<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">SOVIET PRESIDENT Mikhail Gorbachev knows how to set a stage. Before Sunday's referendum on his propo</div>

SOVIET PRESIDENT Mikhail Gorbachev knows how to set a stage. Before Sunday's referendum on his propo

<div>SOVIET PRESIDENT Mikhail Gorbachev knows how to set a stage. Before Sunday's referendum on his proposal for a "renewed" Soviet federation, Mr. Gorbachevput his own spin on the issue: Vote "yes," he told Soviet citizens, and the country could move toward a peaceful, unified future; vote "no" and civil war might erupt.Based on early returns, Mr. Gorbachev got the approval he sought. Soviet officials Tuesday said as many as 77 percent of 150 million voters supported the national unity referendum. Yet, in the aftermath of the vote, it is clear the Soviet Union is no closer to unity today than...

SOVIET PRESIDENT Mikhail Gorbachev knows how to set a stage. Before Sunday's referendum on his proposal for a "renewed" Soviet federation, Mr. Gorbachev put his own spin on the issue: Vote "yes," he told Soviet citizens, and the country could move toward a peaceful, unified future; vote "no" and civil war might erupt. Based on early returns, Mr. Gorbachev got the approval he sought. Soviet officials Tuesday said as many as 77 percent of 150 million voters supported the national unity referendum. Yet, in the aftermath of the vote, it is clear the Soviet Union is no closer to unity today than it was last week.If the vote changed little, it nevertheless could serve as a pivot point for Mr. Gorbachev and his disintegrating union. In the wake of the vote, the Soviet leader has a choice: he can use his victory as an excuse to further crack down on the breakaway Baltic republics and the nation's other independence-minded regions; or he can recognize the fragility of his victory and resume desperately needed reforms, especially in the economy. If he expects to hold the Soviet Union together, his choice should be clear. Mr. Gorbachev's lackluster victory was a mile wide and an inch deep. Muscovites, most notably, approved the unity measure by barely more than 50 percent. Local questions attached to the ballot - many opposed by the Kremlin - were approved overwhelmingly. Voters in the Russian Republic, for example, also considered the question of a popularly elected president, which they endorsed with a 78 percent vote. More than 80 percent of Ukrainians backed an initiative calling for much more sovereignty than Moscow would like. The greatest opposition to the referendum came from six rebellious republics that refused even to participate. Mr. Gorbachev can hold the Soviet Union together only if the individual republics have a greater voice in their own affairs. Balancing the Kremlin hard-liners, who hope to silence the republics, against the most radical reformers, who favor Soviet dissolution, is Mr. Gorbachev's most difficult task. One way to accomplish this, at least in part, is to start rebuilding the ailing Soviet economy. Mr. Gorbachev need look no further than to the European Community to see that diverse sovereign states can work together in the name of economic prosperity. If the Soviet president can convince the republics they are better off as part of a politically linked "Soviet Common Market" than as separate entities, then a stable, semi-united Soviet Union could emerge. The outlook for economic reform, admittedly, is bleak. Gosplan, the Soviet economic planning agency, is forecasting a 10 percent to 15 percent decline in national income this year. Foreign debt has ballooned to $60 billion from $46 billion last September. At least $15 billion of foreign capital must be raised to finance the country's growing balance of payments deficit. Meanwhile, a U.S. consulting firm has called the Soviet Union the worst bet for U.S. investments among former East bloc countries. And for Western companies already doing business in the Soviet Union, it is clear that bills no longer are being paid on time. On the bright side - what there is of it - some changes already have taken hold. Mr. Gorbachev's reforms have put some 5 million Soviets to work in the private sector, an impressive accomplishment. The city of Leningrad is moving ahead with a stock and commodity exchange. There is even a nascent movement to unionize some Soviet workers. More immediately, Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov announced this week that long-awaited Soviet price reforms will take effect April 2. Economic reform alone will not quell the justified pleas for more autonomy from the Soviet republics. But a viable market economy may be the only inducement Mr. Gorbachev can offer to keep the union together.

HOLLOW VICTORY

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A range of factors including full yards, labor unrest and carrier network changes are making it difficult for the hubs to clear container bottlenecks.</div>

A range of factors including full yards, labor unrest and carrier network changes are making it difficult for the hubs to clear container bottlenecks.

