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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The pandemic-inspired shift to online shopping will have lasting effects on shippers’ transportation choices, according to the CSCMP State of Logistics Report.
 
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The pandemic-inspired shift to online shopping will have lasting effects on shippers’ transportation choices, according to the CSCMP State of Logistics Report.

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<div>Higher corporate visibility for logistics during the COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate a supply chain transformation already under way as businesses rethink sourcing options, inventory, and transportation choices and invest more in technology, according to the latest State of Logistics Report from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).There will be greater need and demand for warehousing and logistics real estate thanks to higher inventory levels, reshoring or nearshoring of manufacturing, and the diversification of international supply lines and inland distribution routes from various US ports, the report said. There will also be opportunities for change in the use of...

Higher corporate visibility for logistics during the COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate a supply chain transformation already under way as businesses rethink sourcing options, inventory, and transportation choices and invest more in technology, according to the latest State of Logistics Report from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). There will be greater need and demand for warehousing and logistics real estate thanks to higher inventory levels, reshoring or nearshoring of manufacturing, and the diversification of international supply lines and inland distribution routes from various US ports, the report said. There will also be opportunities for change in the use of transportation modes. US inventory to sales ratios , which had stabilized at high levels in early 2020, jumped to record highs in April as business closings amid the COVID-19 pandemic locked inventory in place. The total US business inventory to sales ratio jumped from 1.45 in March to 1.67 in April, meaning it would take 67 days to clear one unit of inventory. In April 2019 the ratio was 1.39. “The shift away from single-source, cost-focused supply functions may pose new challenges to logistics — which itself is having its resilience tested in this crisis,” the CSCMP said in its 31st annual report, released Tuesday. It expects that focus on lowest-cost options to be replaced by a new bias based on managing risk and greater supply chain resilience. “The pandemic starkly brought risks to life,” the organization said in its report, prepared by A.T. Kearney and sponsored by Penske Logistics. “The pendulum that once swung toward ultra-efficient, single-source, just-in-time, and heavily cost-focused supply chains will swing back in favor of flexibility and reserve capacity to cope with uncertainty and risk,” CSCMP said. But the group also acknowledged logistics managers can’t “reconfigure all their capabilities and relationships on the fly.” There is bound to be a dislocation, disruption, and what CSCMP called “inefficient resource deployment” as businesses change import and distribution strategies in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). “With the ‘reopening’ of American businesses, many supply chains have become off-balance,” Marc Althen, president of Penske Logistics, said in a statement accompanying the report. “This is an important time to reevaluate your supply chain, from distribution points to modes of transportation.” ‘A shot of adrenaline’ The biggest change agent on the logistics landscape is e-commerce. That’s truer in the COVID-19 era than ever before. “COVID-19 is a shot of adrenaline,” CSCMP said. The pandemic “will increase e-commerce adoption across growing categories such as grocery and essential household items, expedite the growth of the last-mile delivery market, and improve scale and route density to reduce last-mile delivery cost structures,” the CSCMP report said. Carriers will be forced to think about “up-front investment in modular networks.” In effect, brick-and-mortar retailers that once saw e-commerce as an auxiliary arm of sales are being forced to flip their vision, and see brick-and-mortar stores supplementing e-commerce. The growing number of retailers offering buy-online-ship-from-store programs or curbside pickup programs, such as clothing retailer Gap Inc. , since the pandemic began is evidence of that. “We’re now operating over 2,100 stores as mini-fulfillment hubs through ship-from-store and over 500 stores as curbside pickup locations, a capability we launched during the COVID crisis,” Gap CEO Sonia Syngal said June 5 in a quarterly earnings call . Even closed stores were utilized to boost e-commerce sales by acting as e-commerce distribution centers. When it comes to shipping, the 2020s will be a faster decade. “The era of shipping in three- to five-day business days is over,” the CSCMP report said. That will be a challenge to less-than-truckload (LTL) and truckload carriers alike, as more freight flows in short-haul lanes and in smaller shipments, and new types of fleets arise to try to capture that freight. “People are buying larger things online and they’re willing to pay to have them delivered within a couple of hours,” John Conte, CEO and founder of Conte Logistics Consulting and former director of logistics and operations for Holman Enterprises, told JOC.com Tuesday. He believes companies such as Dispatch and Roadie are going to expand in this niche. “This is where the gig economy connects to traditional logistics,” Conte said. “I think you’ll see most LTL carriers trying to break into this area. They are all working on last-mile strategies.” The underlying assumption is that online shopping will continue to increase, rather than subside as the US pulls out of the recession and more retailers reopen stores. Shippers, CSCMP said, must segment products and customers based on the needed speed of delivery to better balance cost and demand. “You must comprehensively understand your product and customer segmentation, customer sentiment, total cost per package or order, and the technological investment required to enable new capabilities.” For trucking providers, the COVID-19 e-commerce expansion means fewer warehouse-to-store deliveries and more shipments to and from fulfillment centers and to stores, CSCMP said. That’s an opportunity for LTL carriers but also for small, highly localized fleets competing for freight that is often not just less than a truckload, but less than a pallet in size. Warehousing demand keeps rising Growing e-commerce shipping will put more pressure on warehousing and distribution capacity, which already was tight coming into 2020. Logistics real estate is one area where capacity hasn’t expanded during the recession. That’s not just due to e-commerce, but an increase in inventories during the US trade wars with China and other countries. To be sure they can get products to store shelves or factory floors, businesses will have to carry more inventory, the report said. And that will create more demand for storage space. “Forecasts from CBRE Research indicate that a 5 percent increase in business inventories would require an additional 700 million to 1 billion of occupied square feet,” CSCMP said. “Both inventory on hand and safety stock have to go up,” Steve Sensing, president of global supply chain solutions for Ryder System, told JOC.com in May. “The more places you need to store inventory, the more inventory you’re going to need.” Ryder’s customers are storing more inventory in more locations, especially at sites closer to stores and consumers. “What we’ve been seeing over the last couple of years is our customers need more ‘nodes’ to store inventory,” Sensing said. “It’s all about speed to shelf and speed to home. The more nodes you have, the more effective you’re going to be.” Those nodes could be stores, small warehouses, or larger distribution centers, including shared locations, he said. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @willbcassidy .

