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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The incoming CEO of XPO Logistics is intent on adding capacity in the form of terminals, trailers, and drivers to meet long-term demand for less-than-truckload services.</div>

The incoming CEO of XPO Logistics is intent on adding capacity in the form of terminals, trailers, and drivers to meet long-term demand for less-than-truckload services.

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<div>The US economic recovery may be slowing, but XPO Logistics is in expansion mode. The company has opened five new terminals with 345 doors in the past year, and it’s far from finished. By the end of 2023, XPO plans to add another 555 terminal doors, a 6 percent increase in its door count over three years.“In LTL [less-than-truckload], there is more demand building up than there is capacity being added to the market,” said Mario Harik, who will become CEO of XPO Logistics once the spinoff of its brokerage business is completed this year. “LTL over time will gain...

The US economic recovery may be slowing, but XPO Logistics is in expansion mode. The company has opened five new terminals with 345 doors in the past year, and it’s far from finished. By the end of 2023, XPO plans to add another 555 terminal doors, a 6 percent increase in its door count over three years. “In LTL [less-than-truckload], there is more demand building up than there is capacity being added to the market,” said Mario Harik, who will become CEO of XPO Logistics once the spinoff of its brokerage business is completed this year. “LTL over time will gain ground because of more demand from shippers across the board.” That demand may soften over the next year, pulling the LTL trendline down, but over the next several years demand is going to rise, Harik, president of LTL for XPO, told JOC.com in an interview Monday. “We’re very bullish about the industry long term and all the actions we’re taking now to add capacity in our network,” he said. That’s a change for a company that had been more focused on improving its operating ratio and profit margin since acquiring what was then Con-way Freight in 2015. XPO’s North American LTL operating ratio was 82.5 percent in the second quarter, and its adjusted ratio was 80.2 percent. As XPO enters a new phase, with founder Bradley S. Jacobs turning over the CEO keys for a role as executive chairman, the company’s actions and Harik’s statements indicate it’s time to not just get more profitable, but bigger. XPO is the fourth-largest LTL provider ranked by revenue, after FedEx Freight, Old Dominion Freight Line, and Yellow. According to SJ Consulting Group research, XPO has about an 8 percent share of the $51 billion LTL market. Three of those top four LTL companies have been adding terminals this year. Yellow has been cutting terminals as it reorganizes four subsidiaries into one multi-regional carrier. Estes, the fifth-largest US LTL provider and the largest privately owned LTL carrier, is building and adding doors nationwide as well. The Richmond, Virginia-based company added nearly 450 terminals doors in 2021, and recently expanded or opened terminals in Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Shippers are noticing the growth. “We are seeing capacity come back in LTL, we’re getting calls from carriers every day,” said a shipper who did not want to be identified. Some of that capacity isn’t from new terminal doors or trucks, but a calmer market and more efficient freight flows after two years of disruption. LTL facilities are a long-term investment, however. They’re being built as much for tomorrow’s freight demand as for today’s shipments. Carriers don’t add hundreds of terminal doors — a common measure of LTL capacity — if they don’t expect more palletized freight to move through them. Chasing demand Harik and other LTL executives have a long-term vision driven by changing retail consumption and distribution patterns and an ongoing recovery in the US industrial sector. “Customers are shipping more small shipments and more SKUs (stock keeping units) of product are being produced,” he said. On top of that, “consumers expect goods to be closer to them,” Harik said. “With all of this happening, more products are flowing into the LTL business.” An increasing, though still comparatively small, number of those products are flowing straight from ocean containers into LTL terminals. Retail shipments are only a part of the LTL sector’s expansion. Two-thirds of XPO’s freight is industrial products, Harik said. US manufacturing output rose 0.7 percent in July after declining two straight months and was 3.2 percent above its year-earlier level, according to the Federal Reserve Board. Higher industrial output is helping to keep LTL trailers full. “There’s softness on the consumer side, but the industrial economy is still running lower than its pre-pandemic base,” Harik said. That means more room for expansion, especially if more near-shoring or reshoring of manufacturing occurs, he said. XPO’s newest terminals are located to meet that shipper demand, with facilities in Adelanto, California; Conley, Georgia; and Chicago Heights, where the carrier opened a 264-door terminal last October. “Every time we open a terminal the decision is based on where we’re seeing demand,” Harik said. The next consideration is where the freight represented by that demand is going to go. “A location like Atlanta is a major hub in the south, but it’s also a big area for shipping into Florida as well,” he said. “Expanding in Atlanta gives us more freight flow and helps optimize our network.” Doubling trailer production There’s more to LTL capacity than terminals and doors. XPO, which manufactures its own 28-foot and 48-foot trailers, is doubling trailer production this year. Harik plans to roll 4,700 trailers out of XPO’s manufacturing plant in Searcy, Arkansas. XPO is the only large LTL carrier building its own trailers. “We’ve added a new production line and a second shift because demand is so high,” Harik said. “All of our larger customers ask for dropped trailers [and are running trailer pools]. A key thing is how quickly they can turn these trailers, and we’re starting to see turn rates normalize.” Once the spinoff of XPO’s brokerage business is complete, all the company’s attention will go to LTL expansion. “We’re pivoting from a strategy of improving the margin to one of growth,” said Harik. “In the short term, we’re seeing softer demand, but over the long term, we see very strong demand.” Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com and follow him on Twitter: @willbcassidy .

