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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">US-bound spot truck shipments from Canada are shrinking but rates are rising, while Mexico-US spot market shipments outpace pricing, according to DAT Freight &amp; Analytics. </div>

US-bound spot truck shipments from Canada are shrinking but rates are rising, while Mexico-US spot market shipments outpace pricing, according to DAT Freight & Analytics.

Feature image

<div class="phx-topic">The flow of goods moving across the US-Canada border shrank last week, but not the cost of moving them, as a trade war between the two neighbors deepened. Rates in the Toronto-to-Chicago lane, one of the heaviest for cross-border truck traffic between the US and Canada, rose 18% week over week while spot volumes dropped 20% in the week ended March 7, according to DAT Freight &amp; Analytics. From Chicago to Toronto, rates rose 8% while loads dropped 2% week over week. Canadian spot market capacity has been shrinking. Available Canadian spot truck capacity fell 29% year over year in January despite a 2% increase from December, according to Loadlink Technologies, a sister company of DAT within Roper Industries. The push to move high volumes of goods south ahead of US tariffs exacerbated that tightness. The story was different on the southern US border last week, where shipments from Mexico rose 12% week over week and 19% year over year, according to DAT. However, northbound spot rates from the border in March were up only 3 cents per mile from February. That reflects the differences in cross-border trucking between the US, Mexico and Canada. US-bound loads from Mexico are typically transferred to US trucks at the border, often through cross docks in border entry points such as Laredo, Texas. Southbound Canadian shipments move straight to their destinations. Pause and restart <a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joc.com%2Farticle%2Ftpm25-chaos-erupts-as-us-tariffs-disrupt-cross-border-trucking-with-mexico-canada-5957555&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ckevin.saville2%40spglobal.com%7C4d58a1be910c4d2a0c9208dd600782fc%7C8f3e36ea80394b4081a77dc0599e8645%7C1%7C0%7C638772307560798379%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=22fWzX9CigDH8nfsQQU8bw9ix2Fv603N%2FAEb3N%2BzhtU%3D&amp;reserved=0">Freight flows across both borders were scrambled</a> when the US implemented 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico last Tuesday, delaying shipments and raising costs. Many shippers temporarily “hit the pause button” on US-bound loads from Mexico when tariffs took effect, said Jordan Dewart, president of Mexico for Redwood Logistics. The White House rolled back some tariffs on Mexico and Canada last Wednesday, postponing import taxes on the Canadian and Mexican automotive sectors until April 2. “Our American automotive industry, which provides American jobs, should not suffer significant disruption just because of the structure of its supply chain,” the White House said in a statement. Tariffs for goods that meet rules of origin under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), including many agricultural products, were also delayed until April 2. The exemptions cover about 38% of Canadian goods and 50% of Mexican goods, according to the White House. That means about 62% of Canadian goods and half of Mexican products are still subject to US tariffs. Shippers can expect high cross-border freight volumes and rates to continue as the April 2 deadline approaches. In the meantime, Mexico and Canada have slapped retaliatory tariffs on US goods. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

The flow of goods moving across the US-Canada border shrank last week, but not the cost of moving them, as a trade war between the two neighbors deepened. Rates in the Toronto-to-Chicago lane, one of the heaviest for cross-border truck traffic between the US and Canada, rose 18% week over week while spot volumes dropped 20% in the week ended March 7, according to DAT Freight & Analytics. From Chicago to Toronto, rates rose 8% while loads dropped 2% week over week. Canadian spot market capacity has been shrinking. Available Canadian spot truck capacity fell 29% year over year in January despite a 2% increase from December, according to Loadlink Technologies, a sister company of DAT within Roper Industries. The push to move high volumes of goods south ahead of US tariffs exacerbated that tightness. The story was different on the southern US border last week, where shipments from Mexico rose 12% week over week and 19% year over year, according to DAT. However, northbound spot rates from the border in March were up only 3 cents per mile from February. That reflects the differences in cross-border trucking between the US, Mexico and Canada. US-bound loads from Mexico are typically transferred to US trucks at the border, often through cross docks in border entry points such as Laredo, Texas. Southbound Canadian shipments move straight to their destinations. Pause and restart Freight flows across both borders were scrambled when the US implemented 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico last Tuesday, delaying shipments and raising costs. Many shippers temporarily “hit the pause button” on US-bound loads from Mexico when tariffs took effect, said Jordan Dewart, president of Mexico for Redwood Logistics. The White House rolled back some tariffs on Mexico and Canada last Wednesday, postponing import taxes on the Canadian and Mexican automotive sectors until April 2. “Our American automotive industry, which provides American jobs, should not suffer significant disruption just because of the structure of its supply chain,” the White House said in a statement. Tariffs for goods that meet rules of origin under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), including many agricultural products, were also delayed until April 2. The exemptions cover about 38% of Canadian goods and 50% of Mexican goods, according to the White House. That means about 62% of Canadian goods and half of Mexican products are still subject to US tariffs. Shippers can expect high cross-border freight volumes and rates to continue as the April 2 deadline approaches. In the meantime, Mexico and Canada have slapped retaliatory tariffs on US goods. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Trucking News

