<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">US tariffs on China and the 90-day pause on tariffs imposed by Washington on a host of other countries made it difficult to assess how the market would develop this year, according to the forwarder’s CEO.</div>

US tariffs on China and the 90-day pause on tariffs imposed by Washington on a host of other countries made it difficult to assess how the market would develop this year, according to the forwarder’s CEO.

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<div class="phx-topic">The extreme market disruption brought on by the tariff-driven US trade policy has left Kuehne + Nagel CEO Stefan Paul unwilling to tamper with the forwarder’s profitability expectations for the year. The Switzerland-based forwarder reported a solid start to the year Thursday, but Paul said its forecast for earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) would remain unchanged at between $1.8 billion and $2.1 billion. “We will not update the group recurring EBIT guidance for the current year...in light of the elevated and fluctuating level of market uncertainty, including global tariff developments,” Paul told analysts on K + N’s first-quarter earnings call. The “reciprocal” US tariffs of 145% on China and the 90-day pause on tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on a host of other countries made it difficult to assess how the market would develop. “The challenge is that the level of uncertainty fluctuates from day to day,” Paul said. “If there is not enough information available, it would be irresponsible to make changes.” Kuehne + Nagel Group recorded a strong first quarter with positive results across its key financial metrics. Q1 revenue grew 15% year over year to $7.6 billion, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased 7% to $487 million and net profit was up 9% at $367 million. The forwarder handled just over 1 million TEUs in the quarter, up 3% compared to the first three months of last year, while gross profit per TEU increased 11% year over year to $675, lifting EBIT for K + N’s ocean segment by 7% to $253 million. <h3>Lost China-US bookings replaced by Southeast Asia </h3>Paul told analysts that K + N’s ocean freight volume out of Asia would not collapse amid the sharp decline in China-US demand because it would be largely replaced by demand shifting to other markets, notably Southeast Asia. “The volume is almost offset by other trade lanes and a shift to Southeast Asia,” he said, adding that demand through the second quarter was expected to be flat compared to Q1. While the ocean freight yield from the Southeast Asia volume was in general higher than that of China, Paul noted that both the rates and profitability were softening. In air freight, K + N’s volume in the first quarter rose 5% year over year to 514,000 tons, with gross profit per 100 kilograms up 6% at $102. EBIT for air logistics was up 23% at $140 million. “We saw continuously strong bookings for air in the first quarter and Q2 might be stronger than Q1,” Paul told analysts. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com. ">greg.knowler@spglobal.com.</a></div>

The extreme market disruption brought on by the tariff-driven US trade policy has left Kuehne + Nagel CEO Stefan Paul unwilling to tamper with the forwarder’s profitability expectations for the year. The Switzerland-based forwarder reported a solid start to the year Thursday, but Paul said its forecast for earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) would remain unchanged at between $1.8 billion and $2.1 billion. “We will not update the group recurring EBIT guidance for the current year...in light of the elevated and fluctuating level of market uncertainty, including global tariff developments,” Paul told analysts on K + N’s first-quarter earnings call. The “reciprocal” US tariffs of 145% on China and the 90-day pause on tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on a host of other countries made it difficult to assess how the market would develop. “The challenge is that the level of uncertainty fluctuates from day to day,” Paul said. “If there is not enough information available, it would be irresponsible to make changes.” Kuehne + Nagel Group recorded a strong first quarter with positive results across its key financial metrics. Q1 revenue grew 15% year over year to $7.6 billion, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased 7% to $487 million and net profit was up 9% at $367 million. The forwarder handled just over 1 million TEUs in the quarter, up 3% compared to the first three months of last year, while gross profit per TEU increased 11% year over year to $675, lifting EBIT for K + N’s ocean segment by 7% to $253 million. Lost China-US bookings replaced by Southeast Asia Paul told analysts that K + N’s ocean freight volume out of Asia would not collapse amid the sharp decline in China-US demand because it would be largely replaced by demand shifting to other markets, notably Southeast Asia. “The volume is almost offset by other trade lanes and a shift to Southeast Asia,” he said, adding that demand through the second quarter was expected to be flat compared to Q1. While the ocean freight yield from the Southeast Asia volume was in general higher than that of China, Paul noted that both the rates and profitability were softening. In air freight, K + N’s volume in the first quarter rose 5% year over year to 514,000 tons, with gross profit per 100 kilograms up 6% at $102. EBIT for air logistics was up 23% at $140 million. “We saw continuously strong bookings for air in the first quarter and Q2 might be stronger than Q1,” Paul told analysts. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com.

