<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Seven ocean carriers blocked empty container returns to New York-New Jersey marine terminals last week as import volumes swell due to West Coast freight diversions.</div>

Seven ocean carriers blocked empty container returns to New York-New Jersey marine terminals last week as import volumes swell due to West Coast freight diversions.

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<div>High import volumes being diverted from the West Coast is putting renewed pressure on marine terminals at the Port of New York and New Jersey and forcing additional limits on intermodal truckers for returning empty containers to the port. As a result of the high volumes, a New York-New Jersey marine terminal is considering a new rule that would match import containers with empty ones for Saturday gate hours. But motor carriers say that alone won’t work as there are already hundreds more empties that need to be removed before they can handle more import retrievals. Instead, truckers say longer...

High import volumes being diverted from the West Coast is putting renewed pressure on marine terminals at the Port of New York and New Jersey and forcing additional limits on intermodal truckers for returning empty containers to the port. As a result of the high volumes, a New York-New Jersey marine terminal is considering a new rule that would match import containers with empty ones for Saturday gate hours. But motor carriers say that alone won’t work as there are already hundreds more empties that need to be removed before they can handle more import retrievals. Instead, truckers say longer operating hours are now needed to deal with current volumes at marine terminals. Likewise, it’s up to ocean carriers themselves to perform more of the double moves of removing empties when dropping off imports, they said. The issue came to a head as seven ocean carriers — CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express (ONE), Overseas Orient Container Line (OOCL), HMM, Yang Ming, and Wan Hai Lines — sent notices to New Jersey motor carriers blocking returns of various types of empty containers on various days during the week of April 18-22. Two motor carrier executives told JOC.com the number of empty lockouts last week was unprecedented and demonstrates how squeezed the marine terminals are for space. “It’s one thing when one or two carriers lock out empty returns,” Thomas Villacampa, vice president of H&M Intermodal Services, said. “But when seven get closed out, that really makes it more difficult for us.” “I don’t recall that ever happening before,” Greg Scott, a vice president of operations at BBT Logistics who has worked in the port for 30 years, said about the lockouts. CMA CGM waives per-diem The episode was also atypical given CMA CGM’s involvement because truckers have rarely reported any issues with one of the largest carriers serving New York and New Jersey. However, in late March, port truckers said CMA CGM unexpectedly directed them to a distant off-dock storage yard to return empty containers . The March episode, as well as last week’s, involved an unknown number of containers. But one motor carrier respondent to a recent poll by intermodal trucking group Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers said they are holding 50 CMA CGM empty containers on their own. As part of the Ocean Alliance, CMA CGM has five services from Northeast and Southeast Asia into New York and New Jersey, utilizing the largest vessels that call the port . It also has two Indian subcontinent services. CMA CGM said in a statement the return lockouts affected a narrow segment of its containers and only occurred on one day. The carrier also said it is proactively waiving per-diem fees for truckers to offset costs for storing empty containers and adding berth and storage capacity to relieve the crunch. “CMA CGM has stepped up by using two terminals and a container yard to better facilitate the flow of containers through the Port of New York and New Jersey,” it said. “CMA CGM pursues any opportunity it can to protect the customer ... through a time of unprecedented supply-chain conditions”. Asia shift to East Coast More volumes are hitting New York and New Jersey due to the shift of Asian freight away from the US West Coast ahead of labor negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and marine terminal employers. Data from PIERS, a sister company of JOC.com, shows that Asian imports into New York-New Jersey grew 9 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2022. In contrast, the port of Long Beach saw Asian imports drop 3 percent over the same time. More is on the way. Forwarder reports indicate that East Coast bookings for almost all vessel services from Asia are full through at least May. “We’re getting more freight from the West Coast because of [the upcoming contract talks],” BBT’s Scott said. “But they are bringing it