XPO isn’t braking for economic slowdown

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">An influx of seafood shipments, combined with several other market factors, is leaving US importers of refrigerated products from Asia scrambling for reefer equipment.</div>

An influx of seafood shipments, combined with several other market factors, is leaving US importers of refrigerated products from Asia scrambling for reefer equipment.

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<div class="phx-topic">US shippers are finding it more difficult to secure refrigerated (reefer) containers for Asian exports as volumes surge by double-digit percentages ahead of a potential US port strike next month.US reefer imports from Asia surged 10% year over year in October and have been steadily climbing since March, according to PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. In September, seafood imports from Asia increased by nearly 30% compared with the same month in 2023, according to the National Fisheries Association.The tightening of equipment supply is also affecting shipments from China to Southeast Asia, Taiwan-based forwarder Dimerco Express Group warned customers in a recent briefing.Shippers moving goods through ports on the US East and Gulf coasts also face the <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/ila-targets-rail-mounted-gantry-cranes-amid-impasse-in-port-labor-talks-5874742">prospect of a strike on Jan. 15</a> if the longshore union and employers fail to reach an agreement on a new coastwide contract. Despite some loosening in recent weeks, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-retailers-prepare-for-new-ila-strike-threat-tariffs-on-china-imports-5822904">overall container capacity from Asia to the US remains tight</a>, challenging reefer and dry shippers alike.<h3>A ‘little bit’ of an issue</h3>Ahead of the potential interruption, some US exporters have reported difficulties in securing empty reefer containers and related generator equipment at East and Gulf coast ports, particularly the Port of Houston.“Philadelphia and Virginia are just a little bit [of an issue], but Houston is a problem,” said Eric Brown, president at JTP Transportation and chair member of the Meat Import Council of America, on generators for reefer equipment.Another source said she’s seeing some cargo rolled in Houston, something she described as an “ongoing issue” in the region. However, the source said cargo rolls are neither increasing nor significantly impacting the market.Bill Duggan, North American advisor at reefer market consultant Eskesen Advisory, said shippers can expect better reefer equipment availability in the Americas next year as equipment from Asia is repositioned, along with stronger volume growth across the board.“It seems the market for refrigerated continues strong through 2024 and up around 10% over 2023,” Duggan told the Journal of Commerce Tuesday. “And as supply of <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/perfect-storm-pushes-market-toward-q4-reefer-equipment-shortages-5725644">equipment to the southern hemisphere remains a challenge</a>, the USA should get some [equipment] supply from Asia.”Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:laura.robb@spglobal.com">laura.robb@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

US shippers are finding it more difficult to secure refrigerated (reefer) containers for Asian exports as volumes surge by double-digit percentages ahead of a potential US port strike next month. US reefer imports from Asia surged 10% year over year in October and have been steadily climbing since March, according to PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. In September, seafood imports from Asia increased by nearly 30% compared with the same month in 2023, according to the National Fisheries Association. The tightening of equipment supply is also affecting shipments from China to Southeast Asia, Taiwan-based forwarder Dimerco Express Group warned customers in a recent briefing. Shippers moving goods through ports on the US East and Gulf coasts also face the prospect of a strike on Jan. 15 if the longshore union and employers fail to reach an agreement on a new coastwide contract. Despite some loosening in recent weeks, overall container capacity from Asia to the US remains tight , challenging reefer and dry shippers alike. A ‘little bit’ of an issue Ahead of the potential interruption, some US exporters have reported difficulties in securing empty reefer containers and related generator equipment at East and Gulf coast ports, particularly the Port of Houston. “Philadelphia and Virginia are just a little bit [of an issue], but Houston is a problem,” said Eric Brown, president at JTP Transportation and chair member of the Meat Import Council of America, on generators for reefer equipment. Another source said she’s seeing some cargo rolled in Houston, something she described as an “ongoing issue” in the region. However, the source said cargo rolls are neither increasing nor significantly impacting the market. Bill Duggan, North American advisor at reefer market consultant Eskesen Advisory, said shippers can expect better reefer equipment availability in the Americas next year as equipment from Asia is repositioned, along with stronger volume growth across the board. “It seems the market for refrigerated continues strong through 2024 and up around 10% over 2023,” Duggan told the Journal of Commerce Tuesday. “And as supply of equipment to the southern hemisphere remains a challenge , the USA should get some [equipment] supply from Asia.” Contact Laura Robb at laura.robb@spglobal.com .

Reefer supply tightening amid surging US imports

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Daily shipment counts decreased at most large LTL providers early in the quarter as freight demand slowed and carriers remained choosy about what they hauled.</div>

Daily shipment counts decreased at most large LTL providers early in the quarter as freight demand slowed and carriers remained choosy about what they hauled.