Container Shipping News

Air Cargo Forwarder News

Supply chain

Kuehne + Nagel’s financial crystal ball clouded by US tariff disruption

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The analyst downgraded its container handling outlook following similar moves on global and US economic growth by the IMF and WTO this week.</div>

The analyst downgraded its container handling outlook following similar moves on global and US economic growth by the IMF and WTO this week.

<div class="phx-topic">Significant downgrades in both global and US economic growth this year and next will translate into dramatic declines in container volumes, especially on the trans-Pacific trade that is facing the combined impact of US tariffs on Beijing and fees that will be levied on Chinese-built tonnage calling the US. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this week downgraded its US GDP outlook for 2025 to 1.8% from the 2.7% forecast made in January, with the world economic outlook for the year cut to 2.8% from 3.3%. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is predicting global merchandise trade will contract by 0.2% this year under current conditions. Those data points have prompted maritime consultancy Drewry to unveil a “much more pessimistic” outlook for container demand than its forecast just a month ago. “We’re now expecting global container handling to decrease by 1% in 2025, approximately the same level of contraction that the market saw in 2020 with COVID, and it would be only the third year with any annual decline since Drewry’s records started back in 1979,” Simon Heaney, Drewry’s senior manager of container research, told a container shipping outlook webinar Thursday. The 1% decline in global container handling is a downward revision from the 2.3% growth the consultancy expected last month. Drewry is also expecting a substantial decline in Asia-North America container throughput that it now predicts will drop by 5.5% this year compared with 4.8% growth expected in March. While China will also be hit hard by the US actions, it will bounce back quicker than the North American markets, according to the analyst. Drewry’s revised outlook for China is a decline in container volume of 4.8% this year, but its ability to find new markets to offset the loss of US trade will see growth in container volume of 1.6% in 2026. Heaney said the revised forecast was made with the caveat that policy decisions or executive orders on trade made by the Trump administration had no “quality of permanence.” “In the absence of any sort of coherent master plan, we’re left trying to decide the end-game strategy for ourselves, wondering whether there are any conditions at all, whether it’s a looming economic recession or negative public opinion under which this US administration might hesitate and reverse course,” he said. “That question remains unanswered as of today, meaning that any predictions we make for the container shipping market, or any market for that matter, have an extremely short shelf life,” Heaney added. “I’d say we’re in coin flip territory.” <h3>Deployment changes and dislocations </h3>The “reciprocal” US tariffs of 145% on China that went into effect April 9 and the 10% across-the-board tariffs on all US trading partners, as well as the US ship fees on Chinese carriers and China-built vessels, will have a pronounced impact on inbound and outbound US trade, according to container shipping analyst John McCown. “My view is that it is almost certain there will be a double-digit percentage reduction in annual volume for all of 2025 compared to 2024,” McCown wrote in his monthly McCown Report released this week. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="e56fd23a-cfad-4929-899f-b91371ff9fc0"></dynamic-object></div>McCown, the founder of private equity firm Blue Alpha Capital, said although the increased costs from tariffs and the ship fee plan would find their way to US consumers, those catalysts would also influence container shipping rates and pricing. “While reduced demand generally puts downward pressure on pricing, we have seen in the past that [vessel] deployment changes and dislocations can result in upwards pressure,” he said. “In addition, it is reasonable to assume that the container shipping industry will aggressively sideline capacity.” McCown pointed to the 81 trans-Pacific sailings blanked in April that were far above the 51 sailings blanked during the height of the pandemic. “This concern regarding reduced demand was confirmed in a recent report showing staggering reductions in the upcoming week of Asia to West Coast loads of 28% and Asia to East Coast loads of 42%,” he noted. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the White House is considering slashing the tariffs on China, in some cases by more than half, to de-escalate the trade war with Beijing. But whether shippers would quickly resume bookings is unclear as West Coast ports still expect volumes to drop sharply in the coming weeks. And China on Thursday labeled as “fake news” any suggestions by the Trump administration that the two sides were engaged in talks meant to end the trade conflict. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Significant downgrades in both global and US economic growth this year and next will translate into dramatic declines in container volumes, especially on the trans-Pacific trade that is facing the combined impact of US tariffs on Beijing and fees that will be levied on Chinese-built tonnage calling the US. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this week downgraded its US GDP outlook for 2025 to 1.8% from the 2.7% forecast made in January, with the world economic outlook for the year cut to 2.8% from 3.3%. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is predicting global merchandise trade will contract by 0.2% this year under current conditions. Those data points have prompted maritime consultancy Drewry to unveil a “much more pessimistic” outlook for container demand than its forecast just a month ago. “We’re now expecting global container handling to decrease by 1% in 2025, approximately the same level of contraction that the market saw in 2020 with COVID, and it would be only the third year with any annual decline since Drewry’s records started back in 1979,” Simon Heaney, Drewry’s senior manager of container research, told a container shipping outlook webinar Thursday. The 1% decline in global container handling is a downward revision from the 2.3% growth the consultancy expected last month. Drewry is also expecting a substantial decline in Asia-North America container throughput that it now predicts will drop by 5.5% this year compared with 4.8% growth expected in March. While China will also be hit hard by the US actions, it will bounce back quicker than the North American markets, according to the analyst. Drewry’s revised outlook for China is a decline in container volume of 4.8% this year, but its ability to find new markets to offset the loss of US trade will see growth in container volume of 1.6% in 2026. Heaney said the revised forecast was made with the caveat that policy decisions or executive orders on trade made by the Trump administration had no “quality of permanence.” “In the absence of any sort of coherent master plan, we’re left trying to decide the end-game strategy for ourselves, wondering whether there are any conditions at all, whether it’s a looming economic recession or negative public opinion under which this US administration might hesitate and reverse course,” he said. “That question remains unanswered as of today, meaning that any predictions we make for the container shipping market, or any market for that matter, have an extremely short shelf life,” Heaney added. “I’d say we’re in coin flip territory.” Deployment changes and dislocations The “reciprocal” US tariffs of 145% on China that went into effect April 9 and the 10% across-the-board tariffs on all US trading partners, as well as the US ship fees on Chinese carriers and China-built vessels, will have a pronounced impact on inbound and outbound US trade, according to container shipping analyst John McCown. “My view is that it is almost certain there will be a double-digit percentage reduction in annual volume for all of 2025 compared to 2024,” McCown wrote in his monthly McCown Report released this week. McCown, the founder of private equity firm Blue Alpha Capital, said although the increased costs from tariffs and the ship fee plan would find their way to US consumers, those catalysts would also influence container shipping rates and pricing. “While reduced demand generally puts downward pressure on pricing, we have seen in the past that [vessel] deployment changes and dislocations can result in upwards pressure,” he said. “In addition, it is reasonable to assume that the container shipping industry will aggressively sideline capacity.” McCown pointed to the 81 trans-Pacific sailings blanked in April that were far above the 51 sailings blanked during the height of the pandemic. “This concern regarding reduced demand was confirmed in a recent report showing staggering reductions in the upcoming week of Asia to West Coast loads of 28% and Asia to East Coast loads of 42%,” he noted. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the White House is considering slashing the tariffs on China, in some cases by more than half, to de-escalate the trade war with Beijing. But whether shippers would quickly resume bookings is unclear as West Coast ports still expect volumes to drop sharply in the coming weeks. And China on Thursday labeled as “fake news” any suggestions by the Trump administration that the two sides were engaged in talks meant to end the trade conflict. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Container lines

