<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Breakbulk volumes are normalizing at Houston after the market surge of 2022, while “spillover” containers have disappeared. </div>

Breakbulk volumes are normalizing at Houston after the market surge of 2022, while “spillover” containers have disappeared.

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<div>Coming off an unprecedented year for breakbulk shipments in 2022, Port Houston saw a significant decline in total breakbulk cargo, including a dip in steel imports, during the first two months of 2023 — signs that an overtaxed breakbulk market is settling back to normal levels.&nbsp;This year’s <a>breakbulk volumes suggest stabilization from an “anomaly of a year” in 2022,</a> Dominic Sun, director of trade development for Port Houston, told the Journal of Commerce.&nbsp;&nbsp;Breakbulk tonnage during January and February fell 25 percent, to 977,539 short tons, compared with the same months in 2022, according to port authority data. Steel imports, which...

Coming off an unprecedented year for breakbulk shipments in 2022, Port Houston saw a significant decline in total breakbulk cargo, including a dip in steel imports, during the first two months of 2023 — signs that an overtaxed breakbulk market is settling back to normal levels.  This year’s breakbulk volumes suggest stabilization from an “anomaly of a year” in 2022, Dominic Sun, director of trade development for Port Houston, told the Journal of Commerce.   Breakbulk tonnage during January and February fell 25 percent, to 977,539 short tons, compared with the same months in 2022, according to port authority data. Steel imports, which are a subset of total breakbulk tonnage, were down 8 percent to 841,679 short tons over the same period.   Along with steel, Houston’s breakbulk tonnage includes metals, project cargo, forest products, heavy machinery, and turbines.   Although the 2023 breakbulk volumes are markedly lower than last year, Sun noted they are still much higher than before the spillover market hit. The 2023 year-to-date breakbulk volumes represent an increase of 89 percent over 2021, 127 percent from 2020, and 14 percent from 2019.  Steel imports reflect a similar trend. Despite this year’s decline, steel is up 151 percent from 2021, 143 percent from 2020, and 12 percent from 2019.  “We always anticipate some softening at the beginning of the year,” Sun said. “But compared to other years, we’re still ahead of the game.”  Houston expects steel volumes, which consist largely of the tubular steel that supports oil rigs and exploration, to remain healthy. As of March 24, the US rig count had reached 755, up 82 rigs for the year, according to data from energy services firm Baker Hughes. The energy sector is also anticipating a boost following the federal government’s decision in late March to auction off 1.6 million acres of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico for exploration, Sun said.   “If that is any indication, and we think it is, we feel very confident we’ll maintain our volumes, and the softening will only be nominal when it comes to import steel,” he said.   Spillover boxes ‘long gone’   At Cooper/Ports America (C/PA), which operates on the North Side City Docks in Houston, operations manager Gerard Hill started noticing signs of a breakbulk slowdown in December and January.    Gerard Hill, Operations Manager, Cooper/Ports America Photo credit: Cooper/Ports America. “From where I’m sitting, we still have a lot of things going on, just not quite as much,” Hill told the Journal of Commerce in late March. “We’re working four ships today, whereas a year ago we might have had nine or 10 ships .”   Breakbulk activity has tapered off to levels more in line with what C/PA saw in 2020 and the first half of 2021, now that the 2022 surge of containers on non-container ships has dissipated. “We had a lot of containers on breakbulk ships last year. That’s long gone,” Hill said.  To accommodate last year’s surge of spillover cargo, C/PA added more personnel, equipment, and other resources to accommodate the influx. Now, Hill said, the company is being more cautious.   “We’re diversified enough where we can move resources around, hopefully without making any cuts,” he said, adding that besides breakbulk in Houston, C/PA also handles containers and military equipment at other Texas ports.  One promising trend has been an uptick in cargo related to solar energy. Whereas last year C/PA moved about 10,000 tons of solar-related cargo in 2021, the company handled about 100,000 tons in 2022, Hill said. “And we’re still seeing that today,” he said.  Excess no more  Breakbulk ports and terminals such as Cooper/Ports America normally handle only a limited number of containers, and many were swamped by the number of excess or “spillover” containers that showed up on non-container ships during 2021 and well into 2022. The breakbulk “spillover” market was driven by shippers desperate to get their cargo moved and willing to switch normally containerized cargo into breakbulk modes or to put containers on non-container ships.   The general cargo sector, which includes multipurpose vessels (MPV), imported far more 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) into the US in 2021 and 2022 than would ever be seen in a normal market, according to data provided by PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global.  Yearly numbers show the anomaly clearly. In 2020, a total of 75,215 TEU were imported into the US on general cargo ships, down from 2019’s total of 78,229 TEU. In 2021, the yearly total jumped 96 percent to 153,553 TEU and in 2022 it hit 172,220 TEU. Although from a much lower base, bulk carriers also show the trend. In 2020, only 3,265 TEU arrived on bulk carriers. In 2021, the number was 26,625 TEU, rising to 32,022 TEU last year.   TEU spillover peaked in Houston and the Port of Everett in Washington state in 2022 and in Los Angeles, Miami, and Savannah in 2021, according to PIERS, as shippers and their carriers searched for ports and terminals willing to handle general cargo ships that had been pressed into container transport.  Contact Special Correspondent Autumn Cafiero Giusti at autumn@autumngiusti.com .  