Truckload

Pandemic pushes US shippers to rethink sourcing, tech spend

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Shippers should heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint.</div>

Shippers should heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint.

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<div class="phx-topic">It’s a buyer’s market during this annual trans-Pacific service contract cycle and importers of Asia-sourced goods — particularly smaller shippers — are under some of the strongest C-Suite pressure in years to reduce costs. But shippers should also heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint. A few container line executives privately acknowledge what preliminary contract benchmark readings reflect: The starting point for contract rate levels are lower than during last year’s negotiation cycle. Demand is weaker than a year ago, and capacity is more plentiful as evidenced by the swelling order book. <div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/6155716_0.1.jpg"></img></div> In the first two rounds of bids in this annual service contract cycle, tendered rates for Asia to the US West Coast were down roughly 25% from levels in January 2025, according to a Xeneta analysis. However, the tendered rates in this cycle have been rising since the beginning of the year, said Emily Stausbøll, senior analyst at Xeneta. “We certainly expect that as more US shippers start tendering, they should be saving money compared to last year, but how much depends on shippers’ individual negotiations and whatever happens in the market over the next few months before many of those contracts are finalized,” Stausbøll said. <h3>C-Suite calling </h3>The pressure on logistics managers to cut costs has risen dramatically in less than a year, making it infeasible to simply pass on the additional costs to suppliers and/or suffer weaker margins. The US tariff rate on imports from China more than doubled to 47.5% between January 2025 and November, according to the latest available analysis from the Peterson Institute for International Economics. No wonder then that a recent Goldman Sachs survey found that between April and August of last year, surveyed businesses passed 37% of higher tariff costs to consumers and 9% onto suppliers. The companies absorbed the remaining 51%, according to the study released in October. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="a08410a8-0b00-4c48-9ef6-78b6354f0678"></dynamic-object></div>Small and medium-sized importers are ordering only what they know they can sell and taking an even harder look at their own transport costs, said Serkan Kavas, executive vice president for imports at the forwarder MTS Logistics. For example, shippers who booked before a general rate increase (GRI) was imposed but didn’t ship until after it was implemented have become more sensitive to the higher transport cost they’ve accrued, and often with one day or less of notice, he said. A cost difference of $50 per TEU matters more now. “It’s all about cost,” Kavas said. “The service reliability has not been too bad. There is an abundance of space. On the carrier side, there is not too much difference to the level of service.” In a down market, in which analysts expect US imports to barely register any growth in 2026 compared to 2025, some ocean carriers are targeting smaller shippers that they would have normally left to forwarders. One of Kavas’ customers, he said, was approached by a major carrier for annual volumes of no more than 1,000 TEUs. <h3>Holding the line so far </h3>While volumes are plunging, pricing isn’t. US imports from China in December dropped 22.3% year over year while total volumes from Asia fell 6.1% in the same period, according to PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. Yet container spot rates, as measured by Drewry, Platts and the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, have shown resilience, rising about 40% since early December. Implementing blank sailings and moderately sized GRIs while holding the price line on freight-all-kind rates appears to have worked for carriers. “Ocean carriers need another catalyst to keep the rates at certain levels, or they will continue to perform blank sailings which they have mastered,” Kavas said. “They are doing this in a very disciplined manner, and considering the number of carriers in the market at the moment, ocean freight rate fluctuations will continue to be present, but I don’t see rates are diving.” <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="a2606c91-b30c-4219-b617-9491b44b6af1"></dynamic-object></div>Ocean carriers are adjusting further to expectations of reduced demand. Carriers will reduce the available capacity from Asia to North America to 2.5 million TEUs in the first quarter from 2.6 million TEUs in the fourth quarter, according to Xeneta forecasts and an analysis of blanked sailings, including those not announced by carries. The semblance of carrier control on the trans-Pacific despite weakening volumes should give importers pause amid negotiations on annual contracts, which generally run from May 1 through April. The market may be down, but capacity discipline so far isn’t, and shippers who push too hard on contract rates or are too exposed to spot rates could end up paying if the market turns. Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com">mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com.</a></div>

It’s a buyer’s market during this annual trans-Pacific service contract cycle and importers of Asia-sourced goods — particularly smaller shippers — are under some of the strongest C-Suite pressure in years to reduce costs. But shippers should also heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint. A few container line executives privately acknowledge what preliminary contract benchmark readings reflect: The starting point for contract rate levels are lower than during last year’s negotiation cycle. Demand is weaker than a year ago, and capacity is more plentiful as evidenced by the swelling order book. In the first two rounds of bids in this annual service contract cycle, tendered rates for Asia to the US West Coast were down roughly 25% from levels in January 2025, according to a Xeneta analysis. However, the tendered rates in this cycle have been rising since the beginning of the year, said Emily Stausbøll, senior analyst at Xeneta. “We certainly expect that as more US shippers start tendering, they should be saving money compared to last year, but how much depends on shippers’ individual negotiations and whatever happens in the market over the next few months before many of those contracts are finalized,” Stausbøll said. C-Suite calling The pressure on logistics managers to cut costs has risen dramatically in less than a year, making it infeasible to simply pass on the additional costs to suppliers and/or suffer weaker margins. The US tariff rate on imports from China more than doubled to 47.5% between January 2025 and November, according to the latest available analysis from the Peterson Institute for International Economics. No wonder then that a recent Goldman Sachs survey found that between April and August of last year, surveyed businesses passed 37% of higher tariff costs to consumers and 9% onto suppliers. The companies absorbed the remaining 51%, according to the study released in October. Small and medium-sized importers are ordering only what they know they can sell and taking an even harder look at their own transport costs, said Serkan Kavas, executive vice president for imports at the forwarder MTS Logistics. For example, shippers who booked before a general rate increase (GRI) was imposed but didn’t ship until after it was implemented have become more sensitive to the higher transport cost they’ve accrued, and often with one day or less of notice, he said. A cost difference of $50 per TEU matters more now. “It’s all about cost,” Kavas said. “The service reliability has not been too bad. There is an abundance of space. On the carrier side, there is not too much difference to the level of service.” In a down market, in which analysts expect US imports to barely register any growth in 2026 compared to 2025, some ocean carriers are targeting smaller shippers that they would have normally left to forwarders. One of Kavas’ customers, he said, was approached by a major carrier for annual volumes of no more than 1,000 TEUs. Holding the line so far While volumes are plunging, pricing isn’t. US imports from China in December dropped 22.3% year over year while total volumes from Asia fell 6.1% in the same period, according to PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Yet container spot rates, as measured by Drewry, Platts and the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, have shown resilience, rising about 40% since early December. Implementing blank sailings and moderately sized GRIs while holding the price line on freight-all-kind rates appears to have worked for carriers. “Ocean carriers need another catalyst to keep the rates at certain levels, or they will continue to perform blank sailings which they have mastered,” Kavas said. “They are doing this in a very disciplined manner, and considering the number of carriers in the market at the moment, ocean freight rate fluctuations will continue to be present, but I don’t see rates are diving.” Ocean carriers are adjusting further to expectations of reduced demand. Carriers will reduce the available capacity from Asia to North America to 2.5 million TEUs in the first quarter from 2.6 million TEUs in the fourth quarter, according to Xeneta forecasts and an analysis of blanked sailings, including those not announced by carries. The semblance of carrier control on the trans-Pacific despite weakening volumes should give importers pause amid negotiations on annual contracts, which generally run from May 1 through April. The market may be down, but capacity discipline so far isn’t, and shippers who push too hard on contract rates or are too exposed to spot rates could end up paying if the market turns. Contact Mark Szakonyi at  mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com.