<div class="phx-topic">US less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments, tonnage and revenue are dropping in the fourth quarter, pulled down by still-weak US industrial output. But that’s not stopping carriers from seeking high single-digit rate increases in their 2025 freight bids. The trends are part of a realignment in the LTL sector underway since the collapse of Yellow last year, with freight shifting among carriers as shippers seek the right mix of price and service. LTL carriers are also increasingly choosy about the LTL freight they haul. Some of the largest US less-than-truckload (LTL) providers saw shipments, tonnage and revenue decline in the first two months of the fourth quarter — but not all of them. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="fb968c4e-981f-42e6-bc18-d0399f6eb50b"></dynamic-object></div>National LTL provider Saia continues to add shipments, terminals and market share, making gains in a broad restructuring of the LTL market following the collapse of Yellow. Saia’s average daily shipment count climbed 3.5% year over year in October and November, compared with an 8.5% increase in the third quarter and an 18.1% jump in the second quarter, according to data the Georgia-based company released Tuesday. In contrast, Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL), XPO and ABF Freight System all saw shipments and revenue decline year over year in the first two months of the fourth quarter. ODFL’s shipment count dropped 6.8% from a year ago in November, while XPO’s volume fell 4.2% in the same month. The shipment count at ABF dropped 1% in November. The divergent performance of the four publicly owned LTL carriers, all among the 10 largest LTL providers ranked by revenue, reflects a broad post-Yellow reorganization. In terms of volume, “this has probably been the most stagnant transportation market we’ve seen,” said Dean Jones, chief commercial officer at AFS Logistics. <h3>Industrial stagnation </h3>But freight in the LTL market has been moving from “side to side,” Jones said, as shippers shift freight formerly hauled by Yellow among its surviving competitors. Much of the stagnation is in the industrial sector, according to Mario Harik, CEO of XPO. “Industrial volumes were down double the rate of retail” in the third quarter, Harik told the Journal of Commerce in a recent interview. “But we’ve some sectors do better than others,” notably electric equipment and machinery manufacturers, he said. The S&amp;P Global US manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for November rose to 49.7, up from 48.5 in October and the highest level in five months, but still a sign of industrial weakness. A PMI reading below 50 indicates manufacturing is in contraction. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

US less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments, tonnage and revenue are dropping in the fourth quarter, pulled down by still-weak US industrial output. But that’s not stopping carriers from seeking high single-digit rate increases in their 2025 freight bids. The trends are part of a realignment in the LTL sector underway since the collapse of Yellow last year, with freight shifting among carriers as shippers seek the right mix of price and service. LTL carriers are also increasingly choosy about the LTL freight they haul. Some of the largest US less-than-truckload (LTL) providers saw shipments, tonnage and revenue decline in the first two months of the fourth quarter — but not all of them. National LTL provider Saia continues to add shipments, terminals and market share, making gains in a broad restructuring of the LTL market following the collapse of Yellow. Saia’s average daily shipment count climbed 3.5% year over year in October and November, compared with an 8.5% increase in the third quarter and an 18.1% jump in the second quarter, according to data the Georgia-based company released Tuesday. In contrast, Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL), XPO and ABF Freight System all saw shipments and revenue decline year over year in the first two months of the fourth quarter. ODFL’s shipment count dropped 6.8% from a year ago in November, while XPO’s volume fell 4.2% in the same month. The shipment count at ABF dropped 1% in November. The divergent performance of the four publicly owned LTL carriers, all among the 10 largest LTL providers ranked by revenue, reflects a broad post-Yellow reorganization. In terms of volume, “this has probably been the most stagnant transportation market we’ve seen,” said Dean Jones, chief commercial officer at AFS Logistics. Industrial stagnation But freight in the LTL market has been moving from “side to side,” Jones said, as shippers shift freight formerly hauled by Yellow among its surviving competitors. Much of the stagnation is in the industrial sector, according to Mario Harik, CEO of XPO. “Industrial volumes were down double the rate of retail” in the third quarter, Harik told the Journal of Commerce in a recent interview. “But we’ve some sectors do better than others,” notably electric equipment and machinery manufacturers, he said. The S&P Global US manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for November rose to 49.7, up from 48.5 in October and the highest level in five months, but still a sign of industrial weakness. A PMI reading below 50 indicates manufacturing is in contraction. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

US LTL volumes mostly falling in fourth quarter as market realigns

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The regulation is designed to enhance security across global supply chains and brings the EU in line with other major exporting countries.</div>

The regulation is designed to enhance security across global supply chains and brings the EU in line with other major exporting countries.