Port News

Project cargo

Breakbulk News

Breakbulk volumes down sharply at Port Houston after 2022 ‘anomaly’

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Ocean carriers have so far been unable to stem the rate slide in the traditionally slow post-Golden Week period that followed an early peak season on the trade lane, but they are pulling hard on capacity management levers in a bid to balance supply and demand.</div>

Ocean carriers have so far been unable to stem the rate slide in the traditionally slow post-Golden Week period that followed an early peak season on the trade lane, but they are pulling hard on capacity management levers in a bid to balance supply and demand.

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<div class="phx-topic">Forwarders expect freefalling Asia-North Europe ocean spot rates to bottom out in October and then climb through the remainder of the year as carriers increase blank sailings and roll out rate hikes to target early Chinese New Year demand. In an advisory to customers this week, a Europe-based global forwarder said there is less volume currently on the Asia-Europe trade because some factories and shippers were holding cargo back in anticipation of rates falling further. But that will change. “November demand is expected to be strong because the blank sailings will limit capacity and the Chinese New Year peak will be earlier because of the longer transit times [around southern Africa],” the advisory noted. Lunar New Year will be earlier in 2025, falling on Jan. 29 compared with Feb. 10 this year. The head of ocean freight at a Germany-based forwarder who did not want to be identified agreed that rate levels were likely to rise through November with demand picking up from early in the month amid carriers withdrawing capacity. Carriers have so far been unable to stem the rate slide in the traditionally slow post-Golden Week period that followed an early peak season on Asia-Europe, but they are pulling hard on capacity management levers in a bid to balance supply and demand. “As a consequence of the decline in demand, Maersk is looking to balance the network accordingly,” the carrier told customers in an advisory this week. Data from visibility provider eeSea shows carriers are so far expected to blank 271,382 TEUs in October on Asia-Europe, representing 20% of available capacity on the trade. That’s up from 16.5% in September and 15.3% in August. November blanks were not yet available. Total Asia-North Europe capacity — comprising both available and blanked capacity — was 1.35 million TEUs in October, compared with just over 1 million TEUs during the same month last year, according to eeSea. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="874fb71b-dde8-4286-b65b-1bef7790a9f3"></dynamic-object></div>Carriers this year have kept idle capacity at low levels while adding significant numbers of new vessels. So far this year, capacity delivered in the “ultra-large” vessel segment of 14,501 TEUs and above is at is at 658,048 TEUs, according to Sea-web, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. On a global level, shipping association BIMCO has forecast cargo volume growth at 3% to 4% in both 2024 and 2025, which will be easily outstripped by fleet growth due to top 9.5% in 2024 and 4.9% in 2025. “In 2024, 478 container ships with a capacity of 3.1 million TEUs are scheduled for delivery, beating the 2023 record by 41%,” Niels Rasmussen, BIMCO’s chief shipping analyst, told the Journal of Commerce in a recent interview. <h3>Nov. 1 rate hikes </h3>The Asia-North Europe capacity cuts have yet to exert any upward pressure on rates during the traditionally slow post-Golden Week period in early October that followed an early peak season on Asia-Europe. Spot rates from Asia to North Europe have lost more than $5,500 since early July, when prices hit a 2024 high of $8,500 per FEU. The average rate this week was $2,900 per FEU, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. Several carriers have announced freight-all-kinds (FAK) rate levels from Nov. 1 in a move to capitalize on any rising demand and finish the year strongly. The increases are led by Mediterranean Shipping Co., which is setting its rate at $5,000 per FEU. Maersk has told customers there will be a rate increase from Nov. 4, but did not provide a figure. Hapag-Lloyd, however, is setting its rate at $2,500 per FEU, lower than the current market. Potentially aiding carrier attempts to raise rate levels will be weather-related congestion that has been disrupting ports at both ends of the Asia-North Europe trade. Kuehne + Nagel’s visibility platform SeaExplorer is reporting the current average waiting time at Hamburg is near 1.17 days, but yard utilization is at 102% with the German port limiting empty returns for all carriers. Labor shortages at night and on weekends are adding to delays. Across the English Channel in Felixstowe, SeaExplorer is reporting heavy disruption at the UK’s largest container hub and noted that operator Hutchison Ports has threatened to close its gates to empties if stock levels are not reduced below 5,000 TEUs. The recent typhoons Bebinca and Pulasan in Asia caused the bunching of vessels with the average waiting time in Shanghai over the past seven days at 2.61 days, according to SeaExplorer. Heavy berth congestion at the port’s Waigaoqiao terminals is causing three-day delays while the larger Yangshan terminals are facing waiting times of up to two days. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Forwarders expect freefalling Asia-North Europe ocean spot rates to bottom out in October and then climb through the remainder of the year as carriers increase blank sailings and roll out rate hikes to target early Chinese New Year demand. In an advisory to customers this week, a Europe-based global forwarder said there is less volume currently on the Asia-Europe trade because some factories and shippers were holding cargo back in anticipation of rates falling further. But that will change. “November demand is expected to be strong because the blank sailings will limit capacity and the Chinese New Year peak will be earlier because of the longer transit times [around southern Africa],” the advisory noted. Lunar New Year will be earlier in 2025, falling on Jan. 29 compared with Feb. 10 this year. The head of ocean freight at a Germany-based forwarder who did not want to be identified agreed that rate levels were likely to rise through November with demand picking up from early in the month amid carriers withdrawing capacity. Carriers have so far been unable to stem the rate slide in the traditionally slow post-Golden Week period that followed an early peak season on Asia-Europe, but they are pulling hard on capacity management levers in a bid to balance supply and demand. “As a consequence of the decline in demand, Maersk is looking to balance the network accordingly,” the carrier told customers in an advisory this week. Data from visibility provider eeSea shows carriers are so far expected to blank 271,382 TEUs in October on Asia-Europe, representing 20% of available capacity on the trade. That’s up from 16.5% in September and 15.3% in August. November blanks were not yet available. Total Asia-North Europe capacity — comprising both available and blanked capacity — was 1.35 million TEUs in October, compared with just over 1 million TEUs during the same month last year, according to eeSea. Carriers this year have kept idle capacity at low levels while adding significant numbers of new vessels. So far this year, capacity delivered in the “ultra-large” vessel segment of 14,501 TEUs and above is at is at 658,048 TEUs, according to Sea-web, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. On a global level, shipping association BIMCO has forecast cargo volume growth at 3% to 4% in both 2024 and 2025, which will be easily outstripped by fleet growth due to top 9.5% in 2024 and 4.9% in 2025. “In 2024, 478 container ships with a capacity of 3.1 million TEUs are scheduled for delivery, beating the 2023 record by 41%,” Niels Rasmussen, BIMCO’s chief shipping analyst, told the Journal of Commerce in a recent interview. Nov. 1 rate hikes The Asia-North Europe capacity cuts have yet to exert any upward pressure on rates during the traditionally slow post-Golden Week period in early October that followed an early peak season on Asia-Europe. Spot rates from Asia to North Europe have lost more than $5,500 since early July, when prices hit a 2024 high of $8,500 per FEU. The average rate this week was $2,900 per FEU, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Several carriers have announced freight-all-kinds (FAK) rate levels from Nov. 1 in a move to capitalize on any rising demand and finish the year strongly. The increases are led by Mediterranean Shipping Co., which is setting its rate at $5,000 per FEU. Maersk has told customers there will be a rate increase from Nov. 4, but did not provide a figure. Hapag-Lloyd, however, is setting its rate at $2,500 per FEU, lower than the current market. Potentially aiding carrier attempts to raise rate levels will be weather-related congestion that has been disrupting ports at both ends of the Asia-North Europe trade. Kuehne + Nagel’s visibility platform SeaExplorer is reporting the current average waiting time at Hamburg is near 1.17 days, but yard utilization is at 102% with the German port limiting empty returns for all carriers. Labor shortages at night and on weekends are adding to delays. Across the English Channel in Felixstowe, SeaExplorer is reporting heavy disruption at the UK’s largest container hub and noted that operator Hutchison Ports has threatened to close its gates to empties if stock levels are not reduced below 5,000 TEUs. The recent typhoons Bebinca and Pulasan in Asia caused the bunching of vessels with the average waiting time in Shanghai over the past seven days at 2.61 days, according to SeaExplorer. Heavy berth congestion at the port’s Waigaoqiao terminals is causing three-day delays while the larger Yangshan terminals are facing waiting times of up to two days. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Container Shipping News

