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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">An unexpected surge in imports in late May, which caused cargo rolling at Asian ports and a spike in spot rates, is spawning tension between forwarders and carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific.</div>

An unexpected surge in imports in late May, which caused cargo rolling at Asian ports and a spike in spot rates, is spawning tension between forwarders and carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific.

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<div>An unexpected surge in Asian exports to the United States in late May, causing cargo rolling at Asian ports and a spike in spot rates, warns of future pockets of tight capacity as shippers cautiously increase volumes and carriers <a>plan blank sailings</a> into August.Tensions are rising between non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOs) and shipping lines as NVOs charge that carriers are intentionally restricting capacity and overbooking vessels in the eastbound trans-Pacific in order to push freight rates higher. For their part, carriers blame the tight capacity on their customers’ inability to accurately forecast demand during the COVID-19 crisis.Regardless of the...

An unexpected surge in Asian exports to the United States in late May, causing cargo rolling at Asian ports and a spike in spot rates, warns of future pockets of tight capacity as shippers cautiously increase volumes and carriers plan blank sailings into August. Tensions are rising between non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOs) and shipping lines as NVOs charge that carriers are intentionally restricting capacity and overbooking vessels in the eastbound trans-Pacific in order to push freight rates higher. For their part, carriers blame the tight capacity on their customers’ inability to accurately forecast demand during the COVID-19 crisis. Regardless of the cause, the tensions speak to larger trends in the container shipping industry, namely carriers’ successful management of capacity to meet future volumes and general uncertainty among importers of just how much restocking is needed as the North American economy recovers from the pandemic. These conditions are expected to continue in the coming months. Carrier executives this week told JOC.com that the tight outbound capacity at Chinese ports resulted from an unexpected late-May spike in US imports. Volumes are increasing as retailers begin to replenish inventories of merchandise that have been moving out of warehouses to store shelves as the US economy begins to reopen. “Everyone missed the volume surge,” in their projections, a liner executive that asked not to be identified said Wednesday. “We rely on our customer forecasts,” he said. Click to enlarge As a result, spot rates from China to the US West Coast are unusually elevated right now, especially given the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on US imports from Asia. Volumes plunged 18.5 percent year over year in May, according to PIERS, a sister product of The Journal of Commerce within IHS Markit. Asia imports in the first five months of this year are down 9.2 percent from the same period in 2019. As of June 5, the Shanghai-US West Coast spot rate was $2,132 per FEU, up 1.7 percent from the previous week and 48.2 percent from the same week a year ago, when the West Coast spot rate was just $1,439 per FEU, according to the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), which is published under the JOC.com Shipping & Logistics Pricing Hub . The Shanghai-US East Coast rate was $2,738 per FEU, basically flat from last week, and 9.4 percent higher than the rate of $2,502 per FEU on June 7, 2019. The spread between the East and West Coast rates is only $606 per FEU. Normally, the spread is about $1,000 higher to the East Coast . This indicates that the import surge has been greatest to the West Coast. Blank sailings reduce capacity in eastbound trans-Pacific NVOs, however, charged that the spike in the West Coast spot rate is due mostly to carriers restricting capacity from South China to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach through blank sailings. Carriers this past month have blanked 36 sailings in the trans-Pacific, according to Sea-Intelligence Maritime Consulting. At the same time, import volumes have increased the past two weeks as