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There are also some signs of the inventory cycle starting to get problematic for Indian shippers because of extended equipment turnarounds given the new routings.

Shipper demand for more environmentally friendly ocean transport is building slowly, but longer voyages around Africa stand to add significantly more CO2 emissions per TEU to Asia-Europe cargo.

While US ports should be able to handle the expected modest growth in Asian imports this year, those expectations could get tossed aside if existing issues involving the Panama and Suez canals force retailers to shift a sizeable portion of discretionary cargo to West Coast gateways.

A second service from Dole will deploy two 1,200-FEU container vessels that will call in Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala.

Neither J. B. Hunt nor its shippers anticipated a 6% rise in intermodal volumes in the fourth quarter, but it’s unlikely that will drive higher contract rates in early 2024.

The 25,000-square-foot facility, to be developed by East Coast drayage and logistics provider PortCity, is due to open at the North Carolina port by the end of March.

But the analyst noted the expected effect on equipment shortages, port congestion and ship schedules will be far less than that experienced during the pandemic as the supply chain reorganizes itself around the longer transit times.

While the available capacity offered by air and rail is nowhere near that of ocean, the modes give cargo owners an alternative transport option for their more urgent shipments.

Adding the UK and Ireland-focused supply chain specialist will expand the CMA CGM subsidiary’s footprint in the region and add almost $1.9 billion in revenue to its balance sheet.

US less-than-truckload pricing is moderating as waves of disruption caused by Yellow’s bankruptcy recede, fuel prices fall and demand remains soft. 

The MPV spot market is increasingly busy even as high interest rates and supply chain bottlenecks hold back capitol project execution, analysts and industry executives say.

The new ships, scheduled for delivery in 2026, form a fleet renewal program to replace three existing ro/ro vessels operated by Louis Dreyfus under a long-term charter agreement with Airbus that has been in place for more than 20 years.

Rates on the westbound trade lane were at loss-making levels last year and have only deteriorated further, giving carriers no leverage to lift prices.

Southeast ports are gearing up to handle more freight as supply chains move further away from China.

The sharp decline in ships moving through the Suez Canal is tamping down activity on the busy route between Southeast Asia, the India subcontinent and the US East Coast.

Maersk and MSC are moving ships from other trade lanes to the US East Coast as they seek to avoid delays in getting empty containers back to Asia.

The new rate increases could be stickier than they would have normally been due to the knock-on effects of carrier disruptions linked to the militant attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, forcing carriers into longer routings around southern Africa.

Hapag-Lloyd will exit THE Alliance in early 2025 to join Maersk in a “hub-and-spoke" approach aimed at providing what the new partners say is vastly improved reliability and network coverage.

The new vessels will be added to a soaring methanol orderbook that last year overtook liquefied natural gas as the alternative fuel of choice to power ship engines.

FedEx and UPS will still play a role in residential deliveries, depending on the profitability of those volumes.

How the security situation plays out is somewhat beside the point because the disruption it has already set in motion, which instantly recalculates the prior supply-demand balance, will take months to unwind, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Heavy-lift and semi-submersible owner/operator Harren Group is expanding its fleet with a mix of long-term charters and up to six newbuildings.

The decision involving China-related tariffs is major blow to Pitts Enterprises and could force its Dorsey Intermodal chassis subsidiary out of business.

Growing shipper preference for longer-term contracts shows they believe the truckload market has hit bottom and are concerned about late-2024 capacity, analysts say. 

Air strikes against Houthi rebel operations are unlikely to deter the Iran-backed militant group from future attacks in the Red Sea, geopolitical analysts warn, suggesting container lines will be routing cargo around southern Africa for the foreseeable future.

Forwarders are voicing concerns that carrier rate quotes are now mostly valid only for a week compared with the normal 30-day validity extended to regular booking customers.

The Red Sea crisis has allowed ocean carriers to find a use, at least temporarily, for the overcapacity that was supposed to cause them problems, writes analyst Lars Jensen.

The impact will be especially felt on key services such as China-Vietnam and China-Thailand where deep-sea services are accounting for an increasing share of the intra-Asia volumes on those trade lanes.

The two French giants are in discussions to set up a new partnership, with each party operating its own independent air cargo network.

Some shippers, such as the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, have pushed the FMC to force carriers to offer more transparency into the economics behind the recent surcharges.

The Maersk subsidiary takes another step toward building a container terminal that would enable ships to avoid air draft limits at the Port of New Orleans, which is backing a competing MSC terminal project.

Large LTL carriers were the biggest winners from Yellow’s shutdown, but smaller regional carriers are making significant volume gains as well, according to SJ Consulting Group.

With no certainty on how long the Red Sea disruptions will last, carriers say they are unable to consider all the factors required to set and negotiate long-term rate levels.

Extended transit times, growing equipment shortages and port congestion are forcing European and Asian cargo owners to explore alternatives to ocean transport.

IPI growth could accelerate if external events such as longshore contract negotiations on the East and Gulf coasts or further restrictions on vessels transiting the Panama Canal prompt a significant shift in import volumes to the West Coast.

The dredging would be part of a multifaceted project to expand the terminal’s capacity from 500,000 TEUs to 2.5 million TEUs within the next decade and allow it to handle ships of any size.

Shipper-paid spot rates rose only marginally in December and are likely to stay close to the bottom established over the last six months, absent a sharp increase in demand.

Along with vacant warehouses, tenants that want to downsize or move through subleases are also adding to supply.

With capacity restricted, global MPV/HL rates are expected to rise again starting in the second quarter of 2024.

The Journal of Commerce’s biannual Intermodal Service Scorecard found customers were more satisfied with their domestic intermodal service in the second half of 2023 even as railroads handled more containers in the back half of the year.