Asia-Europe

Maritime

Asia-Europe carriers target pre-Lunar New Year demand with rate hikes, blank sailings

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Rapid urbanization and strong economic growth are driving project cargo volumes in India, although heavier cargoes are becoming harder to handle due to port equipment and infrastructure limitations.</div>

Rapid urbanization and strong economic growth are driving project cargo volumes in India, although heavier cargoes are becoming harder to handle due to port equipment and infrastructure limitations.

<div class="phx-topic">India is on the cusp of a project cargo growth explosion as a sheaf of large-scale infrastructure projects kick off. But heavier cargoes and clearance complications could hold back growth, according to shippers in the region. Infrastructure projects for roads, rail, inland waterways, seaports and airports are supporting movement of project cargoes across the country, Dharmendra Gangrade, head of logistics management at Indian engineering, procurement and construction company and diversified conglomerate Larsen &amp; Toubro (L&amp;T), told the Journal of Commerce. However, heavier cargoes are becoming harder to handle due to port equipment and infrastructure limitations, while the myriad agencies tasked with granting clearances for interstate cargo transport complicate project cargo moves, Gangrade said. “Project cargo shippers continue to face challenges due to non-availability of assets driven by a huge demand-supply gap,” he said. Steel products, inbound and outbound, are also a major source of cargo for heavy-lift carriers and logistics service providers serving Indian ports, according to a Mumbai Port Trust executive who did not want to be identified. “Similarly, on the outbound leg, breakbulk tonnage now has a lot of finished steel volumes moving to Europe,” the source said. In addition, industry sources noted a buildup of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) bags, used for industrial packaging, landing at several Indian ports on breakbulk vessels, mostly from China, Vietnam and South Korea. The bags could signal a pending shift of PTA from containers to breakbulk modes due to higher freight costs. <h3>Ports struggle to keep up with demand </h3>Rapid urbanization in India amid healthy economic growth and a burgeoning middle class is driving growth in breakbulk and heavy freight, shippers said. But as general and project cargo demand soars, Indian ports are grappling with capacity pressures. Ports throughout India report long waits at anchor to secure berths, particularly at Kandla in the west and Kolkata in the east, where average delays range from seven to eight days. Kandla ranks second among major Indian ports for breakbulk tonnage, handling 381 ship calls in fiscal 2023–24, sources familiar with Indian port operations told the Journal of Commerce. While digitization of port and customs services has been an antidote to many paperwork-related strains, a seamless, hassle-free single window experience remains elusive. Sporadic system glitches and shortages in harbor pilotage services are further contributing to vessel turnaround delays, a cargo owner told the Journal of Commerce. <h3>Breakbulk positives outweigh negatives </h3>Nevertheless, industry sources remain bullish on the potential for India’s breakbulk and project cargo market. “The positives of the market far outweigh the negatives for non-container businesses,” the cargo owner said. Heavy cargo carriers serving India have multiple tailwinds as the economy expands, according to KK Krishnadas, head of non-container business at JM Baxi Group, a Mumbai-based project cargo logistics specialist. Carriers are benefiting from a more balanced flow of cargo, with backhaul volumes looking “prettier” than the long-time pattern of imports occupying center stage in round-trip charter fixtures, he said. “In the domestic market, we are witnessing major orders being pursued by Indian fabrication yards, with executions targeted for the third quarter of 2025,” Krishnadas told the Journal of Commerce. Krishnadas added that projects in the energy and chemicals sectors — including for petrochemicals and refining — were major contributors to the growing demand for project cargo trade. Expansion in renewable energy sectors — particularly wind and solar power — and the oil and gas, construction and manufacturing industries is further supporting India’s project cargo sector, according to Nikhil Kedar, commercial marketing representative in India for Cosco Shipping Specialized Carriers. “On the export front, Indian companies are engaging in overseas projects, particularly in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, increasing the need for heavy/project cargo movement,” Kedar said. Contact Bency Matthew at <a href="mailto:bencymathew@gmail.com">bencymathew@gmail.com</a>. </div>

