. “Ultimately, the low density of international volumes challenged our ability to provide the consistent and reliable service product that our customers expect,” NS said in its statement of the Chicago-Jacksonville service. “We have been in close communication with our ocean carrier partners to fully understand their needs and priorities. We’ve worked to ensure they have access to alternative service options that continue to support critical trade flows, including the important Puerto Rico market.” While Norfolk Southern will discontinue international trains, CSX will remain an option for shippers moving ocean boxes between Chicago and Jacksonville. NS will still operate domestic intermodal trains between the two cities for 53-foot containers or ocean boxes with local drayage arrangements from its Jacksonville terminal. The other lanes affected by the Norfolk Southern service changes handled minimal international container traffic. For example, international trains will no longer run between Atlanta and Chicago — a high-volume domestic intermodal route that is served by ports in Baltimore, New York-New Jersey and Virginia for ocean freight. NS will also terminate international service between the Port of Charleston and Huntsville, Ala., though service will continue from Savannah. The railroad also plans to convert the Norfolk Portlock Yard exclusively for domestic intermodal operations, shifting a small amount of remaining international cargo back to on-dock facilities within the Port of Virginia. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

Surface

North-American rail

Intermodal providers

Norfolk Southern to drop international intermodal service on several East Coast lanes

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Chartered flights from China to the US have been canceled and air freight traffic has declined as Washington prepares to scrap the duty-free exemption for low-value goods shipped from China and Hong Kong.</div>

Chartered flights from China to the US have been canceled and air freight traffic has declined as Washington prepares to scrap the duty-free exemption for low-value goods shipped from China and Hong Kong.

<div class="phx-topic">E-commerce volumes shipped by air on the China to US trade lane have fallen sharply over the past two weeks ahead of the Trump administration’s May 2 elimination of the duty-free exemption for low-value shipments. Two of the largest Chinese online marketplaces, Temu and Shein, have told US customers that prices will increase from this week as Washington cancels the duty-free exemption for shipments under $800 imported from China and Hong Kong. The reaction from the air cargo market has been swift. Forwarders say chartered freighter capacity from China to the US has been canceled, and data from Netherlands-based air cargo analyst WorldACD shows volume from China and Hong Kong to the US last week fell for the fourth consecutive week. “Overall, e-commerce shipment volume has dropped by approximately 50% since mid-April compared to the same period last year,” Kathy Liu, vice president of global sales and marketing at Taiwan-based forwarder Dimerco Express Group, said in a market update Monday. ”A lot of shippers have hit pause,” she added. “With the uncertainty around new tariffs between the US and China, many are holding back on placing new orders.” Major Chinese carriers, including Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, are also planning to cancel freighter services between China and the US “in the near future,” Dimerco noted, which would reduce the already limited capacity from China to the US. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="f898c996-11b6-4f50-a739-75225f99a114"></dynamic-object></div>There was speculation in the air cargo market that there would be a rush to get shipments to the US in the air ahead of the May 2 de minimis policy changes, but no such moves have materialized, said Andy Schaefer, senior vice president and global head of air freight at forwarder Toll Group. “Both major e-commerce platforms, Temu and Shein, have already increased their pricing for several products which has resulted in lower volumes,” Schaefer told the Journal of Commerce, adding that chartered flights and block space agreements that forwarders hold with airlines on the trans-Pacific have already been canceled. “Companies sourcing products from China have reduced their shipping or are holding cargo at origin until the tariff situation with China has been resolved or a lower percentage has been agreed between the two countries,” he added. “Only items that show a low inventory in the US are being shipped for the time being.” <h3>Changing online fulfillment models </h3>Schaefer said Chinese e-commerce platforms began to change their business model in the fourth quarter of 2024, building distribution centers in North America to fulfill orders placed by US consumers. “Both Shein and Temu have also seen an increase in US companies joining their platform, effectively fulfilling orders locally,” he said. “As such, e-commerce has seen a decline in cargo demand over the past few months, and it is expected that this trend will continue.” The huge demand for e-commerce on the trans-Pacific filled hundreds of daily freighters leaving China, capacity that is being released into the market. Some of that capacity is being absorbed by US tariff exemptions for smartphones and other tech products imported from China, as well as from high demand in the semiconductor sector. “A lot of that capacity has shifted to destinations like Nuevo Laredo in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, where demand has actually gone up, especially out of Mexico,” Liu noted in the Dimerco update. While demand has fallen from China, the 90-day tariff exemption granted by the Trump administration to most of its other trading partners has seen strong export volumes continuing out of Taiwan and Southeast Asia. “We have seen a number of clients resume shipping after a brief pause. They are still actively shipping cargo to the US via air,” Emily Faulkner, the import operations and customs house brokerage director for AIT Worldwide Logistics, told the Journal of Commerce. That was supported by WorldACD data, which showed that although combined traffic for China and Hong Kong to the US last week was down 16% year over year, there were export gains elsewhere, with Vietnam to the US up 42%, Taiwan 30%, Thailand 24% and Japan 12%. Still, rates out of Asia are facing pressure from changes in demand and available capacity. After seven consecutive weeks of rising rates on the China/Hong Kong to US routes, the combined average spot rates fell 5% from the previous week to $4.72 per kilogram, WorldACD data shows. Despite the strong demand from Southeast Asia, the excess capacity in the market placed downward pressure on rate levels last week, with Vietnam rates down 28%, Singapore down11%, Taiwan 9% and Thailand rates also 9% compared to the previous week. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