in because they are also concerned about more COVID-19 lockdowns.” Empty return lockouts ebb and flow between carriers and terminals, but the problem got worse in April, Villacampa and Scott said. In addition to the terminal lockouts last week, empty returns were blocked on five of the other 11 regular working days in April, data from the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers show. Some New York-New Jersey marine terminals were open on Good Friday, typically a holiday for longshore workers, so they could clear out imports. Terminal wants weekend match backs on boxes Due to the import surge, the port’s largest marine terminal, Maher, proposed the match-back rule for imports and empties at a meeting last week with intermodal truckers, according to several sources. The start and duration of the rule were not immediately available. Maher, which handles most of CMA CGM's Asia services, did not respond to a request for comment. Another terminal, GCT New York in Staten Island, has periodically used a similar rule recently as it’s also dealing with high import and empties volumes. H&M’s Villacampa said that type of restriction limits driver efficiency. H&M has customers that use multiple ocean carriers at different terminals, so it needs to free an empty off a chassis at one terminal to retrieve an import at another. Carriers can block empty returns at the last minute, and inconsistent vessel schedules also make it a challenge to match empties and imports, Villacampa said. If a trucker has no empty box to return to that terminal, he said that the import container can then accrue per diem charges. “The steamship line will end up waiving the per diem if, and when, we challenge it, but it is insult to injury,” Villacampa said. “They take our wheels and our space, but don't pay for them, and then bill us and leave it up to us to prove that they weren't receiving empties.” NY-NJ truckers holding over 1,200 empties A poll from Bi-State showed that 48 motor carriers that responded said they are holding about 1,190 empty ocean containers on their own each day due to having no return location. Villacampa said different operating procedures from one terminal to the next add to the difficulties in returning empties. Several ocean carriers that call New York-New Jersey alternate arrivals between marine terminals that require truck appointments and those that don’t. If an appointment is not available at a terminal, then a motor carrier can’t return an empty, Villacampa says, but per diem can still be charged. Hapag-Lloyd was hit with a US government fine last week for charging per diem despite knowing that empty return appointments weren’t available. In other instances, Villacampa said terminals that don’t require appointments are not a panacea, either. When empty returns are allowed, those terminals can easily be overwhelmed by the container backlogs that truckers are sitting on, resulting in hours-long waits outside the terminal’s gate and more productivity loss, Villacampa said. Other times, per diem rules can be unclear. An ocean carrier may announce late in the day they can take returns at a particular site, but the question then becomes whether the earlier part of day is included in the free time allowed before per diem begins, Villacampa said. “There’s no clarity from ocean carriers on waiving per diem,” he said. The New York-New Jersey terminals have added an hour or two to operating hours and offered Saturday gates to help move imports and empties. But Villacampa said a true evening shift is what’s needed to clear out imports and return empties. He also said greater consistency in other ways such as appointments and gate procedures at the marine terminals would also help. Southern California marine terminals have been trying longer hours to mixed success . Villacampa understands that warehouses and other parts of the supply chain will need to adjust, but marine terminals need to take that first step for others to follow. “ We are three, four, five years ahead of where we thought we would be in terms of freight ,” he said. “But the operating schedules have not changed.” In addition, BBT’s Scott said it was important for ocean carriers to know the toll empty containers take on landside logistics, and move more of them out of ports entirely . Scott, who worked at SeaLand, said that containerization has changed dramatically since Malcom McLean’s time and needs a deep rethinking. “You used to know where the empties went back every day, it was all one type of equipment, and everything was on wheels,” Scott said. “Everything has gotten so complicated. Nowadays, you need a master’s degree just to figure out where empties go back.” Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @michael_angell .  This article has been corrected to reflect that Port Newark Container Terminal did not advocate for a double-move rule and that Maher's proposed rule was for Saturday gates only.

