<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Soviet Union Thursday sought to stave off foreign concern about late debt payments by Soviet bus</div>

The Soviet Union Thursday sought to stave off foreign concern about late debt payments by Soviet bus

<div>The Soviet Union Thursday sought to stave off foreign concern about late debt payments by Soviet businesses and stressed that the nation remains a safe place to invest.Economist Stanislav Shatalin, a member of President Mikhail Gorbachev's 16-man advisory council, said the Kremlin was overseeing the protection of foreign investment."The U.S.S.R. was and will be a reliable business partner," he told the independent news service Interfax."Everyone should know: the U.S.S.R. guarantees the return of all credits received."At the same time the Foreign Economic Relations Bank, Vnesheconombank, denied reports that it would suspend payments on credits from 1991.The Moscow business community noticed...

The Soviet Union Thursday sought to stave off foreign concern about late debt payments by Soviet businesses and stressed that the nation remains a safe place to invest. Economist Stanislav Shatalin, a member of President Mikhail Gorbachev's 16-man advisory council, said the Kremlin was overseeing the protection of foreign investment."The U.S.S.R. was and will be a reliable business partner," he told the independent news service Interfax. "Everyone should know: the U.S.S.R. guarantees the return of all credits received." At the same time the Foreign Economic Relations Bank, Vnesheconombank, denied reports that it would suspend payments on credits from 1991. The Moscow business community noticed a spate of delayed payments to Western firms from Soviet enterprises just over a month ago. A Western economist said it undoubtedly had dented the Soviet Union's shining image as a model debtor. But in the last few weeks most creditors had received at least partial payment and everyone seemed confident they would get their money in the end, he said. "I would say there is no alarm," the economist said. He blamed the delayed payments on Soviet enterprises, enjoying new-found independence from central control, getting over-extended because of lack of experience. Then Vnesheconombank had stopped bailing them out. "The bank decided to start teaching the foreign trade organizations the economic facts of life," the economist said. "The results of last year's buying spree are arriving." Vnesheconombank said that all its payments were being made on time and any delays were at commercial organizations not guaranteed by the bank. Meanwhile, Valentin Pavlov, finance minister, said in an interview that foreign firms would be allowed to set up plants on Soviet territory or buy enterprises that needed to be rebuilt or upgraded. Laws setting out investment conditions, labor terms and distribution and repatriation of profits will be part of Mr. Gorbachev's long-awaited radical reform package, due to be introduced in June. Mr. Pavlov said, however, that the economic situation was so bad that the package needed to be introduced without delay. He suggested the main laws could be brought in by presidential decree, for discussion by parliament later. Mr. Pavlov, whose interview was published by Interfax Wednesday, said the new draft laws aimed at transforming the Soviet Union from a centrally managed to a market-based economy should be ready by mid-April. "If there were no perestroika in the first place it would have to be invented because this has been made necessary by the development of our society," he said. "There is no other way."

Maritime

SOVIETS REASSURE INVESTORS ON DEBT

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The second tender from the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance calls for a carrier or a consortium of liners to move the equivalent of 1.5 million TEUs across the Pacific on ships powered by renewable synthetic fuels.</div>

The second tender from the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance calls for a carrier or a consortium of liners to move the equivalent of 1.5 million TEUs across the Pacific on ships powered by renewable synthetic fuels.