<div class="phx-topic">The European Union’s advance filing Import Control System 2 (ICS2) regulation was officially rolled out Wednesday, although most carriers have already implemented the rule for all containers transshipped or destined for EU countries. The wide-reaching EU Customs regulation is designed to enhance the security of global supply chains and modernize customs processes and bring them in line with those adopted by countries such as the US, Canada and Japan. OOCL implemented the Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) filing in November, reminding forwarders that the ENS filing at the house bill of lading level must be received at least 24 hours prior to the cargo being loaded. “Cargo can only be loaded at the compliant load port following a successful ENS submission, verified by the receipt of a Movement Reference Number (MRN) acknowledgement. OOCL will be strictly enforcing a ‘no MRN, no load’ policy,” the carrier noted. CMA CGM went live with ICS2 on Nov. 13 while Hapag-Lloyd has been lodging ENS into the ICS2 program from October. Both carriers noted that compliance was essential to avoid container rollovers. Bryn Heimbeck, president and co-founder of global logistics platform TradeTech, said in a recent statement that as the fragmented logistics landscape became increasingly regulated, ICS2 compliance was set to reshape freight processes into and throughout the European Union. “ICS2-ENS isn’t just a new compliance requirement; it’s a foundational shift towards a more secure and efficient supply chain,” he said, pointing out that the EU will now have a regulatory process and data configuration identical to other major importing markets. However, Heimbeck expressed concern that many cargo owners and their service providers did not appear to be ready for ICS2, which could result in hefty fines for data inaccuracies and potential disruptions in cargo flow. ”The system’s rigorous data accuracy requirements and its alignment with international standards underscore the need for businesses to adapt proactively,” he warned. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The European Union’s advance filing Import Control System 2 (ICS2) regulation was officially rolled out Wednesday, although most carriers have already implemented the rule for all containers transshipped or destined for EU countries. The wide-reaching EU Customs regulation is designed to enhance the security of global supply chains and modernize customs processes and bring them in line with those adopted by countries such as the US, Canada and Japan. OOCL implemented the Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) filing in November, reminding forwarders that the ENS filing at the house bill of lading level must be received at least 24 hours prior to the cargo being loaded. “Cargo can only be loaded at the compliant load port following a successful ENS submission, verified by the receipt of a Movement Reference Number (MRN) acknowledgement. OOCL will be strictly enforcing a ‘no MRN, no load’ policy,” the carrier noted. CMA CGM went live with ICS2 on Nov. 13 while Hapag-Lloyd has been lodging ENS into the ICS2 program from October. Both carriers noted that compliance was essential to avoid container rollovers. Bryn Heimbeck, president and co-founder of global logistics platform TradeTech, said in a recent statement that as the fragmented logistics landscape became increasingly regulated, ICS2 compliance was set to reshape freight processes into and throughout the European Union. “ICS2-ENS isn’t just a new compliance requirement; it’s a foundational shift towards a more secure and efficient supply chain,” he said, pointing out that the EU will now have a regulatory process and data configuration identical to other major importing markets. However, Heimbeck expressed concern that many cargo owners and their service providers did not appear to be ready for ICS2, which could result in hefty fines for data inaccuracies and potential disruptions in cargo flow. ”The system’s rigorous data accuracy requirements and its alignment with international standards underscore the need for businesses to adapt proactively,” he warned. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Europe rolls out its advance cargo filing ICS2 program

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The union representing 45,000 longshore workers along the East and Gulf coasts is seeking to block technology that management says is critical for land-constrained ports to handle larger ships. </div>

The union representing 45,000 longshore workers along the East and Gulf coasts is seeking to block technology that management says is critical for land-constrained ports to handle larger ships.

