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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The South Carolina Ports Authority will be able to launch its proprietary chassis pool as scheduled in March thanks to a last-minute agreement to secure 5,000 chassis from two major equipment providers.</div>

The South Carolina Ports Authority will be able to launch its proprietary chassis pool as scheduled in March thanks to a last-minute agreement to secure 5,000 chassis from two major equipment providers.

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<div>The South Carolina Ports Authority has been forced to lease 5,000 chassis from providers Flexi-Van Leasing and TRAC Intermodal ahead of the March launch of its proprietary chassis pool, filling a void created when its primary manufacturer stopped fulfilling orders amid a government investigation. The move by SC Ports follows a tumultuous period that began last October when the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) <a>launched a formal probe into Pitts Enterprises</a> after it found probable cause the US manufacturer evaded duties on chassis built in Vietnam, but with subcomponents from China. “With the existing [chassis] fleet and the new...

The South Carolina Ports Authority has been forced to lease 5,000 chassis from providers Flexi-Van Leasing and TRAC Intermodal ahead of the March launch of its proprietary chassis pool, filling a void created when its primary manufacturer stopped fulfilling orders amid a government investigation. The move by SC Ports follows a tumultuous period that began last October when the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched a formal probe into Pitts Enterprises after it found probable cause the US manufacturer evaded duties on chassis built in Vietnam, but with subcomponents from China. “With the existing [chassis] fleet and the new lease agreements, which allow for additional assets, if necessary, SC Ports has the chassis capacity to support our customers’ needs,” SC Ports said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce. “We’ve seen a reduction in street dwell times, which supports this number of assets.” Pitts ceased importing chassis into the US pending the outcome of the CBP investigation after providing only 6,000 chassis of the South Carolina order. Pitts argues that it did nothing wrong because the chassis made for SC Ports were constructed in Vietnam with subcomponents from China. The CBP investigation will determine whether enough of the chassis originated in China that Pitts should have paid duties and tariffs. SC Ports faced March deadline The sudden halt in chassis deliveries left SC Ports in the lurch just months before it was due to launch an in-sourced chassis pool similar to the Port of Virginia. SC Ports was dealing with a March 11 deadline, the day its current membership in the South Atlantic Chassis Pool expires. The proprietary chassis pool covering the Port of Charleston and inland ports will have 11,000 units. While that’s shy of the goal of 12,900 units set out in 2022, the port believes the downturn in import volumes means demand for chassis is muted right now. SC Ports says all the chassis leased through Flexi-Van and TRAC will be high-quality chassis with the latest safety features. The port had previously decided to leave the South Atlantic Chassis Pool because it said too many chassis were old, unreliable, and lacked critical features such as anti-lock brakes, LED lights, and radial tires. The leasing deal makes sense for Flexi-Van and TRAC because the softening port volumes and declining international intermodal business have freed up chassis after two years of unprecedented demand. Now, the chassis used by SC Ports will generate revenue for the two providers instead of collecting dust until volume picks up again. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com and follow him on Twitter: @arijashe .

SC Ports turns to TRAC, Flexi-Van to help launch chassis pool

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">From his hometown hub of Memphis, Fred Smith built FedEx from a $4 million inheritance to an $88 billion behemoth. </div>

From his hometown hub of Memphis, Fred Smith built FedEx from a $4 million inheritance to an $88 billion behemoth.