Container lines

Buyer’s market for US importers belies risks in contract talks

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">As shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year, writes Peter Tirschwell.</div>

As shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year, writes Peter Tirschwell.

<div class="phx-topic">This year will not be marked by freight rates collapsing due to overcapacity and shippers weary from tariff costs reaping a windfall in ocean freight discounts. Despite the largest order book in history and volumes expected to slow globally, that is not the scenario coming into focus for the year ahead, even if widespread Red Sea transits resume. Rather, according to several sources in recent weeks, a different picture is emerging: Rates will likely moderate, perhaps by a few hundred dollars per container, and as shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year. <div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/6155383_0.1.jpg"></img></div>The year ahead, in other words, reflects long-term macro trends under way in containers: capacity tightening despite cyclicality due to infrastructure limitations and carrier actions to manage capacity, and shippers in response turning their focus away from rates and toward service to mitigate risk. “For 2026 as we move into this bid season, it won’t be all about the ocean rates,” Chantal McRoberts of Drewry Supply Chain Advisers told a recent Journal of Commerce webinar focused on Asia port congestion.  “We know that we’re in a more subdued demand environment. We know that the order book is large. We know that carriers are looking to secure volume, but the key to that is, what service are you providing? Shippers are definitely starting to factor that into their bid strategies,” she said. “The number one question that comes up from BCOs [beneficial cargo owners] is, putting the rates aside, I need a reliable provider or partner to work with. I still have to answer to the CFO. I still have to justify the cost, but I now also have to ensure that I'm procuring my ocean freight to deliver my product.” According to eeSea, ocean reliability from Asia to the US West Coast has ranged between 42% and 48% since September. <h3>China ‘lacking port capacity’ </h3>Port congestion in China is a case in point about shippers’ growing concerns about the integrity of supply chains.  Still the source of 36% of US imports in TEUs in 2025, (down from 40% in 2024), according to S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence, the country is encountering chronic congestion at Shanghai and Ningbo, its two largest ports, where ships typically are waiting two to three days outside the port. The fundamental reason, according to Asia sources over the past two years, was that while China ambitiously built port capacity ahead of demand in the years after entering the World Trade Organization in 2001, expansion has slowed at a time when its exports are experiencing a growth spurt.  “I know it’s a shocker, and it feels unnatural to hear it, but China is lacking port capacity. It’s as simple as that,” Nils Roche, founder of Solvens Advisory and recently deputy head of operations at Singapore-based carrier PIL, said on the Journal of Commerce webinar. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="615c1430-acb8-4c73-9884-61992f08d1d3"></dynamic-object></div>Limited port capacity in China is being called upon to handle surging volumes growing out of a macro-China economic strategy to diversify away from the US and overcome weakness in other sectors such as real estate.  China in November surpassed the $1 trillion trade surplus barrier for the first time. Its share of global exports grew from 33% to 37% between 2023 and 2025, Maersk told investors in November. Influenced by export growth, S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence in November raised Mainland China’s GDP growth forecast for 2025–27 by a quarter point, to 5.0%, 4.6% and 4.5%, respectively. “The upward adjustments primarily reflect a more positive assessment of export prospects,” S&amp;P Global said. The intractable nature of port capacity limitations is further reflected in growing ship sizes and more containers needed to be moved per port call at ports that have not kept pace. “The ships that you have today, they are not the ships that we had 10 years ago. If you think about it, I used to operate Panamaxes, and they were the rock stars,” Roche said, noting his skepticism that technology-driven productivity improvements can meaningfully expand capacity. “Now you have 18,000, 24,000-TEU ships coming into the ports. A Panamax calling a port is a port call, a 24,000-TEU ship calling a port, it's a major event.” The difficulty ports have in handling the volumes and ship sizes being thrown at them is confirmed by port performance data. The S&amp;P Global Port Performance data is based on vessel turnaround time and normalized by workload, with underlying data provided by carriers — in other words, how many hours a ship is spending in port to achieve a certain move count. The data shows ports on a global basis are operating well below pre-pandemic levels of performance. Due to port capacity limitations, Roche says the industry should temper its expectations for the impact of a return to the Red Sea, if that occurs this year (although there is no guarantee it will).  He said that if the Red Sea opens up, “we should not expect a massive influx of capacity, simply because the lack of capacity, or the bottleneck if you prefer, will be transferred from the ocean to the land.” “I disagree with the narrative carried by analysts that shipping obeys 100% of the laws of supply and demand, and that more ships mean more supply ... it’s being half-blind to an entire ecosystem,” Roche said. S&amp;P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce.Contact Peter Tirschwell at <a href="mailto:peter.tirschwell@spglobal.com">peter.tirschwell@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