<div class="phx-topic">Rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) at container terminals have emerged as the deciding factor for the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) in whether they will agree to a new master contract that avoids another port strike in January. The union was unable to block the introduction of RMGs at two East Coast ports under three previous contracts but sees their further usage as a line in the sand in current contract talks. The semi-automated RMGs — which have been in use in the US since 2007 — are seen as the key method for land-constrained terminals, particularly those near urban East Coast ports, to expand. And now they are at the heart of another longshore labor dispute in North America. In a statement Monday, ILA Executive Vice President Dennis Daggett singled out RMGs for being “at the center of this [current] impasse” with the US Maritime Alliance (USMX) over resuming talks for <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/ila-usmx-agree-on-new-wage-offer-and-contract-extension-that-reopens-ports-5741882">a new master contract before a Jan. 15 deadline when the existing contract extension expires</a>. <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/ila-breaks-off-contract-talks-accuses-usmx-of-semi-automation-push-5810392">The union broke off talks with the USMX</a> over what it said was the employer group’s push for “semi automation” language in the new contract. Daggett said the equipment has failed to show it can outperform individual longshore machine operators. And in addition to taking away jobs, the RMGs, he said, are a target for hacking. He cast the fight against RMGs as existential for a union that under two previous administrations did not challenge the equipment’s rollout at the ports of Norfolk, Virginia, and Bayonne, New Jersey. “The ILA is not against progress, innovation, or modernization, but we cannot support technology that jeopardizes jobs, threatens national security, and puts the future of the workforce at risk,” Daggett said. “This is a pivotal moment in our history,” he added. “The decisions we make today will determine the future for generations to come.” No talks between the ILA and USMX are currently scheduled. <h3>‘Sold the ILA a vision’ </h3>RMGs, two of which will straddle a long row of stacked containers, move boxes forward and backward between the berth and truck lanes. As truckers enter the terminal, the RMG picks out the box from each stack and delivers it to the front of the row for mounting on chassis, or in reverse for loading operations. Stacks can also be “groomed” by RMGs overnight to push containers for morning delivery to the front of the row. RMGs allow for much denser container yards as less space is required for the operation of straddle carriers or rubber tire gantry cranes, which require an individual operator on the machine. In contrast, the RMG is operated remotely from an office, with an operator also capable of operating several RMGs at once depending on volume. RMG operations are considered safer as fewer workers are required in the yard around rolling machinery. Breaks and shift changes can also be done faster as RMG operators just move away from desks rather than yard equipment. Maersk’s APM Terminals subsidiary was the first to roll out RMG technology in the US when it began developing the Portsmouth marine terminal in Norfolk. Opened in 2007, APM Portsmouth, which had design capacity of 1.5 million TEUs on 291 acres of land, originally had 30 RMG cranes and six ship-to-shore cranes. The Portsmouth terminal was developed years earlier under the then-current 1996–2001 master contract between the USMX and ILA under its previous president John Bowers. That contract had no language about technology. Daggett said in his Monday statement that “under a different ILA administration, the employers introduced semi-automated RMGs at a greenfield terminal on the East Coast.” “They sold the ILA a vision that this new terminal would create thousands of jobs,” Daggett said. “It was a loophole that came at a cost to ILA members and their families.” Increasingly aware of the potential for job losses, the union’s 2004–2010 master contract was the first to contain terms addressing technology usage at container terminals. Those original contract terms did not outright bar marine terminals from implementing new technology but require management to notify the affected local and the international longshore union about the new technology and work with the unions to mitigate any job losses. The ILA has the right to contest any technology implementation through a grievance process before a three-member panel comprised of ILA and USMX representatives and an arbitrator. <h3>Canal expansion drove RMG growth on East Coast </h3>APM eventually sold Portsmouth in 2014 to Alinda Capital Partners and a UK-based pension fund, which renamed it the Virginia International Gateway (VIG). The buyers said at the time the acquisition of the VIG was due to its “<a href="https://www.joc.com/article/apm-terminals-facility-in-virginia-to-be-sold-5195342">modern design and high levels of automation, which ensure that the facility will be a key component of the port’s infrastructure now and in the future</a>.” In 2016, as the Panama Canal’s expansion opened up the East Coast to larger ships, the Virginia Port Authority, which operates the VIG, began installing another 26 RMGs and four new ship-to-shore cranes that increased its capacity by another 500,000 TEUs. About that time, Virginia also began to convert the south berth of the nearby Norfolk International Terminal into an RMG operation. In 2014, Global Container Terminals (GCT) debuted the installation of 20 RMGs as part of a $325 million expansion of its Bayonne container terminal that also added 70 acres to its 100-acre footprint. The expansion more than doubled Bayonne’s effective capacity from 435,000 container lifts to 1.1 million container lifts per year, making what Bayonne’s executives called the most “<a href="https://www.joc.com/article/nys-global-terminal-ila-in-arbitration-5219271">technologically advanced terminal in the United States.</a>” The rollout at Bayonne was not entirely without controversy, though. The ILA and GCT had to enter arbitration over whether <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/nys-global-terminal-ila-in-arbitration-5219271">the union had jurisdiction over an RMG safety device that required truckers to press a button that they were in a safe area when a container was being loaded</a>. The 2012–2018 master contract negotiated by ILA President Harold Daggett, Dennis’ father, did not contain an outright ban on any type of automation at marine terminals or the RMGs at Bayonne. However, the language around technology implementation became stricter, requiring that any automation project at a marine terminal go before a 10-member committee of ILA and USMX members that would study the workforce effects of automation. By the time of the 2018–2024 contract, the ILA negotiated a prohibition on full automation at ports but still left the question of semi-automation technology open to collective bargaining. “We had learned from these mistakes,” Dennis Daggett said. “Under new leadership, the ILA secured workforce protections and guarantees, ensuring that automation would no longer be implemented without consideration of its impact on jobs. These agreements set clear limits on how far technology could go in replacing human labor.” <h3>Ports ‘must evolve’ </h3>The