Drayage

North American ports

Asian freight surge puts pressure on NY-NJ empty box returns

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Both volumes and rates in the flatbed sector of the truckload spot market are rising as importers rush industrial products through US ports and across the border.</div>

Both volumes and rates in the flatbed sector of the truckload spot market are rising as importers rush industrial products through US ports and across the border.

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<div class="phx-topic">With tariff deadlines looming, importers are rushing to get industrial goods into the US, sending spot market demand for flatbed trucks soaring in recent weeks. That indicates importers are struggling to find the capacity to move transactional loads of goods such as machinery, steel coils and beams and agricultural equipment ahead of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, while also trying to beat new levies on steel and aluminum as well as cars and trucks from all sources. Add to that list reciprocal tariffs on a broad range of global imports that are scheduled to take effect April 2. Tariffs on Mexico and Canada are slated to be expanded April 2 as well. “No one is able to quantify how this is going to impact things, but if your business makes things with aluminum or steel or lumber, you’re buying now,” said Michael Regan, shipper consultant and chief customer relationship officer with logistics management firm TranzAct Technologies. Flatbed spot rates rose 8.3% from late February through March 25 to $2.36 per mile on the 50 largest US truckload lanes, according to DAT Freight &amp; Analytics. Excluding fuel surcharges, flatbed spot rates on Truckstop’s load boards are up about 7.5% year over year, according to research firm and Truckstop partner FTR Transportation Intelligence. Year over year, posted flatbed spot loads moved are up by double-digit percentages — 34% last week, according to FTR, and 42% on DAT’s load boards. That doesn’t indicate an inflection is coming in overall truckload demand or pricing, however. There is even a split between the spot and contract flatbed markets. Instead, the sudden increase in transactional flatbed demand and rates appears more a market distortion caused by normal seasonality combined with pre-tariff demand. “It really feels like it’s not domestic production-driven but is import activity,” said Avery Vise, vice president of trucking at FTR. Vise points out that spot market flatbed activity is strong in much of the US, especially the Southeast, but also in the Northeast and Midwest, areas with strong port gateways. “We’re seeing increases in the West as well, but much more recently than in the East,” he said. Capital goods imported from Asia would typically arrive in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and move inland by rail, rather than flatbed truck, he said. “It would make sense to see a much stronger increase [in flatbed spot demand] in the East than in the West” if import volumes of heavy goods were rising, said Vise. <h3>Accelerated demand </h3>The speed and timing of the recent increase in flatbed spot activity also points to a pre-tariff pull-forward of goods, said Dean Croke, principal analyst at DAT. “We typically see flatbed demand and pricing move up over a longer trajectory headed toward May,” said Croke. “This year we’ve seen pricing move up quickly in March.” Neither the US housing market nor the manufacturing sector have seen the type of surge that would account for the spike in flatbed demand, Croke and Vise both told the Journal of Commerce. Shrinking flatbed spot market capacity is one factor in the spike, Croke said. “The overall attrition of carriers is having an effect on the specialized part of the market,” he said. Contract flatbed rates have remained stable over the past three months, rising only 2 cents to $2.57 per mile, excluding fuel surcharges, in March, according to DAT. “Large contract [flatbed] carriers are still decreasing rates to hold volume,” Croke said. The DAT flatbed replacement contract rate index is down 6.2% year over year. “The market for moving things like roofing shingles is oversupplied,” he said. It’s also likely that those large contract carriers are shifting more assets to the spot market. The flatbed volume spike will likely diminish after US tariffs take effect — if it is largely due to those tariffs. “There’s a lot of reason to think this is the case, but we’ll only know after the fact,” said Vise. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

With tariff deadlines looming, importers are rushing to get industrial goods into the US, sending spot market demand for flatbed trucks soaring in recent weeks. That indicates importers are struggling to find the capacity to move transactional loads of goods such as machinery, steel coils and beams and agricultural equipment ahead of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, while also trying to beat new levies on steel and aluminum as well as cars and trucks from all sources. Add to that list reciprocal tariffs on a broad range of global imports that are scheduled to take effect April 2. Tariffs on Mexico and Canada are slated to be expanded April 2 as well. “No one is able to quantify how this is going to impact things, but if your business makes things with aluminum or steel or lumber, you’re buying now,” said Michael Regan, shipper consultant and chief customer relationship officer with logistics management firm TranzAct Technologies. Flatbed spot rates rose 8.3% from late February through March 25 to $2.36 per mile on the 50 largest US truckload lanes, according to DAT Freight & Analytics. Excluding fuel surcharges, flatbed spot rates on Truckstop’s load boards are up about 7.5% year over year, according to research firm and Truckstop partner FTR Transportation Intelligence. Year over year, posted flatbed spot loads moved are up by double-digit percentages — 34% last week, according to FTR, and 42% on DAT’s load boards. That doesn’t indicate an inflection is coming in overall truckload demand or pricing, however. There is even a split between the spot and contract flatbed markets. Instead, the sudden increase in transactional flatbed demand and rates appears more a market distortion caused by normal seasonality combined with pre-tariff demand. “It really feels like it’s not domestic production-driven but is import activity,” said Avery Vise, vice president of trucking at FTR. Vise points out that spot market flatbed activity is strong in much of the US, especially the Southeast, but also in the Northeast and Midwest, areas with strong port gateways. “We’re seeing increases in the West as well, but much more recently than in the East,” he said. Capital goods imported from Asia would typically arrive in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and move inland by rail, rather than flatbed truck, he said. “It would make sense to see a much stronger increase [in flatbed spot demand] in the East than in the West” if import volumes of heavy goods were rising, said Vise. Accelerated demand The speed and timing of the recent increase in flatbed spot activity also points to a pre-tariff pull-forward of goods, said Dean Croke, principal analyst at DAT. “We typically see flatbed demand and pricing move up over a longer trajectory headed toward May,” said Croke. “This year we’ve seen pricing move up quickly in March.” Neither the US housing market nor the manufacturing sector have seen the type of surge that would account for the spike in flatbed demand, Croke and Vise both told the Journal of Commerce. Shrinking flatbed spot market capacity is one factor in the spike, Croke said. “The overall attrition of carriers is having an effect on the specialized part of the market,” he said. Contract flatbed rates have remained stable over the past three months, rising only 2 cents to $2.57 per mile, excluding fuel surcharges, in March, according to DAT. “Large contract [flatbed] carriers are still decreasing rates to hold volume,” Croke said. The DAT flatbed replacement contract rate index is down 6.2% year over year. “The market for moving things like roofing shingles is oversupplied,” he said. It’s also likely that those large contract carriers are shifting more assets to the spot market. The flatbed volume spike will likely diminish after US tariffs take effect — if it is largely due to those tariffs. “There’s a lot of reason to think this is the case, but we’ll only know after the fact,” said Vise. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Trucking News

