How prudent is the move by selected container lines to redefine and reposition themselves as end-to-end logistics providers? Does it represent a necessary competitive adjustment, in order to be compensated in kind and defend against disruption by new industry actors? Or does it risk losing sight of the underlying container shipping business?
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Essential Reads
The changes across the US transportation landscape, from a trade war with mainland China to seemingly unstoppable e-commerce growth, require from logistics managers a drill-like precision and agility and closer collaboration with carriers.
Rising operating costs that are siphoning off profitability will see carriers having a much greater hold on capacity going into what is looking like a volatile 2019.
Freight growth may slow in 2019, but shippers should be vigilant in seeking new routes owing to constrained capacity.
JOC Shipping & Logistics Pricing Hub
The pricing data found here allows shippers and transport providers to more accurately benchmark and forecast for their supply chains. The various spot prices and indices are collected from third-party sources and updated weekly, monthly and quarterly, depending on the data set.
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Maritime News
The low water in German rivers will not improve before Christmas, something that's likely to frustrate shippers trying to move containers in and out of northern Europe.
It has been a good third quarter for the container shipping industry, with significant increases in revenue and volume preventing high fuel prices from doing too much damage to most of the financial results.
Rates on the mainland China-US trade took a tumble for the first time in weeks, ending a rally in prices that have lasted well past the end of the traditional peak season.
THE Alliance of Hapag-Lloyd, Yang Ming, and Ocean Express Network will be relocating its trans-Atlantic operations from Bremerhaven to Hamburg, a move that Alphaliner has estimated will be worth a substantial number of TEU per year.
Trucking News
Trucking Logistics
There is good reason to consider ditching the transactional model.
US freight volumes are still growing. Equally significant, the international political climate that affected imports, exports, and trade flows in 2018 could do so again in 2019.
The electronic logging device transition period has passed and the trucking industry has found a new normal. On the rails, intermodal volume has grown each week, year over year, except week one. What do the aforementioned mean for rates and capacity for each?
“Absent a rebound this week, the anticipated holiday peak for van freight appears to be muted,” DAT said in a statement. Even so, another feature of the US economy continues to bode well for freight demand.
Port News
Port News
Despite the lower growth, India's logistics reform measures have increased competition across transport modes — something cargo owners and logistics providers welcome.
Providers such as Advent and GE Transportation are each constructing a system of systems at North American ports.
At the JOC Port Performance North America Conference in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday, a key technical director offered insights regarding how to increase port productivity as ships get bigger, including what stakeholders should expect from automation.
Over the weekend, drivers protested at Alemoa, in front of the main road access to the port of Santos, and closed the main highway between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro for six hours, backing up truck traffic more than two kilometers (1.24 miles).
Technology News
Technology
One shipping-trade group representing foreign carriers in trade to/from India, questioned why authorities went live with the revamped, single window system without an adequate trial-run process.
Among other findings, the McKinsey report provided further evidence supporting the thesis that automation technology incorporation in container shipping, and in particular at marine terminals, will likely be part science and part art.
There is almost assuredly no one system that will solve inefficiencies, especially in a large port complex with a dozen independently operated terminals like Southern California, speakers at the JOC Port Performance North American Conference in Newark, New Jersey, said this week.
Two variables shippers will have to determine that will likely influence the instant quote practice’s acceptance/rejection are — will the shipper's business model benefit from an instant quote and an immediate booking? And how much of a premium are shippers willing to pay to obtain them?
Breakbulk News
Breakbulk
The concerns have weighed on oil prices, and the health of the global energy market strongly affects the movement of project cargo.
Founded in 2011, Hansa Heavy Lift was the successor to Bremen-based Beluga Shipping.
An initial cargo of 19 units weighed more than 850 metric tons (937 tons) combined and included separators, heaters, and columns designed for hydrocarbon processing.
Everything transported to an Antarctica research station by Trans Global Projects required extensive care and, due to the threat of intrusion by non-native plants and animals, extensive biosecurity and decontamination processes.
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