some regions of the country reopened businesses that were closed during COVID-19 lockdowns. “The country is opening faster than expected,” Jon Monroe, a transportation consultant who represents NVOs in Asia and the US, said in a newsletter to clients on Thursday. Carriers are managing space so tightly through blank sailings that there is a two-week backlog in South China ports for shipments destined to Los Angeles-Long Beach, he said. For weeks 23-24 (beginning June 1 and June 8), vessel capacity in the Pacific Southwest services from South China to California is “extremely tight,” Monroe said. “All steamship lines are overbooked now.” Monroe described space on services to the Pacific Northwest and all-water strings from China to the East Coast as “tight.” David Bennett, president of the Americas at Globe Express Services, said in a newsletter to clients on Monday that the capacity tightness is causing “massive rolls” in Asia as well as other transiting countries. “The market is getting more volatile by the day as the surge of bookings continues to increase. This has severely impacted everyone’s capacity and allocations over the last two weeks,” Bennett wrote. What’s more, Bennett said, “Carriers are taking full advantage of the situation and charging a premium for guaranteed loading or expedited services.” Carriers said vessels leaving some Chinese ports the past two weeks were booked at 110 percent of capacity . NVOs were reportedly told by some carriers that due to vessel overbooking their shipments would be rolled to subsequent voyages unless they paid as much as $500 to $700 more per FEU more than the listed rate. Carriers have ‘zero visibility’ into retail demand In conversations with JOC.com, carrier sources bristled at those statements from NVOs and said their decisions to cancel sailings at Asian ports, which were announced three to five weeks in advance in order to give customers time to adjust their supply chains, are based on feedback they receive from their customers. “We have zero visibility into the supply chain on the customer side,” one carrier executive said. A second carrier executive that asked not to be identified told JOC.com this week carriers in March and April made good-faith supply-demand forecasts in a volatile market that has been roiled by COVID-19. “There was no premeditated plan to prop up rates,” the executive said. Jeremy Nixon, CEO of Ocean Network Express, told JOC Uncharted Wednesday that ONE is attempting to go beyond demand forecasts from customers in an effort to refine its capacity plans even further. “If we only use forecast information four to five weeks out, we’d have some bumps in the road. But we’re using some simulation work and we’re trying to adjust some of these forecasts to make them more accurate,” Nixon said. When US containerized imports from Asia plunged in March and April, carriers were planning their sailing schedules a month or so forward, the carrier executives said. Because they were given no insight into retailers’ plans for replenishing their inventories in May, they determined that in order to control costs, they would have to cancel sailings. Anticipating a slow start to the peak-shipping season that runs from August through October, trans-Pacific carriers since April have canceled more than 120 sailings into July, according to Sea-Intelligence. Retailers likewise are expecting a slow summer shipping season. The latest Global Port Tracker report, which is published monthly by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, projected double-digit year-over-year declines in total US imports in each month from June through September and a 7.6 percent dip in October. Back-to-school merchandise traditionally represents the second busiest period of the year for imports from Asia, but this year, many school districts across the US have yet to determine whether students will return to the classrooms in the fall or study virtually from home. This uncertainty is impacting back-to-school imports, which normally enter the country in May and June in order to be on store shelves immediately after July 4. Carriers say this has added yet another layer of uncertainty to the supply chain. “The market is crazy. How are you going to manage freight in this market?” the first carrier executive said. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bill.mongelluzzo@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @billmongelluzzo .

