<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">In moves that reflect the improvement Kansas City Southern has been making in its finances, Standard &amp; Poor's Ratings Services raised its rating on long-term KCS debt to BB from B and took the rai</div>

In moves that reflect the improvement Kansas City Southern has been making in its finances, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its rating on long-term KCS debt to BB from B and took the rai

<div>In moves that reflect the improvement Kansas City Southern has been making in its finances, Standard &amp; Poor's Ratings Services raised its rating on long-term KCS debt to BB from B and took the railroad firm off a CreditWatch list.S&amp;P said the outlook for the smallest of the seven North American Class I railroads is stable, after KCS reduced its debt by $237 million June 4 through a combination of a recent equity offering and cash on hand. KCS operates a railroad in the south-central U.S. -- mainly between Kansas City, Mo., and the U.S.-Mexico border at Laredo, Texas &amp;ndash;...

In moves that reflect the improvement Kansas City Southern has been making in its finances, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its rating on long-term KCS debt to BB from B and took the railroad firm off a CreditWatch list. S&P said the outlook for the smallest of the seven North American Class I railroads is stable, after KCS reduced its debt by $237 million June 4 through a combination of a recent equity offering and cash on hand. KCS operates a railroad in the south-central U.S. -- mainly between Kansas City, Mo., and the U.S.-Mexico border at Laredo, Texas &ndash; and a large track concession in Mexico that connects both seacoasts plus major commercial centers. The ratings agency said its upgrade for KCS &ldquo;reflects debt reduction, as well as an improved capital structure and liquidity position following KCS' equity issuance and bond redemption.&rdquo; S&P also gave the BB rating to a proposed $100 million senior secured revolving credit facility for the Kansas City Southern de Mexico subsidiary. The latest ratings, S&P said, still take into account the company&rsquo;s &ldquo;aggressive financial profile, substantial capital spending requirements and meaningful exposure to cyclical end markets such as automotive and manufacturing, particularly in Mexico.&rdquo; But credit analyst Anita Ogbara at S&P said, &ldquo;Given the rebound in volumes and the stable pricing environment, we expect KCS' operating performance, profitability, and cash flow to continue to strengthen over the next few quarters.&rdquo; -- Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com .

Rail News

North-American rail

S&P Hikes Kansas City Southern Debt Rating

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Virginia continues to add infrastructure to its marine terminals as part of the port’s plan to handle mega-max vessels once dredging is finished late in 2025. </div>

Virginia continues to add infrastructure to its marine terminals as part of the port’s plan to handle mega-max vessels once dredging is finished late in 2025.

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<div class="phx-topic">The Port of Virginia has boosted crane capacity at one of its main marine terminals as the port prepares for handling more ultra-large container ships. The new cranes are one of several capital projects timed to ongoing dredging at the port that will allow it to handle more large ships. The Virginia Port Authority (VPA) said Tuesday that four new, super post-Panamax cranes have come into service at the Virginia International Gateway (VIG). With a maximum outreach width of 26 containers, the cranes can handle ultra-large container vessels up to 21,000 TEUs. VIG will be capable of working three ultra-large vessels at once, the port said in a statement. Across both VIG and the port’s larger Norfolk International Terminal (NIT), Virginia will have 26 cranes for ultra-large container ships. The new cranes are now in place, while the Port of Virginia expects to complete a nearly five-year dredging project that will bring Norfolk Harbor and its main shipping channels to a 55-foot depth for ultra-large ships. Portions of the shipping channel have already been widened to 1,400 feet to allow bidirectional navigation of large container ships. “When the dredge work is complete, multiple ultra-large container vessels, loaded to their absolute limits, will be able to call the port of Virginia without restrictions at the berth, on water depth or for vessel traffic,” VPA Chief Executive Stephen Edwards said in the statement. March was one of VIG’s strongest months for big ship calls, according to vessel tracking data from Sea-web, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. VIG handled 20 ships above 10,000-TEUs, the most in 12 months, totaling almost 283,000 TEUs in container capacity. The NIT saw 18 big-ship calls in March, totaling just over 234,000 TEUs, Sea-web data shows. It, too, is undergoing upgrades that will allow it to handle more big ships. The VPA plans to install four new cranes at the NIT in the coming months that will allow it to simultaneously handle three ultra-large container ships. Along with the larger ship-to-shore cranes, the port took delivery of the first batch of 36 rail-mounted gantry cranes for stacking and moving containers for a northern extension of the NIT, with the second batch set for June delivery. The NIT’s northern extension will bring its total lift capacity to 3.6 million TEUs per year by 2027, up from 2.2 million TEUs currently. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a> </div>