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<div class="phx-topic">Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx who revolutionized parcel shipment through his visionary “hub-and-spoke” model, which helped to galvanize global trade, died Saturday at 80. From his hometown hub of Memphis, Fred Smith built FedEx from a $4 million inheritance to an $88 billion behemoth, with spokes reaching more than 210 countries and territories. His idea, famously rejected by his then college professor, collected packages at central points, from which they would be flown to various locations overnight. The US Marine veteran founded Federal Express in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1971, beginning operations in Memphis two years later with fewer than 400 employees and serving 25 cities. The company, which now has more than 500,00 employees, includes truck and delivery van service FedEx Ground, less-than-truckload carrier FedEx Freight, and forwarder FedEx Trade Networks. Smith was a forceful advocate for free trade, championing FedEx’s role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. “Trade has made America great, and expanding trade has been a bipartisan pursuit for over 80 years,” Smith told the National Council on Competitiveness a month before President Donald Trump’s first inauguration in January 2017. “The failure to continue to do so would be a severe mistake with enormous consequences for America and the world.” Smith vehemently lobbied for air cargo deregulation signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. “Protectionism squelches competition and lowers economic growth,” Smith said at the TPM Conference in 2014, where he was the keynote speaker. “Over the last few years, almost every trading nation has introduced policies that permit greater government intervention in the trade process.” Smith had more influence on federal regulation than any other transportation executive, and his impact rippled through all modes of shipping, said Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group. “He saw the importance of information about the documents and parcels being shipped long before businesses and people even had computers,” Jindel said. Calling him “more than just the pioneer and the founder,” FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam said in a statement that Smith was the heart and soul of FedEx – its (people-first-philosophy) culture, values, integrity, and spirit.” Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com.">mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx who revolutionized parcel shipment through his visionary “hub-and-spoke” model, which helped to galvanize global trade, died Saturday at 80. From his hometown hub of Memphis, Fred Smith built FedEx from a $4 million inheritance to an $88 billion behemoth, with spokes reaching more than 210 countries and territories. His idea, famously rejected by his then college professor, collected packages at central points, from which they would be flown to various locations overnight. The US Marine veteran founded Federal Express in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1971, beginning operations in Memphis two years later with fewer than 400 employees and serving 25 cities. The company, which now has more than 500,00 employees, includes truck and delivery van service FedEx Ground, less-than-truckload carrier FedEx Freight, and forwarder FedEx Trade Networks. Smith was a forceful advocate for free trade, championing FedEx’s role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. “Trade has made America great, and expanding trade has been a bipartisan pursuit for over 80 years,” Smith told the National Council on Competitiveness a month before President Donald Trump’s first inauguration in January 2017. “The failure to continue to do so would be a severe mistake with enormous consequences for America and the world.” Smith vehemently lobbied for air cargo deregulation signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. “Protectionism squelches competition and lowers economic growth,” Smith said at the TPM Conference in 2014, where he was the keynote speaker. “Over the last few years, almost every trading nation has introduced policies that permit greater government intervention in the trade process.” Smith had more influence on federal regulation than any other transportation executive, and his impact rippled through all modes of shipping, said Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group. “He saw the importance of information about the documents and parcels being shipped long before businesses and people even had computers,” Jindel said. Calling him “more than just the pioneer and the founder,” FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam said in a statement that Smith was the heart and soul of FedEx – its (people-first-philosophy) culture, values, integrity, and spirit.” Contact Mark Szakonyi at mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com .

Fred Smith, FedEx founder and visionary, dead at 80

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">With little relief forthcoming, cargo owners need to build delays into their shipping plans as port and ship capacity remain tight, speakers at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s annual meeting said.</div>

With little relief forthcoming, cargo owners need to build delays into their shipping plans as port and ship capacity remain tight, speakers at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s annual meeting said.