Feature image

<div class="phx-topic">Ocean carriers have expressed strong interest in competing for an e-fuel-focused tender launched Tuesday by the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA), according to the group’s president and CEO. The second tender from ZEMBA calls for a carrier or group of liners to move the equivalent of 1.5 million TEUs across the Pacific on ships powered by renewable synthetic fuels, with the aim of fast-tracking the commercial deployment of e-fuels at scale to create a competitive market. E-fuels are synthetic fuels produced using renewable electricity and include e-methanol and biomethane, a cleaner version of liquefied natural gas (LNG). ZEMBA head Ingrid Irigoyen described the response to the tender as “remarkable,” adding that carriers numbering “in the double digits” have stepped forward. ”We have a strong group of carriers who registered their interest with us so we’re feeling quite bullish about being able to get some good e-fuel bids,” she told the Journal of Commerce. “Several bids are from top carriers and some are from smaller ones, which is going to see a mix of different fuels, different technologies, different sizes of carriers operating in different geographies,” she added. “It is a diverse group of market participants.” ZEMBA is a non-profit alliance of more than 40 freight buyers that includes global brands such as IKEA, Electrolux, Nike, Philips and Levi Strauss. Hapag-Lloyd last April <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/biofuel-not-the-answer-to-shipping-decarbonization-carriers-5945801">was awarded ZEMBA’s inaugural tender</a> for the zero-emission shipment of containers from Singapore to Rotterdam that will cover 1.2 billion TEU-miles over a two-year period beginning in 2025. While the first tender focused on biomethane, a qualifying bid for ZEMBA’s second tender that will be awarded later this year will be a proposal from a carrier or consortium for e-fuel-powered shipping over a three to five-year period starting in 2027. All bids will need to demonstrate at least a 90% lifecycle emission reduction for primary propulsion of the vessels “compared to a high-emission fuel baseline,” the tender noted. The tender intends to aggregate approximately 86 billion tonne nautical miles of demand for the emissions abatement associated with e-fuel-powered shipping. It will cover a negotiated “green premium” paid by shippers and will not involve the base freight rate. “Getting e-fuel-powered shipping on the water for the first time through this collaborative forward procurement will be a huge technical and commercial innovation milestone for the sector,” Irigoyen said. <h3>Seeking ‘supportive and sophisticated’ policy </h3>Irigoyen said the timing of the second tender was important as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) debates the composition of its mid-term measures, namely a global carbon pricing mechanism and a fuel standard. The IMO’s Maritime and Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting will decide on the measures and finalize the legal framework in April with implementation planned for October. “We hope to be a source of inspiration and confidence-building for policy makers,” Irigoyen said. “We want to see policy that is supportive and sophisticated enough to capture the long-term strategic needs of this sector and get the scalable fuels supported in the market despite a high price point today so those costs can come down precipitously.” ZEMBA’s decision to focus on e-fuels in the second tender was because they are “vastly scalable,” Irigoyen said, and the cost reductions would be significant compared to biofuels that faced <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/biofuel-not-the-answer-to-shipping-decarbonization-carriers-5945801">sustainability questions, limited availability and competition</a> from other sectors. ”The beauty of just going to market is that we don’t have to speculate,” she said. “We don’t have to speculate on pricing, we don’t have to speculate on availability and will have concrete commercial offerings that meet our requirements. “It's not our suggestion that the entire sector must switch immediately, but by having leader buyers, leader freight forwarders, leader carriers and leader fuel producers coming together through the execution of this project, I think we can enable that future to set sail,” Irigoyen added. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Ocean carriers have expressed strong interest in competing for an e-fuel-focused tender launched Tuesday by the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA), according to the group’s president and CEO. The second tender from ZEMBA calls for a carrier or group of liners to move the equivalent of 1.5 million TEUs across the Pacific on ships powered by renewable synthetic fuels, with the aim of fast-tracking the commercial deployment of e-fuels at scale to create a competitive market. E-fuels are synthetic fuels produced using renewable electricity and include e-methanol and biomethane, a cleaner version of liquefied natural gas (LNG). ZEMBA head Ingrid Irigoyen described the response to the tender as “remarkable,” adding that carriers numbering “in the double digits” have stepped forward. ”We have a strong group of carriers who registered their interest with us so we’re feeling quite bullish about being able to get some good e-fuel bids,” she told the Journal of Commerce. “Several bids are from top carriers and some are from smaller ones, which is going to see a mix of different fuels, different technologies, different sizes of carriers operating in different geographies,” she added. “It is a diverse group of market participants.” ZEMBA is a non-profit alliance of more than 40 freight buyers that includes global brands such as IKEA, Electrolux, Nike, Philips and Levi Strauss. Hapag-Lloyd last April was awarded ZEMBA’s inaugural tender for the zero-emission shipment of containers from Singapore to Rotterdam that will cover 1.2 billion TEU-miles over a two-year period beginning in 2025. While the first tender focused on biomethane, a qualifying bid for ZEMBA’s second tender that will be awarded later this year will be a proposal from a carrier or consortium for e-fuel-powered shipping over a three to five-year period starting in 2027. All bids will need to demonstrate at least a 90% lifecycle emission reduction for primary propulsion of the vessels “compared to a high-emission fuel baseline,” the tender noted. The tender intends to aggregate approximately 86 billion tonne nautical miles of demand for the emissions abatement associated with e-fuel-powered shipping. It will cover a negotiated “green premium” paid by shippers and will not involve the base freight rate. “Getting e-fuel-powered shipping on the water for the first time through this collaborative forward procurement will be a huge technical and commercial innovation milestone for the sector,” Irigoyen said. Seeking ‘supportive and sophisticated’ policy Irigoyen said the timing of the second tender was important as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) debates the composition of its mid-term measures, namely a global carbon pricing mechanism and a fuel standard. The IMO’s Maritime and Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting will decide on the measures and finalize the legal framework in April with implementation planned for October. “We hope to be a source of inspiration and confidence-building for policy makers,” Irigoyen said. “We want to see policy that is supportive and sophisticated enough to capture the long-term strategic needs of this sector and get the scalable fuels supported in the market despite a high price point today so those costs can come down precipitously.” ZEMBA’s decision to focus on e-fuels in the second tender was because they are “vastly scalable,” Irigoyen said, and the cost reductions would be significant compared to biofuels that faced sustainability questions, limited availability and competition from other sectors. ”The beauty of just going to market is that we don’t have to speculate,” she said. “We don’t have to speculate on pricing, we don’t have to speculate on availability and will have concrete commercial offerings that meet our requirements. “It's not our suggestion that the entire sector must switch immediately, but by having leader buyers, leader freight forwarders, leader carriers and leader fuel producers coming together through the execution of this project, I think we can enable that future to set sail,” Irigoyen added. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Container Shipping News