The Port of Virginia has boosted crane capacity at one of its main marine terminals as the port prepares for handling more ultra-large container ships. The new cranes are one of several capital projects timed to ongoing dredging at the port that will allow it to handle more large ships. The Virginia Port Authority (VPA) said Tuesday that four new, super post-Panamax cranes have come into service at the Virginia International Gateway (VIG). With a maximum outreach width of 26 containers, the cranes can handle ultra-large container vessels up to 21,000 TEUs. VIG will be capable of working three ultra-large vessels at once, the port said in a statement. Across both VIG and the port’s larger Norfolk International Terminal (NIT), Virginia will have 26 cranes for ultra-large container ships. The new cranes are now in place, while the Port of Virginia expects to complete a nearly five-year dredging project that will bring Norfolk Harbor and its main shipping channels to a 55-foot depth for ultra-large ships. Portions of the shipping channel have already been widened to 1,400 feet to allow bidirectional navigation of large container ships. “When the dredge work is complete, multiple ultra-large container vessels, loaded to their absolute limits, will be able to call the port of Virginia without restrictions at the berth, on water depth or for vessel traffic,” VPA Chief Executive Stephen Edwards said in the statement. March was one of VIG’s strongest months for big ship calls, according to vessel tracking data from Sea-web, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. VIG handled 20 ships above 10,000-TEUs, the most in 12 months, totaling almost 283,000 TEUs in container capacity. The NIT saw 18 big-ship calls in March, totaling just over 234,000 TEUs, Sea-web data shows. It, too, is undergoing upgrades that will allow it to handle more big ships. The VPA plans to install four new cranes at the NIT in the coming months that will allow it to simultaneously handle three ultra-large container ships. Along with the larger ship-to-shore cranes, the port took delivery of the first batch of 36 rail-mounted gantry cranes for stacking and moving containers for a northern extension of the NIT, with the second batch set for June delivery. The NIT’s northern extension will bring its total lift capacity to 3.6 million TEUs per year by 2027, up from 2.2 million TEUs currently. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com

Container lines

Marine terminals

North American ports

Port of Virginia readies more cranes for ultra-large container ships

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

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

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

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

Container Shipping News

International ports

Maritime

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

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">With the integration now set to begin, DSV has announced a round of executive appointments with candidates promoted from within both DSV and DB Schenker. </div>

With the integration now set to begin, DSV has announced a round of executive appointments with candidates promoted from within both DSV and DB Schenker.