This year will not be marked by freight rates collapsing due to overcapacity and shippers weary from tariff costs reaping a windfall in ocean freight discounts. Despite the largest order book in history and volumes expected to slow globally, that is not the scenario coming into focus for the year ahead, even if widespread Red Sea transits resume.  Rather, according to several sources in recent weeks, a different picture is emerging: Rates will likely moderate, perhaps by a few hundred dollars per container, and as shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year. The year ahead, in other words, reflects long-term macro trends under way in containers: capacity tightening despite cyclicality due to infrastructure limitations and carrier actions to manage capacity, and shippers in response turning their focus away from rates and toward service to mitigate risk.  “For 2026 as we move into this bid season, it won’t be all about the ocean rates,” Chantal McRoberts of Drewry Supply Chain Advisers told a recent Journal of Commerce webinar focused on Asia port congestion.   “We know that we’re in a more subdued demand environment. We know that the order book is large. We know that carriers are looking to secure volume, but the key to that is, what service are you providing? Shippers are definitely starting to factor that into their bid strategies,” she said. “The number one question that comes up from BCOs [beneficial cargo owners] is, putting the rates aside, I need a reliable provider or partner to work with. I still have to answer to the CFO. I still have to justify the cost, but I now also have to ensure that I'm procuring my ocean freight to deliver my product.”  According to eeSea, ocean reliability from Asia to the US West Coast has ranged between 42% and 48% since September.  China ‘lacking port capacity’  Port congestion in China is a case in point about shippers’ growing concerns about the integrity of supply chains.   Still the source of 36% of US imports in TEUs in 2025, (down from 40% in 2024), according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the country is encountering chronic congestion at Shanghai and Ningbo, its two largest ports, where ships typically are waiting two to three days outside the port.  The fundamental reason, according to Asia sources over the past two years, was that while China ambitiously built port capacity ahead of demand in the years after entering the World Trade Organization in 2001, expansion has slowed at a time when its exports are experiencing a growth spurt.   “I know it’s a shocker, and it feels unnatural to hear it, but China is lacking port capacity. It’s as simple as that,” Nils Roche, founder of Solvens Advisory and recently deputy head of operations at Singapore-based carrier PIL, said on the Journal of Commerce webinar. Limited port capacity in China is being called upon to handle surging volumes growing out of a macro-China economic strategy to diversify away from the US and overcome weakness in other sectors such as real estate.   China in November surpassed the $1 trillion trade surplus barrier for the first time. Its share of global exports grew from 33% to 37% between 2023 and 2025, Maersk told investors in November. Influenced by export growth, S&P Global Market Intelligence in November raised Mainland China’s GDP growth forecast for 2025–27 by a quarter point, to 5.0%, 4.6% and 4.5%, respectively. “The upward adjustments primarily reflect a more positive assessment of export prospects,” S&P Global said.  The intractable nature of port capacity limitations is further reflected in growing ship sizes and more containers needed to be moved per port call at ports that have not kept pace.  “The ships that you have today, they are not the ships that we had 10 years ago. If you think about it, I used to operate Panamaxes, and they were the rock stars,” Roche said, noting his skepticism that technology-driven productivity improvements can meaningfully expand capacity. “Now you have 18,000, 24,000-TEU ships coming into the ports. A Panamax calling a port is a port call, a 24,000-TEU ship calling a port, it's a major event.” The difficulty ports have in handling the volumes and ship sizes being thrown at them is confirmed by port performance data. The S&P Global Port Performance data is based on vessel turnaround time and normalized by workload, with underlying data provided by carriers — in other words, how many hours a ship is spending in port to achieve a certain move count. The data shows ports on a global basis are operating well below pre-pandemic levels of performance. Due to port capacity limitations, Roche says the industry should temper its expectations for the impact of a return to the Red Sea, if that occurs this year (although there is no guarantee it will).   He said that if the Red Sea opens up, “we should not expect a massive influx of capacity, simply because the lack of capacity, or the bottleneck if you prefer, will be transferred from the ocean to the land.”  “I disagree with the narrative carried by analysts that shipping obeys 100% of the laws of supply and demand, and that more ships mean more supply ... it’s being half-blind to an entire ecosystem,” Roche said.  S&P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce.Contact Peter Tirschwell at peter.tirschwell@spglobal.com .

Supply chain certainty, rather than price, will shape shipping in 2026

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The carrier has inked a slot charter agreement on a service that is operated by Taiwanese rivals Yang Ming and Wan Hai, as well as Singapore’s PIL.</div>

The carrier has inked a slot charter agreement on a service that is operated by Taiwanese rivals Yang Ming and Wan Hai, as well as Singapore’s PIL.

<div class="phx-topic">Evergreen Marine is strengthening its Asia-Latin America links with a slot charter agreement on the Asia-West Coast South America 6 service (WSA6) in a move that comes amid a surge of capacity on the Asia-Latin America trade. Antonella Teodoro, senior consultant for MDS Transmodal, said capacity direct services have increased almost 50% over the past year. “Having been relatively stable the past three years, scheduled deployed TEU capacity on the direct Far East-Latin America trade lane increased by some 46% between January 2025 and 2026,” Teodoro told the Journal of Commerce. Total capacity over the past 12 months soared to 4,112,888 TEUs compared with 2,812,495 TEUs in the prior period, according to MDS Transmodal data. “This increase is mainly due to the three new services that started in 2025, namely MSC’s Alpaca service, CMA CGM with Maersk on the SAES3/ASAS2, and HMM and ONE jointly initiating their FL2/SX2 service,” Teodoro said. Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s Asia to West Coast South America Alpaca service is the most recent of the three, having been inaugurated last September by the 4,600-TEU MSC Lome V, one of eight ships deployed on the route. Teodoro said the MDS data did not include services with intermediate calls in other markets including the US, Middle East and Indian sub-continent. By comparison, data from eeSea carried on the Journal of Commerce’s Gateway platform also shows a significant capacity increase on the Asia-Latin America trade. Actual deployed capacity rose 21% to 6.5 million TEUs last year from 5.4 million TEUs in 2024 based upon monthly capacity figures. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="0a4c1e7e-2956-4186-b6de-e38dce7f57e0"></dynamic-object></div>Evergreen’s inclusion on the WSA6 service coincides with a continued fall in freight rates on both the Asia-South America West Coast and East Coast services. Data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange carried on the Gateway platform shows spot rates from Shanghai to Santos were down to $1,195 per TEUs on Jan. 16, the lowest since January 2023, while spot rates from Shanghai to Manzanillo were down to $1,001/TEU, the lowest for at least two years. <h3>Operated by Taiwanese rivals </h3>Evergreen confirmed its involvement in the WSA6 service in updated service schedules published over the weekend. Taiwan’s top container line will take space on the service that is operated by rivals Yang Ming Marine Transport, Wan Hai Lines, and Singapore’s Pacific International Lines. Evergreen said the slot charter will begin with the 8,533-TEU Kota Manzanillo that is due to depart Ensenada on Feb. 21 with a scheduled 56-day transit to Shanghai. Other ships deployed on the route, includingYM Fountain andYM Success, have a nominal capacity of 5,560 TEUs. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="1ac6ad07-0f60-4109-bf91-3409ff42996a"></dynamic-object></div>The full rotation is Ningbo, Shanghai, and Qingdao in China; Pusan (South Korea), Ensenada, Manzanillo, and Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico; Puerto Quetzal (Guatemala), Buenaventura (Colombia), Callao (Peru), San Antonio (Chile), and Ningbo. The WSA6 service is Evergreen’s sixth linking the Asia and South American markets and the third connecting the West Coast of South America. Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/keithwallis@hotmail.com.">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>.</div>