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Container lines

Global shipper group ‘bullish’ on e-fuel tender bids from ocean carriers

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The FMC’s modified ruling in the TCW-Evergreen complaint allows room for carriers to charge late fees during port closures if the fees are reasonable. </div>

The FMC’s modified ruling in the TCW-Evergreen complaint allows room for carriers to charge late fees during port closures if the fees are reasonable.

<div class="phx-topic">The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has ruled that while a container late fee Evergreen Marine charged a trucker was unreasonable, the ocean carrier did not violate the agency’s broader directive on whether the fees improve cargo fluidity. The FMC said in an order that drayage carrier TCW was entitled to a refund of $510 in detention fees on a container and chassis that Evergreen charged the trucker over a three-day period when the Port of Savannah was closed during Memorial Day weekend in 2020. <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/two-fmc-cases-test-limits-on-detention-and-demurrage-5247665">TCW filed a complaint with the agency in 2021</a> after receiving the invoice from Evergreen. The motor carrier argued the detention charge did not meet the FMC’s test for charging fees under the “incentive principle” for prompting shippers and cargo owners to move freight as quickly as possible. After <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-court-orders-fmc-to-review-evergreen-demurrage-ruling-5192254">a US appellate court ordered a review of the ruling in the case</a>, the FMC said in its mid-February ruling that Evergreen’s detention charges could still be considered unreasonable. TCW’s customer Yamaha did not make the empty container available for return until the Saturday of that Memorial Day weekend, the FMC said. TCW made Evergreen aware of that but was still charged detention for the three-day period. However, the FMC did reverse a cease-and-desist order against Evergreen from charging late fees during times when ports are closed. The appellate court ruled that the incentive principle for charging late fees could not be applied in the TCW case because there is no incentive to return a container when a marine terminal is closed. In its order, the FMC essentially agreed there are situations when bringing containers back to ports quickly before closure may not do much to improve freight fluidity. It cited situations where truckers under threat of late fees may rush to a port on Friday to return equipment but only to have that equipment remain idle over the weekend. “There is likely minimal positive effect on freight fluidity for these containers returned right before port closures,” the FMC order said. “Thus, detention charges in these circumstances would not serve the ultimate goal of promoting freight fluidity, but rather are serving to penalize shippers and truckers unreasonably.” Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has ruled that while a container late fee Evergreen Marine charged a trucker was unreasonable, the ocean carrier did not violate the agency’s broader directive on whether the fees improve cargo fluidity. The FMC said in an order that drayage carrier TCW was entitled to a refund of $510 in detention fees on a container and chassis that Evergreen charged the trucker over a three-day period when the Port of Savannah was closed during Memorial Day weekend in 2020. TCW filed a complaint with the agency in 2021 after receiving the invoice from Evergreen. The motor carrier argued the detention charge did not meet the FMC’s test for charging fees under the “incentive principle” for prompting shippers and cargo owners to move freight as quickly as possible. After a US appellate court ordered a review of the ruling in the case , the FMC said in its mid-February ruling that Evergreen’s detention charges could still be considered unreasonable. TCW’s customer Yamaha did not make the empty container available for return until the Saturday of that Memorial Day weekend, the FMC said. TCW made Evergreen aware of that but was still charged detention for the three-day period. However, the FMC did reverse a cease-and-desist order against Evergreen from charging late fees during times when ports are closed. The appellate court ruled that the incentive principle for charging late fees could not be applied in the TCW case because there is no incentive to return a container when a marine terminal is closed. In its order, the FMC essentially agreed there are situations when bringing containers back to ports quickly before closure may not do much to improve freight fluidity. It cited situations where truckers under threat of late fees may rush to a port on Friday to return equipment but only to have that equipment remain idle over the weekend. “There is likely minimal positive effect on freight fluidity for these containers returned right before port closures,” the FMC order said. “Thus, detention charges in these circumstances would not serve the ultimate goal of promoting freight fluidity, but rather are serving to penalize shippers and truckers unreasonably.” Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Drayage

North American ports

FMC modifies TCW detention order in light of federal court ruling

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Supply chain security technology provider Overhaul forecasts another big year for cargo theft in 2025, although not as big as a 49% year-over-year increase in 2024. </div>

Supply chain security technology provider Overhaul forecasts another big year for cargo theft in 2025, although not as big as a 49% year-over-year increase in 2024.