Trans-Pacific

Maritime

Fallout from US-China trade war to depress trans-Pacific volumes: Drewry

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The president of the second-largest US LTL provider sees Amazon’s decision to offer its vendors LTL service as an opportunity for ODFL to move more retail freight. </div>

The president of the second-largest US LTL provider sees Amazon’s decision to offer its vendors LTL service as an opportunity for ODFL to move more retail freight.

<div class="phx-topic">Amazon’s interest in less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments isn’t a bad thing for the LTL sector, and may even be an opportunity, the president of Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) said Wednesday. “We really don’t see Amazon’s LTL offering as a threat to the LTL industry, especially Old Dominion,” Marty Freeman told Wall Street analysts during his company’s first-quarter earnings call. “As I understand it, it’s mainly geared towards their own suppliers.” Recent reports that Amazon was hiring LTL specialists led to rumors the online retail giant might be interested in acquiring an existing LTL carrier or that it would create its own semi-autonomous LTL company to compete directly against ODFL and other carriers. Amazon earlier this month <a href="https://freight.amazon.com/newsroom/2025-ltl-inbound-launch?ref=E_CO_R4S_2025-ltl-inbound-launch_WEB_AR_">launched an LTL service</a> for vendors shipping goods to the company’s fulfillment and distribution centers. “I actually see it as an opportunity for us to help them with their logistics needs,” Freeman said. “If their suppliers need to pick up the same day, we certainly cover [the contiguous] 48 states and we’re able to help them out with that.” If Amazon wants help, ODFL certainly has available space. “We’ve got north of 30% [excess] capacity,” CFO Adam Satterfield said during the earnings call. The second-largest US LTL carrier also has less freight to move through its network, with its shipments per day falling 5% year over year in the first quarter to 44,566. The continuing soft market pushed LTL intercity miles down 7.4% in the quarter. ODFL’s LTL revenue dropped 5.8% year over year in the first quarter to $1.4 billion. So far this month, revenue is down 7% from the same three-week period a year ago, although revenue and demand this year were impacted by the timing of the Easter holiday, which occurred in March last year, Satterfield said. Even so, ODFL has been winning price increases in contract negotiations with customers, he said. “Our costs continue to go up, and so that’s why we’ve got to continue to ask for increases,” Satterfield said. <h3>LTL costs still elevated </h3>LTL pricing rose rapidly earlier this year. The monthly US long-distance LTL producer price index, a measure of all-inclusive shipping prices, was up 5.5% year over year in March, but was up 12.1% from July 2023, when former LTL provider Yellow went out of business. That alone may encourage some of Amazon’s vendors to consider giving their biggest customer more of their palletized shipments. Satterfield pointed out that retail freight represents only about 25% to 30% of ODFL’s business, which is still largely focused on industrial-based freight. But retail freight represents a “tailwind” for the LTL business, he said. Amazon has pulled LTL further into the retail world in the last decade by shifting “middle-mile” freight moving to distribution and fulfillment centers to LTL carriers. That’s a trend that will continue to play out, Satterfield said. “Many of those large retailers have on-time and in full [OTF] programs in place,” Satterfield said. “And that puts the burden on the vendor that’s controlling the freight charges and choosing the carrier to select a carrier that can help them meet those metrics and avoid fines and chargebacks.” Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Amazon’s interest in less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments isn’t a bad thing for the LTL sector, and may even be an opportunity, the president of Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) said Wednesday. “We really don’t see Amazon’s LTL offering as a threat to the LTL industry, especially Old Dominion,” Marty Freeman told Wall Street analysts during his company’s first-quarter earnings call. “As I understand it, it’s mainly geared towards their own suppliers.” Recent reports that Amazon was hiring LTL specialists led to rumors the online retail giant might be interested in acquiring an existing LTL carrier or that it would create its own semi-autonomous LTL company to compete directly against ODFL and other carriers. Amazon earlier this month launched an LTL service for vendors shipping goods to the company’s fulfillment and distribution centers. “I actually see it as an opportunity for us to help them with their logistics needs,” Freeman said. “If their suppliers need to pick up the same day, we certainly cover [the contiguous] 48 states and we’re able to help them out with that.” If Amazon wants help, ODFL certainly has available space. “We’ve got north of 30% [excess] capacity,” CFO Adam Satterfield said during the earnings call. The second-largest US LTL carrier also has less freight to move through its network, with its shipments per day falling 5% year over year in the first quarter to 44,566. The continuing soft market pushed LTL intercity miles down 7.4% in the quarter. ODFL’s LTL revenue dropped 5.8% year over year in the first quarter to $1.4 billion. So far this month, revenue is down 7% from the same three-week period a year ago, although revenue and demand this year were impacted by the timing of the Easter holiday, which occurred in March last year, Satterfield said. Even so, ODFL has been winning price increases in contract negotiations with customers, he said. “Our costs continue to go up, and so that’s why we’ve got to continue to ask for increases,” Satterfield said. LTL costs still elevated LTL pricing rose rapidly earlier this year. The monthly US long-distance LTL producer price index, a measure of all-inclusive shipping prices, was up 5.5% year over year in March, but was up 12.1% from July 2023, when former LTL provider Yellow went out of business. That alone may encourage some of Amazon’s vendors to consider giving their biggest customer more of their palletized shipments. Satterfield pointed out that retail freight represents only about 25% to 30% of ODFL’s business, which is still largely focused on industrial-based freight. But retail freight represents a “tailwind” for the LTL business, he said. Amazon has pulled LTL further into the retail world in the last decade by shifting “middle-mile” freight moving to distribution and fulfillment centers to LTL carriers. That’s a trend that will continue to play out, Satterfield said. “Many of those large retailers have on-time and in full [OTF] programs in place,” Satterfield said. “And that puts the burden on the vendor that’s controlling the freight charges and choosing the carrier to select a carrier that can help them meet those metrics and avoid fines and chargebacks.” Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Trucking News