Rolled trans-Pacific shipments portend sporadic capacity scarcity

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A dispute in Canada has all the hallmarks of a similar case in the US over what qualifies as a chassis made in China.</div>

A dispute in Canada has all the hallmarks of a similar case in the US over what qualifies as a chassis made in China.

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<div class="phx-topic">Canada’s Border Services Agency will launch an “anti-circumvention” investigation into whether British Columbia-based chassis manufacturer Ocean Trailer violated trade regulations meant to protect Canadian manufacturers against chassis subsidized by the Chinese government. The move, announced last week, comes after Canadian chassis manufacturer Max-Atlas International filed a complaint against rival Ocean Trailer with the BSA, which is Canada’s version of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Max-Atlas alleges that Ocean Trailer purchased chassis from a Vietnamese manufacturer that sourced key components from China and failed to pay the necessary countervailing and antidumping duties. The Max-Atlas complaint is reminiscent of a recent case in the US against <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-commerce-department-rejects-pitts-appeal-in-marine-chassis-case-5200425">Dorsey Intermodal</a>, which was found to have evaded countervailing and antidumping duties. The same Vietnamese company, Truong Hai Group Corporation (THACO), is involved in both cases. The US CBP investigation found that Dorsey Intermodal chassis used Chinese parts for between 59% and 69% of the finished unit, thus it should have been considered Chinese-made, not Vietnamese. The Canadian government enacted antidumping tariffs and duties like those of the US government <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/crippling-duty-on-chinese-chassis-upheld-in-final-ruling-5249958">in 2021</a> to prevent China from flooding the market with chassis sold at below-market rates, thus harming Canadian domestic manufacturers like Max-Atlas. Max-Atlas identified 1,330 chassis of Ocean Trailer marketed as built in Vietnam with as many as 10 subcomponents from China, including axles, lights, mudflaps, steel, suspension systems and tires. Ocean Trailer sold 500 chassis to Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and 300 to Medlog Transport and Logistics, a subsidiary of Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), according to the complaint. “Ocean Trailer has sold THACO chassis to Canadian Pacific, one of Max-Atlas's most important customers — and one of the three largest customers in the Canadian market, the other two being Canadian National and Canadian Tire,” Max-Atlas wrote in its complaint to Canada’s BSA. “Max-Atlas also has significant evidence that demonstrates that Vietnamese chassis are made predominantly from Chinese steel, components or subassemblies.” <h3>Complaint ‘without merit’ </h3>Ocean Trailer told the Journal of Commerce that its case and the Dorsey case involve “different applicable laws, different legal tests, and different relevant facts” due to variations between US and Canadian regulations. Ocean Trailer said that all container chassis were properly accounted for and did not circumvent Canada’s existing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on China. “Ocean Trailer believes in the strength of its position and that Max-Atlas’s complaint is wholly without merit,” the company said in a statement. “Consequently, Ocean Trailer intends to participate fully in the CBSA’s ongoing investigation.” CPKC declined to comment on the ongoing case but referred the Journal of Commerce to a company statement outlining <a href="https://www.cpkcr.com/en/suppliers/non-information-technology-policies-and-guidelines/supplier-expectations">expectations for all its suppliers</a>, including “upholding strong standards of business ethics in accordance with applicable laws.” Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Canada’s Border Services Agency will launch an “anti-circumvention” investigation into whether British Columbia-based chassis manufacturer Ocean Trailer violated trade regulations meant to protect Canadian manufacturers against chassis subsidized by the Chinese government. The move, announced last week, comes after Canadian chassis manufacturer Max-Atlas International filed a complaint against rival Ocean Trailer with the BSA, which is Canada’s version of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Max-Atlas alleges that Ocean Trailer purchased chassis from a Vietnamese manufacturer that sourced key components from China and failed to pay the necessary countervailing and antidumping duties. The Max-Atlas complaint is reminiscent of a recent case in the US against Dorsey Intermodal , which was found to have evaded countervailing and antidumping duties. The same Vietnamese company, Truong Hai Group Corporation (THACO), is involved in both cases. The US CBP investigation found that Dorsey Intermodal chassis used Chinese parts for between 59% and 69% of the finished unit, thus it should have been considered Chinese-made, not Vietnamese. The Canadian government enacted antidumping tariffs and duties like those of the US government in 2021 to prevent China from flooding the market with chassis sold at below-market rates, thus harming Canadian domestic manufacturers like Max-Atlas. Max-Atlas identified 1,330 chassis of Ocean Trailer marketed as built in Vietnam with as many as 10 subcomponents from China, including axles, lights, mudflaps, steel, suspension systems and tires. Ocean Trailer sold 500 chassis to Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and 300 to Medlog Transport and Logistics, a subsidiary of Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), according to the complaint. “Ocean Trailer has sold THACO chassis to Canadian Pacific, one of Max-Atlas's most important customers — and one of the three largest customers in the Canadian market, the other two being Canadian National and Canadian Tire,” Max-Atlas wrote in its complaint to Canada’s BSA. “Max-Atlas also has significant evidence that demonstrates that Vietnamese chassis are made predominantly from Chinese steel, components or subassemblies.” Complaint ‘without merit’ Ocean Trailer told the Journal of Commerce that its case and the Dorsey case involve “different applicable laws, different legal tests, and different relevant facts” due to variations between US and Canadian regulations. Ocean Trailer said that all container chassis were properly accounted for and did not circumvent Canada’s existing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on China. “Ocean Trailer believes in the strength of its position and that Max-Atlas’s complaint is wholly without merit,” the company said in a statement. “Consequently, Ocean Trailer intends to participate fully in the CBSA’s ongoing investigation.” CPKC declined to comment on the ongoing case but referred the Journal of Commerce to a company statement outlining expectations for all its suppliers , including “upholding strong standards of business ethics in accordance with applicable laws.” Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

Canadian investigation again raises questions of Chinese chassis origin

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The first week of December is traditionally when demand for air cargo reaches its highest level, and this year a wide imbalance between demand and available space is pushing up already elevated prices.</div>

The first week of December is traditionally when demand for air cargo reaches its highest level, and this year a wide imbalance between demand and available space is pushing up already elevated prices.