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<div class="phx-topic">North Europe’s largest port gateways are continuing to struggle with persistent congestion that has delayed vessels and hampered container operations at the hubs for months. Full container yards, labor unrest, staff shortages and changing carrier alliance networks are among the challenges being piled on top of a steady inbound volume from Asia. “This is systemic by nature and will resurface on a regular basis,” Scan Global Logistics said in a market update this week. The Denmark-based forwarder also noted that the launch of the Gemini Cooperation between Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk “complicates efforts to sustain operational efficiency while the new rotations are phased in.” Kuehne + Nagel’s SeaExplorer visibility platform warned that “heavily disrupted operations” were being experienced at Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg and London Gateway. A national strike in Belgium on April 29, the fourth strike in the country within the past few months, shut down the Port of Antwerp for the day as workers from the private and public sectors protested recent budget cuts made by the federal government. There were 19 vessels waiting to depart from Antwerp on Thursday and 20 waiting to enter the port. SeaExplorer noted that already congested yards there have seen a seven-day average vessel waiting time of around 2.19 days; Scan Global put the seven-day waiting time in Antwerp as high as seven days. <h3>Low-water advisory hampers inland shipping </h3>Labor shortages at Rotterdam because of national holidays is impacting container operations at the port, according to SeaExplorer, with vessels waiting for more than a day to berth. Intermodal operator Contargo told customers in an advisory Wednesday that average waiting times for the handling of barges were 71 hours in Rotterdam and 101 hours in Antwerp. A low-water advisory is also in place on the Rhine River, limiting the volume that can be carried by barges on Europe’s largest inland waterway connecting the industrial heartland of southern Germany to Rotterdam and Antwerp. Container delivery restrictions were imposed by Hamburg’s main terminal operator HHLA in April to tackle yard congestion. Vessel waiting times at Hamburg are currently up to five days, according to Scan Global. On top of ships being delayed in Hamburg, rail shipments are taking up to 10 hours to process and disrupting all terminals in the port. Intermodal logistics operator Metrans said trains to the German ports of Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven were experiencing long delays due to unplanned line closures around Hannover following a landslide in the area. Detour routes were up to 200 kilometers long and battling with overcapacity that was stopping trains and blocking traffic to and from Rotterdam and the inland rail hub of Duisburg. The disrupted train circulation was also having a major impact on service to and from Hamburg. In France, the Port of Le Havre is struggling to catch up with container backlogs following several strikes held in April, while the UK ports of Felixstowe and Southampton are also experiencing lengthy vessel delays. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

North Europe’s largest port gateways are continuing to struggle with persistent congestion that has delayed vessels and hampered container operations at the hubs for months. Full container yards, labor unrest, staff shortages and changing carrier alliance networks are among the challenges being piled on top of a steady inbound volume from Asia. “This is systemic by nature and will resurface on a regular basis,” Scan Global Logistics said in a market update this week. The Denmark-based forwarder also noted that the launch of the Gemini Cooperation between Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk “complicates efforts to sustain operational efficiency while the new rotations are phased in.” Kuehne + Nagel’s SeaExplorer visibility platform warned that “heavily disrupted operations” were being experienced at Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg and London Gateway. A national strike in Belgium on April 29, the fourth strike in the country within the past few months, shut down the Port of Antwerp for the day as workers from the private and public sectors protested recent budget cuts made by the federal government. There were 19 vessels waiting to depart from Antwerp on Thursday and 20 waiting to enter the port. SeaExplorer noted that already congested yards there have seen a seven-day average vessel waiting time of around 2.19 days; Scan Global put the seven-day waiting time in Antwerp as high as seven days. Low-water advisory hampers inland shipping Labor shortages at Rotterdam because of national holidays is impacting container operations at the port, according to SeaExplorer, with vessels waiting for more than a day to berth. Intermodal operator Contargo told customers in an advisory Wednesday that average waiting times for the handling of barges were 71 hours in Rotterdam and 101 hours in Antwerp. A low-water advisory is also in place on the Rhine River, limiting the volume that can be carried by barges on Europe’s largest inland waterway connecting the industrial heartland of southern Germany to Rotterdam and Antwerp. Container delivery restrictions were imposed by Hamburg’s main terminal operator HHLA in April to tackle yard congestion. Vessel waiting times at Hamburg are currently up to five days, according to Scan Global. On top of ships being delayed in Hamburg, rail shipments are taking up to 10 hours to process and disrupting all terminals in the port. Intermodal logistics operator Metrans said trains to the German ports of Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven were experiencing long delays due to unplanned line closures around Hannover following a landslide in the area. Detour routes were up to 200 kilometers long and battling with overcapacity that was stopping trains and blocking traffic to and from Rotterdam and the inland rail hub of Duisburg. The disrupted train circulation was also having a major impact on service to and from Hamburg. In France, the Port of Le Havre is struggling to catch up with container backlogs following several strikes held in April, while the UK ports of Felixstowe and Southampton are also experiencing lengthy vessel delays. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Port News