USMX, however, has laid out an opposite stance, seeing the ability to implement new technology as critical for land-constrained US ports and their workers to remain competitive. It, too, noted that RMGs were allowed under previous agreements and allowed one unidentified terminal to double its container throughput. “Port operations must evolve, and embracing modern technology is critical to this evolution,” the USMX said in a statement Tuesday in response to the ILA’s statement. “Due to the lack of available new land in most ports, the only way for US East and Gulf coast ports to handle more volume is to densify terminals.” “USMX is not, nor has it ever been, seeking to eliminate jobs, but to simply implement and maintain the use of equipment and technology already allowed under the current contract agreement and already widely in use, including at some USMX ports,” it added. Daggett said that the densification argument is designed to deflect from the job losses stemming from RMGs, which still require longshore workers at either end to move containers from the ship or onto chassis. Daggett said there’s no evidence that terminals with RMG technology are more efficient, adding that RMGs face the risk of hacking attacks due to their reliance on communications networks rather than longshore workers inside an operator’s cab. His warning comes after the ports of <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/port-of-houston-aims-for-thursday-reopening-after-gate-outage-5249163">Houston</a> and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/sc-ports-chief-outlines-plans-for-charleston-to-hit-10-million-teu-mark-5749894">Charleston</a> experienced multi-day gate outages that have gone mostly unexplained. “This isn’t about safety or productivity, it’s about job elimination,” he said. “The ILA has proven through data and real-world operations that RMGs are not more productive than traditional equipment operated by human workers.” Since their rollout, the VIG now has 56 RMGs and can handle 2.2 million TEUs per year on approximately the same amount of land it had since 2007. Virginia’s NIT now has 96 RMGs that allow it to handle 3.6 million TEUs per year on some 378 acres of land. GCT Bayonne handles about 1 million TEUs per year with its 20 RMGs. <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/gct-adding-berth-for-ultra-large-ships-to-new-jersey-terminal-5224198">A third berth that will open in 2025</a> also means additional RMGs at the site that will further increase its capacity. <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/cma-cgms-ny-nj-home-offers-it-southeast-asia-trade-growth-saade-5226190">CMA CGM purchased GCT Bayonne last year, citing its efficiency</a>. A New Jersey terminal management source who asked not to be identified said that it’s not a matter of RMG operations being more efficient, but rather that it allows them to make the best use of available land and keep up with other operators. Maher Terminals, the largest privately operated marine terminal on the East Coast, uses over 200 straddle carriers operated individually to move over 3 million TEUs per year. But it has 450 acres of land to do so. The Bayonne terminal only moves one-third of that volume, but it does so on one-third of the land mass. “If you look at man-hours per lift, there’s very little difference,” the source said. RMGs have also been implemented at <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-ports-eye-more-automation-as-discharges-from-large-vessels-intensify-5213519">the fully automated Long Beach Container Terminal on the US West Coast</a>, which has been the target of longshore union criticisms over productivity. <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/centerm-terminal-expansion-gives-vancouver-critical-boost-in-capacity-5227056">DP World has also rolled out RMG technology at its Centerm facility in Vancouver</a>, following a similar rollout of RMGs at the nearby GCT Deltaport facility in 2020. Longshore foremen at the Port of Vancouver, however, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/dp-worlds-centerm-project-at-heart-of-employer-union-dispute-in-vancouver-5225162">have unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a new staffing agreement with DP World</a> over the RMG introduction, resulting in a port-wide lockout that ended as <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/bc-ports-to-reopen-but-longshore-union-plans-challenge-to-back-to-work-order-5810473">both sides have been forced by Canada’s government into arbitration</a>. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com ">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) at container terminals have emerged as the deciding factor for the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) in whether they will agree to a new master contract that avoids another port strike in January. The union was unable to block the introduction of RMGs at two East Coast ports under three previous contracts but sees their further usage as a line in the sand in current contract talks. The semi-automated RMGs — which have been in use in the US since 2007 — are seen as the key method for land-constrained terminals, particularly those near urban East Coast ports, to expand. And now they are at the heart of another longshore labor dispute in North America. In a statement Monday, ILA Executive Vice President Dennis Daggett singled out RMGs for being “at the center of this [current] impasse” with the US Maritime Alliance (USMX) over resuming talks for a new master contract before a Jan. 15 deadline when the existing contract extension expires . The union broke off talks with the USMX over what it said was the employer group’s push for “semi automation” language in the new contract. Daggett said the equipment has failed to show it can outperform individual longshore machine operators. And in addition to taking away jobs, the RMGs, he said, are a target for hacking. He cast the fight against RMGs as existential for a union that under two previous administrations did not challenge the equipment’s rollout at the ports of Norfolk, Virginia, and Bayonne, New Jersey. “The ILA is not against progress, innovation, or modernization, but we cannot support technology that jeopardizes jobs, threatens national security, and puts the future of the workforce at risk,” Daggett said. “This is a pivotal moment in our history,” he added. “The decisions we make today will determine the future for generations to come.” No talks between the ILA and USMX are currently scheduled. ‘Sold the ILA a vision’ RMGs, two of which will straddle a long row of stacked containers, move boxes forward and backward between the berth and truck lanes. As truckers enter the terminal, the RMG picks out the box from each stack and delivers it to the front of the row for mounting on chassis, or in reverse for loading operations. Stacks can also be “groomed” by RMGs overnight to push containers for morning delivery to the front of the row. RMGs allow for much denser container yards as less space is required for the operation of straddle carriers or rubber tire gantry cranes, which require an individual operator on the machine. In contrast, the RMG is operated remotely from an office, with an operator also capable of operating several RMGs at once depending on volume. RMG operations are considered safer as fewer workers are required in the yard around rolling machinery. Breaks and shift changes can also be done faster as RMG operators just move away from desks rather