<div class="phx-topic">TACOMA – Ongoing congestion at Asian and European transshipment ports and stricter carbon emission rules are hurting vessel schedule reliability, industry experts said at an agriculture shipping conference this week. With little relief on either issue forthcoming, cargo owners need to build delays into their shipping plans as port and ship capacity remain tight. Speaking at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s (AgTC) annual meeting here, Kuehne + Nagel Vice President Bill Rooney said schedule reliability among ocean carriers is “still a dumpster fire.” He cited data that showed less than 60% of vessel calls in April globally were within a day of their scheduled berthing window. The post-COVID-19 high for schedule reliability was around 65%, Rooney said, adding that he doubts the industry can hit that target, much less pre-pandemic levels of service reliability. Agriculture shippers are among the most sensitive to poor schedule reliability due to the high handling costs and perishability of their products. “The traditional number was more like 75% or 80%,” Rooney said. “I’m not sure we’ll get back there.” Since its start this year, the Gemini Cooperation alliance of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd has said it’s been reaching its 90% schedule reliability goal regularly. However, Rooney said that likely reflects major linehaul services from the two carriers and not necessarily feeder or standalone services. Individually, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have global schedule reliability hovering under 70%, he estimated. “They may achieve 90% on your trade lane, but my advice is to check whether your port is now a feeder port versus a linehaul port,” said Rooney. Slower ships factor into the lower reliability, he said. In 2023, the global fleet averaged speeds at just under 14 knots, or about 16 miles per hour. That’s the slowest speed on record and about half the average speed that ships traveled 50 years earlier, he said. ”If you were 12 hours behind schedule, you could step on the gas and make your slot at your terminal,” Rooney said. “That’s not happening ever again.” He added shippers will have to plan around the fact that schedule reliability will likely remain subpar indefinitely. “You want to build a resilient supply chain? Resiliency is recognizing that the ships are seldom on time,” Rooney said. <h3>IMO rules, port congestion </h3>In 2023, the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) rating went into effect for ships, requiring them to report and collect fuel consumption data. Fabio Santucci, US president for Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), said lower speeds reduce fuel consumption to meet the increasingly strict CII ratings. ”Vessels cannot legally afford to go any faster,” Santucci said. “That’s where we lost, as an industry, the ability to catch up.” Along with slower speeds, ports globally are operating at nearly full capacity, Santucci said. Overall, there were about 900 million TEUs of containers shipped globally in 2024, with nameplate port capacity at about 1 billion TEUs. Santucci said congestion both inside and outside a port takes up the remaining capacity, leaving little space to manage cargo. While North American ports are mostly fluid, other ports across the globe right now are experiencing congestion levels as high as during the pandemic, Santucci said, with the problem most acute at major transshipment ports. ”If your cargo is transshipping, it’s witnessing congestion levels that are as high as those seen during COVID,” he said. “While we don’t see this effect in the United States, we have issues pretty much everywhere else in the world.” Among major European transshipment ports, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/no-end-to-the-congestion-choking-gateway-ports-in-north-europe-5995853">Hamburg</a> and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/bottlenecks-flare-in-barcelona-as-port-battles-rise-in-transshipment-volumes-5244343">Tanger Med</a> are “heavily disrupted,” according to a Kuehne + Nagel port status report. In the Western Hemisphere, Santucci said <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/cargo-bottlenecks-persist-at-mexicos-manzanillo-port-one-month-after-strike-6027313">Manzanillo</a> and the transshipment ports of Panama are also congested. Many ports throughout China are also congested as are the Southeast Asia ports, including Malaysia’s Port Klang and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/asia-port-disruption-wave-reaches-singapore-6014754">Singapore</a>, which Santucci said has been working at close to full capacity for months. “Singapore has been steadily working at 90% capacity for months and months and months,” Santucci said. “I can tell you that working at 90% capacity for months generates a lot of inefficiencies.” MSC’s large fleet allows it to offer more direct port calls, but Santucci said transshipping will remain a necessity for some services, particularly as shippers diversify their product sourcing to other countries. With only about 1% of the global container fleet idled, Santucci said carriers have little capacity to offer more direct services without the use of transshipping. ”Transshipment is always going to remain the Achilles heel of any network,” he said. “The more you transship, the more issues and more costs you’re going to have.” Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a></div>

