<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Schenker announced Monday it plans to construct a new freight forwarding terminal in Austria that wo</div>

Schenker announced Monday it plans to construct a new freight forwarding terminal in Austria that wo

<div>Schenker announced Monday it plans to construct a new freight forwarding terminal in Austria that would be the largest in its European land transport network.Schenker, a unit of Germany's Deutsche Bahn national railroad, plans to spend 21 million euros for the complex in Bergheim, near Salzburg. Construction began April 24.The 80,000-square-meter hub will include a transshipment hall of 10,000 square-meters with 115 docking gates; 4,000-square-meter logistics hall, and 3,400-square-meter office building. It has connections to major road and rail service.Schenker said the new complex will replace old sites in Salzburg, which had reached capacity limits. The new location will offer...

Schenker announced Monday it plans to construct a new freight forwarding terminal in Austria that would be the largest in its European land transport network. Schenker, a unit of Germany's Deutsche Bahn national railroad, plans to spend 21 million euros for the complex in Bergheim, near Salzburg. Construction began April 24. The 80,000-square-meter hub will include a transshipment hall of 10,000 square-meters with 115 docking gates; 4,000-square-meter logistics hall, and 3,400-square-meter office building. It has connections to major road and rail service. Schenker said the new complex will replace old sites in Salzburg, which had reached capacity limits. The new location will offer national and international land transport, air and ocean freight, warehousing and logistics and customs clearance.

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Schenker plans largest hub for European network

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A handful of companies unveiled new products in the last week intended to enable decision-making based off the visibility data they provide. </div>

A handful of companies unveiled new products in the last week intended to enable decision-making based off the visibility data they provide.

Feature image

<div class="phx-topic">Transportation visibility vendors are repositioning their value propositions to shippers as providers of something more than just the data governing the whereabouts of freight, with three different vendors launching adjacent products in the last week alone. As the pandemic-led boom in investment into a cohort of providers has waned, and as customers sought applications rather than just data from visibility vendors, those providers have branched out into execution- or risk management-based offerings to remain relevant. This extension into execution is potentially reshaping the visibility market, which has largely relied on vendors partnering with execution-focused software vendors in the transportation, warehouse and inventory management spaces. On Wednesday, FourKites announced a new suite of control tower products designed to let shippers leverage its visibility data into decisions on areas like supplier collaboration, purchase orders, yard management and cross-docking. The products are aimed at not just influencing decision making, but giving shippers a direct path to make those decisions. “We have the ability to shape the definition of a control tower because that term means different things to different people,” FourKites CEO Matthew Elenjickal said. “We are one of the few providers with a real-time [visibility data] network. The control tower providers don’t have it. But we have to expand beyond transportation.” FourKites will enable shippers to track not only freight transportation, but orders, inventory and assets through eight specific control towers, he said. <h3>New funding for competition </h3>But FourKites is far from alone in trying to more directly link the value of visibility to adjacent decisions. Overhaul, which focuses on using visibility data to help shippers prevent or recover from cargo theft, last week landed a $55 million funding round from investors. “We want to provide a tech engagement that doesn’t slow the process down but allows a shipper or a broker to verify who is there picking up or delivering a load,” Overhaul CEO Barry Conlon said. “Shippers are using our solution as a safety net to continue to use brokers, who don’t always have control or influence over the carrier being used to move their load.” Conlon said the fresh round of investment will be used to accelerate the company’s use of AI in its products, and to fund acquisitions should the right opportunities arise. Another visibility vendor, Vizion, in 2024 launched a product called TradeView in conjunction with Dun &amp; Bradstreet that helps shippers monitor shipments from upstream suppliers using Vizion tracking data and D&amp;B’s business information databases. “There is still a focus on innovation and developing new solutions, but perhaps not at the pace or bloated spending waste there once was,” Vizion CEO Kyle Henderson said. “This cycle is not like past cycles, because priorities changed due to COVID and then the world changed to being very multi-polar. ”You’ll have more companies working on a wider range of solutions because the world of supply chain and logistics is getting more complex,” he added. “And tech is needed to both manage the complexity and eek out the efficiency gains.” project44, the largest vendor in the space, has since late 2023 been pushing its Movement product, a platform intended to unify its datasets across transportation modes and global regions to help shippers make better inventory management decisions. InforNexus, one of the pioneers of cargo visibility, last Friday released its own product aimed at extending the value of tracking data. Its NexTrace product is intended to give shippers visibility on raw materials through to finished goods to help them comply with traceability regulations, especially in the EU. “This will help our customers to not only meet upcoming regulations like the EU Digital Product Passport but also gain a competitive edge by providing comprehensive data on their products' journey, composition and sustainability,” Brian Carelli, Infor’s vice president of sustainability and partnerships, said in a statement. <h3>Failure to launch </h3>The impetus behind all of these moves is, as Elenjickal put it, a sort of aggregate failure from vendors to deliver on the promise of how visibility data could help other supply chain software perform better. “The market sentiment right now is there’s a lack of value realization around visibility,” he said. “There were a lot of promises made, including by us. But the value from those promises, very few companies have realized it. The ones that have are progressive and have resources and use data in other areas of supply chain, and they’re not afraid to throw people at it.” Conlon agreed. “There has, unfortunately, been a degrading in the belief of what visibility can bring,” he said. “There have been a lot of false promises that have been made. But we’ve been clear from the beginning. Visibility is not a solution; it’s a data stream. We’ve focused on risk management.” While Conlon said Overhaul welcomes partnerships with adjacent systems, Elenjickal said FourKites is now charting a course based on the idea that visibility partnerships with transportation management systems (TMSs), warehouse management systems (WMSs), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors haven’t yielded desired results for shippers. “We always thought that we can be [neutral] and enable our partners to consume the data for our customers,” Elenjickal said. “But that hasn’t happened. They have other priorities. We cannot be dependent on partners. If we can’t do it, someone else will do it.” The intent of the eight control tower products, he said, is to make FourKites more directly accountable to its shipper customers. “We cannot appease all our partners all the time,” Elenjickal said. “We tried to do it for the past 10 years. We’re not trying to build a TMS, [an order management system], or a WMS. But we are going to make those systems more efficient, and every customer wants this to happen.” <h3>Partner friendly </h3>On Wednesday, another visibility provider, Shippeo, announced a $40 million investment aimed at helping it expand its customer base in North America and Asia-Pacific. Shippeo is taking a more traditional path to growth for its multimodal visibility platform, not eschewing partners or building product extensions, but highlighting its work with TMS or ERP system vendors. Shippeo said it saw a 40% year-over-year increase in North American customers in 2024, “driven by strategic partnerships with e2open, Google and SAP,” the company said in a statement. “As the US visibility market matures, companies are increasingly looking to switch vendors, with data quality concerns being the primary driver.” Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com. </div>