India is on the cusp of a project cargo growth explosion as a sheaf of large-scale infrastructure projects kick off. But heavier cargoes and clearance complications could hold back growth, according to shippers in the region. Infrastructure projects for roads, rail, inland waterways, seaports and airports are supporting movement of project cargoes across the country, Dharmendra Gangrade, head of logistics management at Indian engineering, procurement and construction company and diversified conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T), told the Journal of Commerce. However, heavier cargoes are becoming harder to handle due to port equipment and infrastructure limitations, while the myriad agencies tasked with granting clearances for interstate cargo transport complicate project cargo moves, Gangrade said. “Project cargo shippers continue to face challenges due to non-availability of assets driven by a huge demand-supply gap,” he said. Steel products, inbound and outbound, are also a major source of cargo for heavy-lift carriers and logistics service providers serving Indian ports, according to a Mumbai Port Trust executive who did not want to be identified. “Similarly, on the outbound leg, breakbulk tonnage now has a lot of finished steel volumes moving to Europe,” the source said. In addition, industry sources noted a buildup of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) bags, used for industrial packaging, landing at several Indian ports on breakbulk vessels, mostly from China, Vietnam and South Korea. The bags could signal a pending shift of PTA from containers to breakbulk modes due to higher freight costs. Ports struggle to keep up with demand Rapid urbanization in India amid healthy economic growth and a burgeoning middle class is driving growth in breakbulk and heavy freight, shippers said. But as general and project cargo demand soars, Indian ports are grappling with capacity pressures. Ports throughout India report long waits at anchor to secure berths, particularly at Kandla in the west and Kolkata in the east, where average delays range from seven to eight days. Kandla ranks second among major Indian ports for breakbulk tonnage, handling 381 ship calls in fiscal 2023–24, sources familiar with Indian port operations told the Journal of Commerce. While digitization of port and customs services has been an antidote to many paperwork-related strains, a seamless, hassle-free single window experience remains elusive. Sporadic system glitches and shortages in harbor pilotage services are further contributing to vessel turnaround delays, a cargo owner told the Journal of Commerce. Breakbulk positives outweigh negatives Nevertheless, industry sources remain bullish on the potential for India’s breakbulk and project cargo market. “The positives of the market far outweigh the negatives for non-container businesses,” the cargo owner said. Heavy cargo carriers serving India have multiple tailwinds as the economy expands, according to KK Krishnadas, head of non-container business at JM Baxi Group, a Mumbai-based project cargo logistics specialist. Carriers are benefiting from a more balanced flow of cargo, with backhaul volumes looking “prettier” than the long-time pattern of imports occupying center stage in round-trip charter fixtures, he said. “In the domestic market, we are witnessing major orders being pursued by Indian fabrication yards, with executions targeted for the third quarter of 2025,” Krishnadas told the Journal of Commerce. Krishnadas added that projects in the energy and chemicals sectors — including for petrochemicals and refining — were major contributors to the growing demand for project cargo trade. Expansion in renewable energy sectors — particularly wind and solar power — and the oil and gas, construction and manufacturing industries is further supporting India’s project cargo sector, according to Nikhil Kedar, commercial marketing representative in India for Cosco Shipping Specialized Carriers. “On the export front, Indian companies are engaging in overseas projects, particularly in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, increasing the need for heavy/project cargo movement,” Kedar said. Contact Bency Matthew at bencymathew@gmail.com .