Trans-Atlantic

Asia-Europe

International ports

Maritime

No end to the congestion choking gateway ports in North Europe

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Lineage will acquire four existing warehouses in the US from Tyson and develop two other next-generation facilities where the food conglomerate will be the anchor tenant.</div>

Lineage will acquire four existing warehouses in the US from Tyson and develop two other next-generation facilities where the food conglomerate will be the anchor tenant.

<div class="phx-topic">Cold chain storage company Lineage will invest $1 billion in US warehousing “over the coming years” in a partnership with Tyson Foods. The multi-faceted deal, announced by Lineage on Wednesday, includes the acquisition of four existing warehouses from Tyson for $247 million and the development of two fully automated warehouses, with Tyson as an anchor tenant, at a cost of $740 million. The four existing warehouses, which offer roughly a combined 49 million cubic feet of storage space and 160,000 pallet positions, are in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Illinois and Arizona. Lineage will also be bringing on 1,000 Tyson employees as part of the acquisition. Under the deal, expected to close in the second quarter, Lineage and Tyson will also enter a multi-year agreement under which Lineage will design, build and operate two new fully automated cold storage warehouses for Tyson. The two warehouses will add more than 80 million cubic feet and almost 260,000 pallet positions to the Lineage network, which currently consists of 84.1 million square feet across 480 facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. "This expansion signals what we see as the next evolution of cold chain operations and reflects the growing demand for smarter, more responsive supply chain networks," Lineage CEO Greg Lehmkuhl said in a statement. "We’re creating more than cold storage infrastructure — we’re setting the foundation for agile, intelligent supply chains built for resilience and precision." In Lineage’s Q1 financials posted Wednesday, the company recorded a 2.7% year-on-year decline in revenue and a 7% decrease in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Since Lineage’s <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/tpm25-lineage-using-big-2024-ipo-to-launch-companys-next-moves-5956592">initial public offering (IPO) last July</a>, the stock’s value has fallen 42% to $46.76 per share Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:Laura.Robb@spglobal.com">Laura.Robb@spglobal.com</a>.  </div>

Cold chain storage company Lineage will invest $1 billion in US warehousing “over the coming years” in a partnership with Tyson Foods. The multi-faceted deal, announced by Lineage on Wednesday, includes the acquisition of four existing warehouses from Tyson for $247 million and the development of two fully automated warehouses, with Tyson as an anchor tenant, at a cost of $740 million. The four existing warehouses, which offer roughly a combined 49 million cubic feet of storage space and 160,000 pallet positions, are in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Illinois and Arizona. Lineage will also be bringing on 1,000 Tyson employees as part of the acquisition. Under the deal, expected to close in the second quarter, Lineage and Tyson will also enter a multi-year agreement under which Lineage will design, build and operate two new fully automated cold storage warehouses for Tyson. The two warehouses will add more than 80 million cubic feet and almost 260,000 pallet positions to the Lineage network, which currently consists of 84.1 million square feet across 480 facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. "This expansion signals what we see as the next evolution of cold chain operations and reflects the growing demand for smarter, more responsive supply chain networks," Lineage CEO Greg Lehmkuhl said in a statement. "We’re creating more than cold storage infrastructure — we’re setting the foundation for agile, intelligent supply chains built for resilience and precision." In Lineage’s Q1 financials posted Wednesday, the company recorded a 2.7% year-on-year decline in revenue and a 7% decrease in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Since Lineage’s initial public offering (IPO) last July , the stock’s value has fallen 42% to $46.76 per share Contact Laura Robb at Laura.Robb@spglobal.com . 