Flatbed

Surface

Pre-tariff imports seen driving US flatbed spot demand higher

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Forwarders say they are seeing utilization only near 50% on the Asia-Mexico lane amid seasonally low demand and tariff uncertainties. </div>

Forwarders say they are seeing utilization only near 50% on the Asia-Mexico lane amid seasonally low demand and tariff uncertainties.

<div class="phx-topic">The Mexican Pacific ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo are experiencing delays of up to five days as they face operational challenges caused by bigger ships calling the gateways. “A couple of years ago, the biggest ship arriving in Mexico was about 10,000 TEUs,” said Nicolas Portenza, president of Eternity International Freight Forwarder México. “Now you have Maersk, MSC [Mediterranean Shipping Company] and CMA CGM arriving with vessels between 12,000 TEUs and 16,000 TEUs to a port that is the same size.” As such, sources say carriers had difficulty in March filling vessels, many of which were <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/carriers-boost-tonnage-on-asia-wcsa-to-meet-growing-manufacturing-demand-5950892">brought on recently due to manufacturing growth in Latin America</a>. Freight forwarders say they are seeing utilization near 50% as seasonally low demand combined with tariff uncertainties drive down demand on the Asia-Mexico lane. But despite the bearish market signals, some sources expect a turnaround soon. “I think it will recover during April and May,” Portenza told the Journal of Commerce. “Demand is not weak per se, it’s just not keeping up with the [vessel] supply.” Still, industry sources are paying attention to talk of even more capacity to come serving Central America and the West Coast of South America (WCSA). “There is news of new services to Mexico and also to WCSA,” said a forwarder source with cargo on the lane. “It will be a bloodbath if they come.” <h3>Decreasing blank sailings </h3>Meanwhile, the Asia to West Coast South America and Central America lane is positioned for fewer blanks in April as forwarders report green shoots of demand, although it may not be enough to offset the increased vessel sizes and excess capacity. eeSea as of Monday reports that no blanks are forecast on the lane in April, down from 12 blank sailings in March that accounted for about 12.2% of the total capacity for WCSA imports from Asia. March marked the highest number of blank sailings observed on the trade since September, a likely response to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/new-capacity-coming-to-asia-mexico-trade-despite-recent-rate-pressure-5967003">several capacity injections on the lane</a> in the past several months. According to Eternity International, the Asia to Mexico lane had a total of five blank sailings spread among four carriers in March, although that is expected to drop to three blanks in April, all from Cosco. Spot rates from Asia to WCSA were pegged at $1,400 per FEU as of Monday, down 46.1% from the first week of January and lower by the same amount year over year, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:Laura.Robb@spglobal.com">laura.robb@spglobal.com</a>.  </div>