E-commerce volumes shipped by air on the China to US trade lane have fallen sharply over the past two weeks ahead of the Trump administration’s May 2 elimination of the duty-free exemption for low-value shipments. Two of the largest Chinese online marketplaces, Temu and Shein, have told US customers that prices will increase from this week as Washington cancels the duty-free exemption for shipments under $800 imported from China and Hong Kong. The reaction from the air cargo market has been swift. Forwarders say chartered freighter capacity from China to the US has been canceled, and data from Netherlands-based air cargo analyst WorldACD shows volume from China and Hong Kong to the US last week fell for the fourth consecutive week. “Overall, e-commerce shipment volume has dropped by approximately 50% since mid-April compared to the same period last year,” Kathy Liu, vice president of global sales and marketing at Taiwan-based forwarder Dimerco Express Group, said in a market update Monday. ”A lot of shippers have hit pause,” she added. “With the uncertainty around new tariffs between the US and China, many are holding back on placing new orders.” Major Chinese carriers, including Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, are also planning to cancel freighter services between China and the US “in the near future,” Dimerco noted, which would reduce the already limited capacity from China to the US. There was speculation in the air cargo market that there would be a rush to get shipments to the US in the air ahead of the May 2 de minimis policy changes, but no such moves have materialized, said Andy Schaefer, senior vice president and global head of air freight at forwarder Toll Group. “Both major e-commerce platforms, Temu and Shein, have already increased their pricing for several products which has resulted in lower volumes,” Schaefer told the Journal of Commerce, adding that chartered flights and block space agreements that forwarders hold with airlines on the trans-Pacific have already been canceled. “Companies sourcing products from China have reduced their shipping or are holding cargo at origin until the tariff situation with China has been resolved or a lower percentage has been agreed between the two countries,” he added. “Only items that show a low inventory in the US are being shipped for the time being.” Changing online fulfillment models Schaefer said Chinese e-commerce platforms began to change their business model in the fourth quarter of 2024, building distribution centers in North America to fulfill orders placed by US consumers. “Both Shein and Temu have also seen an increase in US companies joining their platform, effectively fulfilling orders locally,” he said. “As such, e-commerce has seen a decline in cargo demand over the past few months, and it is expected that this trend will continue.” The huge demand for e-commerce on the trans-Pacific filled hundreds of daily freighters leaving China, capacity that is being released into the market. Some of that capacity is being absorbed by US tariff exemptions for smartphones and other tech products imported from China, as well as from high demand in the semiconductor sector. “A lot of that capacity has shifted to destinations like Nuevo Laredo in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, where demand has actually gone up, especially out of Mexico,” Liu noted in the Dimerco update. While demand has fallen from China, the 90-day tariff exemption granted by the Trump administration to most of its other trading partners has seen strong export volumes continuing out of Taiwan and Southeast Asia. “We have seen a number of clients resume shipping after a brief pause. They are still actively shipping cargo to the US via air,” Emily Faulkner, the import operations and customs house brokerage director for AIT Worldwide Logistics, told the Journal of Commerce. That was supported by WorldACD data, which showed that although combined traffic for China and Hong Kong to the US last week was down 16% year over year, there were export gains elsewhere, with Vietnam to the US up 42%, Taiwan 30%, Thailand 24% and Japan 12%. Still, rates out of Asia are facing pressure from changes in demand and available capacity. After seven consecutive weeks of rising rates on the China/Hong Kong to US routes, the combined average spot rates fell 5% from the previous week to $4.72 per kilogram, WorldACD data shows. Despite the strong demand from Southeast Asia, the excess capacity in the market placed downward pressure on rate levels last week, with Vietnam rates down 28%, Singapore down11%, Taiwan 9% and Thailand rates also 9% compared to the previous week. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Air Cargo Forwarder News