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Container Shipping News

Last Mile News

Cool Cargo News

Cold chain warehouse major Lineage to invest $1 billion in Tyson storage deal

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">With demand expectations faltering, carriers have either jettisoned or substantially lowered the increases they were planning to implement beginning May 1, forwarder sources tell the Journal of Commerce.</div>

With demand expectations faltering, carriers have either jettisoned or substantially lowered the increases they were planning to implement beginning May 1, forwarder sources tell the Journal of Commerce.

<div class="phx-topic">The India-US East Coast market continues to remain bumpy for container carriers to drive any sort of material rate gains, industry sources say. Major carriers on the trade lane last month announced a series of rate hike plans, ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 per container, through May seemingly to take advantage of a potential upturn in shipper bookings linked to a 90-day tariff reprieve in place for Indian exports to the US. But with those demand expectations faltering, carriers have now either jettisoned or substantially lowered the increases they were planning to implement beginning May 1, forwarder sources told the Journal of Commerce. “As of now, volumes are low and spot space on most May sailings, despite a few upcoming blankings, is open,” said a sales executive at a Mumbai-based forwarding house who did not want to be identified. “There’s a sense of nervousness among carriers about their pricing ability.” A second round of general rate increases (GRIs) or peak season surcharges (PSSs) around the middle of May has also been put on the back burner in most cases, forwarder sources confirmed. “We have fully waived the May 11 GRI ($1,500 per container) to the US East/Gulf coasts and North America West Coast,” Hapag-Lloyd (India) said in an email sent to customers that was seen by the Journal of Commerce. Additionally, Maersk is understood to have canceled a $1,250-per-container PSS it was to begin charging from May 5 on loads from West India to the US and Canada. Sources put spot quotes from Maersk at $2,129 per TEU and $2,419 per FEU for early-May sailings, arguably the lowest level among the lead India-USEC operators. “Maersk has become unusually aggressive in spot pricing to fill its enhanced West India-North America capacity, forcing others to readjust rates,” a second forwarder said. Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global, pegged India-US East Coast spot rates at $2,733 per FEU as of April 30. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="56199e2b-5df4-468f-a149-b18ae7c32e51"></dynamic-object></div>Maersk is also said to be using a new contract strategy of offering rates on a quarterly basis, generally with penalty clauses, as it aims to rebuild India-US market share lost to competitors over the last few years. Other major carriers have been somewhat tentative about pushing contract deals with customers due to the volatile market environment, sources say. “It’s likely that carrier rate plans will get pushed back again, until June 1, as a more moderate increase than what they have attempted now,” an NVO source said. On the capacity front, CMA CGM has two West India void calls this month on its Indamex service, schedule data indicates. The carrier is also reportedly considering discontinuing an existing Indamex stop at Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port due to volume pressures. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com.</a></div>

The India-US East Coast market continues to remain bumpy for container carriers to drive any sort of material rate gains, industry sources say. Major carriers on the trade lane last month announced a series of rate hike plans, ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 per container, through May seemingly to take advantage of a potential upturn in shipper bookings linked to a 90-day tariff reprieve in place for Indian exports to the US. But with those demand expectations faltering, carriers have now either jettisoned or substantially lowered the increases they were planning to implement beginning May 1, forwarder sources told the Journal of Commerce. “As of now, volumes are low and spot space on most May sailings, despite a few upcoming blankings, is open,” said a sales executive at a Mumbai-based forwarding house who did not want to be identified. “There’s a sense of nervousness among carriers about their pricing ability.” A second round of general rate increases (GRIs) or peak season surcharges (PSSs) around the middle of May has also been put on the back burner in most cases, forwarder sources confirmed. “We have fully waived the May 11 GRI ($1,500 per container) to the US East/Gulf coasts and North America West Coast,” Hapag-Lloyd (India) said in an email sent to customers that was seen by the Journal of Commerce. Additionally, Maersk is understood to have canceled a $1,250-per-container PSS it was to begin charging from May 5 on loads from West India to the US and Canada. Sources put spot quotes from Maersk at $2,129 per TEU and $2,419 per FEU for early-May sailings, arguably the lowest level among the lead India-USEC operators. “Maersk has become unusually aggressive in spot pricing to fill its enhanced West India-North America capacity, forcing others to readjust rates,” a second forwarder said. Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, pegged India-US East Coast spot rates at $2,733 per FEU as of April 30. Maersk is also said to be using a new contract strategy of offering rates on a quarterly basis, generally with penalty clauses, as it aims to rebuild India-US market share lost to competitors over the last few years. Other major carriers have been somewhat tentative about pushing contract deals with customers due to the volatile market environment, sources say. “It’s likely that carrier rate plans will get pushed back again, until June 1, as a more moderate increase than what they have attempted now,” an NVO source said. On the capacity front, CMA CGM has two West India void calls this month on its Indamex service, schedule data indicates. The carrier is also reportedly considering discontinuing an existing Indamex stop at Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port due to volume pressures. Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com.