The Mexican Pacific ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Manzanillo are experiencing delays of up to five days as they face operational challenges caused by bigger ships calling the gateways. “A couple of years ago, the biggest ship arriving in Mexico was about 10,000 TEUs,” said Nicolas Portenza, president of Eternity International Freight Forwarder México. “Now you have Maersk, MSC [Mediterranean Shipping Company] and CMA CGM arriving with vessels between 12,000 TEUs and 16,000 TEUs to a port that is the same size.” As such, sources say carriers had difficulty in March filling vessels, many of which were brought on recently due to manufacturing growth in Latin America . Freight forwarders say they are seeing utilization near 50% as seasonally low demand combined with tariff uncertainties drive down demand on the Asia-Mexico lane. But despite the bearish market signals, some sources expect a turnaround soon. “I think it will recover during April and May,” Portenza told the Journal of Commerce. “Demand is not weak per se, it’s just not keeping up with the [vessel] supply.” Still, industry sources are paying attention to talk of even more capacity to come serving Central America and the West Coast of South America (WCSA). “There is news of new services to Mexico and also to WCSA,” said a forwarder source with cargo on the lane. “It will be a bloodbath if they come.” Decreasing blank sailings Meanwhile, the Asia to West Coast South America and Central America lane is positioned for fewer blanks in April as forwarders report green shoots of demand, although it may not be enough to offset the increased vessel sizes and excess capacity. eeSea as of Monday reports that no blanks are forecast on the lane in April, down from 12 blank sailings in March that accounted for about 12.2% of the total capacity for WCSA imports from Asia. March marked the highest number of blank sailings observed on the trade since September, a likely response to several capacity injections on the lane in the past several months. According to Eternity International, the Asia to Mexico lane had a total of five blank sailings spread among four carriers in March, although that is expected to drop to three blanks in April, all from Cosco. Spot rates from Asia to WCSA were pegged at $1,400 per FEU as of Monday, down 46.1% from the first week of January and lower by the same amount year over year, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Contact Laura Robb at laura.robb@spglobal.com . 

Maritime

Port News

Container lines

Trans-Pacific

International ports

Container Shipping News

Key Mexican container ports facing delays amid calls by larger vessels

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The carrier is deriving an increasing share of its revenue from long-haul trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services while the contribution from the intra-Asia trade declined last year.</div>

The carrier is deriving an increasing share of its revenue from long-haul trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services while the contribution from the intra-Asia trade declined last year.

<div class="phx-topic">Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport will buy three 8,000-TEU methanol-ready container ships from Japanese owner Shoei Kisen Kaisha for up to $360 million as the initial stage of a wider plan to acquire up to 13 vessels of between 8,000 and 15,000 TEUs. The vessels “will strengthen Yang Ming’s global service network” as it increases its focus on long-haul trades, the carrier said in a statement. The ships are under construction at Japan’s Imabari Shipbuilding and are due for delivery between 2028 and 2029. Yang Ming said the total cost of the vessels would be between $339 million and $360 million. The deal was confirmed Friday ahead of an investors conference Monday that showed Yang Ming is deriving an increasing share of revenue from long-haul trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services, while the contribution from its intra-Asia trade declined year over year. Acquisition of the other vessels under the expansion plan “will be carried out in accordance with internal procurement procedures to ensure mid- to long-term fleet stability and maintain service quality,” the carrier said. It gave no timeline for the remaining vessel acquisitions. Yang Ming’s directors agreed in December to acquire new ships to expand its network and replace 5,500-TEU and 6,500-TEU ships that are more than 20 years old. The carrier said it operated 99 vessels totaling 723,107 TEUs in the first quarter, including 38 chartered-in ships. Figures released during Monday’s conference show trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services each contributed 38%, equivalent to $2.7 billion, to total revenue of $7 billion last year amid stronger freight rates. That compared with 35% for each trade in 2023, but on lower total revenues of $4.5 billion. The contribution from core intra-Asia services dropped to 9% last year from 12% a year earlier, while the proportion of revenues from longer-haul intra-Asia services to India and the Middle East also fell, to 15% from 18% in 2023. Yang Ming said it saw a mixed freight rate environment in January and February, with rates dipping last month on lower cargo volumes. Still, average revenue per TEU was $1,256 in the first two months, higher than $1,096/TEU the carrier recorded in the first two months of last year. Yang Ming said it expects cargo volume in the second quarter to “recover from the low levels in the first quarter,” although it acknowledged that new tariffs, geopolitical conflicts and ongoing port congestion are creating uncertainty in the market. Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>.</div>

Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport will buy three 8,000-TEU methanol-ready container ships from Japanese owner Shoei Kisen Kaisha for up to $360 million as the initial stage of a wider plan to acquire up to 13 vessels of between 8,000 and 15,000 TEUs. The vessels “will strengthen Yang Ming’s global service network” as it increases its focus on long-haul trades, the carrier said in a statement. The ships are under construction at Japan’s Imabari Shipbuilding and are due for delivery between 2028 and 2029. Yang Ming said the total cost of the vessels would be between $339 million and $360 million. The deal was confirmed Friday ahead of an investors conference Monday that showed Yang Ming is deriving an increasing share of revenue from long-haul trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services, while the contribution from its intra-Asia trade declined year over year. Acquisition of the other vessels under the expansion plan “will be carried out in accordance with internal procurement procedures to ensure mid- to long-term fleet stability and maintain service quality,” the carrier said. It gave no timeline for the remaining vessel acquisitions. Yang Ming’s directors agreed in December to acquire new ships to expand its network and replace 5,500-TEU and 6,500-TEU ships that are more than 20 years old. The carrier said it operated 99 vessels totaling 723,107 TEUs in the first quarter, including 38 chartered-in ships. Figures released during Monday’s conference show trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services each contributed 38%, equivalent to $2.7 billion, to total revenue of $7 billion last year amid stronger freight rates. That compared with 35% for each trade in 2023, but on lower total revenues of $4.5 billion. The contribution from core intra-Asia services dropped to 9% last year from 12% a year earlier, while the proportion of revenues from longer-haul intra-Asia services to India and the Middle East also fell, to 15% from 18% in 2023. Yang Ming said it saw a mixed freight rate environment in January and February, with rates dipping last month on lower cargo volumes. Still, average revenue per TEU was $1,256 in the first two months, higher than $1,096/TEU the carrier recorded in the first two months of last year. Yang Ming said it expects cargo volume in the second quarter to “recover from the low levels in the first quarter,” although it acknowledged that new tariffs, geopolitical conflicts and ongoing port congestion are creating uncertainty in the market. Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Yang Ming to buy three 8,000-TEU ships in first stage of fleet expansion

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">In creating the threat of a clearly significant penalty, the US Trade Representative essentially forced observers to not merely give a thumbs up or down to the proposal, but to offer alternative solutions. </div>

In creating the threat of a clearly significant penalty, the US Trade Representative essentially forced observers to not merely give a thumbs up or down to the proposal, but to offer alternative solutions.