<div class="phx-topic">Cargo crime in the US is not only rising, but it is shifting to new markets as criminals follow the freight, according to a report from supply chain security firm Overhaul. Overhaul expects US cargo theft to continue to grow at double-digit rates, although not as fast as in 2024. Thieves are striking deeper into supply chains, moving further inland. “In 2025, cargo theft events in the United States are expected to show a major increase from 2,217 to 2,705,” a 22% increase, Overhaul said in its annual report, released Friday. That compares with a 49% year-over-year increase in cargo theft by volume in 2024. Overhaul based its forecast on data from law enforcement and other sources. California remains the top state for cargo theft, accounting for 32% of total US theft events last year, but that was a 9-percentage-point drop from 2023, Overhaul said. Pennsylvania’s share of total reported US cargo theft jumped from 1% in 2023 to 8% last year, Overhaul said. Texas, Tennessee and Georgia also saw more freight crime, with their share of total US cargo theft rising by 7 percentage points, 3 percentage points and 1 percentage point to 19%, 14% and 6%, respectively. “Cargo theft is spreading to other states but remains a latent risk for logistics activities in metropolitan areas that are commonly affected by these thefts,” Overhaul said. The Overhaul data suggests thieves are getting better at tracking freight as it flows through supply chains and targeting shipments where they are most vulnerable. <h3>Fraud rising fast </h3>Measuring cargo crime activity is notoriously difficult, with many events underreported. However, other sources have noted increases comparable with Overhaul’s data. Verisk CargoNet, a business unit of Verisk, reported a 27% increase in cargo theft in the US and Canada in 2024, with thefts in California and Texas rising 33% and 39%, respectively. Reported thefts in Dallas County, Texas, spiked by 78% year over year in 2024. Data reveals “an evolving and increasingly sophisticated threat landscape,” CargoNet said. Fraudulent or “deceptive” pickups remain a part of that landscape but only accounted for about 8% of total cargo theft in 2024, according to Overhaul. Still, the number of deceptive pickups reported increased 57% last year, Overhaul said. Pilferage — theft of a partial load — increased 38% while full truckload thefts rose 4%. Train robbery is on the rise, too; Overhaul expects rail yard thefts to increase 26% in 2025. The security firm also noted an increase in targeted rail thefts. BNSF Railway was targeted in several incidents last year, resulting in the theft of about $2 million in Nike sneakers, according to a Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-02-23/freight-train-heists-targeting-nike-merchandise-are-probed-as-related">report Sunday</a>. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Cargo crime in the US is not only rising, but it is shifting to new markets as criminals follow the freight, according to a report from supply chain security firm Overhaul. Overhaul expects US cargo theft to continue to grow at double-digit rates, although not as fast as in 2024. Thieves are striking deeper into supply chains, moving further inland. “In 2025, cargo theft events in the United States are expected to show a major increase from 2,217 to 2,705,” a 22% increase, Overhaul said in its annual report, released Friday. That compares with a 49% year-over-year increase in cargo theft by volume in 2024. Overhaul based its forecast on data from law enforcement and other sources. California remains the top state for cargo theft, accounting for 32% of total US theft events last year, but that was a 9-percentage-point drop from 2023, Overhaul said. Pennsylvania’s share of total reported US cargo theft jumped from 1% in 2023 to 8% last year, Overhaul said. Texas, Tennessee and Georgia also saw more freight crime, with their share of total US cargo theft rising by 7 percentage points, 3 percentage points and 1 percentage point to 19%, 14% and 6%, respectively. “Cargo theft is spreading to other states but remains a latent risk for logistics activities in metropolitan areas that are commonly affected by these thefts,” Overhaul said. The Overhaul data suggests thieves are getting better at tracking freight as it flows through supply chains and targeting shipments where they are most vulnerable. Fraud rising fast Measuring cargo crime activity is notoriously difficult, with many events underreported. However, other sources have noted increases comparable with Overhaul’s data. Verisk CargoNet, a business unit of Verisk, reported a 27% increase in cargo theft in the US and Canada in 2024, with thefts in California and Texas rising 33% and 39%, respectively. Reported thefts in Dallas County, Texas, spiked by 78% year over year in 2024. Data reveals “an evolving and increasingly sophisticated threat landscape,” CargoNet said. Fraudulent or “deceptive” pickups remain a part of that landscape but only accounted for about 8% of total cargo theft in 2024, according to Overhaul. Still, the number of deceptive pickups reported increased 57% last year, Overhaul said. Pilferage — theft of a partial load — increased 38% while full truckload thefts rose 4%. Train robbery is on the rise, too; Overhaul expects rail yard thefts to increase 26% in 2025. The security firm also noted an increase in targeted rail thefts. BNSF Railway was targeted in several incidents last year, resulting in the theft of about $2 million in Nike sneakers, according to a Los Angeles Times report Sunday . Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Supply chain

Trucking News

Truckload

Surface

US cargo crime forecast to rise 22% as thefts spread inland

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The US Trade Representative said the proposed fees are designed to counter China’s influence over the global shipbuilding and maritime industry.</div>

The US Trade Representative said the proposed fees are designed to counter China’s influence over the global shipbuilding and maritime industry.