<div class="phx-topic">Air cargo on the major east-west trade lanes flew into its peak shipping period this week with demand outstripping available capacity and driving rates to fresh 2024 highs on Asian export routes and the trans-Atlantic. The average Shanghai to North Europe spot rate of $5.07 per kilogram is the highest in almost two years, while the Shanghai-North America rate of $6.61/kg is the highest so far this year, according to the Baltic Air Index (BAI). BAI data shows trans-Atlantic westbound rates reached $2.64/kg this week, a level that has not been seen for 18 months. “Global air freight rates rose strongly again last week as the market headed into what is traditionally the highest point of peak season,” air freight pricing provider TAC Index reported in a rate update this week. While spot rates rose sharply, TAC noted that the index averages were lagging because a large amount of capacity has <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/savvy-air-cargo-shippers-use-strategic-rate-space-deals-to-offset-capacity-constraints-5751658">been booked in advance by freight forwarders</a> anxious to secure capacity for their customers. Chinese e-commerce platforms contract capacity directly with airlines, and the demand is so high that forwarders have struggled to find enough space for their regular customers. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported “exceptional traffic levels” on international routes in October for the fifth consecutive month, up 10.3% year over year. IATA attributed that to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/air-cargo-peak-season-elevates-as-chinese-export-rates-hit-2024-high-5787362">rising e-commerce demand in the US and Europe</a> amid ongoing capacity constraints in ocean shipping because of the longer transits around southern Africa. The sharply rising rate levels are unsurprising considering the wide imbalance between strong demand and available capacity, with IATA data showing demand outstripping capacity on all major trade lanes except Africa. Asia-Pacific airlines saw 13.4% year-over-year demand growth for air cargo in October while capacity increased 9.3%. Demand grew 9.5% for North American carriers while capacity increased 5.8%, and European carriers saw 7.6% demand growth for air cargo in October with capacity up 3.9% year over year, IATA said. October is the latest data available. Demand growth for Middle Eastern carriers was up 4.5% as capacity rose just 0.8%, while Latin American carriers saw huge 18.5% year-over-year demand growth in October as capacity increased 5.8%. <h3>Trump tariffs will test airlines </h3>IATA Director-General Willie Walsh warned that air cargo’s ability to adapt to rapidly evolving geopolitical and economic situations was about to be severely tested. “While 2024 is shaping up to be a banner year for air cargo, we must look to 2025 with some caution,” Walsh noted in IATA’s latest monthly update. “The incoming Trump administration’s announced intention to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-importers-dabbling-in-frontloading-ahead-of-new-tariff-threat-5821448">impose significant tariffs on its top trading partners</a> — Canada, China and Mexico — has the potential to upend global supply chains and undermine consumer confidence.” For now, though, air cargo’s bull rush shows no signs of slowing, led by Asia-Pacific origin markets that have contributed an outsized share of worldwide air cargo growth this year, generating 56% of the global 12% year-over-year increase in tonnage through the first 10 months of 2024, according to an analysis by WorldACD Market Data. The Netherlands-based analyst noted in its latest weekly report that among the top five origin growth markets, the world’s busiest air cargo gateway of Hong Kong remained the biggest single generator of year-over-year outbound growth in October, as it has for much of this year. Hong Kong’s 15% increase in tonnage in October generated twice the growth in chargeable weight of second-placed Miami, even though the Florida hub recorded 31% growth in tonnage compared with October last year. Dubai was the third-biggest outbound growth market, thanks to its 45% increase in October tonnage, WorldACD reported. Hong Kong commissioned its third runway last week that will increase the annual capacity of the airport to 10 million tons of air freight over the next 10 years. On a 12-month rolling basis, by the end of September, Hong Kong International Airport had handled 4.8 million tons of air