Container lines

North American ports

India-US liners pull early-May rate hikes as capacity stays ahead of demand

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Big Three oil field service companies, key drivers of breakbulk steel industrial project cargo, are bearish in their forecasts for the year as global economic uncertainty eats into profits and project pipelines.</div>

The Big Three oil field service companies, key drivers of breakbulk steel industrial project cargo, are bearish in their forecasts for the year as global economic uncertainty eats into profits and project pipelines.

<div class="phx-topic">With performance slipping in their latest quarterly results, the world’s three largest oil field services companies are bracing for a hit from the one-two punch of falling oil prices and US tariffs on the steel imports they rely on for rigs and pipelines.First-quarter results slid for Baker Hughes, Halliburton, and SLB, formerly Schlumberger Ltd., and the three Houston-based companies raised concerns about tariff-driven supply chain disruptions this year. The Big Three companies provide services and equipment for the oil and gas industry and are key drivers of breakbulk steel industrial project cargo.SLB CEO Oliver Le Peuch said yearly exploration and production spending is trending downward for the company following a “subdued start” to the fiscal year. In the company’s late April earnings call, Le Peuch said global upstream spend for 2025 will come in lower than last year, with a higher decline than previously anticipated. “The industry is navigating global economic uncertainty from the supply-demand imbalance and recent tariff announcements,” he said. “In this environment, commodity prices are challenged, and until they stabilize, customers are likely to take a more cautious approach to near-term activity and discretionary spending.”SLB’s first-quarter revenues fell 3% to $8.5 billion from a year ago, as gains in North America were significantly offset by a sharper-than-expected reduction in drilling activity in Mexico, a slow start to the year in Saudi Arabia and a steep decline in Russia.SLB expects to see new oil supplies as OPEC plans to increase crude production beginning in May. “This comes at a time when the macroeconomic picture remains uncertain due to global trade concerns, which have the potential to result in lower liquid demand than originally expected for the year,” Le Peuch said.<h3>Equipment, tech imports in crosshairs</h3>Baker Hughes is expecting a “significant challenge” from tariffs, with shipments from China for US industrial tech projects, critical equipment from Italy, and steel and aluminum facing the greatest exposure, according to the company’s Q1 earnings call. Baker Hughes is projecting it will take a $100 million to $200 million earnings hit from tariffs this year — assuming rates applied during the Trump administration’s 90-day tariff pause continue for the remainder of 2025.“We continue to monitor the evolving landscape closely and are taking proactive steps to mitigate the potential impact of changes in trade policy, particularly tariff rates,” Lorenzo Simonelli, Baker Hughes’s chairman and CEO, said on the earnings call.First-quarter revenues remained flat at $6.4 billion but fell short of expectations by $100 million. Overall orders fell 1% to $6.5 billion for the first three months of 2025 and were down 14% from the previous quarter. One growth area for the company has been industrial and energy technology, with $3.2 billion in first-quarter orders, up 9% from a year ago.“Generally, we see growing opportunities in North America for gas infrastructure driven by LNG (liquefied natural gas) capacity expansion along the Gulf Coast and AI-led demand for gas-powered data centers,” Simonelli said.<h3>Halliburton pulls supply chain levers</h3>Halliburton CFO Eric Carre said the company plans to rely on its “well-diversified” supply chain to mitigate the impacts of tariffs, which the company expects will eat into second-quarter earnings by 2 to 3 cents per share.“We need a bit more clarity and stability in the structure of tariffs so that we can really understand what levers we can pull, and then what the overall outcome is going to be,” Carre said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call.In North America, Halliburton’s largest geographic segment by revenue, revenues dropped 12% to $2.2 billion, while international revenues fell $2% to $3.2 billion. CEO Jeff Miller said that although the company will get a boost from upcoming offshore work overseas, international revenues are on track to remain flat to slightly down for the 2025 fiscal year.“While our overall international outlook has not materially changed, it is reasonable to assume that there is more risk embedded in our outlook today than three months ago,” Miller said.Reach Autumn Cafiero Giusti at <a href="mailto:autumn@autumngiusti.com">autumn@autumngiusti.com</a>.</div>