Energy projects

Heavy-haul transport

India’s project cargo expansion tempered by clearance snags, equipment shortages

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">While longshore wages will not increase until a formal contract is signed, the container shipping industry is starting to tally up the billions in new costs that will come with the almost 62% wage hike, according to a Journal of Commerce analysis</div>

While longshore wages will not increase until a formal contract is signed, the container shipping industry is starting to tally up the billions in new costs that will come with the almost 62% wage hike, according to a Journal of Commerce analysis

<div class="phx-topic">The tentative wage deal agreed to between longshore workers and maritime employers along the US East and Gulf coasts could create as much as $5 billion in new waterfront labor costs over the six-year life of the next contract, according to estimates compiled by the Journal of Commerce. While a high number itself — other estimates put it much higher — marine terminal operators hope the wage deal will spur greater productivity and efficiency that will help pay for the increased costs. The agreement struck Oct. 3 between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) will provide dockworkers with a 61.5% increase in the top wage scale over six years, the ILA said in a statement. That was enough to get <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/ila-usmx-agree-on-new-wage-offer-and-contract-extension-that-reopens-ports-5741882">the ILA to agree to a contract extension that reopened East and Gulf coast ports after a three-day strike at the start of October</a>. The wage increase comes in tiers of $6 per hour in the first year, $5 in the second year, $4 in the third year and $3 per hour over the balance of the contract. The salary hike, though, remains contingent upon both sides negotiating a final master contract by Jan. 15 that covers other thorny issues, including work jurisdiction, automation and coastwide benefits. Neither side has publicly said what the wage deal would cost the industry overall, and the actual costs depend on many unknowns such as actual hours worked and container volumes handled. But a Journal of Commerce analysis based on the current growth rate in work hours at East and Gulf coast ports and cumulative hourly raises per year shows $4.95 billion in additional labor costs through 2030. The estimate assumes work hours at the ports under the ILA master contract grow at an annual average of 4.3% over the next six years, the same rate of growth in coastwide longshore work hours seen since 2013, according to data from the USMX. That assumption would put total work hours at 64.4 million by 2030, up from 47.8 million in 2023. In the first year of the deal, overall wages could increase by $312 million. The cumulative raise in the second year would bring wages up another $572 million. The third and fourth years add another $781 million and $937 million, respectively, while over $1 billion in additional labor costs could come in each of the contract’s final two years. The estimate also assumes that the wage increases are paid as straight-time, rather than as overtime hours. Overtime pay can be a significant part of longshore worker income. While the container shipping industry will bear most of the costs, cruise ship and roll-on/ roll-off carrier segments will also pay for the higher wages. This method is about as good as any for estimating an unknown cost, according to Jason Miller, professor of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University and a Journal of Commerce contributor. Miller’s own approximate estimate considers the cost of moving a marine container, with that amount assumed to be evenly split between labor costs and other operating and capital expenses. If lift fees are between $400 and $500 per container, Miller said a 61.5% rise in wages amounts to anywhere between a $125 to $150 increase in per-container lift costs. If East and Gulf coast import volumes hover near 13 million TEUs per year, approximately 7 million containers through 2030, that translates to anywhere between $5.2 billion and $6.3 billion in added labor costs, Miller said. “It seems like a reasonable number and why the ocean carriers would have been willing to agree to the wage increase,” he said. “How much revenue are carriers getting each year for 13 million TEUs of imports each year? “Think about the value of the goods that will be coming through the East and Gulf coasts,” Miller added. “That number is getting into the trillions. The ILA wage deal is a relatively small share of that.” <h3>‘Burundi-size’ cost? </h3>But an executive with the terminal subsidiary of a European-based ocean carrier told the Journal of Commerce that the cost of the wage deal also needs to be measured against the cost of export and empty container moves, for which there is little to no revenue. East and Gulf coast ports are on track to handle about 19 million containers in total, full and empty, in 2024, according to the ocean carrier’s data. The new wage deal will increase its terminal unit’s labor costs by $170 per container. Assuming a nearly similar increase across other terminal operators, the wage deal would cost the container shipping industry $3.2 billion per year in additional labor costs — or more than $19 billion over the life of the new contract — a cost the executive said will be borne directly by US consumers. “The extra cost that US consumers will pay exceeds the entire GDP of a country like Burundi that has a population of 13 million inhabitants,” the executive said. “Somebody is paying for the empties as well and it is not the carriers,” the source added. “The trade imbalance, and the resulting amount of empties, gets all priced in into what is being paid for the full import and export boxes.” The USMX does not release figures on what it paid longshore workers. However, based on the dues contribution rate reported by the ILA in its most recent annual report to the US Department of Labor, its members were paid $2.9 billion in wages during 2023. The ILA said in a statement about the tentative agreement that the 61.5% wage increase “is unprecedented and serves as a testament to the union’s commitment to securing fair compensation for its members.” The wage deal comes as ocean carriers are expected to continue reporting multi-billion-dollar profits. Among publicly traded ocean carriers, combined net income is expected to reach $16.8 billion in 2024, according to S&amp;P Global consensus analyst estimates. <h3>New wages add to lift costs </h3>The ILA’s wage increases will flow through the industry via annual rate adjustments to the container lift agreements that ocean carriers have with marine terminals, a US-based terminal executive told the Journal of Commerce. Ocean carrier members of the USMX cover 70% of the ILA’s annual wage increases, while marine terminals and stevedores are responsible for the remainder. So the $6 per hour wage hike in the first year of the tentative agreement, which represents a 15% increase, means ocean carriers face a 10.7% increase from their share, plus an annual increase indexed to overall inflation, in container lift rates. The terminal executive said US terminal lift rates generally hover near $300 per container, while higher-cost regions such as the Northeast have lift costs at approximately $400 per container. Labor costs charged by US marine terminals can account for up to 60% of their revenue, the highest share of such costs globally. Whether terminal automation would temper costs remains unclear, the executive added, due to high upfront costs of automation technology and the uncertainty around its payback. The most successful automated and semi-automated terminals were originally designed from the ground up specifically for those operations, meaning that it’s difficult to bolt on automation technology to an existing operation. The hope with the new wage deal is that it will be accompanied by efficiency gains to move more boxes per hour, the executive said, noting that <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/chinas-ports-still-lead-performance-rankings-while-indias-move-higher-cppi-5213974">US container ports generally rank very low versus their overseas peers in terms of efficiency</a>. “Look at Europe where the longshoremen are unionized and many of the terminals are automated, but are much more productive,” the executive said. “When there is efficiency, it helps our ability to offset the wage increases. We’ll pay the higher wages but want to get something out of it in terms of productivity, not just increasing man-hours. Otherwise, this is just further inflationary pressure.” Another US-based terminal executive said the total cost of the wage deal should be juxtaposed against the size of the investment needed to automate US terminals. The source said the higher wages are a necessary investment in maintaining stable longshore workforces along the East and Gulf coasts, but those workers still need to hit benchmarks seen at other global ports. “How can vessel services keep their schedules when there’s 35 moves per hour at Southeast Asia ports and 19 moves per hour at US ports?” the executive asked. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