Surface

Amazon LTL offering is no threat to standalone carriers: ODFL

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Shippers need to collect and share accurate shipment data and even rethink some shipping processes ahead of July 19 changes to LTL classification, experts tell the Journal of Commerce. </div>

Shippers need to collect and share accurate shipment data and even rethink some shipping processes ahead of July 19 changes to LTL classification, experts tell the Journal of Commerce.

<div class="phx-topic">With sweeping changes to the less-than-truckload (LTL) classification system in the US coming July 19, shippers are wrestling with how to prepare for them. The reclassification being pursued by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) is meant to shift more products to density-based LTL classes, and that could affect how much LTL shippers pay to ship goods. <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-shippers-urged-to-prepare-now-for-upcoming-ltl-class-changes-rate-resetting-5933927">Just how much rates might change</a> was a major issue for shippers participating in a recent Journal of Commerce <a href="https://www.joc.com/webcast/trucking-market-getting-ready-for-upcoming-ltl-classification-changes-5818436">webcast.</a>“We’ve tried to do some analysis but so few of our shipments had good NMFC [National Motor Freight Classification] information or dimensional information on bills of lading that it was very cumbersome,” said Shawn Galloway, vice president of pricing at multi-regional LTL carrier Pitt Ohio. “I’ve tried to help shippers out individually as they’ve come to me,” Galloway said during the webcast. “But overall, I would have no idea.” While many shippers are proactive about the NMFC changes, others may be waiting until July “to see how things shake out,” Galloway said. “I think that’s a bit dangerous.” Some shippers may resist accepting reclassification in a time of soft LTL freight demand, especially if it results in higher rates. But those companies can expect more shipment inspections, reweighing, and, as a result, changes to freight invoices, said Galloway, adding that “almost every LTL carrier” is working with a costing model and knows what its charges should be based on operating costs. “You could try to switch to another carrier that quotes a cheaper rate, but in a few months, they will likely come back to you and demand a rate increase, because the pricing they offered isn’t working,” he said. <h3>Building density </h3>The “reimagination” of the NMFC will affect more than 2,000 NMFC items, moving them into full-scale density classes. Although the NMFC doesn’t set prices, it is used to determine rates in motor carrier pricing tariffs. “We decided long ago to make density the primary characteristic in determining freight classification, and we’d already moved 100 items to full-scale density,” said Keith Peterson, director of operations at the NMFTA, which oversees the NMFC. “This year we put this transition on turbocharge.” Building freight density is already the overriding goal of LTL trucking companies. Reclassification will push more freight into density-based classes, including heavier freight. That will help accelerate a shift toward density-based pricing. The comments of panelists on the webcast, and questions from the audience, underscore the importance for shippers of collecting accurate and detailed shipment data and sharing that early with carriers to avoid a surge in freight inspections and higher invoices. The fact that Pitt Ohio said it received so little of that information on bills of lading (BOL) is not a good sign that disruption and reinvoicing will be limited when the new NMFC is in place. “The bill of lading is our key document, our contract of cartage, and we’ve got to make sure the NMFC item numbers and descriptions on the BOL are all valid,” said Darryl Gash, the logistics manager at department store chain Dillard’s. As an inbound shipper, Dillard’s has seen this problem with its own vendors, Gash said. The company has had to inspect and reweigh freight arriving at its own docks. Shippers will need to ensure that information collected on their docks as pallets are assembled and reflected in bills of lading produced by transportation and warehouse management systems (TMSs and WMSs). “If you’re using a TMS or a WMS to prepare bills of lading you have to make sure the information they’re out-putting is up to date and correct,” Gash said. <h3>Rethinking the process </h3>Galloway went further, suggesting that shippers may need to build shipments and collect dimension and weight data before requesting rate quotes. “You can use a dimensionizer or a tape measure, but that information has to be tied back into your system,” he said, meaning a TMS or other system. The NMFTA this week introduced a tool that could help shippers begin to determine how their LTL shipments might be affected by reclassification. Shippers can enter the item numbers for their shipments into the online NMFC “Item Lookup Tool” to see if those item numbers will be affected by reclassification. “You can put in your item number, or even upload a list of item numbers, and it will tell you what’s happening to each of those items,” the NMFTA’s Peterson said. “If the item isn’t affected by reclassification, it will tell you that, too.” That could be a first step in determining what a shipper should do to avoid cost increases as reclassification takes effect, he said. In its first 24 hours online, <a href="https://info.nmfta.org/2025-nmfc-changes/nmfc-item-lookup-tool?utm_campaign=2025%20NMFC%20Changes%20Campaign&amp;utm_source=NMFTA%20Website&amp;utm_medium=Article-Link&amp;utm_content=nmfc-item-look-up-tool-landing-page-April-2025">the tool</a> received 75,000 queries, the NMFTA said. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