Air Cargo Carriers News

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Air Cargo

Air cargo volumes fall on trans-Pacific as US de minimis changes loom

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The issue of transit time variability in Latin America has downstream impacts for projects, with forwarders often having to get creative to figure out workarounds due to unforeseen delays. </div>

The issue of transit time variability in Latin America has downstream impacts for projects, with forwarders often having to get creative to figure out workarounds due to unforeseen delays.

<div class="phx-topic">New Orleans — A lack of predictability on Latin American trades is a bigger problem than long transit times for project shippers, speakers said during a panel at the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference here. “Transit times variability is the problem, not that they are getting longer,” Carlos Cortes, North America supply chain director for CMPC Forest Products, said during the panel discussion Friday. “That doesn’t help to plan or execute supply chains.” <div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/5992239_0.1.jpg"></img></div>The issue of transit time variability has downstream impacts for projects, with forwarders often having to get creative to figure out workarounds due to unforeseen delays. “The transit times are frustrating,” said Jessica DelaCruz, operations manager at Dynamo Weltweit Logistik, a forwarder catering to the project market. “You have a delay of 10 days and you have engineers flying out. Everybody is upset. Regardless of whether the vessel is there, you have to come up with a solution.” In some situations, she said, “you’re splitting cargo, maybe on a container and some in a project vessel so it arrives together. But it doesn’t always work.” Richard Seeg, president of project carrier Intermarine, said one challenge in managing transit times into Latin America is that it’s not a uniform market. “We do see challenges coming through ports, but there are all different reasons for this,” Seeg said. “South America is not one country. There may be congestion in Chile or Peru caused by swells. In Brazil or Guyana, the dock may be full of cargo, or too many ships coming in. We’re trying to keep a regular schedule and if we’re stuck having to wait, it’s frustrating.” <h3>Honest talk about stakeholders </h3>Another dimension to the challenge of transit time predictability is project shippers being honest with their forwarders and carriers about the urgency of specific shipments. As one panelist put it, what’s considered “urgent” in Latin America may differ from what is “urgent” in the US or Europe. But DelaCruz said shippers need to delineate what is actually urgent. “On the operational side, we need to know when you need it by,” she said. “Is it really ready? A shipper may ask us to make five bookings with carriers, but it’s not ready when you call. And it’s not ready for two months. And now I have to call someone I just begged for space to hold off. Not all five bookings are necessarily urgent.” Cortes said shippers should be “as transparent as possible with partners and carriers.” “Sometimes we tend to exaggerate our needs and that causes problems,” he said. “We prefer to be honest and that’s helped them to understand the reality of our operations. And committing to long-term contracts to provide the baseline carriers need and make decisions themselves.” Seeg said that Intermarine has taken the position that it needs flexibility among its fleet to serve the Latin American market well. “We’re trying to predict what we’ll need to serve customers,” he said. “Within the JSI Alliance [Intermarine’s parent company], we have access to bigger ships. But the perfect ship for the market changes every six months, depending on cargo demand. We have a pool of 15 ships serving the Americas so we can adjust our fleets based on the market.” More broadly, Seeg sees the growth in inter-Americas trade continuing, and that requires shippers, forwarders and carriers to pool their knowledge of a complicated but inter-connected set of markets. “None of us have all the answers to the challenges of different countries in South America,” he said. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