Evergreen Marine is strengthening its Asia-Latin America links with a slot charter agreement on the Asia-West Coast South America 6 service (WSA6) in a move that comes amid a surge of capacity on the Asia-Latin America trade.  Antonella Teodoro, senior consultant for MDS Transmodal, said capacity direct services have increased almost 50% over the past year. “Having been relatively stable the past three years, scheduled deployed TEU capacity on the direct Far East-Latin America trade lane increased by some 46% between January 2025 and 2026,” Teodoro told the Journal of Commerce.  Total capacity over the past 12 months soared to 4,112,888 TEUs compared with 2,812,495 TEUs in the prior period, according to MDS Transmodal data.  “This increase is mainly due to the three new services that started in 2025, namely MSC’s Alpaca service, CMA CGM with Maersk on the SAES3/ASAS2, and HMM and ONE jointly initiating their FL2/SX2 service,” Teodoro said.  Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s Asia to West Coast South America Alpaca service is the most recent of the three, having been inaugurated last September by the 4,600-TEU MSC Lome V, one of eight ships deployed on the route.  Teodoro said the MDS data did not include services with intermediate calls in other markets including the US, Middle East and Indian sub-continent.  By comparison, data from eeSea carried on the Journal of Commerce’s Gateway platform also shows a significant capacity increase on the Asia-Latin America trade. Actual deployed capacity rose 21% to 6.5 million TEUs last year from 5.4 million TEUs in 2024 based upon monthly capacity figures.  Evergreen’s inclusion on the WSA6 service coincides with a continued fall in freight rates on both the Asia-South America West Coast and East Coast services.  Data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange carried on the Gateway platform shows spot rates from Shanghai to Santos were down to $1,195 per TEUs on Jan. 16, the lowest since January 2023, while spot rates from Shanghai to Manzanillo were down to $1,001/TEU, the lowest for at least two years.  Operated by Taiwanese rivals  Evergreen confirmed its involvement in the WSA6 service in updated service schedules published over the weekend.  Taiwan’s top container line will take space on the service that is operated by rivals Yang Ming Marine Transport, Wan Hai Lines, and Singapore’s Pacific International Lines.  Evergreen said the slot charter will begin with the 8,533-TEU Kota Manzanillo that is due to depart Ensenada on Feb. 21 with a scheduled 56-day transit to Shanghai. Other ships deployed on the route, includingYM Fountain andYM Success, have a nominal capacity of 5,560 TEUs.  The full rotation is Ningbo, Shanghai, and Qingdao in China; Pusan (South Korea), Ensenada, Manzanillo, and Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico; Puerto Quetzal (Guatemala), Buenaventura (Colombia), Callao (Peru), San Antonio (Chile), and Ningbo. The WSA6 service is Evergreen’s sixth linking the Asia and South American markets and the third connecting the West Coast of South America.  Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Container Shipping News

Evergreen bolsters Asia-West Coast South America links amid capacity surge

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">New Delhi has invested heavily into freight infrastructure modernization through public-private participation and pushed digital logistics solutions along with sweeping policy reforms to ease trade processes in recent years.  </div>

New Delhi has invested heavily into freight infrastructure modernization through public-private participation and pushed digital logistics solutions along with sweeping policy reforms to ease trade processes in recent years.  