TACOMA – Ongoing congestion at Asian and European transshipment ports and stricter carbon emission rules are hurting vessel schedule reliability, industry experts said at an agriculture shipping conference this week. With little relief on either issue forthcoming, cargo owners need to build delays into their shipping plans as port and ship capacity remain tight. Speaking at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s (AgTC) annual meeting here, Kuehne + Nagel Vice President Bill Rooney said schedule reliability among ocean carriers is “still a dumpster fire.” He cited data that showed less than 60% of vessel calls in April globally were within a day of their scheduled berthing window. The post-COVID-19 high for schedule reliability was around 65%, Rooney said, adding that he doubts the industry can hit that target, much less pre-pandemic levels of service reliability. Agriculture shippers are among the most sensitive to poor schedule reliability due to the high handling costs and perishability of their products. “The traditional number was more like 75% or 80%,” Rooney said. “I’m not sure we’ll get back there.” Since its start this year, the Gemini Cooperation alliance of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd has said it’s been reaching its 90% schedule reliability goal regularly. However, Rooney said that likely reflects major linehaul services from the two carriers and not necessarily feeder or standalone services. Individually, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have global schedule reliability hovering under 70%, he estimated. “They may achieve 90% on your trade lane, but my advice is to check whether your port is now a feeder port versus a linehaul port,” said Rooney. Slower ships factor into the lower reliability, he said. In 2023, the global fleet averaged speeds at just under 14 knots, or about 16 miles per hour. That’s the slowest speed on record and about half the average speed that ships traveled 50 years earlier, he said. ”If you were 12 hours behind schedule, you could step on the gas and make your slot at your terminal,” Rooney said. “That’s not happening ever again.” He added shippers will have to plan around the fact that schedule reliability will likely remain subpar indefinitely. “You want to build a resilient supply chain? Resiliency is recognizing that the ships are seldom on time,” Rooney said. IMO rules, port congestion In 2023, the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) rating went into effect for ships, requiring them to report and collect fuel consumption data. Fabio Santucci, US president for Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), said lower speeds reduce fuel consumption to meet the increasingly strict CII ratings. ”Vessels cannot legally afford to go any faster,” Santucci said. “That’s where we lost, as an industry, the ability to catch up.” Along with slower speeds, ports globally are operating at nearly full capacity, Santucci said. Overall, there were about 900 million TEUs of containers shipped globally in 2024, with nameplate port capacity at about 1 billion TEUs. Santucci said congestion both inside and outside a port takes up the remaining capacity, leaving little space to manage cargo. While North American ports are mostly fluid, other ports across the globe right now are experiencing congestion levels as high as during the pandemic, Santucci said, with the problem most acute at major transshipment ports. ”If your cargo is transshipping, it’s witnessing congestion levels that are as high as those seen during COVID,” he said. “While we don’t see this effect in the United States, we have issues pretty much everywhere else in the world.” Among major European transshipment ports, Hamburg and Tanger Med are “heavily disrupted,” according to a Kuehne + Nagel port status report. In the Western Hemisphere, Santucci said Manzanillo and the transshipment ports of Panama are also congested. Many ports throughout China are also congested as are the Southeast Asia ports, including Malaysia’s Port Klang and Singapore , which Santucci said has been working at close to full capacity for months. “Singapore has been steadily working at 90% capacity for months and months and months,” Santucci said. “I can tell you that working at 90% capacity for months generates a lot of inefficiencies.” MSC’s large fleet allows it to offer more direct port calls, but Santucci said transshipping will remain a necessity for some services, particularly as shippers diversify their product sourcing to other countries. With only about 1% of the global container fleet idled, Santucci said carriers have little capacity to offer more direct services without the use of transshipping. ”Transshipment is always going to remain the Achilles heel of any network,” he said. “The more you transship, the more issues and more costs you’re going to have.” Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com

Poor ocean reliability presents major challenge for US ag exporters

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">But sources do not think carriers will have an opportunity to net full recovery of the proposed amounts in the current market environment unless strategic capacity cuts occur. </div>

But sources do not think carriers will have an opportunity to net full recovery of the proposed amounts in the current market environment unless strategic capacity cuts occur.