than yard equipment. Maersk’s APM Terminals subsidiary was the first to roll out RMG technology in the US when it began developing the Portsmouth marine terminal in Norfolk. Opened in 2007, APM Portsmouth, which had design capacity of 1.5 million TEUs on 291 acres of land, originally had 30 RMG cranes and six ship-to-shore cranes. The Portsmouth terminal was developed years earlier under the then-current 1996–2001 master contract between the USMX and ILA under its previous president John Bowers. That contract had no language about technology. Daggett said in his Monday statement that “under a different ILA administration, the employers introduced semi-automated RMGs at a greenfield terminal on the East Coast.” “They sold the ILA a vision that this new terminal would create thousands of jobs,” Daggett said. “It was a loophole that came at a cost to ILA members and their families.” Increasingly aware of the potential for job losses, the union’s 2004–2010 master contract was the first to contain terms addressing technology usage at container terminals. Those original contract terms did not outright bar marine terminals from implementing new technology but require management to notify the affected local and the international longshore union about the new technology and work with the unions to mitigate any job losses. The ILA has the right to contest any technology implementation through a grievance process before a three-member panel comprised of ILA and USMX representatives and an arbitrator. Canal expansion drove RMG growth on East Coast APM eventually sold Portsmouth in 2014 to Alinda Capital Partners and a UK-based pension fund, which renamed it the Virginia International Gateway (VIG). The buyers said at the time the acquisition of the VIG was due to its “ modern design and high levels of automation, which ensure that the facility will be a key component of the port’s infrastructure now and in the future .” In 2016, as the Panama Canal’s expansion opened up the East Coast to larger ships, the Virginia Port Authority, which operates the VIG, began installing another 26 RMGs and four new ship-to-shore cranes that increased its capacity by another 500,000 TEUs. About that time, Virginia also began to convert the south berth of the nearby Norfolk International Terminal into an RMG operation. In 2014, Global Container Terminals (GCT) debuted the installation of 20 RMGs as part of a $325 million expansion of its Bayonne container terminal that also added 70 acres to its 100-acre footprint. The expansion more than doubled Bayonne’s effective capacity from 435,000 container lifts to 1.1 million container lifts per year, making what Bayonne’s executives called the most “ technologically advanced terminal in the United States. ” The rollout at Bayonne was not entirely without controversy, though. The ILA and GCT had to enter arbitration over whether the union had jurisdiction over an RMG safety device that required truckers to press a button that they were in a safe area when a container was being loaded . The 2012–2018 master contract negotiated by ILA President Harold Daggett, Dennis’ father, did not contain an outright ban on any type of automation at marine terminals or the RMGs at Bayonne. However, the language around technology implementation became stricter, requiring that any automation project at a marine terminal go before a 10-member committee of ILA and USMX members that would study the workforce effects of automation. By the time of the 2018–2024 contract, the ILA negotiated a prohibition on full automation at ports but still left the question of semi-automation technology open to collective bargaining. “We had learned from these mistakes,” Dennis Daggett said. “Under new leadership, the ILA secured workforce protections and guarantees, ensuring that automation would no longer be implemented without consideration of its impact on jobs. These agreements set clear limits on how far technology could go in replacing human labor.” Ports ‘must evolve’ The USMX, however, has laid out an opposite stance, seeing the ability to implement new technology as critical for land-constrained US ports and their workers to remain competitive. It, too, noted that RMGs were allowed under previous agreements and allowed one unidentified terminal to double its container throughput. “Port operations must evolve, and embracing modern technology is critical to this evolution,” the USMX said in a statement Tuesday in response to the ILA’s statement. “Due to the lack of available new land in most ports, the only way for US East and Gulf coast ports to handle more volume is to densify terminals.” “USMX is not, nor has it ever been, seeking to eliminate jobs, but to simply implement and maintain the use of equipment and technology already allowed under the current contract agreement and already widely in use, including at some USMX ports,” it added. Daggett said that the densification argument is designed to deflect from the job losses stemming from RMGs, which still require longshore workers at either end to move containers from the ship or onto chassis. Daggett said there’s no evidence that terminals with RMG technology are more efficient, adding that RMGs face the risk of hacking attacks due to their reliance on communications networks rather than longshore workers inside an operator’s cab. His warning comes after the ports of Houston and Charleston experienced multi-day gate outages that have gone mostly unexplained. “This isn’t about safety or productivity, it’s about job elimination,” he said. “The ILA has proven through data and real-world operations that RMGs are not more productive than traditional equipment operated by human workers.” Since their rollout, the VIG now has 56 RMGs and can handle 2.2 million TEUs per year on approximately the same amount of land it had since 2007. Virginia’s NIT now has 96 RMGs that allow it to handle 3.6 million TEUs per year on some 378 acres of land. GCT Bayonne handles about 1 million TEUs per year with its 20 RMGs. A third berth that will open in 2025 also means additional RMGs at the site that will further increase its capacity. CMA CGM purchased GCT Bayonne last year, citing its efficiency . A New Jersey terminal management source who asked not to be identified said that it’s not a matter of RMG operations being more efficient, but rather that it allows them to make the best use of available land and keep up with other operators. Maher Terminals, the largest privately operated marine terminal on the East Coast, uses over 200 straddle carriers operated individually to move over 3 million TEUs per year. But it has 450 acres of land to do so. The Bayonne terminal only moves one-third of that volume, but it does so on one-third of the land mass. “If you look at man-hours per lift, there’s very little difference,” the source said. RMGs have also been implemented at the fully automated Long Beach Container Terminal on the US West Coast , which has been the target of longshore union criticisms over productivity. DP World has also rolled out RMG technology at its Centerm facility in Vancouver , following a similar rollout of RMGs at the nearby GCT Deltaport facility in 2020. Longshore foremen at the Port of Vancouver, however, have unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a new staffing agreement with DP World over the RMG introduction, resulting in a port-wide lockout that ended as both sides have been forced by Canada’s government into arbitration . Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