Transportation visibility vendors are repositioning their value propositions to shippers as providers of something more than just the data governing the whereabouts of freight, with three different vendors launching adjacent products in the last week alone. As the pandemic-led boom in investment into a cohort of providers has waned, and as customers sought applications rather than just data from visibility vendors, those providers have branched out into execution- or risk management-based offerings to remain relevant. This extension into execution is potentially reshaping the visibility market, which has largely relied on vendors partnering with execution-focused software vendors in the transportation, warehouse and inventory management spaces. On Wednesday, FourKites announced a new suite of control tower products designed to let shippers leverage its visibility data into decisions on areas like supplier collaboration, purchase orders, yard management and cross-docking. The products are aimed at not just influencing decision making, but giving shippers a direct path to make those decisions. “We have the ability to shape the definition of a control tower because that term means different things to different people,” FourKites CEO Matthew Elenjickal said. “We are one of the few providers with a real-time [visibility data] network. The control tower providers don’t have it. But we have to expand beyond transportation.” FourKites will enable shippers to track not only freight transportation, but orders, inventory and assets through eight specific control towers, he said. New funding for competition But FourKites is far from alone in trying to more directly link the value of visibility to adjacent decisions. Overhaul, which focuses on using visibility data to help shippers prevent or recover from cargo theft, last week landed a $55 million funding round from investors. “We want to provide a tech engagement that doesn’t slow the process down but allows a shipper or a broker to verify who is there picking up or delivering a load,” Overhaul CEO Barry Conlon said. “Shippers are using our solution as a safety net to continue to use brokers, who don’t always have control or influence over the carrier being used to move their load.” Conlon said the fresh round of investment will be used to accelerate the company’s use of AI in its products, and to fund acquisitions should the right opportunities arise. Another visibility vendor, Vizion, in 2024 launched a product called TradeView in conjunction with Dun & Bradstreet that helps shippers monitor shipments from upstream suppliers using Vizion tracking data and D&B’s business information databases. “There is still a focus on innovation and developing new solutions, but perhaps not at the pace or bloated spending waste there once was,” Vizion CEO Kyle Henderson said. “This cycle is not like past cycles, because priorities changed due to COVID and then the world changed to being very multi-polar. ”You’ll have more companies working on a wider range of solutions because the world of supply chain and logistics is getting more complex,” he added. “And tech is needed to both manage the complexity and eek out the efficiency gains.” project44, the largest vendor in the space, has since late 2023 been pushing its Movement product, a platform intended to unify its datasets across transportation modes and global regions to help shippers make better inventory management decisions. InforNexus, one of the pioneers of cargo visibility, last Friday released its own product aimed at extending the value of tracking data. Its NexTrace product is intended to give shippers visibility on raw materials through to finished goods to help them comply with traceability regulations, especially in the EU. “This will help our customers to not only meet upcoming regulations like the EU Digital Product Passport but also gain a competitive edge by providing comprehensive data on their products' journey, composition and sustainability,” Brian Carelli, Infor’s vice president of sustainability and partnerships, said in a statement. Failure to launch The impetus behind all of these moves is, as Elenjickal put it, a sort of aggregate failure from vendors to deliver on the promise of how visibility data could help other supply chain software perform better. “The market sentiment right now is there’s a lack of value realization around visibility,” he said. “There were a lot of promises made, including by us. But the value from those promises, very few companies have realized it. The ones that have are progressive and have resources and use data in other areas of supply chain, and they’re not afraid to throw people at it.” Conlon agreed. “There has, unfortunately, been a degrading in the belief of what visibility can bring,” he said. “There have been a lot of false promises that have been made. But we’ve been clear from the beginning. Visibility is not a solution; it’s a data stream. We’ve focused on risk management.” While Conlon said Overhaul welcomes partnerships with adjacent systems, Elenjickal said FourKites is now charting a course based on the idea that visibility partnerships with transportation management systems (TMSs), warehouse management systems (WMSs), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors haven’t yielded desired results for shippers. “We always thought that we can be [neutral] and enable our partners to consume the data for our customers,” Elenjickal said. “But that hasn’t happened. They have other priorities. We cannot be dependent on partners. If we can’t do it, someone else will do it.” The intent of the eight control tower products, he said, is to make FourKites more directly accountable to its shipper customers. “We cannot appease all our partners all the time,” Elenjickal said. “We tried to do it for the past 10 years. We’re not trying to build a TMS, [an order management system], or a WMS. But we are going to make those systems more efficient, and every customer wants this to happen.” Partner friendly On Wednesday, another visibility provider, Shippeo, announced a $40 million investment aimed at helping it expand its customer base in North America and Asia-Pacific. Shippeo is taking a more traditional path to growth for its multimodal visibility platform, not eschewing partners or building product extensions, but highlighting its work with TMS or ERP system vendors. Shippeo said it saw a 40% year-over-year increase in North American customers in 2024, “driven by strategic partnerships with e2open, Google and SAP,” the company said in a statement. “As the US visibility market matures, companies are increasingly looking to switch vendors, with data quality concerns being the primary driver.” Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com.