<div class="phx-topic">Container carriers on the India-US East Coast trade lane appear optimistic about the market outlook ahead of the onset of traditional peak season bookings despite tariff-linked uncertainty. Major lines have already announced hefty rate hikes for July, with Maersk leading the pack. The Danish carrier plans to implement a peak season surcharge (PSS) of $4,000 per container for Indian loads to the US and Canada beginning July 16. July rate hike announcements from other major carriers are generally in the range of $1,000 to $2,000 per box, though some liners have lined up multiple rounds for the month. ”All our recent vessels have sailed full,” a sales executive at a European carrier who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. “We are also tightly booked for the next two sailings.” That “sold-out” scenario is arguably in large part due to a big cut in capacity out of West India – as many as five void calls in June that followed schedule disruptions linked to regional trade and military tensions during May. As a result, Indian shippers have faced an increasing number of container rollovers in recent weeks. Traditionally, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have significant service contract volumes, which freight forwarder sources believe could help those carriers attempt larger rate increases for limited spot space during the peak season. Still, sources do not think carriers will have an opportunity to net full recovery of the proposed amounts in the current market environment unless strategic capacity cuts occur. While July vessel updates were not immediately available, CMA CGM is set to add more ships to its Indamex (India-USEC) service soon to improve schedule reliability that has taken a hit due to its inability to provide a weekly rotation after it began standalone operations amid the pressure of longer transits around southern Africa, sources say. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="56199e2b-5df4-468f-a149-b18ae7c32e51"></dynamic-object></div>But a lack of pricing discipline from Asian operators – notably OOCL, Cosco Shipping and HMM working on slot charter capacity, as well as Ocean Network Express (ONE) -- remains a concern for the lead carriers. “The best chance of rate recovery is often torpedoed by undercutting,” said a sales executive at a second European carrier. “With some voids expected, we should be able to rally an appreciable spot rate recovery.” Spot rates for India to the US East Coast were pegged at $2,650 per FEU as of June 19 by Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. That’s down from $3,030 per FEU two weeks ago. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com.</a></div>

Container carriers on the India-US East Coast trade lane appear optimistic about the market outlook ahead of the onset of traditional peak season bookings despite tariff-linked uncertainty. Major lines have already announced hefty rate hikes for July, with Maersk leading the pack. The Danish carrier plans to implement a peak season surcharge (PSS) of $4,000 per container for Indian loads to the US and Canada beginning July 16. July rate hike announcements from other major carriers are generally in the range of $1,000 to $2,000 per box, though some liners have lined up multiple rounds for the month. ”All our recent vessels have sailed full,” a sales executive at a European carrier who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. “We are also tightly booked for the next two sailings.” That “sold-out” scenario is arguably in large part due to a big cut in capacity out of West India – as many as five void calls in June that followed schedule disruptions linked to regional trade and military tensions during May. As a result, Indian shippers have faced an increasing number of container rollovers in recent weeks. Traditionally, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have significant service contract volumes, which freight forwarder sources believe could help those carriers attempt larger rate increases for limited spot space during the peak season. Still, sources do not think carriers will have an opportunity to net full recovery of the proposed amounts in the current market environment unless strategic capacity cuts occur. While July vessel updates were not immediately available, CMA CGM is set to add more ships to its Indamex (India-USEC) service soon to improve schedule reliability that has taken a hit due to its inability to provide a weekly rotation after it began standalone operations amid the pressure of longer transits around southern Africa, sources say. But a lack of pricing discipline from Asian operators – notably OOCL, Cosco Shipping and HMM working on slot charter capacity, as well as Ocean Network Express (ONE) -- remains a concern for the lead carriers. “The best chance of rate recovery is often torpedoed by undercutting,” said a sales executive at a second European carrier. “With some voids expected, we should be able to rally an appreciable spot rate recovery.” Spot rates for India to the US East Coast were pegged at $2,650 per FEU as of June 19 by Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. That’s down from $3,030 per FEU two weeks ago. Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com.

India-US liners attempt hefty peak season rate hikes despite trade volatility

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Consultancy MDS Transmodal said the two companies will have just under half of the almost 176,700 TEU in feeder ship capacity deployed in Europe and the Mediterranean.</div>

Consultancy MDS Transmodal said the two companies will have just under half of the almost 176,700 TEU in feeder ship capacity deployed in Europe and the Mediterranean.