<div class="phx-topic">The Trump administration is looking to raise billions in tariffs on the back of the container shipping industry through a proposed port usage fee on Chinese-built and -operated ships calling on the US. Exporters, too, face the risk of higher costs if new mandates requiring the use of US fleets go into effect. The proposals, if implemented, threaten to raise costs for US shippers and upend the economics of the global containerized supply chain. The proposed port usage fee takes direct aim at China’s ocean carriers but would also penalize the global maritime industry that relies on China’s shipbuilders. The US Trade Representative (USTR) said Friday its year-long investigation of China’s shipbuilding and maritime logistics industry concluded China “has employed increasingly aggressive and specific targets in pursuing dominance.” The investigation — <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/chinas-predatory-maritime-policies-threaten-global-trade-white-house-5923952">initiated during the Biden Administration</a> after it received a petition from a group of US manufacturing unions — laid out how China’s state support brought the country’s share of the global shipbuilding industry from less than 5% in 1999 to over 50% in 2023. Chinese companies now control about one-fifth of the world’s shipping fleet, the USTR said. “China has largely achieved its dominance goals, severely disadvantaging US companies, workers, and the US economy generally,” the USTR said. The USTR, which will soon be led by Trump appointee Jamieson Greer, laid out a series of penalties and remedies as part of its investigation. Those are now open for public comment through March 24. Among the USTR’s proposals are a $1 million fee for each US port call of a Chinese-operated ship, or a $1,000-per-net-ton fee applied on the ship’s carrying capacity. For all other ocean carriers, the USTR proposes a sliding port entrance fee of up to $1.5 million per Chinese-built vessel based on the percent of the carrier’s fleet built in China. Likewise, an additional fee of $1 million per vessel could also be assessed based on the percent of the carrier’s newbuild order book at Chinese shipyards. The USTR said ocean carriers could receive a $1 million refund for each call by a US-built vessel at a port. US-based ocean carriers will also get cargo preference under the USTR’s proposal that an increasing share of exports move on US fleets. The USTR would require an increasing percentage of US exports, starting at 1%, moved on US-flagged vessels in the first two years of its proposed actions. Starting in the third year, the proposal also requires that an increasing percentage of exports move on US-built and US-flagged ships. Once public comments are received, the USTR will also hold a public hearing on its proposed actions, which could go into effect up to six months later. While affected parties can ask for waivers on the new fees and the proposed actions could be postponed through a trade deal, they would hit every container shipping company outside of the US. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com ">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

The Trump administration is looking to raise billions in tariffs on the back of the container shipping industry through a proposed port usage fee on Chinese-built and -operated ships calling on the US. Exporters, too, face the risk of higher costs if new mandates requiring the use of US fleets go into effect. The proposals, if implemented, threaten to raise costs for US shippers and upend the economics of the global containerized supply chain. The proposed port usage fee takes direct aim at China’s ocean carriers but would also penalize the global maritime industry that relies on China’s shipbuilders. The US Trade Representative (USTR) said Friday its year-long investigation of China’s shipbuilding and maritime logistics industry concluded China “has employed increasingly aggressive and specific targets in pursuing dominance.” The investigation — initiated during the Biden Administration after it received a petition from a group of US manufacturing unions — laid out how China’s state support brought the country’s share of the global shipbuilding industry from less than 5% in 1999 to over 50% in 2023. Chinese companies now control about one-fifth of the world’s shipping fleet, the USTR said. “China has largely achieved its dominance goals, severely disadvantaging US companies, workers, and the US economy generally,” the USTR said. The USTR, which will soon be led by Trump appointee Jamieson Greer, laid out a series of penalties and remedies as part of its investigation. Those are now open for public comment through March 24. Among the USTR’s proposals are a $1 million fee for each US port call of a Chinese-operated ship, or a $1,000-per-net-ton fee applied on the ship’s carrying capacity. For all other ocean carriers, the USTR proposes a sliding port entrance fee of up to $1.5 million per Chinese-built vessel based on the percent of the carrier’s fleet built in China. Likewise, an additional fee of $1 million per vessel could also be assessed based on the percent of the carrier’s newbuild order book at Chinese shipyards. The USTR said ocean carriers could receive a $1 million refund for each call by a US-built vessel at a port. US-based ocean carriers will also get cargo preference under the USTR’s proposal that an increasing share of exports move on US fleets. The USTR would require an increasing percentage of US exports, starting at 1%, moved on US-flagged vessels in the first two years of its proposed actions. Starting in the third year, the proposal also requires that an increasing percentage of exports move on US-built and US-flagged ships. Once public comments are received, the USTR will also hold a public hearing on its proposed actions, which could go into effect up to six months later. While affected parties can ask for waivers on the new fees and the proposed actions could be postponed through a trade deal, they would hit every container shipping company outside of the US. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Trans-Pacific