Container lines

Forwarding

Truckload

Logistics Technology News

Visibility vendors move to extend reach and relevancy in rebalancing market

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The US producer price index shows LTL pricing has been flat since September, but carriers continue to push for annualized increases in service contracts. </div>

The US producer price index shows LTL pricing has been flat since September, but carriers continue to push for annualized increases in service contracts.

<div class="phx-topic">The long-term rise in US less-than-truckload (LTL) pricing following the collapse of Yellow in 2023 is colliding with soft demand. That’s likely to give US shippers some leverage to resist LTL carrier requests for steep rate hikes in annual contract negotiations. The US producer price index (PPI) for long-distance LTL trucking was flat for the fourth straight month in December, according to data released Tuesday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That’s the longest plateau for the LTL PPI since the recovery from the pandemic began in 2020 and an indicator that price hikes have stalled. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="92030a49-a365-46c9-89b8-472c39b44640"></dynamic-object></div>The LTL PPI has dropped 1.6% from its most recent high point last July, an indication LTL rates — still 5.5% higher <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-ltl-sector-growth-efficiencies-still-fueled-by-loss-of-yellow-5715785">than when Yellow shut down</a> in July 2023 — are not ready to rise much higher without more demand. On a year-over-year basis, the LTL PPI was up 3% from December 2023 and only 5.9% below its peak in June 2022, a sign of the resilience of LTL pricing. The BLS’ truckload PPI is 23.4% below its peak in May 2022. In comparison, the PPI for long-distance truckload services rose 1.3% in December from November, reaching its highest level since November 2023, but it is still fairly flat. The December reading from the BLS was 0.8% higher than a year ago. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="502bfcce-8a5c-4a30-b4a2-18030e5ba3df"></dynamic-object></div>Low demand is helping shippers <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-truckload-spot-rates-rising-but-shippers-keeping-lid-on-contract-rates-5919921">keep a lid on truckload contract rates</a>. It’s not clear where new LTL or truckload freight might come from. The freight downturn that began in 2022 is still alive in 2025, despite hopes it would end last year. Freight volumes are steady but stagnant early in the first quarter, according to AFS Logistics. “We haven’t seen a lull since the holidays, so freight volumes have been steady,” said Aaron LaGanke, vice president of freight services at the third-party logistics provider. “But we haven’t seen a big dip or an increase in demand either. It’s pretty flat.” <h3>Fresh demand absent </h3>“We’re in a depressed freight market,” said an LTL carrier executive who asked not to be identified. “Shipment activity is relatively flat year over year. We’re all waiting for the event or trend that will unleash increased demand for freight, but it’s not there.” LTL carriers are better positioned, even in a flat market, to negotiate higher pricing. For one, the market is highly consolidated. But perhaps more importantly, LTL providers in 2025 have a much better understanding of their costs, their service value and margins. “They do a good job of knowing their numbers,” LaGanke said, noting that will support some rate hikes, depending on the carrier. Shippers have told the Journal of Commerce they are seeing contract LTL rates rise, but in low single-digit percentages. The LTL PPI was still 3% higher on an annualized basis in December, and 5.5% higher than it was in July 2023, the month Yellow shut down and reshaped the LTL landscape. The amount of LTL savings shippers can expect depends on their freight, their lanes and their carriers, LaGanke said. But shippers and carriers are both getting better at fitting the right freight with the right network. Shippers have seen savings in LTL fuel surcharges. The average US retail diesel price was down 26 cents from a year ago as of Monday. The average fuel surcharge from major LTL carriers fell 3.4% in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, AFS Logistics said. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The long-term rise in US less-than-truckload (LTL) pricing following the collapse of Yellow in 2023 is colliding with soft demand. That’s likely to give US shippers some leverage to resist LTL carrier requests for steep rate hikes in annual contract negotiations. The US producer price index (PPI) for long-distance LTL trucking was flat for the fourth straight month in December, according to data released Tuesday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That’s the longest plateau for the LTL PPI since the recovery from the pandemic began in 2020 and an indicator that price hikes have stalled. The LTL PPI has dropped 1.6% from its most recent high point last July, an indication LTL rates — still 5.5% higher than when Yellow shut down in July 2023 — are not ready to rise much higher without more demand. On a year-over-year basis, the LTL PPI was up 3% from December 2023 and only 5.9% below its peak in June 2022, a sign of the resilience of LTL pricing. The BLS’ truckload PPI is 23.4% below its peak in May 2022. In comparison, the PPI for long-distance truckload services rose 1.3% in December from November, reaching its highest level since November 2023, but it is still fairly flat. The December reading from the BLS was 0.8% higher than a year ago. Low demand is helping shippers keep a lid on truckload contract rates . It’s not clear where new LTL or truckload freight might come from. The freight downturn that began in 2022 is still alive in 2025, despite hopes it would end last year. Freight volumes are steady but stagnant early in the first quarter, according to AFS Logistics. “We haven’t seen a lull since the holidays, so freight volumes have been steady,” said Aaron LaGanke, vice president of freight services at the third-party logistics provider. “But we haven’t seen a big dip or an increase in demand either. It’s pretty flat.” Fresh demand absent “We’re in a depressed freight market,” said an LTL carrier executive who asked not to be identified. “Shipment activity is relatively flat year over year. We’re all waiting for the event or trend that will unleash increased demand for freight, but it’s not there.” LTL carriers are better positioned, even in a flat market, to negotiate higher pricing. For one, the market is highly consolidated. But perhaps more importantly, LTL providers in 2025 have a much better understanding of their costs, their service value and margins. “They do a good job of knowing their numbers,” LaGanke said, noting that will support some rate hikes, depending on the carrier. Shippers have told the Journal of Commerce they are seeing contract LTL rates rise, but in low single-digit percentages. The LTL PPI was still 3% higher on an annualized basis in December, and 5.5% higher than it was in July 2023, the month Yellow shut down and reshaped the LTL landscape. The amount of LTL savings shippers can expect depends on their freight, their lanes and their carriers, LaGanke said. But shippers and carriers are both getting better at fitting the right freight with the right network. Shippers have seen savings in LTL fuel surcharges. The average US retail diesel price was down 26 cents from a year ago as of Monday. The average fuel surcharge from major LTL carriers fell 3.4% in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, AFS Logistics said. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Trucking News