New Orleans — A lack of predictability on Latin American trades is a bigger problem than long transit times for project shippers, speakers said during a panel at the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference here. “Transit times variability is the problem, not that they are getting longer,” Carlos Cortes, North America supply chain director for CMPC Forest Products, said during the panel discussion Friday. “That doesn’t help to plan or execute supply chains.” The issue of transit time variability has downstream impacts for projects, with forwarders often having to get creative to figure out workarounds due to unforeseen delays. “The transit times are frustrating,” said Jessica DelaCruz, operations manager at Dynamo Weltweit Logistik, a forwarder catering to the project market. “You have a delay of 10 days and you have engineers flying out. Everybody is upset. Regardless of whether the vessel is there, you have to come up with a solution.” In some situations, she said, “you’re splitting cargo, maybe on a container and some in a project vessel so it arrives together. But it doesn’t always work.” Richard Seeg, president of project carrier Intermarine, said one challenge in managing transit times into Latin America is that it’s not a uniform market. “We do see challenges coming through ports, but there are all different reasons for this,” Seeg said. “South America is not one country. There may be congestion in Chile or Peru caused by swells. In Brazil or Guyana, the dock may be full of cargo, or too many ships coming in. We’re trying to keep a regular schedule and if we’re stuck having to wait, it’s frustrating.” Honest talk about stakeholders Another dimension to the challenge of transit time predictability is project shippers being honest with their forwarders and carriers about the urgency of specific shipments. As one panelist put it, what’s considered “urgent” in Latin America may differ from what is “urgent” in the US or Europe. But DelaCruz said shippers need to delineate what is actually urgent. “On the operational side, we need to know when you need it by,” she said. “Is it really ready? A shipper may ask us to make five bookings with carriers, but it’s not ready when you call. And it’s not ready for two months. And now I have to call someone I just begged for space to hold off. Not all five bookings are necessarily urgent.” Cortes said shippers should be “as transparent as possible with partners and carriers.” “Sometimes we tend to exaggerate our needs and that causes problems,” he said. “We prefer to be honest and that’s helped them to understand the reality of our operations. And committing to long-term contracts to provide the baseline carriers need and make decisions themselves.” Seeg said that Intermarine has taken the position that it needs flexibility among its fleet to serve the Latin American market well. “We’re trying to predict what we’ll need to serve customers,” he said. “Within the JSI Alliance [Intermarine’s parent company], we have access to bigger ships. But the perfect ship for the market changes every six months, depending on cargo demand. We have a pool of 15 ships serving the Americas so we can adjust our fleets based on the market.” More broadly, Seeg sees the growth in inter-Americas trade continuing, and that requires shippers, forwarders and carriers to pool their knowledge of a complicated but inter-connected set of markets. “None of us have all the answers to the challenges of different countries in South America,” he said. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Breakbulk carriers

Energy projects

Project cargo

International ports

Breakbulk News

Breakbulk25: Transparency key to navigating complicated LatAm project market

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">With far fewer US-bound goods leaving Chinese docks, carriers have accelerated the raft of blank sailings and service suspensions that began earlier this month, sources tell the Journal of Commerce. </div>

With far fewer US-bound goods leaving Chinese docks, carriers have accelerated the raft of blank sailings and service suspensions that began earlier this month, sources tell the Journal of Commerce.

<div class="phx-topic">Ocean carriers are continuing to remove vessel capacity from the trans-Pacific at a significant clip as the trade dispute between the US and China ignited by the Trump administration’s tariffs shows no sign of ending anytime soon. With far fewer US-bound goods leaving Chinese docks, carriers have accelerated the raft of blank sailings and service suspensions that began earlier this month, sources tell the Journal of Commerce. Bookings for China to the US have 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 &amp; Bradstreet. Carriers Zim Integrated Shipping Services, Mediterranean Shipping Co., and Premier Alliance members HMM, Ocean Network Express (ONE) and Yang Ming have all announced capacity reductions on the trade as <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/tariff-related-disruption-spreading-as-us-shippers-pause-plans-5989017">volumes plummet</a>. “Carriers have gotten much better at managing capacity,” said Sanjay Tejwani, CEO of consulting firm 365 Logistics. “There has been a <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/fallout-from-us-china-trade-war-to-depress-trans-pacific-volumes-drewry-5990686">massive volume drop</a> [from China], but despite that, rates are at a healthy level. The carriers now know how to manage that capacity to avoid a collapse like we saw during [and before the COVID-19 pandemic.]” On the service side, the capacity cuts that were in full force in April are expected at minimum to be maintained into May, according to sources. Zim and MSC removed about 100,000 TEUs from the trans-Pacific trade lane in April, with Zim pulling out about 35,000 TEUs in capacity by suspending its ZX2 service, which connects Asia to the West Coast of North America. According to maritime intelligence provider eeSea, MSC’s Orient service was also suspended in April — effectively removing about 77,000 TEUs from the trade. Meanwhile, the PS5 service from the Premier Alliance — which had been positioned for a May launch — has been postponed indefinitely. “In my conversations with carriers, they’re very big on pulling capacity out of the China lane and into other Southeast Asian lanes,” said a US-based source with a non-vessel-operating common carrier (NVO). <h3>Southeast Asia bookings on the rise </h3>With US importers looking for a cheaper alternative to China, bookings for cargo from Southeast Asia have increased, according to Vizion. Bookings climbed more than 20% during the week of April 21 compared with two weeks earlier. Blanked sailings are also <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/trans-pacific-blank-sailings-set-to-rise-after-china-bookings-drop-sharply-5984166">gaining momentum</a>. Data from eeSea shows nearly 14% of trans-Pacific capacity was blanked during April, with 18% of the lane’s capacity poised to be blanked in May. Furthermore, port calls on the greater trans-Pacific trade have dropped significantly. Additional eeSea data shows the number of port calls made on the trade has been falling steadily since the second week of April, with more than 25% of calls eliminated during the two weeks between April 7–21. Ocean carriers are also reducing service frequency to manage capacity. Ocean Alliance member Cosco Shipping will start offering its Bohai service into the Port of Long Beach bi-weekly instead of weekly at least through mid-June. Other Ocean Alliance services, such as Evergreen Marine’s HTW express service from Southeastern China, are continuing weekly calls, as the alliance also calls in Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan. Cosco is likewise maintaining weekly service on its Yangtse service from South China under the Ocean Alliance because it includes two calls in Vietnam. But with the capacity removals, there are concerns about long-term impacts to schedule reliability if volumes resume too quickly. “As they pull [capacity] out, if the tariffs go away, it’s going to be hard to get [services] back up and running,” said the NVO source. Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:Laura.Robb@spglobal.com">laura.robb@spglobal.com</a>.  </div>