ILA targets rail-mounted gantry cranes amid impasse in port labor talks

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Freight brokers large and small are testing software, including the tools developed by Vooma, that automate core functions such as quoting, load building and tracking. </div>

Freight brokers large and small are testing software, including the tools developed by Vooma, that automate core functions such as quoting, load building and tracking.

<div class="phx-topic">A software provider developing automation tools for North American truckload brokers has landed $16 million over two funding rounds from venture capital groups and existing strategic investors. San Francisco-based Vooma builds so-called “agents” that automate repetitive processes by extracting and structuring data from emails, texts and voice channels. The company’s products are focused on automating three broad functional areas for brokers: quoting, load building and communication around appointment scheduling and load status. Founded in 2023, Vooma already has a number of large brokers as customers, including Echo Global Logistics, MODE Transportation, Arrive Logistics and NFI. The company is also partnering with widely used communication, pricing and transportation management systems (TMSs) including Front, Greenscreens.ai, McLeod and Turvo. NFI uses Vooma for manual load tender conversion via a web browser plug-in that turns tenders that arrive in PDF, Excel spreadsheet or email form into electronic data interchange (EDI) or application programming interface (API) data feeds for automated load entry. ”We are converting more than 500 shipments a week using this tool and it’s saving us hours of operation,” Dave Broering, president of integrated logistics at NFI, told the Journal of Commerce. Vooma competes in an increasingly crowded market of technology providers building automation tools for domestic third-party logistics companies. That landscape includes vendors such as Everest, Levity, FleetWorks, and Happy Robots. Everest and Levity specialize in converting email information into structured data for quoting, load building and appointment scheduling, while Fleetworks and Happy Robots focus on voice agents to automate communications around truckload shipments. Beyond that, other technology providers are building automated tools for specific functions, including Qued and Bigger Picture in the appointment scheduling arena. A technology provider in the brokerage industry, who did not want to be identified, told the Journal of Commerce that the competition in the automation space is likely to put price pressure on vendors, who generally charge a per-transaction fee. Additionally, more competition could soon come from general purpose AI developers such as Google, Meta and Amazon, with brokers using tools from those companies to automate some of the core workflows Vooma and others are targeting. The counter to that argument is that the tools of Vooma and other freight-specific providers are built with the needs of logistics and transportation professionals in mind. Vooma’s funding round was led by venture capital firm Craft Ventures and adds to an earlier seed round of $3.6 million led by Index Ventures that included participation from executives at project44, Ryder and Uber Freight. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

A software provider developing automation tools for North American truckload brokers has landed $16 million over two funding rounds from venture capital groups and existing strategic investors. San Francisco-based Vooma builds so-called “agents” that automate repetitive processes by extracting and structuring data from emails, texts and voice channels. The company’s products are focused on automating three broad functional areas for brokers: quoting, load building and communication around appointment scheduling and load status. Founded in 2023, Vooma already has a number of large brokers as customers, including Echo Global Logistics, MODE Transportation, Arrive Logistics and NFI. The company is also partnering with widely used communication, pricing and transportation management systems (TMSs) including Front, Greenscreens.ai, McLeod and Turvo. NFI uses Vooma for manual load tender conversion via a web browser plug-in that turns tenders that arrive in PDF, Excel spreadsheet or email form into electronic data interchange (EDI) or application programming interface (API) data feeds for automated load entry. ”We are converting more than 500 shipments a week using this tool and it’s saving us hours of operation,” Dave Broering, president of integrated logistics at NFI, told the Journal of Commerce. Vooma competes in an increasingly crowded market of technology providers building automation tools for domestic third-party logistics companies. That landscape includes vendors such as Everest, Levity, FleetWorks, and Happy Robots. Everest and Levity specialize in converting email information into structured data for quoting, load building and appointment scheduling, while Fleetworks and Happy Robots focus on voice agents to automate communications around truckload shipments. Beyond that, other technology providers are building automated tools for specific functions, including Qued and Bigger Picture in the appointment scheduling arena. A technology provider in the brokerage industry, who did not want to be identified, told the Journal of Commerce that the competition in the automation space is likely to put price pressure on vendors, who generally charge a per-transaction fee. Additionally, more competition could soon come from general purpose AI developers such as Google, Meta and Amazon, with brokers using tools from those companies to automate some of the core workflows Vooma and others are targeting. The counter to that argument is that the tools of Vooma and other freight-specific providers are built with the needs of logistics and transportation professionals in mind. Vooma’s funding round was led by venture capital firm Craft Ventures and adds to an earlier seed round of $3.6 million led by Index Ventures that included participation from executives at project44, Ryder and Uber Freight. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Broker automation vendor lands funding round in increasingly competitive market

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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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