Surface

US LTL truck pricing flat, but still elevated despite low demand

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Domestic intermodal providers are frustrated that they’ve been unable to win significant rate increases in contracts in early 2025, but capacity in trucking and rail is still abundant and easy to procure.</div>

Domestic intermodal providers are frustrated that they’ve been unable to win significant rate increases in contracts in early 2025, but capacity in trucking and rail is still abundant and easy to procure.

<div class="phx-topic">Domestic intermodal providers are expressing frustration with what they say is a challenging freight market as early bids on annual contracts with shippers have yielded only small rate increases in California and flat or declining rates in other regions. That reality is underscoring a tough pricing environment for carriers as 2025 begins. One asset-based intermodal executive who did not want to be identified said he was “disappointed” with the results of annual contracts already awarded for 2025, saying they fell below his expectations. The source said he hopes to eke out a 1% or 2% increase on annual contracts that are inked in the first quarter and lobby for mid-single-digit percentage increases on a second wave of intermodal bids this spring. Meanwhile, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, the largest US intermodal carrier, has urged shippers to engage in “transparent conversations” about freight rates. In an advisory sent to shippers last week that was obtained by the Journal of Commerce, the company cited <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/domestic-intermodal-rate-pressure-building-on-stronger-truck-pricing-5741060">robust California outbound volumes</a> during the 2024 peak season as a reason to agree to higher rates now. “Inflation and rising costs have made our current margins unsustainable over the long term,” the advisory said. Railroads moved more than 82,000 containers from the Southwest to the Midwest last October, a record for any month, according to the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA). The Journal of Commerce estimates railroads hauled about 50,000 containers from Los Angeles to Chicago, the busiest US lane, that month, also a record. One intermodal shipper who did not want to be identified said despite the robust peak season in Southern California for trucking and rail, there is still abundant capacity available to handle current freight demand, adding that rate increases won’t occur until shippers struggle to procure containers or trailers. “As long as the supply of containers, drivers and over-the-road equipment is sufficient for freight demand, rates are going to stay flat or go down as carriers compete to keep their equipment moving,” the shipper said. “Rates only go up significantly when the supply is insufficient or inadequate to handle freight demand, causing shippers to worry whether their product will move downstream in enough time to generate revenue.” <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="e322a7e3-8b94-4c1d-a1f3-896d029aad84"></dynamic-object></div><h3>Flexibility to negotiate </h3>Union Pacific Railroad (UP) is seeking rate increases in California while conceding to flat or lower rates in several inland markets, according to a pricing matrix compiled by the company and obtained by the Journal of Commerce. Aggregate pricing for low-volume shippers, which serves as a ceiling for negotiations with customers moving higher volumes, shows proposed increases of 5.9% in Southern California and 3.1% in Northern California, effective Feb. 1. However, UP has shown flexibility to negotiate more aggressive rates to keep incumbent customers or take business away from competitors. “If UP really wants the lane and it fits well within their network, they’re willing to help us retain existing business and compete against J.B. Hunt,” said a non-asset intermodal marketing company (IMC) executive. “Other BNSF partners are also offering attractive rates to take business from UP.” The need to work aggressively to keep or win business has some intermodal carriers and brokers pessimistic about the first half of the year. “The magic date for me is June,” a second non-asset IMC executive told the Journal of Commerce. “Either truckload capacity will have shrunk considerably and the market dynamics have shifted, or it’ll be another tough year for carriers,” BNSF and UP seem reluctant to raise rates in inland markets such as Chicago, Memphis, Minneapolis and St. Louis, with proposed rates flat or lower than a year ago, according to pricing documents from UP and BNSF partners seen by the Journal of Commerce. Adding pressure to the domestic intermodal market is Amazon, which is leveraging its fleet of more than 20,000 branded containers. The e-commerce giant is courting shippers with very aggressive rates to fill its boxes on backhauls from the inland to the West Coast in a bid to balance its freight flows originating on the West Coast, according to two intermodal shippers who spoke with the Journal of Commerce. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Domestic intermodal providers are expressing frustration with what they say is a challenging freight market as early bids on annual contracts with shippers have yielded only small rate increases in California and flat or declining rates in other regions. That reality is underscoring a tough pricing environment for carriers as 2025 begins. One asset-based intermodal executive who did not want to be identified said he was “disappointed” with the results of annual contracts already awarded for 2025, saying they fell below his expectations. The source said he hopes to eke out a 1% or 2% increase on annual contracts that are inked in the first quarter and lobby for mid-single-digit percentage increases on a second wave of intermodal bids this spring. Meanwhile, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, the largest US intermodal carrier, has urged shippers to engage in “transparent conversations” about freight rates. In an advisory sent to shippers last week that was obtained by the Journal of Commerce, the company cited robust California outbound volumes during the 2024 peak season as a reason to agree to higher rates now. “Inflation and rising costs have made our current margins unsustainable over the long term,” the advisory said. Railroads moved more than 82,000 containers from the Southwest to the Midwest last October, a record for any month, according to the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA). The Journal of Commerce estimates railroads hauled about 50,000 containers from Los Angeles to Chicago, the busiest US lane, that month, also a record. One intermodal shipper who did not want to be identified said despite the robust peak season in Southern California for trucking and rail, there is still abundant capacity available to handle current freight demand, adding that rate increases won’t occur until shippers struggle to procure containers or trailers. “As long as the supply of containers, drivers and over-the-road equipment is sufficient for freight demand, rates are going to stay flat or go down as carriers compete to keep their equipment moving,” the shipper said. “Rates only go up significantly when the supply is insufficient or inadequate to handle freight demand, causing shippers to worry whether their product will move downstream in enough time to generate revenue.” Flexibility to negotiate Union Pacific Railroad (UP) is seeking rate increases in California while conceding to flat or lower rates in several inland markets, according to a pricing matrix compiled by the company and obtained by the Journal of Commerce. Aggregate pricing for low-volume shippers, which serves as a ceiling for negotiations with customers moving higher volumes, shows proposed increases of 5.9% in Southern California and 3.1% in Northern California, effective Feb. 1. However, UP has shown flexibility to negotiate more aggressive rates to keep incumbent customers or take business away from competitors. “If UP really wants the lane and it fits well within their network, they’re willing to help us retain existing business and compete against J.B. Hunt,” said a non-asset intermodal marketing company (IMC) executive. “Other BNSF partners are also offering attractive rates to take business from UP.” The need to work aggressively to keep or win business has some intermodal carriers and brokers pessimistic about the first half of the year. “The magic date for me is June,” a second non-asset IMC executive told the Journal of Commerce. “Either truckload capacity will have shrunk considerably and the market dynamics have shifted, or it’ll be another tough year for carriers,” BNSF and UP seem reluctant to raise rates in inland markets such as Chicago, Memphis, Minneapolis and St. Louis, with proposed rates flat or lower than a year ago, according to pricing documents from UP and BNSF partners seen by the Journal of Commerce. Adding pressure to the domestic intermodal market is Amazon, which is leveraging its fleet of more than 20,000 branded containers. The e-commerce giant is courting shippers with very aggressive rates to fill its boxes on backhauls from the inland to the West Coast in a bid to balance its freight flows originating on the West Coast, according to two intermodal shippers who spoke with the Journal of Commerce. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

North-American rail

Intermodal providers

Intermodal providers navigate tough pricing environment at start of year

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The pricing move means a general rate increase planned by carriers for Jan. 15 will not be implemented, forwarders say, because demand is not sufficient to support another boost.</div>

The pricing move means a general rate increase planned by carriers for Jan. 15 will not be implemented, forwarders say, because demand is not sufficient to support another boost.