<div class="phx-topic">India’s maritime-focused economic development agenda is rapidly redefining the unnerving port flow experience that ocean carriers and shippers had to deal with out of the emerging market until a decade ago, industry stakeholders across the spectrum agree. New Delhi has invested heavily into freight infrastructure modernization through public-private participation and pushed digital logistics solutions along with sweeping policy reforms to ease trade processes in recent years.   Last year marked the influx of sizeable fresh terminal capacity into Indian trade, thanks to the launch of Phase 2 operations by PSA International in Nhava Sheva Port (JNPA) and the official opening of Adani Ports’ terminal in southern India, a transshipment hub designed to rival Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port, in addition to limited scaleups at relatively smaller ports. As a result, there is sufficient box capacity across major ports — pegged at approximately 35 million TEUs annually — to handle near-term shipping demand. Looking ahead, new terminal projects in various stages of development, including at Vadhavan — about 100 miles north of Mumbai — on a landlord model led by the JNPA authority; Tuna — off Kandla Port in Gujarat State — under a concession contract awarded to DP World; and Adani Ports’ ongoing expansions at Mundra Port, could push Indian capacity to over 50 million TEUs over the next five years, industry estimates show. Carrier and terminal executives who spoke with the Journal of Commerce have struck an upbeat tone on India’s port strides. “Capacity expansion, particularly in western and southern India, combined with modernization initiatives across major ports, has delivered tangible productivity gains, positioning us well to support the country’s ambitious growth trajectory,” said Bhavik Mota, Maersk’s director of regional ocean management for India, Middle East and Africa. “We are seeing faster turnaround times, enhanced operational efficiency, and infrastructure that can genuinely compete globally.”<div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="b5c7e656-d66d-4f23-8a9e-01c230d7d132"></dynamic-object></div>JNPA Chairperson Gaurav Dayal said extensive digitization and proactive gate practices have dramatically reshaped terminal operations in Nhava Sheva, India’s largest container dock by capacity. “Over the last decade, JNPA has evolved from a conventional port into an integrated trade facilitation hub,” Dayal noted. “There have been measurable reductions in vessel turnaround and container dwell times.” Improving rail fluidity has also achieved heightened prominence among national policymakers and port leaders as it draws more loads away from the predominant trucking mode in order to ease pressure inland, with a freight-only rail corridor project connecting the northern interior to West Coast ports at the heart of that modal shift effort involving an infrastructure outlay of over $11 billion. The 1,500-km double-line track able to offer double-stack container services at train speeds up to 100 km/h is set to operationalize the Nhava Sheva stretch next month, having already connected Mundra in stages. That access should help JNPA expand the share of volumes departing or arriving by rail from the current 15% to 25% in line with government target goals. Various agencies, including the World Bank, have acknowledged the wave of recent port flow improvements at Indian ports, broadly estimating average container dwell times at three days and vessel turn times at no more than a day. <h3>Need to strengthen multimodal connectivity </h3>While the performance within the four walls of port gates has markedly scaled up, stakeholders generally believe that moving cargo between the water and the land more efficiently remains an unfulfilled aspect of the supply chain in the context of growing vessel call sizes that typically involve high container exchanges per port visit. “The next frontier is strengthening multimodal connectivity beyond the port gates to fully unlock India’s cost competitiveness in global trade,” Mota said. That was echoed by Girish Aggarwal, managing director of APM Terminals’ Gujarat Pipavav Port. “As cargo profiles become more complex and supply chains more time-sensitive, the next phase of growth will require deeper integration across the logistics ecosystem, faster decision-making, and sustained investments in multimodal connectivity,” Aggarwal said. “The challenge is not just creating capacity, but ensuring predictability, reliability, and ease of doing business for our stakeholders.” Suni Vaswani, executive director at the Container Shipping Lines’ Association (India), said despite the significant capacity strides, the Indian port sector grapples with a string of long-standing barriers — ranging from high vessel tariffs and container scanner shortages to rail delays resulting from mixed train/common marshalling yard operations — to keep moving up the ladder of global competency. “Indian ports could do better with some improvements ... container lines have already diverted a significant portion of their transshipment volumes from neighboring foreign hubs to Nhava Sheva and Mundra,” Vaswani said. Approximately 60% of Indian containerized freight is shipped in and out of Mundra and Nhava Sheva, with the duo handling 16 million TEUs in 2025 out of the countrywide 26 million TEUs for the year, up from 15 million TEUs and 24 million TEUs, respectively, in 2024, data obtained by the Journal of Commerce shows. Additionally, with evolving “green shoots” in local manufacturing, container carrier heavyweights are increasingly diversifying investment interests in India beyond port-to-port shipping and inland verticals to vessel flagging and shipbuilding as government policies become more industry-friendly. Maersk, CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co. have already signaled that diversified push.  Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com</a>. </div>

India’s maritime-focused economic development agenda is rapidly redefining the unnerving port flow experience that ocean carriers and shippers had to deal with out of the emerging market until a decade ago, industry stakeholders across the spectrum agree.  New Delhi has invested heavily into freight infrastructure modernization through public-private participation and pushed digital logistics solutions along with sweeping policy reforms to ease trade processes in recent years.    Last year marked the influx of sizeable fresh terminal capacity into Indian trade, thanks to the launch of Phase 2 operations by PSA International in Nhava Sheva Port (JNPA) and the official opening of Adani Ports’ terminal in southern India, a transshipment hub designed to rival Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port, in addition to limited scaleups at relatively smaller ports.  As a result, there is sufficient box capacity across major ports — pegged at approximately 35 million TEUs annually — to handle near-term shipping demand. Looking ahead, new terminal projects in various stages of development, including at Vadhavan — about 100 miles north of Mumbai — on a landlord model led by the JNPA authority; Tuna — off Kandla Port in Gujarat State — under a concession contract awarded to DP World; and Adani Ports’ ongoing expansions at Mundra Port, could push Indian capacity to over 50 million TEUs over the next five years, industry estimates show.  Carrier and terminal executives who spoke with the Journal of Commerce have struck an upbeat tone on India’s port strides.  “Capacity expansion, particularly in western and southern India, combined with modernization initiatives across major ports, has delivered tangible productivity gains, positioning us well to support the country’s ambitious growth trajectory,” said Bhavik Mota, Maersk’s director of regional ocean management for India, Middle East and Africa. “We are seeing faster turnaround times, enhanced operational efficiency, and infrastructure that can genuinely compete globally.” JNPA Chairperson Gaurav Dayal said extensive digitization and proactive gate practices have dramatically reshaped terminal operations in Nhava Sheva, India’s largest container dock by capacity.  “Over the last decade, JNPA has evolved from a conventional port into an integrated trade facilitation hub,” Dayal noted. “There have been measurable reductions in vessel turnaround and container dwell times.”  Improving rail fluidity has also achieved heightened prominence among national policymakers and port leaders as it draws more loads away from the predominant trucking mode in order to ease pressure inland, with a freight-only rail corridor project connecting the northern interior to West Coast ports at the heart of that modal shift effort involving an infrastructure outlay of over $11 billion.  The 1,500-km double-line track able to offer double-stack container services at train speeds up to 100 km/h is set to operationalize the Nhava Sheva stretch next month, having already connected Mundra in stages. That access should help JNPA expand the share of volumes departing or arriving by rail from the current 15% to 25% in line with government target goals.  Various agencies, including the World Bank, have acknowledged the wave of recent port flow improvements at Indian ports, broadly estimating average container dwell times at three days and vessel turn times at no more than a day.  Need to strengthen multimodal connectivity  While the performance within the four walls of port gates has markedly scaled up, stakeholders generally believe that moving cargo between the water and the land more efficiently remains an unfulfilled aspect of the supply chain in the context of growing vessel call sizes that typically involve high container exchanges per port visit.  “The next frontier is strengthening multimodal connectivity beyond the port gates to fully unlock India’s cost competitiveness in global trade,” Mota said.  That was echoed by Girish Aggarwal, managing director of APM Terminals’ Gujarat Pipavav Port.  “As cargo profiles become more complex and supply chains more time-sensitive, the next phase of growth will require deeper integration across the logistics ecosystem, faster decision-making, and sustained investments in multimodal connectivity,” Aggarwal said. “The challenge is not just creating capacity, but ensuring predictability, reliability, and ease of doing business for our stakeholders.”  Suni Vaswani, executive director at the Container Shipping Lines’ Association (India), said despite the significant capacity strides, the Indian port sector grapples with a string of long-standing barriers — ranging from high vessel tariffs and container scanner shortages to rail delays resulting from mixed train/common marshalling yard operations — to keep moving up the ladder of global competency.  “Indian ports could do better with some improvements ... container lines have already diverted a significant portion of their transshipment volumes from neighboring foreign hubs to Nhava Sheva and Mundra,” Vaswani said.  Approximately 60% of Indian containerized freight is shipped in and out of Mundra and Nhava Sheva, with the duo handling 16 million TEUs in 2025 out of the countrywide 26 million TEUs for the year, up from 15 million TEUs and 24 million TEUs, respectively, in 2024, data obtained by the Journal of Commerce shows.  Additionally, with evolving “green shoots” in local manufacturing, container carrier heavyweights are increasingly diversifying investment interests in India beyond port-to-port shipping and inland verticals to vessel flagging and shipbuilding as government policies become more industry-friendly. Maersk, CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co. have already signaled that diversified push.   Contact Bency Mathew at  bencyvmathew@gmail.com .  