<div class="phx-topic">Cosco Shipping Lines has strengthened its short-sea capabilities in growing regional markets after signing two deals with Singapore-based X-Press Feeders, the world’s biggest feeder operator. The deals signed this week will significantly boost Cosco’s feeder shipping capabilities in Europe and the Mediterranean, accounting for 47% of deployed capacity. The tie-up will also give Cosco and X-Press the leading position in Latin America and the Middle East. The first deal covers a partnership agreement in which the carriers will cooperate on the development of feeder services in North Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. The second is a leasing agreement in which X-Press Feeders will provide Cosco Shipping Lines with rights of first refusal to charter newbuild vessels, which could be deployed to support joint services, X-Press said in a statement. The deals are aimed at providing greater flexibility and schedule integrity to overcome port congestion, which has been <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/months-of-congestion-ahead-for-north-europe-ports-antwerp-bruges-6028184">a particular problem in North European ports this year</a>. Consultancy MDS Transmodal said the two companies will have around 82,900 TEU of the almost 176,700 TEU feeder ship capacity deployed in Europe and the Mediterranean. Cosco’s Diamond Line short-sea subsidiary is currently the largest feeder operator in the two markets with 48,000 TEU, while X-Press Feeders is fourth with almost 35,000 TEU, according to data prepared by MDS Transmodal. X-Press Feeders is the largest feeder operator in Latin America and the Gulf/Indian subcontinent, accounting for capacities of 21,000 TEUs and 44,000 TEUs, respectively, according to MDS Transmodal. “X-Press Feeders has had long-standing cooperation with Cosco on various trades which has now evolved and expanded into a wider strategic partnership,” a senior shipping executive with knowledge of the tie-up told the Journal of Commerce. X-Press Feeders has an extensive newbuilding program with 16 ships totaling 101,100 TEU on order, including six 11,000-TEU vessels with methanol powering capabilities, that will increase the feeder operator’s existing deployed capacity by 54%, according to maritime analyst Alphaliner. Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com.</a></div>

Cosco Shipping Lines has strengthened its short-sea capabilities in growing regional markets after signing two deals with Singapore-based X-Press Feeders, the world’s biggest feeder operator. The deals signed this week will significantly boost Cosco’s feeder shipping capabilities in Europe and the Mediterranean, accounting for 47% of deployed capacity. The tie-up will also give Cosco and X-Press the leading position in Latin America and the Middle East. The first deal covers a partnership agreement in which the carriers will cooperate on the development of feeder services in North Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. The second is a leasing agreement in which X-Press Feeders will provide Cosco Shipping Lines with rights of first refusal to charter newbuild vessels, which could be deployed to support joint services, X-Press said in a statement. The deals are aimed at providing greater flexibility and schedule integrity to overcome port congestion, which has been a particular problem in North European ports this year . Consultancy MDS Transmodal said the two companies will have around 82,900 TEU of the almost 176,700 TEU feeder ship capacity deployed in Europe and the Mediterranean. Cosco’s Diamond Line short-sea subsidiary is currently the largest feeder operator in the two markets with 48,000 TEU, while X-Press Feeders is fourth with almost 35,000 TEU, according to data prepared by MDS Transmodal. X-Press Feeders is the largest feeder operator in Latin America and the Gulf/Indian subcontinent, accounting for capacities of 21,000 TEUs and 44,000 TEUs, respectively, according to MDS Transmodal. “X-Press Feeders has had long-standing cooperation with Cosco on various trades which has now evolved and expanded into a wider strategic partnership,” a senior shipping executive with knowledge of the tie-up told the Journal of Commerce. X-Press Feeders has an extensive newbuilding program with 16 ships totaling 101,100 TEU on order, including six 11,000-TEU vessels with methanol powering capabilities, that will increase the feeder operator’s existing deployed capacity by 54%, according to maritime analyst Alphaliner. Contact Keith Wallis at  keithwallis@hotmail.com.