<div class="phx-topic">Most ocean carriers on the eastbound trans-Pacific are extending their current spot rates through the end of January, a sign that liners are losing pricing power even before the trade enters its weakest month of the year. Three of those carriers — including Hapag-Lloyd — are even taking the uncommon step of offering customers guaranteed rates into mid-February, sources say. Those pricing moves mean a general rate increase (GRI) planned by carriers for Jan. 15 will not be implemented, forwarders told the Journal of Commerce, because demand, while strong enough now to support the current rate level, is not sufficient to support another boost. “We’re not only getting two-week [guaranteed] rates, we’re [also] getting 30-day rates to Feb. 15,” said Christian Sur, executive vice president of ocean freight contract logistics at the forwarder Unique Logistics International. The fact that Hapag-Lloyd and two smaller lines that sources identified as Wan Hai and SM Lines have extended their rates for a full month to mid-February is especially significant because carriers normally guarantee rates for only two weeks. The advanced undercutting suggests carriers expect capacity to outpace demand even more in the coming month, further eroding pricing power. <h3>Lunar New Year factory closures </h3>The weakening market is driven by the reality that many factories in Asia will soon close for a week or two for the annual Lunar New Year holiday that begins Jan. 29. By guaranteeing spot rates through the end of the month, carriers are attempting to build “roll pools” of containers at Asian load ports to carry them into February, said James Caradonna, executive vice president at the forwarder M&amp;R Spedag Group. “Space is still OK, but some carriers are not as full as others,” Caradonna said, adding some carriers are willing to provide customers the space they want even if they exceed the minimum quantity commitment (MQC) in their contracts. Carriers confirm that with the Lunar New Year holidays approaching, further rate hikes are unlikely. “Rates are coming down pretty fast to the West Coast,” a carrier executive told the Journal of Commerce. A second carrier source acknowledged: “It seems like rates have crested and are drifting lower.” Spot rates from North Asia to the West Coast were $4,700 per FEU as of Jan. 13, down 10% on the week, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. East Coast rates of $6,000 were down 7% from last week. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="e7a65aab-9aac-4f07-9b74-1793746c01ef"></dynamic-object></div>Customers also have access to discounts provided by so-called “bullet” rates, which are special commodity- or trade lane-specific rates that are lower than the posted spot rates and freight-all-kinds (FAK) rates paid by forwarders. “The promotional rates are starting to proliferate,” said Kurt McElroy, executive vice president of the forwarder Kerry Apex. Bookings for shipments into February have peaked and will only decline further, he said, adding special rates to the West Coast are in the low $4,000s. An industry consultant who did not want to be identified said the fact that some carriers are extending current spot rates into mid-February indicates the drop in demand is accelerating. And that means some customers may choose to delay bookings of non-essential merchandise to see if spot rates decline further during the factory closures in Asia, the source said. Now that the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has reached a tentative contract agreement with East and Gulf coast employees, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/ila-usmx-reach-tentative-deal-that-avoids-another-port-strike-5919519">averting a second strike</a>, shippers are focusing primarily on what the tariff policy of President-elect Donald Trump will be after he takes office Jan. 20. If the higher tariffs Trump has threatened do not take effect on day one of the new administration but are staggered into the spring and summer, the eastbound trans-Pacific will experience a “massive frontloading” of imports, McElroy said. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at <a href="mailto:bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com">bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Most ocean carriers on the eastbound trans-Pacific are extending their current spot rates through the end of January, a sign that liners are losing pricing power even before the trade enters its weakest month of the year. Three of those carriers — including Hapag-Lloyd — are even taking the uncommon step of offering customers guaranteed rates into mid-February, sources say. Those pricing moves mean a general rate increase (GRI) planned by carriers for Jan. 15 will not be implemented, forwarders told the Journal of Commerce, because demand, while strong enough now to support the current rate level, is not sufficient to support another boost. “We’re not only getting two-week [guaranteed] rates, we’re [also] getting 30-day rates to Feb. 15,” said Christian Sur, executive vice president of ocean freight contract logistics at the forwarder Unique Logistics International. The fact that Hapag-Lloyd and two smaller lines that sources identified as Wan Hai and SM Lines have extended their rates for a full month to mid-February is especially significant because carriers normally guarantee rates for only two weeks. The advanced undercutting suggests carriers expect capacity to outpace demand even more in the coming month, further eroding pricing power. Lunar New Year factory closures The weakening market is driven by the reality that many factories in Asia will soon close for a week or two for the annual Lunar New Year holiday that begins Jan. 29. By guaranteeing spot rates through the end of the month, carriers are attempting to build “roll pools” of containers at Asian load ports to carry them into February, said James Caradonna, executive vice president at the forwarder M&R Spedag Group. “Space is still OK, but some carriers are not as full as others,” Caradonna said, adding some carriers are willing to provide customers the space they want even if they exceed the minimum quantity commitment (MQC) in their contracts. Carriers confirm that with the Lunar New Year holidays approaching, further rate hikes are unlikely. “Rates are coming down pretty fast to the West Coast,” a carrier executive told the Journal of Commerce. A second carrier source acknowledged: “It seems like rates have crested and are drifting lower.” Spot rates from North Asia to the West Coast were $4,700 per FEU as of Jan. 13, down 10% on the week, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. East Coast rates of $6,000 were down 7% from last week. Customers also have access to discounts provided by so-called “bullet” rates, which are special commodity- or trade lane-specific rates that are lower than the posted spot rates and freight-all-kinds (FAK) rates paid by forwarders. “The promotional rates are starting to proliferate,” said Kurt McElroy, executive vice president of the forwarder Kerry Apex. Bookings for shipments into February have peaked and will only decline further, he said, adding special rates to the West Coast are in the low $4,000s. An industry consultant who did not want to be identified said the fact that some carriers are extending current spot rates into mid-February indicates the drop in demand is accelerating. And that means some customers may choose to delay bookings of non-essential merchandise to see if spot rates decline further during the factory closures in Asia, the source said. Now that the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has reached a tentative contract agreement with East and Gulf coast employees, averting a second strike , shippers are focusing primarily on what the tariff policy of President-elect Donald Trump will be after he takes office Jan. 20. If the higher tariffs Trump has threatened do not take effect on day one of the new administration but are staggered into the spring and summer, the eastbound trans-Pacific will experience a “massive frontloading” of imports, McElroy said. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com .