The tentative wage deal agreed to between longshore workers and maritime employers along the US East and Gulf coasts could create as much as $5 billion in new waterfront labor costs over the six-year life of the next contract, according to estimates compiled by the Journal of Commerce. While a high number itself — other estimates put it much higher — marine terminal operators hope the wage deal will spur greater productivity and efficiency that will help pay for the increased costs. The agreement struck Oct. 3 between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) will provide dockworkers with a 61.5% increase in the top wage scale over six years, the ILA said in a statement. That was enough to get the ILA to agree to a contract extension that reopened East and Gulf coast ports after a three-day strike at the start of October . The wage increase comes in tiers of $6 per hour in the first year, $5 in the second year, $4 in the third year and $3 per hour over the balance of the contract. The salary hike, though, remains contingent upon both sides negotiating a final master contract by Jan. 15 that covers other thorny issues, including work jurisdiction, automation and coastwide benefits. Neither side has publicly said what the wage deal would cost the industry overall, and the actual costs depend on many unknowns such as actual hours worked and container volumes handled. But a Journal of Commerce analysis based on the current growth rate in work hours at East and Gulf coast ports and cumulative hourly raises per year shows $4.95 billion in additional labor costs through 2030. The estimate assumes work hours at the ports under the ILA master contract grow at an annual average of 4.3% over the next six years, the same rate of growth in coastwide longshore work hours seen since 2013, according to data from the USMX. That assumption would put total work hours at 64.4 million by 2030, up from 47.8 million in 2023. In the first year of the deal, overall wages could increase by $312 million. The cumulative raise in the second year would bring wages up another $572 million. The third and fourth years add another $781 million and $937 million, respectively, while over $1 billion in additional labor costs could come in each of the contract’s final two years. The estimate also assumes that the wage increases are paid as straight-time, rather than as overtime hours. Overtime pay can be a significant part of longshore worker income. While the container shipping industry will bear most of the costs, cruise ship and roll-on/ roll-off carrier segments will also pay for the higher wages. This method is about as good as any for estimating an unknown cost, according to Jason Miller, professor of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University and a Journal of Commerce contributor. Miller’s own approximate estimate considers the cost of moving a marine container, with that amount assumed to be evenly split between labor costs and other operating and capital expenses. If lift fees are between $400 and $500 per container, Miller said a 61.5% rise in wages amounts to anywhere between a $125 to $150 increase in per-container lift costs. If East and Gulf coast import volumes hover near 13 million TEUs per year, approximately 7 million containers through 2030, that translates to anywhere between $5.2 billion and $6.3 billion in added labor costs, Miller said. “It seems like a reasonable number and why the ocean carriers would have been willing to agree to the wage increase,” he said. “How much revenue are carriers getting each year for 13 million TEUs of imports each year? “Think about the value of the goods that will be coming through the East and Gulf coasts,” Miller added. “That number is getting into the trillions. The ILA wage deal is a relatively small share of that.” ‘Burundi-size’ cost? But an executive with the terminal subsidiary of a European-based ocean carrier told the Journal of Commerce that the cost of the wage deal also needs to be measured against the cost of export and empty container moves, for which there is little to no revenue. East and Gulf coast ports are on track to handle about 19 million containers in total, full and empty, in 2024, according to the ocean carrier’s data. The new wage deal will increase its terminal unit’s labor costs by $170 per container. Assuming a nearly similar increase across other terminal operators, the wage deal would cost the container shipping industry $3.2 billion per year in additional labor costs — or more than $19 billion over the life of the new contract — a cost the executive said will be borne directly by US consumers. “The extra cost that US consumers will pay exceeds the entire GDP of a country like Burundi that has a population of 13 million inhabitants,” the executive said. “Somebody is paying for the empties as well and it is not the carriers,” the source added. “The trade imbalance, and the resulting amount of empties, gets all priced in into what is being paid for the full import and export boxes.” The USMX does not release figures on what it paid longshore workers. However, based on the dues contribution rate reported by the ILA in its most recent annual report to the US Department of Labor, its members were paid $2.9 billion in wages during 2023. The ILA said in a statement about the tentative agreement that the 61.5% wage increase “is unprecedented and serves as a testament to the union’s commitment to securing fair compensation for its members.” The wage deal comes as ocean carriers are expected to continue reporting multi-billion-dollar profits. Among publicly traded ocean carriers, combined net income is expected to reach $16.8 billion in 2024, according to S&P Global consensus analyst estimates. New wages add to lift costs The ILA’s wage increases will flow through the industry via annual rate adjustments to the container lift agreements that ocean carriers have with marine terminals, a US-based terminal executive told the Journal of Commerce. Ocean carrier members of the USMX cover 70% of the ILA’s annual wage increases, while marine terminals and stevedores are responsible for the remainder. So the $6 per hour wage hike in the first year of the tentative agreement, which represents a 15% increase, means ocean carriers face a 10.7% increase from their share, plus an annual increase indexed to overall inflation, in container lift rates. The terminal executive said US terminal lift rates generally hover near $300 per container, while higher-cost regions such as the Northeast have lift costs at approximately $400 per container. Labor costs charged by US marine terminals can account for up to 60% of their revenue, the highest share of such costs globally. Whether terminal automation would temper costs remains unclear, the executive added, due to high upfront costs of automation technology and the uncertainty around its payback. The most successful automated and semi-automated terminals were originally designed from the ground up specifically for those operations, meaning that it’s difficult to bolt on automation technology to an existing operation. The hope with the new wage deal is that it will be accompanied by efficiency gains to move more boxes per hour, the executive said, noting that US container ports generally rank very low versus their overseas peers in terms of efficiency . “Look at Europe where the longshoremen are unionized and many of the terminals are automated, but are much more productive,” the executive said. “When there is efficiency, it helps our ability to offset the wage increases. We’ll pay the higher wages but want to get something out of it in terms of productivity, not just increasing man-hours. Otherwise, this is just further inflationary pressure.” Another US-based terminal executive said the total cost of the wage deal should be juxtaposed against the size of the investment needed to automate US terminals. The source said the higher wages are a necessary investment in maintaining stable longshore workforces along the East and Gulf coasts, but those workers still need to hit benchmarks seen at other global ports. “How can vessel services keep their schedules when there’s 35 moves per hour at Southeast Asia ports and 19 moves per hour at US ports?” the executive asked. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Container lines