cargo. Hong Kong-based carrier Cathay Pacific will have all its pre-pandemic flights operating from January, five years after most of the fleet was grounded following the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Air cargo on the major east-west trade lanes flew into its peak shipping period this week with demand outstripping available capacity and driving rates to fresh 2024 highs on Asian export routes and the trans-Atlantic. The average Shanghai to North Europe spot rate of $5.07 per kilogram is the highest in almost two years, while the Shanghai-North America rate of $6.61/kg is the highest so far this year, according to the Baltic Air Index (BAI). BAI data shows trans-Atlantic westbound rates reached $2.64/kg this week, a level that has not been seen for 18 months. “Global air freight rates rose strongly again last week as the market headed into what is traditionally the highest point of peak season,” air freight pricing provider TAC Index reported in a rate update this week. While spot rates rose sharply, TAC noted that the index averages were lagging because a large amount of capacity has been booked in advance by freight forwarders anxious to secure capacity for their customers. Chinese e-commerce platforms contract capacity directly with airlines, and the demand is so high that forwarders have struggled to find enough space for their regular customers. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported “exceptional traffic levels” on international routes in October for the fifth consecutive month, up 10.3% year over year. IATA attributed that to rising e-commerce demand in the US and Europe amid ongoing capacity constraints in ocean shipping because of the longer transits around southern Africa. The sharply rising rate levels are unsurprising considering the wide imbalance between strong demand and available capacity, with IATA data showing demand outstripping capacity on all major trade lanes except Africa. Asia-Pacific airlines saw 13.4% year-over-year demand growth for air cargo in October while capacity increased 9.3%. Demand grew 9.5% for North American carriers while capacity increased 5.8%, and European carriers saw 7.6% demand growth for air cargo in October with capacity up 3.9% year over year, IATA said. October is the latest data available. Demand growth for Middle Eastern carriers was up 4.5% as capacity rose just 0.8%, while Latin American carriers saw huge 18.5% year-over-year demand growth in October as capacity increased 5.8%. Trump tariffs will test airlines IATA Director-General Willie Walsh warned that air cargo’s ability to adapt to rapidly evolving geopolitical and economic situations was about to be severely tested. “While 2024 is shaping up to be a banner year for air cargo, we must look to 2025 with some caution,” Walsh noted in IATA’s latest monthly update. “The incoming Trump administration’s announced intention to impose significant tariffs on its top trading partners — Canada, China and Mexico — has the potential to upend global supply chains and undermine consumer confidence.” For now, though, air cargo’s bull rush shows no signs of slowing, led by Asia-Pacific origin markets that have contributed an outsized share of worldwide air cargo growth this year, generating 56% of the global 12% year-over-year increase in tonnage through the first 10 months of 2024, according to an analysis by WorldACD Market Data. The Netherlands-based analyst noted in its latest weekly report that among the top five origin growth markets, the world’s busiest air cargo gateway of Hong Kong remained the biggest single generator of year-over-year outbound growth in October, as it has for much of this year. Hong Kong’s 15% increase in tonnage in October generated twice the growth in chargeable weight of second-placed Miami, even though the Florida hub recorded 31% growth in tonnage compared with October last year. Dubai was the third-biggest outbound growth market, thanks to its 45% increase in October tonnage, WorldACD reported. Hong Kong commissioned its third runway last week that will increase the annual capacity of the airport to 10 million tons of air freight over the next 10 years. On a 12-month rolling basis, by the end of September, Hong Kong International Airport had handled 4.8 million tons of air cargo. Hong Kong-based carrier Cathay Pacific will have all its pre-pandemic flights operating from January, five years after most of the fleet was grounded following the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