Indian port flow boosted by infrastructure, technology investment efforts

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Citing “the complex and uncertain international context,” the carrier said proforma voyages through the Suez that were confirmed last month would remain diverted via the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa.</div>

Citing “the complex and uncertain international context,” the carrier said proforma voyages through the Suez that were confirmed last month would remain diverted via the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa.

<div class="phx-topic">CMA CGM on Tuesday said it would scale back plans to reroute three Asia-Europe westbound services through the Red Sea and Suez that were announced just last month. The carrier’s about-face is a glaring example of the delicate balancing act facing liners as they chart a return to transits through the Red Sea while also acknowledging that the returns may be short-lived. The move comes as Maersk <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/maersk-set-to-resume-regular-suez-transits-on-india-usec-mecl-loop-sources-6152441">last week announced its scheduled MECL service</a> from India to the US East Coast would resume Suez sailings from Jan. 26. Citing “the complex and uncertain international context,” CMA CGM said in a statement that proforma voyages through the Suez that were confirmed last month on Asia-Europe would remain diverted via the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa. “The CMA CGM Group has decided for the time being to reroute vessels deployed on our FAL 1, FAL 3 and MEX services via the Cape of Good Hope,” the carrier said in a statement, adding that the Suez situation would be regularly reviewed.   For carriers, the risks to crew and brand that come with a Suez/Red Sea return are high — despite Houthi rebels announcing in November that ship attacks would end — on top of the additional costs of diverting vessels should attacks resume.  There’s also the commercial concern of staying competitive with Suez transits offering up to 10-day shorter transits from Asia to Europe, and the larger risk of released capacity that would put immense downward pressure on rates. Carriers also must weigh the willingness of shippers and insurers to allow cargo to return to a potentially volatile route. “A hybrid routing is going to be the prevailing mode for this year, whereby carriers are going to start with more backhaul and lower-value cargo in Suez transits but keep on using the Cape of Good Hope for the higher-value head-haul voyages,” Simon Heaney, senior manager of container research at Drewry, told a webinar hosted by the maritime consultant Tuesday. “This is going to mean that more effective capacity will be drip fed back into the market over the course of the year and won’t happen all at once,” he added. “It will give carriers more time to assess the risk-reward position, prepare their future networks and prevent a total collapse in pricing.” Still, Heaney warned that overcapacity in the market would bring down rates, “regardless of how quickly Suez transits resume.” It was a position supported by transport analysts at HSBC, who said in a market update Tuesday that a swift return to Suez could cause a short-term increase in rates, but prices would decline through 2026. “Spot freight rates could fall significantly and also weigh on this year’s trans-Pacific [service contract talks] in April and May,” HSBC said. <h3>Some scheduled services take shorter route </h3>Ocean carriers have been increasing their transits via the Suez and Red Sea recently, encouraged by the absence of Houthi attacks that began in late 2023 and forced lengthy diversions around southern Africa.   The working approach so far, led by CMA CGM and with Maersk and other carriers starting to follow, has been to route India-US services through the Suez. CMA CGM is operating its service from India to the US via the Suez and Maersk will resume sailings for its MECL (India, Middle East-US East Coast) service via the Red Sea and Suez Canal from Jan. 26. The Ocean Alliance has scheduled all eastbound legs of its NEU4 Asia-Europe service from January and its MED2 Asia-Mediterranean service from February via the Suez. Getting shippers onboard will be a crucial part of the Suez-return puzzle. Some shippers tell the Journal of Commerce that directives from their C-suites prevent them from considering Suez voyages despite the better transit time. Other cargo owners, such as the supply chain director for a Europe-based shipper, have no problem using the Egyptian waterway.“Our global insurance policy isn’t significantly affected by shipping through the Red Sea, so if the services are there and the cost makes sense, then there wouldn’t be much stopping us from using them,” the source said. “But it all seems very tentative,” he added. “I think what we’re seeing is the tension between carriers wanting to attract cargo by offering a diverse mix of transit times, and a fear of crashing the market or a return to bunching at the ports in Asia and Europe.” Drewry noted that insurance costs were less of an impediment, with premiums expressed as a percentage of the vessel hull value currently about 0.2% or 0.3%, down from a high of 1% in the two years since the Red Sea attacks began. <h3>Two-route voyage schedule </h3>Drewry’s expectations of a two-route Suez-Africa voyage schedule this year reflected the cautious approach from carriers and alliances, as well as shippers that want to avoid valuable cargo being put at risk while factoring into contracts any resumption of the shorter route.“We know that depending on the direction of the voyage and the size of the ship, the multiple of the goods value versus the ship value can range from five to 10 times,” Heaney told the webinar.   Most of the Asia-Europe annual contracting has been completed for the year, with shippers and forwarders telling the Journal of Commerce that a return to the Suez has been factored in. “We have built some flex into our negotiations on these lanes this year that allows for a renegotiation in case there is a sudden rush back to the Red Sea route,” the head of logistics at a European retailer said. It was an approach supported by Philip Damas, managing director of Drewry Shipping Consultants, who said low rates were a given through 2026 while shippers were asking for two rates — one for current transits via the Cape and one for the Suez.  “That option makes it easier to later effectively apply the relevant rates,” Damas told the Drewry webinar. “Another option is to negotiate based on the Cape routing and have a specific review clause that when the Suez Canal transits resume fully, there will be a renegotiation. Having that clause up front is probably easier.”  Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>.   </div>