<div class="phx-topic">The last two jurisdictional hurdles in the regulatory path to DSV’s $16 billion acquisition of DB Schenker have now been cleared, with the takeover process to be completed on April 30. Approval from the European Commission and the expiration of the applicable waiting period in the US mean the transaction and the integration process can now go ahead, DSV told investors in a statement Tuesday. “As of today, all closing conditions for DSV’s pending acquisition of ... DB Schenker ... have been fulfilled,” the Denmark-based forwarder said. A total of 36 regulatory bodies across the world were required to give the green light before the lengthy integration process could begin. With the integration set to begin, DSV announced a round of appointments Tuesday with executives being promoted from both DSV and DB Schenker. Vishal Sharma, currently CEO of Schenker’s Asia-Pacific region, will become the new DSV group CCO; Helmut Schweighofer, CEO of Schenker’s Region Europe, will become the new CEO of the road division; and Saskia Blochberger, chief people officer for Schenker in Europe, will become DSV group people officer. DB Schenker CEO Jochen Thewes will be nominated for election to the DSV board at an extraordinary general meeting following the completion of the acquisition. “We want to create clarity and move ahead with the integration as soon as the acquisition is closed,” Jens Lund, DSV group CEO, said in a separate statement. “This has led to the appointment of very experienced executive leaders from both DSV and Schenker.” <h3>Full integration could take two years </h3>DB Schenker is DSV’s largest acquisition, having previously taken over Agility’s Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) in 2021 for $4.2 billion, Panalpina in 2019 for $4.6 billion and UTi in 2015 for $1.35 billion. The scale of the acquisition means it could take up to two years before DB Schenker’s business is fully integrated to create the world’s largest forwarder, DSV CEO Jens Lund said during an earnings call in February. However, the global forwarding market is so fragmented that the combined DSV-DB Schenker operation will still only have a market share of 6% to 7%. The top 20 forwarders have an estimated global market share of 30% to 40% combined, with the rest of the market consisting of multiple regional and local players. While DSV and DB Schenker prepare to finalize the transaction, other forwarders are already circling and picking off customers. During Kuehne + Nagel’s capital markets day in late March, CEO Stefan Paul said the Switzerland-based forwarder had already <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/kuehne-nagel-says-gaining-market-share-key-to-driving-earnings-growth-5969587">captured several air cargo customers from its North Europe</a> rivals in the fourth quarter. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The last two jurisdictional hurdles in the regulatory path to DSV’s $16 billion acquisition of DB Schenker have now been cleared, with the takeover process to be completed on April 30. Approval from the European Commission and the expiration of the applicable waiting period in the US mean the transaction and the integration process can now go ahead, DSV told investors in a statement Tuesday. “As of today, all closing conditions for DSV’s pending acquisition of ... DB Schenker ... have been fulfilled,” the Denmark-based forwarder said. A total of 36 regulatory bodies across the world were required to give the green light before the lengthy integration process could begin. With the integration set to begin, DSV announced a round of appointments Tuesday with executives being promoted from both DSV and DB Schenker. Vishal Sharma, currently CEO of Schenker’s Asia-Pacific region, will become the new DSV group CCO; Helmut Schweighofer, CEO of Schenker’s Region Europe, will become the new CEO of the road division; and Saskia Blochberger, chief people officer for Schenker in Europe, will become DSV group people officer. DB Schenker CEO Jochen Thewes will be nominated for election to the DSV board at an extraordinary general meeting following the completion of the acquisition. “We want to create clarity and move ahead with the integration as soon as the acquisition is closed,” Jens Lund, DSV group CEO, said in a separate statement. “This has led to the appointment of very experienced executive leaders from both DSV and Schenker.” Full integration could take two years DB Schenker is DSV’s largest acquisition, having previously taken over Agility’s Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) in 2021 for $4.2 billion, Panalpina in 2019 for $4.6 billion and UTi in 2015 for $1.35 billion. The scale of the acquisition means it could take up to two years before DB Schenker’s business is fully integrated to create the world’s largest forwarder, DSV CEO Jens Lund said during an earnings call in February. However, the global forwarding market is so fragmented that the combined DSV-DB Schenker operation will still only have a market share of 6% to 7%. The top 20 forwarders have an estimated global market share of 30% to 40% combined, with the rest of the market consisting of multiple regional and local players. While DSV and DB Schenker prepare to finalize the transaction, other forwarders are already circling and picking off customers. During Kuehne + Nagel’s capital markets day in late March, CEO Stefan Paul said the Switzerland-based forwarder had already captured several air cargo customers from its North Europe rivals in the fourth quarter. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Air Cargo Forwarder News

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Forwarding

Supply chain

Last regulatory hurdles cleared for DSV takeover of DB Schenker

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

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

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

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

Trucking News

Truckload

Truck brokers

Surface

Tariff uncertainty pushing up transportation costs at US-Mexico border

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Shippers save money, time with automated transportation bidding tools

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

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Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

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