Ocean carriers are continuing to remove vessel capacity from the trans-Pacific at a significant clip as the trade dispute between the US and China ignited by the Trump administration’s tariffs shows no sign of ending anytime soon. With far fewer US-bound goods leaving Chinese docks, carriers have accelerated the raft of blank sailings and service suspensions that began earlier this month, sources tell the Journal of Commerce. Bookings for China to the US have 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. Carriers Zim Integrated Shipping Services, Mediterranean Shipping Co., and Premier Alliance members HMM, Ocean Network Express (ONE) and Yang Ming have all announced capacity reductions on the trade as volumes plummet . “Carriers have gotten much better at managing capacity,” said Sanjay Tejwani, CEO of consulting firm 365 Logistics. “There has been a massive volume drop [from China], but despite that, rates are at a healthy level. The carriers now know how to manage that capacity to avoid a collapse like we saw during [and before the COVID-19 pandemic.]” On the service side, the capacity cuts that were in full force in April are expected at minimum to be maintained into May, according to sources. Zim and MSC removed about 100,000 TEUs from the trans-Pacific trade lane in April, with Zim pulling out about 35,000 TEUs in capacity by suspending its ZX2 service, which connects Asia to the West Coast of North America. According to maritime intelligence provider eeSea, MSC’s Orient service was also suspended in April — effectively removing about 77,000 TEUs from the trade. Meanwhile, the PS5 service from the Premier Alliance — which had been positioned for a May launch — has been postponed indefinitely. “In my conversations with carriers, they’re very big on pulling capacity out of the China lane and into other Southeast Asian lanes,” said a US-based source with a non-vessel-operating common carrier (NVO). Southeast Asia bookings on the rise With US importers looking for a cheaper alternative to China, bookings for cargo from Southeast Asia have increased, according to Vizion. Bookings climbed more than 20% during the week of April 21 compared with two weeks earlier. Blanked sailings are also gaining momentum . Data from eeSea shows nearly 14% of trans-Pacific capacity was blanked during April, with 18% of the lane’s capacity poised to be blanked in May. Furthermore, port calls on the greater trans-Pacific trade have dropped significantly. Additional eeSea data shows the number of port calls made on the trade has been falling steadily since the second week of April, with more than 25% of calls eliminated during the two weeks between April 7–21. Ocean carriers are also reducing service frequency to manage capacity. Ocean Alliance member Cosco Shipping will start offering its Bohai service into the Port of Long Beach bi-weekly instead of weekly at least through mid-June. Other Ocean Alliance services, such as Evergreen Marine’s HTW express service from Southeastern China, are continuing weekly calls, as the alliance also calls in Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan. Cosco is likewise maintaining weekly service on its Yangtse service from South China under the Ocean Alliance because it includes two calls in Vietnam. But with the capacity removals, there are concerns about long-term impacts to schedule reliability if volumes resume too quickly. “As they pull [capacity] out, if the tariffs go away, it’s going to be hard to get [services] back up and running,” said the NVO source. Contact Laura Robb at laura.robb@spglobal.com . 