Surface

Cross-border spot truck rates rise as shippers ride tariff rollercoaster

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The threat underscores the fragility of the Red Sea security situation and the reluctance of ocean carriers to return to Suez Canal transits until the safety of crew, ships and cargo can be guaranteed. </div>

The threat underscores the fragility of the Red Sea security situation and the reluctance of ocean carriers to return to Suez Canal transits until the safety of crew, ships and cargo can be guaranteed. 

<div class="phx-topic">Houthi militants have threatened to resume attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea by midweek unless Israel resumes humanitarian aid and electricity supplies to Gaza that were cut earlier this month. Speaking during a televised address on March 8, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi set a four-day deadline for Israel to lift a blockade on aid deliveries into Gaza — which have been halted since March 2 — after which time the Houthis would “resume our naval operations against the Israeli enemy.” The Houthis had paused attacks on international shipping and on Israel on Jan. 19, except for vessels wholly owned by Israeli individuals and/or sailing under the Israeli flag, in line with the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that expired on March 1 without being extended or progressing to its proposed second stage. S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence said in a risk assessment Monday that the Houthi threat to resume attacks on Israel “is credible.” “A resumption of Houthi ‘naval operations’ would represent a severe risk to all vessels in transit in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, regardless of affiliation with Israel, due to uncertainties around targeting selection,” S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence said. The high potential for strikes on shipping to resume was highlighted by Jack Kennedy, head of Middle East and North Africa country risk at S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence, at the Journal of Commerce's TPM25 conference in Long Beach, Calif., last week. S&amp;P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce. “We expect the ceasefire process is likely to break down in the next 12 months and military operations will resume in Gaza,” was Kennedy’s bleak assessment. The threat underscores the fragility of the Red Sea security situation and the reluctance of ocean carriers to resume Suez Canal transits until the safety of crew, ships and cargo can be guaranteed. Carriers have been diverting vessels around southern Africa since the Houthi attacks on shipping began 15 months ago. “It has to be safe, and right now it is not safe,” Soren Toft, CEO of Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), told TPM25. “It is all linked to a number of agreements in the Middle East that are still being discussed, so for us there will be no immediate return to the Red Sea,” Toft added. “Could it happen next month, two months, six months? I don’t know. Eventually it will happen.” Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Houthi militants have threatened to resume attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea by midweek unless Israel resumes humanitarian aid and electricity supplies to Gaza that were cut earlier this month. Speaking during a televised address on March 8, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi set a four-day deadline for Israel to lift a blockade on aid deliveries into Gaza — which have been halted since March 2 — after which time the Houthis would “resume our naval operations against the Israeli enemy.” The Houthis had paused attacks on international shipping and on Israel on Jan. 19, except for vessels wholly owned by Israeli individuals and/or sailing under the Israeli flag, in line with the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that expired on March 1 without being extended or progressing to its proposed second stage. S&P Global Market Intelligence said in a risk assessment Monday that the Houthi threat to resume attacks on Israel “is credible.” “A resumption of Houthi ‘naval operations’ would represent a severe risk to all vessels in transit in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, regardless of affiliation with Israel, due to uncertainties around targeting selection,” S&P Global Market Intelligence said. The high potential for strikes on shipping to resume was highlighted by Jack Kennedy, head of Middle East and North Africa country risk at S&P Global Market Intelligence, at the Journal of Commerce's TPM25 conference in Long Beach, Calif., last week. S&P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce. “We expect the ceasefire process is likely to break down in the next 12 months and military operations will resume in Gaza,” was Kennedy’s bleak assessment. The threat underscores the fragility of the Red Sea security situation and the reluctance of ocean carriers to resume Suez Canal transits until the safety of crew, ships and cargo can be guaranteed. Carriers have been diverting vessels around southern Africa since the Houthi attacks on shipping began 15 months ago. “It has to be safe, and right now it is not safe,” Soren Toft, CEO of Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), told TPM25. “It is all linked to a number of agreements in the Middle East that are still being discussed, so for us there will be no immediate return to the Red Sea,” Toft added. “Could it happen next month, two months, six months? I don’t know. Eventually it will happen.” Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Maritime