Container Shipping News

Trans-Pacific

Maritime

Carriers extend spot rates in bid to avoid further rate erosion in eastbound trans-Pac

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The shipowner’s decision to expand its MPV fleet is underpinned by expected growth in project cargo volumes and a lack of suitable ships. </div>

The shipowner’s decision to expand its MPV fleet is underpinned by expected growth in project cargo volumes and a lack of suitable ships.

<div class="phx-topic">A four-ship leasing deal by Norden reflects strong project cargo demand growth and sound market fundamentals, the Denmark-headquartered shipowner said Tuesday.Two 17,500-deadweight metric ton (dwt) multipurpose vessels (MPVs) are due to be delivered by the end of 2026 in a deal that includes options to purchase the vessels at the end of the lease agreements, the company said in a statement.Norden has an option to declare an additional two vessel leases with delivery in 2027. The first two ships will take Norden’s fleet of specialized project cargo vessels to 45, CEO Jan Rindbo said. “[The ships are] designed to handle windmill components, large-scale batteries, industrial plant equipment and breakbulk cargoes like steel and forestry products — enabling us to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” Rindbo said in the statement.The company declined to give further details about the leasing company or if the ships are newbuild or secondhand vessels. The vessels have an innovative design with the bridge located at the front of the ship, optimizing cargo space capacity for project cargo such as windmill blades. The ships are also biofuel compatible, Norden said.Norden entered the project cargo and MPV market in June 2023 when it acquired Thorco Projects.“Since entering the project cargo segment in 2023, our focus has been on growth within this part of the business,” Thomas Mikkelsen, Norden’s head of projects and parceling, said in the statement.“The multipurpose [vessel] segment benefits from favorable supply fundamentals with a rapidly ageing fleet and low order book, coupled with a strong projected demand outlook,” added Mikkelsen, who was previously the CEO of Thorco Projects.<h3>Drewry warns of limited MPV capacity </h3>Mikkelsen’s comments echo the upbeat outlook of the project cargo sector from maritime analyst Drewry Research, which has forecast an increase in charter rates for MPVs this year due to limited vessel supply and high demand.Drewry said the MPV fleet did not grow as much as expected last year because fewer vessels were delivered and scrapped. There were also fewer orders for new vessels placed in the second half of last year. Consequently, “deliveries are likely to be muted over the next two years,” Anurag Kumar, Drewry’s senior research analyst, said in the outlook.<div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="1e7f3686-4313-47cb-9fe9-d40ac8e832e6"></dynamic-object></div>The MPV fleet totaled 31.6 million dwt on Jan. 1, according to British shipbroking house Clarksons, a figure virtually unchanged since 2022. Clarksons also forecasts that vessels totaling 1.8 million dwt will be delivered this year.“A tight supply of project cargo vessels [MPVs] will persist due to a low order book, resulting in higher charter rates,” Kumar said. “If delays in deliveries increase in 2025, we may see rates surging in 2026 for project cargo.”He added that, “demand for project cargo vessels will be robust in 2025, particularly on intra-Asia, supported by energy projects that remain on schedule.”Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>.</div>

A four-ship leasing deal by Norden reflects strong project cargo demand growth and sound market fundamentals, the Denmark-headquartered shipowner said Tuesday. Two 17,500-deadweight metric ton (dwt) multipurpose vessels (MPVs) are due to be delivered by the end of 2026 in a deal that includes options to purchase the vessels at the end of the lease agreements, the company said in a statement. Norden has an option to declare an additional two vessel leases with delivery in 2027. The first two ships will take Norden’s fleet of specialized project cargo vessels to 45, CEO Jan Rindbo said. “[The ships are] designed to handle windmill components, large-scale batteries, industrial plant equipment and breakbulk cargoes like steel and forestry products — enabling us to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” Rindbo said in the statement. The company declined to give further details about the leasing company or if the ships are newbuild or secondhand vessels. The vessels have an innovative design with the bridge located at the front of the ship, optimizing cargo space capacity for project cargo such as windmill blades. The ships are also biofuel compatible, Norden said. Norden entered the project cargo and MPV market in June 2023 when it acquired Thorco Projects. “Since entering the project cargo segment in 2023, our focus has been on growth within this part of the business,” Thomas Mikkelsen, Norden’s head of projects and parceling, said in the statement. “The multipurpose [vessel] segment benefits from favorable supply fundamentals with a rapidly ageing fleet and low order book, coupled with a strong projected demand outlook,” added Mikkelsen, who was previously the CEO of Thorco Projects. Drewry warns of limited MPV capacity Mikkelsen’s comments echo the upbeat outlook of the project cargo sector from maritime analyst Drewry Research, which has forecast an increase in charter rates for MPVs this year due to limited vessel supply and high demand. Drewry said the MPV fleet did not grow as much as expected last year because fewer vessels were delivered and scrapped. There were also fewer orders for new vessels placed in the second half of last year. Consequently, “deliveries are likely to be muted over the next two years,” Anurag Kumar, Drewry’s senior research analyst, said in the outlook. The MPV fleet totaled 31.6 million dwt on Jan. 1, according to British shipbroking house Clarksons, a figure virtually unchanged since 2022. Clarksons also forecasts that vessels totaling 1.8 million dwt will be delivered this year. “A tight supply of project cargo vessels [MPVs] will persist due to a low order book, resulting in higher charter rates,” Kumar said. “If delays in deliveries increase in 2025, we may see rates surging in 2026 for project cargo.” He added that, “demand for project cargo vessels will be robust in 2025, particularly on intra-Asia, supported by energy projects that remain on schedule.” Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Breakbulk carriers