With sweeping changes to the less-than-truckload (LTL) classification system in the US coming July 19, shippers are wrestling with how to prepare for them. The reclassification being pursued by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) is meant to shift more products to density-based LTL classes, and that could affect how much LTL shippers pay to ship goods. Just how much rates might change was a major issue for shippers participating in a recent Journal of Commerce webcast. “We’ve tried to do some analysis but so few of our shipments had good NMFC [National Motor Freight Classification] information or dimensional information on bills of lading that it was very cumbersome,” said Shawn Galloway, vice president of pricing at multi-regional LTL carrier Pitt Ohio. “I’ve tried to help shippers out individually as they’ve come to me,” Galloway said during the webcast. “But overall, I would have no idea.” While many shippers are proactive about the NMFC changes, others may be waiting until July “to see how things shake out,” Galloway said. “I think that’s a bit dangerous.” Some shippers may resist accepting reclassification in a time of soft LTL freight demand, especially if it results in higher rates. But those companies can expect more shipment inspections, reweighing, and, as a result, changes to freight invoices, said Galloway, adding that “almost every LTL carrier” is working with a costing model and knows what its charges should be based on operating costs. “You could try to switch to another carrier that quotes a cheaper rate, but in a few months, they will likely come back to you and demand a rate increase, because the pricing they offered isn’t working,” he said. Building density The “reimagination” of the NMFC will affect more than 2,000 NMFC items, moving them into full-scale density classes. Although the NMFC doesn’t set prices, it is used to determine rates in motor carrier pricing tariffs. “We decided long ago to make density the primary characteristic in determining freight classification, and we’d already moved 100 items to full-scale density,” said Keith Peterson, director of operations at the NMFTA, which oversees the NMFC. “This year we put this transition on turbocharge.” Building freight density is already the overriding goal of LTL trucking companies. Reclassification will push more freight into density-based classes, including heavier freight. That will help accelerate a shift toward density-based pricing. The comments of panelists on the webcast, and questions from the audience, underscore the importance for shippers of collecting accurate and detailed shipment data and sharing that early with carriers to avoid a surge in freight inspections and higher invoices. The fact that Pitt Ohio said it received so little of that information on bills of lading (BOL) is not a good sign that disruption and reinvoicing will be limited when the new NMFC is in place. “The bill of lading is our key document, our contract of cartage, and we’ve got to make sure the NMFC item numbers and descriptions on the BOL are all valid,” said Darryl Gash, the logistics manager at department store chain Dillard’s. As an inbound shipper, Dillard’s has seen this problem with its own vendors, Gash said. The company has had to inspect and reweigh freight arriving at its own docks. Shippers will need to ensure that information collected on their docks as pallets are assembled and reflected in bills of lading produced by transportation and warehouse management systems (TMSs and WMSs). “If you’re using a TMS or a WMS to prepare bills of lading you have to make sure the information they’re out-putting is up to date and correct,” Gash said. Rethinking the process Galloway went further, suggesting that shippers may need to build shipments and collect dimension and weight data before requesting rate quotes. “You can use a dimensionizer or a tape measure, but that information has to be tied back into your system,” he said, meaning a TMS or other system. The NMFTA this week introduced a tool that could help shippers begin to determine how their LTL shipments might be affected by reclassification. Shippers can enter the item numbers for their shipments into the online NMFC “Item Lookup Tool” to see if those item numbers will be affected by reclassification. “You can put in your item number, or even upload a list of item numbers, and it will tell you what’s happening to each of those items,” the NMFTA’s Peterson said. “If the item isn’t affected by reclassification, it will tell you that, too.” That could be a first step in determining what a shipper should do to avoid cost increases as reclassification takes effect, he said. In its first 24 hours online, the tool received 75,000 queries, the NMFTA said. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Lack of accurate data a threat to US shippers as LTL reclassification nears

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The carrier said its Gemini Cooperation alliance with Maersk is not resorting to blanked voyages to deal with the downturn, but it did redeploy ships to deal with demand changes. </div>

The carrier said its Gemini Cooperation alliance with Maersk is not resorting to blanked voyages to deal with the downturn, but it did redeploy ships to deal with demand changes.