CMA CGM on Tuesday said it would scale back plans to reroute three Asia-Europe westbound services through the Red Sea and Suez that were announced just last month. The carrier’s about-face is a glaring example of the delicate balancing act facing liners as they chart a return to transits through the Red Sea while also acknowledging that the returns may be short-lived.  The move comes as Maersk last week announced its scheduled MECL service from India to the US East Coast would resume Suez sailings from Jan. 26.  Citing “the complex and uncertain international context,” CMA CGM said in a statement that proforma voyages through the Suez that were confirmed last month on Asia-Europe would remain diverted via the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa.  “The CMA CGM Group has decided for the time being to reroute vessels deployed on our FAL 1, FAL 3 and MEX services via the Cape of Good Hope,” the carrier said in a statement, adding that the Suez situation would be regularly reviewed.    For carriers, the risks to crew and brand that come with a Suez/Red Sea return are high — despite Houthi rebels announcing in November that ship attacks would end — on top of the additional costs of diverting vessels should attacks resume.   There’s also the commercial concern of staying competitive with Suez transits offering up to 10-day shorter transits from Asia to Europe, and the larger risk of released capacity that would put immense downward pressure on rates. Carriers also must weigh the willingness of shippers and insurers to allow cargo to return to a potentially volatile route.  “A hybrid routing is going to be the prevailing mode for this year, whereby carriers are going to start with more backhaul and lower-value cargo in Suez transits but keep on using the Cape of Good Hope for the higher-value head-haul voyages,” Simon Heaney, senior manager of container research at Drewry, told a webinar hosted by the maritime consultant Tuesday.  “This is going to mean that more effective capacity will be drip fed back into the market over the course of the year and won’t happen all at once,” he added. “It will give carriers more time to assess the risk-reward position, prepare their future networks and prevent a total collapse in pricing.”  Still, Heaney warned that overcapacity in the market would bring down rates, “regardless of how quickly Suez transits resume.”  It was a position supported by transport analysts at HSBC, who said in a market update Tuesday that a swift return to Suez could cause a short-term increase in rates, but prices would decline through 2026.  “Spot freight rates could fall significantly and also weigh on this year’s trans-Pacific [service contract talks] in April and May,” HSBC said.  Some scheduled services take shorter route  Ocean carriers have been increasing their transits via the Suez and Red Sea recently, encouraged by the absence of Houthi attacks that began in late 2023 and forced lengthy diversions around southern Africa.   The working approach so far, led by CMA CGM and with Maersk and other carriers starting to follow, has been to route India-US services through the Suez. CMA CGM is operating its service from India to the US via the Suez and Maersk will resume sailings for its MECL (India, Middle East-US East Coast) service via the Red Sea and Suez Canal from Jan. 26.  The Ocean Alliance has scheduled all eastbound legs of its NEU4 Asia-Europe service from January and its MED2 Asia-Mediterranean service from February via the Suez.  Getting shippers onboard will be a crucial part of the Suez-return puzzle. Some shippers tell the Journal of Commerce that directives from their C-suites prevent them from considering Suez voyages despite the better transit time. Other cargo owners, such as the supply chain director for a Europe-based shipper, have no problem using the Egyptian waterway. “Our global insurance policy isn’t significantly affected by shipping through the Red Sea, so if the services are there and the cost makes sense, then there wouldn’t be much stopping us from using them,” the source said.  “But it all seems very tentative,” he added. “I think what we’re seeing is the tension between carriers wanting to attract cargo by offering a diverse mix of transit times, and a fear of crashing the market or a return to bunching at the ports in Asia and Europe.”  Drewry noted that insurance costs were less of an impediment, with premiums expressed as a percentage of the vessel hull value currently about 0.2% or 0.3%, down from a high of 1% in the two years since the Red Sea attacks began.  Two-route voyage schedule  Drewry’s expectations of a two-route Suez-Africa voyage schedule this year reflected the cautious approach from carriers and alliances, as well as shippers that want to avoid valuable cargo being put at risk while factoring into contracts any resumption of the shorter route. “We know that depending on the direction of the voyage and the size of the ship, the multiple of the goods value versus the ship value can range from five to 10 times,” Heaney told the webinar.    Most of the Asia-Europe annual contracting has been completed for the year, with shippers and forwarders telling the Journal of Commerce that a return to the Suez has been factored in.  “We have built some flex into our negotiations on these lanes this year that allows for a renegotiation in case there is a sudden rush back to the Red Sea route,” the head of logistics at a European retailer said.  It was an approach supported by Philip Damas, managing director of Drewry Shipping Consultants, who said low rates were a given through 2026 while shippers were asking for two rates — one for current transits via the Cape and one for the Suez.   “That option makes it easier to later effectively apply the relevant rates,” Damas told the Drewry webinar. “Another option is to negotiate based on the Cape routing and have a specific review clause that when the Suez Canal transits resume fully, there will be a renegotiation. Having that clause up front is probably easier.”   Contact Greg Knowler at  greg.knowler@spglobal.com .   

CMA CGM backs off plans to resume Suez transits for Asia-Europe services 

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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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The Journal of Commerce’s trucking news and analysis encompasses full truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), private fleet trucking, refrigerated trucking, regulation, drayage, and transloading. Reporting centers on pricing, volume demand, capacity, labor, regulation, and service levels in US and Canadian trucking networks.

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