Cosco boosts feeder reach under pair of deals with X-Press

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Strong demand for much of the year has kept North European ports under pressure, slowing attempts to ease the bottlenecks.</div>

Strong demand for much of the year has kept North European ports under pressure, slowing attempts to ease the bottlenecks.

<div class="phx-topic">BRUSSELS – North European ports will continue to face disruption and congestion “for many more months” with little improvement in the series of factors contributing to the ongoing bottlenecks, according to an executive with the port of Antwerp-Bruges. Luc Arnouts, vice president of international relations and networks at Europe’s busiest port, said container yards were full at the main hubs, ships were arriving outside their berthing windows, intermittent strikes at some ports were having a knock-on effect, carrier alliances reshuffling capacity, low water on the Rhine and delays in hinterland moves were all holding up traffic. “Terminal occupancy is high in all the major ports so when ships do not arrive within their berthing window and arrive a day later, that disrupts the whole operation,” he told the CHAINge Europe supply chain conference here this week. Strong demand for much of the year has kept North European ports under pressure, slowing attempts to mitigate the bottlenecks. The latest Asia-to-Europe volume data from Container Trades Statistics (CTS) is for April, when 1.64 million TEUs were transported westward, an increase of 8.6% year over year and a 6% gain from March. In the first four months of 2025, total Asia-Europe volume was up 9% year over year at 6.13 million TEUs, with the Asia-North Europe segment rising 6.6%, to 3.72 million TEUs, and Asia-Mediterranean surging 12.14%, to 2.4 million TEUs, according to CTS. Kuehne + Nagel’s SeaExplorer port visibility tool noted that port congestion in North European ports like Antwerp, Hamburg and Bremerhaven was extending transit times with delays in berthing, operational disruptions and high yard utilisation. The platform reported that container yards in Antwerp-Bruges were at 100% and carriers were reporting waiting times of up to three days, with truck slots limited and fully booked early each day. Container yards at Bremerhaven, one of the hubs for Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd's Gemini Cooperation, is currently at 85%, while some terminals in Rotterdam are reportedly at 80% utilization. Michael Aldwell, Kuehne +Nagel’s executive vice president of sea logistics, said ports in southern European were also seeing congestion due to longer transits around the Cape of Good Hope as Mediterranean importers began to stock up earlier for the winter holiday sales season. “There were lower inventories in Europe and stronger sales than importers expected,” he told the Journal of Commerce this week, with the reshuffling of alliances adding to the bottlenecks. “When you've got the redeployment of the new alliances happening, you're always going to have some initial operational challenges when things start arriving at different berthing windows, different setups,” he said. “And, of course, you have the traditional labor challenges,” he added. <h3>Dockworker strikes add to port woes </h3>Those labor challenges were coming on top of the high demand and operational challenges, with dockworker strikes continuing to impact European ports. A nationwide strike in Belgium on May 20 brought vessel traffic at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges to a halt, further stretching the system. Another national “day of action” will be held by unions in Belgium on June 25. Dockworker unions in Sweden launched strikes and blockade actions at multiple ports this week, with APM Terminals Gothenburg to be impacted on June 23 and 24. “There is not much free space in in the system, so this all has a knock-on impact,” Arnouts said. “If you are at a high level of frequency, you can imagine that adds to the disruption, on top of the uncertainty over tariffs that create shocks in cargo flows.” The latest data from Sea-Intelligence shows global schedule reliability has improved from 51.4% in January to 58.7% in April. Despite the steady improvement this year, Arnouts said it was too early to determine whether the better on-time performance was being seen in the port. He also highlighted a lack of transparency across the cargo supply chain that was a source of continuing frustration. ”When a container arrives at a container terminal, often we don’t know the next mode of transport,” he said. “Can you imagine that a container comes in, needs to go the next day on a barge to Basel or on a truck to Duisburg and often we don’t know that. “There is so much communication in the supply chain but still we need to fight to get the right ETA (estimated time of arrival) of a ship that's a part of the supply chain as well,” he added. “If you don't know when the ship arrives, you don't know what the next step will be.” Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