Project cargo

Breakbulk News

Norden MPV leasing deal capitalizes on global fleet undercapacity

Access Journal of Commerce content for 30 days

Free Trial - Wide Box

START A FREE TRIAL TODAY

Choose a subscription plan that works best for you.

Subscribe Now - Anonymous - Wide Box

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

Use code STSW20 at checkout and save 20% on first year of any annual subscription plan.

Subscribe Now - Free Trials - Wide Box

SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE

Register today to redeem your Gold subscriber discount!

TPM Discount - Gold

Save 20% on TPM25

Use code GUW795 at checkout and save $700 on first year of a Gold subscription. 

Upgrade Subscription - Wide Box

UPGRADE TODAY AND SAVE

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

SMC3rates_shutterstock_5247046.jpg

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>

SMC3rates_shutterstock_5247046 (1).jpg

Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

UPGRADE AND SAVE: Use code GUW795 at checkout and save $700 on first year of a Gold subscription. 

Upgrade Subscription - Offer Box

Upgrade Subscription

20% OFF ON TPM25: Register today and redeem your Gold subscriber discount!

TPM Discount - Gold 

20% OFF ON TPM25

SUBSCRIBE TODAY: Choose a subscription plan that works best for you.

Subscribe Now - Anonymous - Offer Box

Subscribe Today

START A FREE TRIAL: Access Journal of Commerce content for 30 days

Free Trial - Offer Box

Free Trial

SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE: Use code STSW20 at checkout to save 20% on first year of any subscription plan.


Subscribe Now - Free Trials - Offer Box

An in-depth analysis of transport trends in the multipurpose and heavy-lift fleet segment

Breakbulk Report - Rectangle Box

Breakbulk Quarterly

Customers scoring their intermodal partners to identify the best service providers

Intermodal Service Scorecard - Rectangle Box

Intermodal Service Scorecard

The only editorially independent conference for the breakbulk & project cargo industry

Breakbulk Conference - Rectangle Box

Attend Breakbulk25

The premier conference for the global container shipping and supply chain community

TPM Conference - Rectangle Box

Attend TPM25

A premium access index of savings using domestic intermodal vs. OTR 

ISI Report - Rectangle Box

Intermodal Savings Index

An extensive dashboard of charts organized by trade lane, mode, and topic

Gateway - Rectangle Box

Gateway

A premium access outlook critical to shippers and transportation providers

QI Report - Rectangle Box

Quarterly Intelligence

Discover the news and analysis of supply chain strategies, sourcing and trends covered by the Journal of Commerce. Comprehensive coverage includes customs, trade news, transport news and the latest information about trade regulations.

Stay informed with the latest regulation news and trade updates. Explore comprehensive transportation news and trade regulations today.

Transport, Trade and Regulation News | Journal of Commerce

The Journal of Commerce’s supply chain news and analysis impacting the management of end-to-end supply chains reports on supply chain strategies, cargo visibility, inventory trends, sourcing, customs certification and contract logistics. Supply chain news coverage also delves into refrigerated shipping advancements and management of inventory status, regulatory updates and government funding projects.

Our logistics technology news include logistics technology startups, solutions, and the impact of technology on logistics and supply chain management.

Logistics Technology News | Journal of Commerce

A thorough cool cargoes news by Journal of Commerce. Learn about the latest trends in refrigerated cargo transportation, weight capacity, technology, and more.

Cool Cargoes News | Journal of Commerce

Cool Cargo News

Journal of Commerce keeps you informed on the latest last mile news with comprehensive coverage of carriers, logistics, and last mile transportation solutions.

Last Mile News | Journal of Commerce

Last Mile News

Discover the latest industrial real estate news and trends. Covering projects, real estate supply chain, logistics, pricing, cross dock facilities, and more.

Industrial Real Estate News | Journal of Commerce

Industrial Real Estate News

Stay updated on supply chain strategies, cargo visibility, inventory trends and more with our comprehensive supply chain news and analysis.

Latest News

More News & Analysis

Visibility vendors move to extend reach and relevancy in rebalancing market

US LTL truck pricing flat, but still elevated despite low demand

Intermodal providers navigate tough pricing environment at start of year