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Trans-Pacific capacity cuts accelerating amid sharp reduction in Chinese cargo

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Rather than shift sourcing, some shippers are negotiating with suppliers to share the costs of increased US import tariffs, an international trade attorney told the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference. </div>

Rather than shift sourcing, some shippers are negotiating with suppliers to share the costs of increased US import tariffs, an international trade attorney told the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference.

<div class="phx-topic">New Orleans — Sharing costs with suppliers and reconsidering the country of origin for certain imports will be important mitigation strategies for US breakbulk importers as the Trump administration imposes — and rescinds — tariffs and port fees, an international trade attorney told the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference. Neha Dhindsa, counsel with Venable LLP in Washington, DC, said importers are struggling to adjust their supply chains to a trade policy landscape that can shift multiple times in a single day. Tariffs on goods produced in China, Canada and Mexico are likely to persist, but the latest indications suggest the Trump administration could soon reduce tariffs on other countries that are offering concessions, she said. <div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/5992239_0.1.jpg"></img></div>“There’s no magic answer I have. But we are recommending first to clients that they don’t make any big moves just yet,” said Dhindsa, whose practice focuses on international trade, customs, maritime and transportation issues. “The language has definitely softened this week, and it seems like both [the US and China] are negotiating or open to negotiations.” To take the sting out of tariffs, some importers are renegotiating contracts with suppliers to share the additional costs. “We’re seeing, for the most part, that [suppliers] actually are willing, especially at the 10% rate,” she said. For material purchases with long lead times, Dhindsa said shippers should consider the administration’s relationship with the country of origin. “If it seems like the administration is taking a very hardline stance toward them, then you would start looking at where else you could move manufacturing or suppliers,” she said. Dhindsa cautioned, however, that to ensure compliance with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requirements, it’s imperative for importers to meticulously document any significant changes in cargo origin, classification or valuation and, if possible, obtain a ruling from CBP confirming those changes. “We’re seeing and expecting pretty strict enforcement from CBP,” she said. In addition, Dhindsa said shippers should reach out to elected representatives, especially Republicans, to alert them of any significant tariff impacts to their states, especially if there’s any potential for job losses. “They can make the case on your behalf to administration officials, and having these points of contact can also position companies to ask for some relief down the road,” she said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at <a href="mailto:autumn@autumngiusti.com">autumn@autumngiusti.com</a>.</div>

New Orleans — Sharing costs with suppliers and reconsidering the country of origin for certain imports will be important mitigation strategies for US breakbulk importers as the Trump administration imposes — and rescinds — tariffs and port fees, an international trade attorney told the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference. Neha Dhindsa, counsel with Venable LLP in Washington, DC, said importers are struggling to adjust their supply chains to a trade policy landscape that can shift multiple times in a single day. Tariffs on goods produced in China, Canada and Mexico are likely to persist, but the latest indications suggest the Trump administration could soon reduce tariffs on other countries that are offering concessions, she said. “There’s no magic answer I have. But we are recommending first to clients that they don’t make any big moves just yet,” said Dhindsa, whose practice focuses on international trade, customs, maritime and transportation issues. “The language has definitely softened this week, and it seems like both [the US and China] are negotiating or open to negotiations.” To take the sting out of tariffs, some importers are renegotiating contracts with suppliers to share the additional costs. “We’re seeing, for the most part, that [suppliers] actually are willing, especially at the 10% rate,” she said. For material purchases with long lead times, Dhindsa said shippers should consider the administration’s relationship with the country of origin. “If it seems like the administration is taking a very hardline stance toward them, then you would start looking at where else you could move manufacturing or suppliers,” she said. Dhindsa cautioned, however, that to ensure compliance with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requirements, it’s imperative for importers to meticulously document any significant changes in cargo origin, classification or valuation and, if possible, obtain a ruling from CBP confirming those changes. “We’re seeing and expecting pretty strict enforcement from CBP,” she said. In addition, Dhindsa said shippers should reach out to elected representatives, especially Republicans, to alert them of any significant tariff impacts to their states, especially if there’s any potential for job losses. “They can make the case on your behalf to administration officials, and having these points of contact can also position companies to ask for some relief down the road,” she said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at autumn@autumngiusti.com .

Breakbulk25: Cost sharing could help breakbulk importers ease tariff burdens

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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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