Container Shipping News

Container lines

Asia-Europe

Houthi militants threaten to restart attacks on Red Sea shipping

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Having control over port operations has become a key element of container shipping that enables the fast turnaround of ships and improved schedule reliability.</div>

Having control over port operations has become a key element of container shipping that enables the fast turnaround of ships and improved schedule reliability.

<div class="phx-topic">Hapag-Lloyd subsidiary Hanseatic Global Terminals has acquired a majority stake in terminal operator CNMP at the French port of Le Havre from Seafrigo Group as the carrier expands its reach into the reefer business. Hanseatic on Monday said it acquired 60% of the shares in CNMP, while 40% will remain with Seafrigo, a temperature-controlled food logistics company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hanseatic CEO Dheeraj Bhatia said in a statement the deal allows the company to “strengthen our position in one of our core European markets.”“At the same time, we are continuing to expand our global terminal portfolio while paving the way for targeted investments to enhance efficiency,” he added. “The transaction will therefore directly contribute to the vigorous realization of our ‘Strategy 2030.’” CNMP operates the Atlantique container terminal at Le Havre, France’s largest port, as an independent company. Le Havre has an annual container throughput of 3 million TEUs with strong hinterland connections, and the CNMP terminal plans to tap into that growth in the coming years, including in the attractive reefer container business. Hanseatic plans to expand its global terminal portfolio to more than 30 terminals by 2030 in support of its carrier parent. Having control over port operations has become a key element of container shipping that enables the fast turnaround of ships, improved on-time performance and greater integration with transshipment and inland connections in an increasingly congested world. It is the bedrock around which the <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/tpm25-gemini-hitting-90-reliability-target-as-new-network-rolls-out-habben-jansen-5955794">90% schedule reliability promise of Gemini Cooperation</a> members Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk is built, and it is behind the <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/hutchison-inks-228-billion-deal-to-sell-majority-of-port-holdings-to-blackrock-til-5955819">blockbuster $22.8 billion Hutchison port takeover</a> by BlackRock Group and Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s terminal arm.Similarly, CMA CGM plans to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/cma-cgm-to-invest-20-billion-in-us-shipping-ports-and-logistics-5957748">invest $20 billion over the next four years</a> to significantly bolster its logistics presence in the US, including the expansion of capacity at key US ports. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Hapag-Lloyd subsidiary Hanseatic Global Terminals has acquired a majority stake in terminal operator CNMP at the French port of Le Havre from Seafrigo Group as the carrier expands its reach into the reefer business. Hanseatic on Monday said it acquired 60% of the shares in CNMP, while 40% will remain with Seafrigo, a temperature-controlled food logistics company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hanseatic CEO Dheeraj Bhatia said in a statement the deal allows the company to “strengthen our position in one of our core European markets.” “At the same time, we are continuing to expand our global terminal portfolio while paving the way for targeted investments to enhance efficiency,” he added. “The transaction will therefore directly contribute to the vigorous realization of our ‘Strategy 2030.’” CNMP operates the Atlantique container terminal at Le Havre, France’s largest port, as an independent company. Le Havre has an annual container throughput of 3 million TEUs with strong hinterland connections, and the CNMP terminal plans to tap into that growth in the coming years, including in the attractive reefer container business. Hanseatic plans to expand its global terminal portfolio to more than 30 terminals by 2030 in support of its carrier parent. Having control over port operations has become a key element of container shipping that enables the fast turnaround of ships, improved on-time performance and greater integration with transshipment and inland connections in an increasingly congested world. It is the bedrock around which the 90% schedule reliability promise of Gemini Cooperation members Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk is built, and it is behind the blockbuster $22.8 billion Hutchison port takeover by BlackRock Group and Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s terminal arm. Similarly, CMA CGM plans to invest $20 billion over the next four years to significantly bolster its logistics presence in the US, including the expansion of capacity at key US ports. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Hapag-Lloyd’s ports arm buys majority stake in Le Havre terminal

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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