<div class="phx-topic">Hearings this week held by the US Trade Representative (USTR) over the potential levying of fees on Chinese-built and -operated ships calling at US ports certainly struck a nerve in the maritime industry. The Section 301 investigation, officially known as “China’s Targeting of the Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance,” prompted 520 comments submitted to the USTR by the March 24 deadline. More than 60 individuals gave testimony over two days of hearings. Perhaps the process was designed to elicit the heavy response the USTR received. <div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/5971718_0.1.jpg"></img></div>By proposing fees of up to $1.5 million per US port call by Chinese tonnage, the industry had no option but to take notice. Some providing comments and testimony noted that the imposition of such fees would create an existential threat to their ability to serve US trades or specific ports, or, in some cases, to operate at all. In creating the threat of a clearly significant penalty, the USTR essentially forced those commenting to not merely give a thumbs up or down to the proposal, but to give alternative solutions based on the assumption that the Trump administration wanted something to be done to stimulate US shipbuilding. <h3>‘Think creatively’ </h3>“This essentially turned into a big brainstorming session,” Lauren Beagen, a trade attorney and former counsel at the US Federal Maritime Commission, told the Journal of Commerce this week. Beagen said the hearings forced the industry to think about ways that would allow the Trump administration to progress in its goals toward revitalizing the shipbuilding industry and US merchant fleet that likely wouldn’t have happened if the proposed penalties weren’t severe. “If the USTR just held a public hearing about how trade policies were impacting our shipbuilding industry, no one would have come,” she said. “This made everyone pay attention, and it also forced them to think creatively. How else would you have gotten the entire industry together to brainstorm like this.” To wit, a number of comments submitted to the USTR said the proposed fees were unworkable, but also had alternative suggestions to help invigorate US shipbuilding. The National Association of Waterfront Employers (NAWE), for instance, urged the USTR to consider a per-sailing fee, rather than a fee per port call, to prevent ocean carriers from consolidating port calls and hurting economic interests at US secondary and tertiary ports. <h3>Phased approach </h3>The Duluth Seaway Authority suggested the USTR phase in the port call fees and adopt a tiered approach to assessing the fees based on vessel and cargo types and the economic impact to the region. Similarly, the Port of New York and New Jersey said a phased approach to enforcing the fees would not penalize carriers for vessel and terminal investments that in some cases were made more than a decade ago. Container shipping analyst John McCown said in comments to the USTR that all fees collected in a prospective tariff program should go to a trust fund purely to support the US maritime sector. McCown estimated, using 2024 figures, that $58.9 billion would be collected annually in port fees, which represents 3.8% of the $1.5 trillion in imported goods moved via ocean, according to figures from UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). “The good news/bad news is that the high value of container cargo puts that sector in the best position to absorb such large fees,” McCown wrote. And as an alternative to port call fees, he floated the idea of assessing per-container fees on boxes moving on Chinese-built ships that would be approximately equivalent to the amount China subsidizes its container line operators and shipbuilding industries. While that proposal, amounting to a fee of up to $60 per container, would generate far less revenue than the port call option, it would have a negligible impact on carrier networks and shippers’ supply chains, McCown argued. The broad effect of the port call fee proposal has been a call to arms across maritime and cargo interests to take seriously the administration’s efforts to reinvigorate US shipbuilding and operations in a way that would have been absent minus the threat of economic pain. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Hearings this week held by the US Trade Representative (USTR) over the potential levying of fees on Chinese-built and -operated ships calling at US ports certainly struck a nerve in the maritime industry. The Section 301 investigation, officially known as “China’s Targeting of the Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance,” prompted 520 comments submitted to the USTR by the March 24 deadline. More than 60 individuals gave testimony over two days of hearings. Perhaps the process was designed to elicit the heavy response the USTR received. By proposing fees of up to $1.5 million per US port call by Chinese tonnage, the industry had no option but to take notice. Some providing comments and testimony noted that the imposition of such fees would create an existential threat to their ability to serve US trades or specific ports, or, in some cases, to operate at all. In creating the threat of a clearly significant penalty, the USTR essentially forced those commenting to not merely give a thumbs up or down to the proposal, but to give alternative solutions based on the assumption that the Trump administration wanted something to be done to stimulate US shipbuilding. ‘Think creatively’ “This essentially turned into a big brainstorming session,” Lauren Beagen, a trade attorney and former counsel at the US Federal Maritime Commission, told the Journal of Commerce this week. Beagen said the hearings forced the industry to think about ways that would allow the Trump administration to progress in its goals toward revitalizing the shipbuilding industry and US merchant fleet that likely wouldn’t have happened if the proposed penalties weren’t severe. “If the USTR just held a public hearing about how trade policies were impacting our shipbuilding industry, no one would have come,” she said. “This made everyone pay attention, and it also forced them to think creatively. How else would you have gotten the entire industry together to brainstorm like this.” To wit, a number of comments submitted to the USTR said the proposed fees were unworkable, but also had alternative suggestions to help invigorate US shipbuilding. The National Association of Waterfront Employers (NAWE), for instance, urged the USTR to consider a per-sailing fee, rather than a fee per port call, to prevent ocean carriers from consolidating port calls and hurting economic interests at US secondary and tertiary ports. Phased approach The Duluth Seaway Authority suggested the USTR phase in the port call fees and adopt a tiered approach to assessing the fees based on vessel and cargo types and the economic impact to the region. Similarly, the Port of New York and New Jersey said a phased approach to enforcing the fees would not penalize carriers for vessel and terminal investments that in some cases were made more than a decade ago. Container shipping analyst John McCown said in comments to the USTR that all fees collected in a prospective tariff program should go to a trust fund purely to support the US maritime sector. McCown estimated, using 2024 figures, that $58.9 billion would be collected annually in port fees, which represents 3.8% of the $1.5 trillion in imported goods moved via ocean, according to figures from UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). “The good news/bad news is that the high value of container cargo puts that sector in the best position to absorb such large fees,” McCown wrote. And as an alternative to port call fees, he floated the idea of assessing per-container fees on boxes moving on Chinese-built ships that would be approximately equivalent to the amount China subsidizes its container line operators and shipbuilding industries. While that proposal, amounting to a fee of up to $60 per container, would generate far less revenue than the port call option, it would have a negligible impact on carrier networks and shippers’ supply chains, McCown argued. The broad effect of the port call fee proposal has been a call to arms across maritime and cargo interests to take seriously the administration’s efforts to reinvigorate US shipbuilding and operations in a way that would have been absent minus the threat of economic pain. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Trans-Atlantic

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Plan to tax Chinese ships turned maritime malaise into ‘brainstorming session’

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The move comes as Hutchison is facing increasing pressure from the Chinese government over the $22.8 billion sale of its ports business outside of China to BlackRock and TiL, especially the Panama ports.</div>

The move comes as Hutchison is facing increasing pressure from the Chinese government over the $22.8 billion sale of its ports business outside of China to BlackRock and TiL, especially the Panama ports.