‘Peak’ of peak season lifts rates, demand in global air freight market

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The ocean carrier looks to secure berth slots and yard space ahead of 2025 as container lines and new alliances plan to leverage terminal ownership stakes. </div>

The ocean carrier looks to secure berth slots and yard space ahead of 2025 as container lines and new alliances plan to leverage terminal ownership stakes.

<div class="phx-topic">Ocean Network Express (ONE) has taken a minority stake in an Indonesian container terminal, adding to the carrier’s global terminal portfolio. The acquisition comes as carriers tout their control of terminals as a service differentiator ahead of new alliances coming in 2025. ONE said in a statement that it completed the acquisition of a minority stake in the New Priok Container Terminal One in Jakarta. The terminal, which has nominal capacity of 1.5 million TEUs per year, has two berths capable of handling post-Panamax ships. The terminal is a joint venture of Indonesian state-owned port operator Pelindo II, Singapore’s PSA International and Japanese conglomerate Mitsui &amp; Co. ONE said that Jakarta is its third-busiest port in Southeast Asia, while the acquisition “helps safeguard the company’s access to terminal capacity in an important region.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed. New Priok was built due to the capacity constraints at the Jakarta International Container Terminal, which can berth up to eight post-Panamax vessels. ONE’s intra-Asia services primarily call the Jakarta terminal, with only two of its vessels having called on the New Priok terminal in the last six months, according to Sea-web, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. The acquisition of the New Priok stake comes almost a year after ONE completed acquisitions of controlling and minority stakes in terminal assets across the globe, including Yusen Terminals and Trapac on the US West Coast, Rotterdam’s World Gateway terminal and the Magenta Singapore terminal. Control of terminal assets has been a critical issue for ocean carriers going into 2025, especially with the debut of new container alliance and service networks. The Gemini Cooperation of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd has pointed to ownership of container terminals as underpinning their goal of 90% schedule reliability for the new alliance’s transshipment model. In southeast Asia, Gemini will be relying on the performance of Malaysia’s Port Tanjung Pelepas terminal, which is 30% owned by Maersk’s APM Terminals subsidiary. Hapag-Lloyd, too, has been rounding out its terminal network with deals for port operators in South America, India and Italy. CMA CGM has boosted its North American terminal presence with deals on both the US West and East coasts. Its Ocean Alliance partner, Evergreen Marine, also entered a joint venture with PSA for building a new transshipment hub in Singapore. Meanwhile, Mediterranean Shipping Co. is building out the capacity of its Terminal International Limited subsidiary with expansion projects for its existing terminal assets and the development of new terminals along the US East and Gulf coasts. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Ocean Network Express (ONE) has taken a minority stake in an Indonesian container terminal, adding to the carrier’s global terminal portfolio. The acquisition comes as carriers tout their control of terminals as a service differentiator ahead of new alliances coming in 2025. ONE said in a statement that it completed the acquisition of a minority stake in the New Priok Container Terminal One in Jakarta. The terminal, which has nominal capacity of 1.5 million TEUs per year, has two berths capable of handling post-Panamax ships. The terminal is a joint venture of Indonesian state-owned port operator Pelindo II, Singapore’s PSA International and Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co. ONE said that Jakarta is its third-busiest port in Southeast Asia, while the acquisition “helps safeguard the company’s access to terminal capacity in an important region.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed. New Priok was built due to the capacity constraints at the Jakarta International Container Terminal, which can berth up to eight post-Panamax vessels. ONE’s intra-Asia services primarily call the Jakarta terminal, with only two of its vessels having called on the New Priok terminal in the last six months, according to Sea-web, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. The acquisition of the New Priok stake comes almost a year after ONE completed acquisitions of controlling and minority stakes in terminal assets across the globe, including Yusen Terminals and Trapac on the US West Coast, Rotterdam’s World Gateway terminal and the Magenta Singapore terminal. Control of terminal assets has been a critical issue for ocean carriers going into 2025, especially with the debut of new container alliance and service networks. The Gemini Cooperation of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd has pointed to ownership of container terminals as underpinning their goal of 90% schedule reliability for the new alliance’s transshipment model. In southeast Asia, Gemini will be relying on the performance of Malaysia’s Port Tanjung Pelepas terminal, which is 30% owned by Maersk’s APM Terminals subsidiary. Hapag-Lloyd, too, has been rounding out its terminal network with deals for port operators in South America, India and Italy. CMA CGM has boosted its North American terminal presence with deals on both the US West and East coasts. Its Ocean Alliance partner, Evergreen Marine, also entered a joint venture with PSA for building a new transshipment hub in Singapore. Meanwhile, Mediterranean Shipping Co. is building out the capacity of its Terminal International Limited subsidiary with expansion projects for its existing terminal assets and the development of new terminals along the US East and Gulf coasts. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