BRUSSELS – North European ports will continue to face disruption and congestion “for many more months” with little improvement in the series of factors contributing to the ongoing bottlenecks, according to an executive with the port of Antwerp-Bruges. Luc Arnouts, vice president of international relations and networks at Europe’s busiest port, said container yards were full at the main hubs, ships were arriving outside their berthing windows, intermittent strikes at some ports were having a knock-on effect, carrier alliances reshuffling capacity, low water on the Rhine and delays in hinterland moves were all holding up traffic. “Terminal occupancy is high in all the major ports so when ships do not arrive within their berthing window and arrive a day later, that disrupts the whole operation,” he told the CHAINge Europe supply chain conference here this week. Strong demand for much of the year has kept North European ports under pressure, slowing attempts to mitigate the bottlenecks. The latest Asia-to-Europe volume data from Container Trades Statistics (CTS) is for April, when 1.64 million TEUs were transported westward, an increase of 8.6% year over year and a 6% gain from March. In the first four months of 2025, total Asia-Europe volume was up 9% year over year at 6.13 million TEUs, with the Asia-North Europe segment rising 6.6%, to 3.72 million TEUs, and Asia-Mediterranean surging 12.14%, to 2.4 million TEUs, according to CTS. Kuehne + Nagel’s SeaExplorer port visibility tool noted that port congestion in North European ports like Antwerp, Hamburg and Bremerhaven was extending transit times with delays in berthing, operational disruptions and high yard utilisation. The platform reported that container yards in Antwerp-Bruges were at 100% and carriers were reporting waiting times of up to three days, with truck slots limited and fully booked early each day. Container yards at Bremerhaven, one of the hubs for Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd's Gemini Cooperation, is currently at 85%, while some terminals in Rotterdam are reportedly at 80% utilization. Michael Aldwell, Kuehne +Nagel’s executive vice president of sea logistics, said ports in southern European were also seeing congestion due to longer transits around the Cape of Good Hope as Mediterranean importers began to stock up earlier for the winter holiday sales season. “There were lower inventories in Europe and stronger sales than importers expected,” he told the Journal of Commerce this week, with the reshuffling of alliances adding to the bottlenecks. “When you've got the redeployment of the new alliances happening, you're always going to have some initial operational challenges when things start arriving at different berthing windows, different setups,” he said. “And, of course, you have the traditional labor challenges,” he added. Dockworker strikes add to port woes Those labor challenges were coming on top of the high demand and operational challenges, with dockworker strikes continuing to impact European ports. A nationwide strike in Belgium on May 20 brought vessel traffic at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges to a halt, further stretching the system. Another national “day of action” will be held by unions in Belgium on June 25. Dockworker unions in Sweden launched strikes and blockade actions at multiple ports this week, with APM Terminals Gothenburg to be impacted on June 23 and 24. “There is not much free space in in the system, so this all has a knock-on impact,” Arnouts said. “If you are at a high level of frequency, you can imagine that adds to the disruption, on top of the uncertainty over tariffs that create shocks in cargo flows.” The latest data from Sea-Intelligence shows global schedule reliability has improved from 51.4% in January to 58.7% in April. Despite the steady improvement this year, Arnouts said it was too early to determine whether the better on-time performance was being seen in the port. He also highlighted a lack of transparency across the cargo supply chain that was a source of continuing frustration. ”When a container arrives at a container terminal, often we don’t know the next mode of transport,” he said. “Can you imagine that a container comes in, needs to go the next day on a barge to Basel or on a truck to Duisburg and often we don’t know that. “There is so much communication in the supply chain but still we need to fight to get the right ETA (estimated time of arrival) of a ship that's a part of the supply chain as well,” he added. “If you don't know when the ship arrives, you don't know what the next step will be.” Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Months of congestion ahead for North Europe ports: Antwerp-Bruges

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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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