<div class="phx-topic">Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison will miss next week’s target date to sign a deal selling its Panama Ports Company (PPC) to a consortium of BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co. subsidiary Terminal Investment Limited (TiL). While the signing will not happen by the initial April 2 target date, the sale that has been shrouded in geopolitical intrigue has not been canceled, Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post reported Friday, quoting a source close to Hutchison. No new target date has been announced. The apparent delay comes as Hutchison is facing increasing pressure from the Chinese government over <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/hutchison-inks-228-billion-deal-to-sell-majority-of-port-holdings-to-blackrock-til-5955819">the $22.8 billion sale of its ports business outside of China to BlackRock and TiL</a>, especially the PPC-owned ports, Cristobal and Balboa, at either ends of the Panama Canal. On Friday, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation confirmed its second Anti-Monopoly Department will review the transaction “to protect fair competition in the market and safeguard the public interest.” The regulator gave no timeline for the probe in a notice published on its website. China has also reportedly told state-owned companies to halt new deals with CK Hutchison and other businesses linked to its founder, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and his family, pending a review of their China operations, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. Only new ventures are covered by the moratorium, while existing operations are unaffected, Bloomberg said. Sale documentation for PPC was expected to be signed on or before April 2, Hutchison said in its March 4 announcement that it had reached an agreement “in principle” to sell PPC and its overseas ports network outside of China to BlackRock/TiL. The ports-telecoms-retail conglomerate had packaged PPC and its other global ports, excluding its China and Hong Kong terminals, into two separate contracts to enable a quicker sale of PPC and its two Panama ports. Hutchison has a 145-day exclusive negotiating period with BlackRock/TiL to sign final sale documents for both PPC and the other ports, which in total comprise 199 berths in 43 ports spread over 23 countries. The deal was announced amid growing ire within the new Trump administration over alleged Chinese influence in the operation of the Panama Canal. Beijing has not officially commented on the deal, saying it is a commercial transaction, but it has indicated its displeasure in other ways. That includes posting several critical commentaries on government websites, the most recent one on Wednesday, published by a Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing newspaper. Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>.</div>

Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison will miss next week’s target date to sign a deal selling its Panama Ports Company (PPC) to a consortium of BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co. subsidiary Terminal Investment Limited (TiL). While the signing will not happen by the initial April 2 target date, the sale that has been shrouded in geopolitical intrigue has not been canceled, Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post reported Friday, quoting a source close to Hutchison. No new target date has been announced. The apparent delay comes as Hutchison is facing increasing pressure from the Chinese government over the $22.8 billion sale of its ports business outside of China to BlackRock and TiL , especially the PPC-owned ports, Cristobal and Balboa, at either ends of the Panama Canal. On Friday, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation confirmed its second Anti-Monopoly Department will review the transaction “to protect fair competition in the market and safeguard the public interest.” The regulator gave no timeline for the probe in a notice published on its website. China has also reportedly told state-owned companies to halt new deals with CK Hutchison and other businesses linked to its founder, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and his family, pending a review of their China operations, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. Only new ventures are covered by the moratorium, while existing operations are unaffected, Bloomberg said. Sale documentation for PPC was expected to be signed on or before April 2, Hutchison said in its March 4 announcement that it had reached an agreement “in principle” to sell PPC and its overseas ports network outside of China to BlackRock/TiL. The ports-telecoms-retail conglomerate had packaged PPC and its other global ports, excluding its China and Hong Kong terminals, into two separate contracts to enable a quicker sale of PPC and its two Panama ports. Hutchison has a 145-day exclusive negotiating period with BlackRock/TiL to sign final sale documents for both PPC and the other ports, which in total comprise 199 berths in 43 ports spread over 23 countries. The deal was announced amid growing ire within the new Trump administration over alleged Chinese influence in the operation of the Panama Canal. Beijing has not officially commented on the deal, saying it is a commercial transaction, but it has indicated its displeasure in other ways. That includes posting several critical commentaries on government websites, the most recent one on Wednesday, published by a Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing newspaper. Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Hutchison to delay Panama ports deal signing amid growing Beijing pressure

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

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Shippers save money, time with automated transportation bidding tools

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

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Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

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