ONE adds to terminal holdings with stake in Indonesian operator

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The two biggest transportation visibility vendors in the market have been battling each other in court since 2019 but can now refocus on winning market share.</div>

The two biggest transportation visibility vendors in the market have been battling each other in court since 2019 but can now refocus on winning market share.

<div class="phx-topic">A long-simmering legal saga between project44 and FourKites — the two biggest names in the real-time transportation visibility space — has been resolved, the companies said Monday. The dispute involved two separate legal complaints that were part of a years-long battle between the companies. Details of the resolutions to both complaints were not disclosed. That legal battle began in 2019 when Project44 filed a defamation lawsuit in Illinois over two emails sent by FourKites founder and CEO Mathew Elenjickal to three individuals associated with project44. Separately, FourKites in 2022 filed a lawsuit against project44 and two former employees who moved to project44, contending the parties violated contractual non-compete clauses. “We are glad to put these disputes behind us,” Elenjickal said in a statement. “Our focus has always been on bringing innovation to market, transforming supply chains and driving unmatched value to our customers. That will continue to be our mission.” Project44 seemed to have won a key battle in March in its defamation case, with the Illinois Supreme Court ruling that the emails sent in 2019 to its board members were “published” and thus constituted defamation, allowing its case to proceed. “Today project44 is pleased to announce a very favorable resolution of our defamation lawsuit against Four Kites...,” project44 General Counsel Jennifer Coyne said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce. “As the Illinois Supreme Court found, Mr. Elenjickal’s emails containing ‘defamatory statements made to corporate [e]mployees … can harm the corporation’s business reputation among those employees.’ We are confident this Supreme Court decision will deter future unprofessional and destructive communications that have no purpose other than to unfairly harass and mislead competitors.” The two rival vendors have had an acrimonious relationship as they individually helped build the multimodal visibility market through the raising of hundreds of millions of dollars of venture capital, acquisitions of niche vendors and attracting shippers and logistics providers as customers. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com.</a></div>

A long-simmering legal saga between project44 and FourKites — the two biggest names in the real-time transportation visibility space — has been resolved, the companies said Monday. The dispute involved two separate legal complaints that were part of a years-long battle between the companies. Details of the resolutions to both complaints were not disclosed. That legal battle began in 2019 when Project44 filed a defamation lawsuit in Illinois over two emails sent by FourKites founder and CEO Mathew Elenjickal to three individuals associated with project44. Separately, FourKites in 2022 filed a lawsuit against project44 and two former employees who moved to project44, contending the parties violated contractual non-compete clauses. “We are glad to put these disputes behind us,” Elenjickal said in a statement. “Our focus has always been on bringing innovation to market, transforming supply chains and driving unmatched value to our customers. That will continue to be our mission.” Project44 seemed to have won a key battle in March in its defamation case, with the Illinois Supreme Court ruling that the emails sent in 2019 to its board members were “published” and thus constituted defamation, allowing its case to proceed. “Today project44 is pleased to announce a very favorable resolution of our defamation lawsuit against Four Kites...,” project44 General Counsel Jennifer Coyne said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce. “As the Illinois Supreme Court found, Mr. Elenjickal’s emails containing ‘defamatory statements made to corporate [e]mployees … can harm the corporation’s business reputation among those employees.’ We are confident this Supreme Court decision will deter future unprofessional and destructive communications that have no purpose other than to unfairly harass and mislead competitors.” The two rival vendors have had an acrimonious relationship as they individually helped build the multimodal visibility market through the raising of hundreds of millions of dollars of venture capital, acquisitions of niche vendors and attracting shippers and logistics providers as customers. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com.