<div class="phx-topic">Ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd says it pivoted to smaller ships rather than blanking trans-Pacific voyages in order to manage the sharp decline in US import bookings following the Trump administration’s implementation of hefty tariffs against China. Following President Donald Trump’s April 9 unveiling of “reciprocal” tariffs against China and subsequent escalations of those tariffs, Hapag-Lloyd said its container bookings from China to the US fell 30%, a spokesperson for the carrier said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce, confirming reporting from Reuters. The number of canceled bookings largely mirror those <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/trans-pacific-blank-sailings-set-to-rise-after-china-bookings-drop-sharply-5984166">that another ocean carrier saw</a>, while forwarders and non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) said over half of their China bookings were canceled in the aftermath of the tariffs. At the same time, Hapag-Lloyd said bookings from Southeast Asia “are currently going up significantly” after Trump paused reciprocal tariffs against other trading partners for 90 days. The sudden decline in bookings triggered ocean carriers to cancel trans-Pacific voyages at <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/trans-pacific-blank-sailings-set-to-rise-after-china-bookings-drop-sharply-5984166">a rate not seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020</a>. But Hapag-Lloyd said it and Gemini Cooperation partner Maersk maintained the alliance’s trans-Pacific service by using smaller ships instead of canceling voyages. “Gemini is not blanking any sailings and not canceling any voyages — but in some cases using smaller vessels to adapt to changing demand,” Hapag-Lloyd said. <h3>Capacity shift </h3>Vessel tracking data from Sea-web, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global, shows Hapag-Lloyd shifting some capacity into the trans-Pacific. The 9,954-TEU Nhava Sheva Express, which had been calling European and US East Coast ports in the first quarter of 2025, is now en route from Busan to Tacoma as part of Gemini’s WC4 service to the Pacific Northwest. Likewise, the 6,921-TEU Missouri Express is now part of Gemini’s WC5 service from Ningbo to Los Angeles after it served the trans-Atlantic trade. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/white-house-considers-slashing-china-tariffs-to-de-escalate-trade-war-6f875d69?mod=WSJ_home_mediumtopper_pos_1">The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday morning</a> that the White House is considering slashing the tariffs on China, in some cases by more than half, to de-escalate the trade war with Beijing. But whether shippers quickly resume bookings is unclear as West Coast ports still expect volumes to drop in the coming weeks. Inbound shipment data from the Port of Los Angeles shows that container volumes during the first full week of May will drop 34% from a year earlier, indicating how quickly shippers canceled bookings from China in early April. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd says it pivoted to smaller ships rather than blanking trans-Pacific voyages in order to manage the sharp decline in US import bookings following the Trump administration’s implementation of hefty tariffs against China. Following President Donald Trump’s April 9 unveiling of “reciprocal” tariffs against China and subsequent escalations of those tariffs, Hapag-Lloyd said its container bookings from China to the US fell 30%, a spokesperson for the carrier said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce, confirming reporting from Reuters. The number of canceled bookings largely mirror those that another ocean carrier saw , while forwarders and non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) said over half of their China bookings were canceled in the aftermath of the tariffs. At the same time, Hapag-Lloyd said bookings from Southeast Asia “are currently going up significantly” after Trump paused reciprocal tariffs against other trading partners for 90 days. The sudden decline in bookings triggered ocean carriers to cancel trans-Pacific voyages at a rate not seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 . But Hapag-Lloyd said it and Gemini Cooperation partner Maersk maintained the alliance’s trans-Pacific service by using smaller ships instead of canceling voyages. “Gemini is not blanking any sailings and not canceling any voyages — but in some cases using smaller vessels to adapt to changing demand,” Hapag-Lloyd said. Capacity shift Vessel tracking data from Sea-web, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, shows Hapag-Lloyd shifting some capacity into the trans-Pacific. The 9,954-TEU Nhava Sheva Express, which had been calling European and US East Coast ports in the first quarter of 2025, is now en route from Busan to Tacoma as part of Gemini’s WC4 service to the Pacific Northwest. Likewise, the 6,921-TEU Missouri Express is now part of Gemini’s WC5 service from Ningbo to Los Angeles after it served the trans-Atlantic trade. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday morning that the White House is considering slashing the tariffs on China, in some cases by more than half, to de-escalate the trade war with Beijing. But whether shippers quickly resume bookings is unclear as West Coast ports still expect volumes to drop in the coming weeks. Inbound shipment data from the Port of Los Angeles shows that container volumes during the first full week of May will drop 34% from a year earlier, indicating how quickly shippers canceled bookings from China in early April. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Hapag-Lloyd saw China bookings drop hard after US enacted tariffs

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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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