Marine terminals

Longshore labor

North American ports

Longshore wage deal at East, Gulf ports to add at least $5 billion in labor costs

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A source with knowledge of Friday’s incident said the UP train was being interchanged to Norfolk Southern Railway, although it’s unclear why the train was stationary in a residential area.</div>

A source with knowledge of Friday’s incident said the UP train was being interchanged to Norfolk Southern Railway, although it’s unclear why the train was stationary in a residential area.

<div class="phx-topic">The theft of cargo from a Union Pacific (UP) train on the west side of Chicago on Friday highlights several challenges combating such crime, including how to handle interchanges between two Class I railroads in a major city. The incident, <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/post/chicago-crime-stolen-merchandise-sale-social-media-after-thieves-loot-freight-train-south-austin-residents-say/15422283/?ex_cid=TA_WLS_TW&amp;taid=670bd5e798f9f60001d38860&amp;utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&amp;utm_medium=trueAnthem&amp;utm_source=twitter">which was caught on video</a>, also raises the question of whether the suspects received <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-rail-cargo-crime-on-the-rise-as-thieves-methods-gain-sophistication-5219201">inside information</a> because they hit only a handful of Hub Group boxes and rail-owned containers labelled “EMP” with electronics inside. Video shows the thieves ignoring dozens of other containers. UP said the train was in the middle of an interchange. A source with knowledge of the incident said the UP train was being interchanged to Norfolk Southern Railway, although it is unclear whether the Belt Railway of Chicago — a short-line railroad responsible for interchanges in the city — oversaw the transfer or why the train was stationary in a residential area. When a train is involved in an interchange, it is only supposed to do so in a secure yard or terminal. Chicago police announced six people were taken into custody, but only two individuals have been charged so far with misdemeanors. Some of the stolen merchandise was recovered. The targeting of specific cargo is different than what occurred to UP <a href="https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/la-cargo-threats-aggressive-response-220116.htm">in Los Angeles</a> in 2021 and early 2022 when thieves ransacked containers and then littered the tracks with cargo they left behind. <h3>Threat is hard to stop </h3>Chicago and Memphis are major US junction points where North American Class I railroads from the eastern and western US and Canada all meet. The security of cargo being interchanged is also a major problem in Memphis, according to Memphis Police Sgt. Jason Moore, who spoke on the topic of cargo theft earlier this month at the Journal of Commerce’s <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/rail-industry-split-on-how-to-best-combat-cargo-theft-5742577">Inland Distribution Conference</a> (Inland24) in Chicago. “Up until recently, there have been times when an intermodal train in Memphis may sit for 36 hours or 48 hours and by the time the train is moving again, a bunch of cargo is gone,” Moore said at Inland24. “Where the trains are sitting are not always in the safest of locations in either city [Chicago or Memphis] and while the railroad police try their best, all our agencies are short on officers so it’s hard to cover all intermodal trains, especially those several thousand feet long.” Friday’s incident highlights another problem besides the insider threat and challenges of interchanging containers between railroads: law enforcement having its hands tied when it comes to punishment for those convicted of cargo theft Authorities point out that if merchandise is stolen from a foreign trade zone (FTZ), those arrested can be charged with federal crimes, including felonies that could result in 10 years in prison. But incidents such as the one in Chicago, which did not occur in an FTZ, result in only fines or short-term stints in jail. “Right now, we’re having these conversations [about punishment] on a per-incident basis, a per-container basis, and that’s not aggregating in a sufficient way for federal prosecutors to understand the economic damage or the true victims of these crimes,” Will Johnson, chief special agent with BNSF Police, the law enforcement division of BNSF Railway, said during Inland24. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The theft of cargo from a Union Pacific (UP) train on the west side of Chicago on Friday highlights several challenges combating such crime, including how to handle interchanges between two Class I railroads in a major city. The incident, which was caught on video , also raises the question of whether the suspects received inside information because they hit only a handful of Hub Group boxes and rail-owned containers labelled “EMP” with electronics inside. Video shows the thieves ignoring dozens of other containers. UP said the train was in the middle of an interchange. A source with knowledge of the incident said the UP train was being interchanged to Norfolk Southern Railway, although it is unclear whether the Belt Railway of Chicago — a short-line railroad responsible for interchanges in the city — oversaw the transfer or why the train was stationary in a residential area. When a train is involved in an interchange, it is only supposed to do so in a secure yard or terminal. Chicago police announced six people were taken into custody, but