FourKites, project44 resolve legal disputes over defamation, poaching

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">While India-USEC spot rates have steadily dropped from a late-July peak because of the demand downturn and increased capacity, co-loaders have been even more aggressive in adjusting rates downward to reach their slot targets.</div>

While India-USEC spot rates have steadily dropped from a late-July peak because of the demand downturn and increased capacity, co-loaders have been even more aggressive in adjusting rates downward to reach their slot targets.

<div class="phx-topic">Desperate market share efforts by smaller carriers working on slot rights are seriously hurting rate dynamics on the India-US East Coast trade lane, according to local market sources in India. Freight forwarders who spoke with the Journal of Commerce noted that the lead carriers, who now operate standalone services on the route due to recent network changes linked to the Gemini alliance formation, have had to strike slot deals to fill expanded loading capacity out of India. To illustrate, Cosco Shipping and its subsidiary OOCL together hold about 1,500 TEUs of slot space per week on vessels operated by CMA CGM’s Indamex service and Ocean Network Express’ West India-North America (WIN) service. Additionally, HMM has an ongoing slot deal with ONE on the WIN. While India-USEC spot rates have steadily dropped from a late-July peak because of the demand downturn and increased capacity, co-loaders have been even more aggressive in adjusting rates downward, often on a vessel-to-vessel basis, to reach their slot targets. Forwarders are reporting a variance of up to $500 per FEU between rates quoted by consortium-leading carriers and their slot partners, leaving little room for pricing discipline in the market. “Cosco is usually the first to drop rates, forcing the mainline operators to proactively adjust their pricing accordingly,” a sales executive at a Mumbai-based forwarding house who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. “It’s the secondary carriers who are now setting market behavior.” “All carriers are chasing customers with volume-based special rates,” a second forwarder executive noted. “For customers committing double-digit bookings, rates are lower by no less than $200 per box than the general trendline.” <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="893ffa5c-0a69-45c7-a555-425e44318711"></dynamic-object></div>Forwarders put spot rates from Cosco as of late last week for loads from Nhava Sheva to New York at $1,800 per FEU, compared with the $2,100 to $2,200 per FEU CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd were offering. Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global, pegged India-USEC rates at $2,140 per FEU as of Nov. 29, down 2% on the week. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencymathew@gmail.com">bencymathew@gmail.com</a>. </div>

Desperate market share efforts by smaller carriers working on slot rights are seriously hurting rate dynamics on the India-US East Coast trade lane, according to local market sources in India. Freight forwarders who spoke with the Journal of Commerce noted that the lead carriers, who now operate standalone services on the route due to recent network changes linked to the Gemini alliance formation, have had to strike slot deals to fill expanded loading capacity out of India. To illustrate, Cosco Shipping and its subsidiary OOCL together hold about 1,500 TEUs of slot space per week on vessels operated by CMA CGM’s Indamex service and Ocean Network Express’ West India-North America (WIN) service. Additionally, HMM has an ongoing slot deal with ONE on the WIN. While India-USEC spot rates have steadily dropped from a late-July peak because of the demand downturn and increased capacity, co-loaders have been even more aggressive in adjusting rates downward, often on a vessel-to-vessel basis, to reach their slot targets. Forwarders are reporting a variance of up to $500 per FEU between rates quoted by consortium-leading carriers and their slot partners, leaving little room for pricing discipline in the market. “Cosco is usually the first to drop rates, forcing the mainline operators to proactively adjust their pricing accordingly,” a sales executive at a Mumbai-based forwarding house who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. “It’s the secondary carriers who are now setting market behavior.” “All carriers are chasing customers with volume-based special rates,” a second forwarder executive noted. “For customers committing double-digit bookings, rates are lower by no less than $200 per box than the general trendline.” Forwarders put spot rates from Cosco as of late last week for loads from Nhava Sheva to New York at $1,800 per FEU, compared with the $2,100 to $2,200 per FEU CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd were offering. Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, pegged India-USEC rates at $2,140 per FEU as of Nov. 29, down 2% on the week. Contact Bency Mathew at bencymathew@gmail.com .

Co-loader slot deals squeezing pricing power for India-US carriers: forwarders

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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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