US port fees could hit Chinese ships under Trump trade proposal

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The poor operating conditions look set to continue this year, likely keeping container handling numbers under pressure at Europe’s third-largest port.</div>

The poor operating conditions look set to continue this year, likely keeping container handling numbers under pressure at Europe’s third-largest port.

<div class="phx-topic">Geopolitical issues and a slowdown in the German economy held back container throughput at the Port of Hamburg in 2024, with overall volumes at the gateway growing just 0.9% to 7.8 million TEUs. Operating conditions are unlikely to improve this year, with the port warning that throughput figures will be influenced by a “highly volatile” global situation and the continued weakening of the German economy. “The annual result highlights the Port of Hamburg’s resilience in a challenging market environment,” Axel Mattern, a member of the executive board at Port of Hamburg Marketing, said in a statement Monday. The 2024 volumes left the German hub firmly in third place in European container port rankings behind Rotterdam’s 13.8 million TEUs and Antwerp-Bruges’ volume of 13.5 million TEUs last year. China remains Hamburg’s largest trading nation, with volume edging up 0.7% year over year to 2.2 million TEUs, while trade with the US reached a record 685,000 TEUs, up 5% compared with 2023. But the impact of longer transit times as ships avoid the Red Sea was causing route changes and vessel diversions that are being felt acutely by Hamburg, which sits at the northernmost end of North Europe port rotations. As a result, the port last year reported fewer calls of megamax ships of 23,000 TEUs and above, which are primarily used on the Asia-North Europe trade lane. Still, container exchanges — the number of containers offloaded and loaded during a port call — increased by more than 20% at Hamburg, with an average of 10,000 TEUs per megamax visit. Hamburg reported a 2.5% year-over-year increase in rail traffic with 2.6 million TEUs transported in and out of the port during 2024, allowing rail to hold on to its 50.2% modal share of container transport. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Geopolitical issues and a slowdown in the German economy held back container throughput at the Port of Hamburg in 2024, with overall volumes at the gateway growing just 0.9% to 7.8 million TEUs. Operating conditions are unlikely to improve this year, with the port warning that throughput figures will be influenced by a “highly volatile” global situation and the continued weakening of the German economy. “The annual result highlights the Port of Hamburg’s resilience in a challenging market environment,” Axel Mattern, a member of the executive board at Port of Hamburg Marketing, said in a statement Monday. The 2024 volumes left the German hub firmly in third place in European container port rankings behind Rotterdam’s 13.8 million TEUs and Antwerp-Bruges’ volume of 13.5 million TEUs last year. China remains Hamburg’s largest trading nation, with volume edging up 0.7% year over year to 2.2 million TEUs, while trade with the US reached a record 685,000 TEUs, up 5% compared with 2023. But the impact of longer transit times as ships avoid the Red Sea was causing route changes and vessel diversions that are being felt acutely by Hamburg, which sits at the northernmost end of North Europe port rotations. As a result, the port last year reported fewer calls of megamax ships of 23,000 TEUs and above, which are primarily used on the Asia-North Europe trade lane. Still, container exchanges — the number of containers offloaded and loaded during a port call — increased by more than 20% at Hamburg, with an average of 10,000 TEUs per megamax visit. Hamburg reported a 2.5% year-over-year increase in rail traffic with 2.6 million TEUs transported in and out of the port during 2024, allowing rail to hold on to its 50.2% modal share of container transport. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Asia-Europe

Geopolitics, weak German economy slowed Hamburg’s 2024 volume growth

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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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