only two individuals have been charged so far with misdemeanors. Some of the stolen merchandise was recovered. The targeting of specific cargo is different than what occurred to UP in Los Angeles in 2021 and early 2022 when thieves ransacked containers and then littered the tracks with cargo they left behind. Threat is hard to stop Chicago and Memphis are major US junction points where North American Class I railroads from the eastern and western US and Canada all meet. The security of cargo being interchanged is also a major problem in Memphis, according to Memphis Police Sgt. Jason Moore, who spoke on the topic of cargo theft earlier this month at the Journal of Commerce’s Inland Distribution Conference (Inland24) in Chicago. “Up until recently, there have been times when an intermodal train in Memphis may sit for 36 hours or 48 hours and by the time the train is moving again, a bunch of cargo is gone,” Moore said at Inland24. “Where the trains are sitting are not always in the safest of locations in either city [Chicago or Memphis] and while the railroad police try their best, all our agencies are short on officers so it’s hard to cover all intermodal trains, especially those several thousand feet long.” Friday’s incident highlights another problem besides the insider threat and challenges of interchanging containers between railroads: law enforcement having its hands tied when it comes to punishment for those convicted of cargo theft Authorities point out that if merchandise is stolen from a foreign trade zone (FTZ), those arrested can be charged with federal crimes, including felonies that could result in 10 years in prison. But incidents such as the one in Chicago, which did not occur in an FTZ, result in only fines or short-term stints in jail. “Right now, we’re having these conversations [about punishment] on a per-incident basis, a per-container basis, and that’s not aggregating in a sufficient way for federal prosecutors to understand the economic damage or the true victims of these crimes,” Will Johnson, chief special agent with BNSF Police, the law enforcement division of BNSF Railway, said during Inland24. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

North-American rail

Intermodal providers

Chicago cargo theft highlights larger challenges for intermodal container moves

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The port reopened on Saturday after engineering firm Woolpert performed a survey to check for storm debris in shipping channels. </div>

The port reopened on Saturday after engineering firm Woolpert performed a survey to check for storm debris in shipping channels.

<div class="phx-topic">Port Tampa Bay has resumed vessel operations and reopened shipping channels after the gateway was <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/port-tampa-bay-effectively-shut-due-to-power-outage-in-aftermath-of-milton-5747209">forced to close for several days last week due to a loss of power caused by Hurricane Milton</a>. Vessel movement is restricted for now to one-way travel during daylight hours, the port said in an advisory on its website.The port reopened on Saturday after engineering firm Woolpert performed a survey to check for storm debris in shipping channels.“When a storm of this magnitude impacts a commerce-rich environment like Tampa, there is a high likelihood that it will drag debris into the navigation channels...,” Dave Neff, Woolpert’s vice president and maritime market director, said in a statement.The port on Saturday performed safety tests to ensure its facilities could discharge fuel after power was restored to all seven fuel terminals at the gateway on Friday.“Commercial vessel traffic is again being queued for a return to full operations at the port, meaning we are open for business,” said the port said in its advisory. “Some of the first vessels to return will be fuel tankers, cruise ships and vessels carrying perishable cargo.”Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:laura.robb@spglobal.com">laura.robb@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Port Tampa Bay has resumed vessel operations and reopened shipping channels after the gateway was forced to close for several days last week due to a loss of power caused by Hurricane Milton . Vessel movement is restricted for now to one-way travel during daylight hours, the port said in an advisory on its website. The port reopened on Saturday after engineering firm Woolpert performed a survey to check for storm debris in shipping channels. “When a storm of this magnitude impacts a commerce-rich environment like Tampa, there is a high likelihood that it will drag debris into the navigation channels...,” Dave Neff, Woolpert’s vice president and maritime market director, said in a statement. The port on Saturday performed safety tests to ensure its facilities could discharge fuel after power was restored to all seven fuel terminals at the gateway on Friday. “Commercial vessel traffic is again being queued for a return to full operations at the port, meaning we are open for business,” said the port said in its advisory. “Some of the first vessels to return will be fuel tankers, cruise ships and vessels carrying perishable cargo.” Contact Laura Robb at laura.robb@spglobal.com .

Port Tampa Bay reopens after power restored following hurricane closure

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

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Shippers save money, time with automated transportation bidding tools

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

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