With performance slipping in their latest quarterly results, the world’s three largest oil field services companies are bracing for a hit from the one-two punch of falling oil prices and US tariffs on the steel imports they rely on for rigs and pipelines. First-quarter results slid for Baker Hughes, Halliburton, and SLB, formerly Schlumberger Ltd., and the three Houston-based companies raised concerns about tariff-driven supply chain disruptions this year. The Big Three companies provide services and equipment for the oil and gas industry and are key drivers of breakbulk steel industrial project cargo. SLB CEO Oliver Le Peuch said yearly exploration and production spending is trending downward for the company following a “subdued start” to the fiscal year. In the company’s late April earnings call, Le Peuch said global upstream spend for 2025 will come in lower than last year, with a higher decline than previously anticipated. “The industry is navigating global economic uncertainty from the supply-demand imbalance and recent tariff announcements,” he said. “In this environment, commodity prices are challenged, and until they stabilize, customers are likely to take a more cautious approach to near-term activity and discretionary spending.” SLB’s first-quarter revenues fell 3% to $8.5 billion from a year ago, as gains in North America were significantly offset by a sharper-than-expected reduction in drilling activity in Mexico, a slow start to the year in Saudi Arabia and a steep decline in Russia. SLB expects to see new oil supplies as OPEC plans to increase crude production beginning in May. “This comes at a time when the macroeconomic picture remains uncertain due to global trade concerns, which have the potential to result in lower liquid demand than originally expected for the year,” Le Peuch said. Equipment, tech imports in crosshairs Baker Hughes is expecting a “significant challenge” from tariffs, with shipments from China for US industrial tech projects, critical equipment from Italy, and steel and aluminum facing the greatest exposure, according to the company’s Q1 earnings call. Baker Hughes is projecting it will take a $100 million to $200 million earnings hit from tariffs this year — assuming rates applied during the Trump administration’s 90-day tariff pause continue for the remainder of 2025. “We continue to monitor the evolving landscape closely and are taking proactive steps to mitigate the potential impact of changes in trade policy, particularly tariff rates,” Lorenzo Simonelli, Baker Hughes’s chairman and CEO, said on the earnings call. First-quarter revenues remained flat at $6.4 billion but fell short of expectations by $100 million. Overall orders fell 1% to $6.5 billion for the first three months of 2025 and were down 14% from the previous quarter. One growth area for the company has been industrial and energy technology, with $3.2 billion in first-quarter orders, up 9% from a year ago. “Generally, we see growing opportunities in North America for gas infrastructure driven by LNG (liquefied natural gas) capacity expansion along the Gulf Coast and AI-led demand for gas-powered data centers,” Simonelli said. Halliburton pulls supply chain levers Halliburton CFO Eric Carre said the company plans to rely on its “well-diversified” supply chain to mitigate the impacts of tariffs, which the company expects will eat into second-quarter earnings by 2 to 3 cents per share. “We need a bit more clarity and stability in the structure of tariffs so that we can really understand what levers we can pull, and then what the overall outcome is going to be,” Carre said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. In North America, Halliburton’s largest geographic segment by revenue, revenues dropped 12% to $2.2 billion, while international revenues fell $2% to $3.2 billion. CEO Jeff Miller said that although the company will get a boost from upcoming offshore work overseas, international revenues are on track to remain flat to slightly down for the 2025 fiscal year. “While our overall international outlook has not materially changed, it is reasonable to assume that there is more risk embedded in our outlook today than three months ago,” Miller said. Reach Autumn Cafiero Giusti at autumn@autumngiusti.com .

Energy projects

Project cargo

Breakbulk News

US tariffs dampen 2025 outlook from oil field service majors

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">National drayage providers experiencing a sharp decline in orders as US tariffs come into effect now warn that a second-half rebound could be just as disruptive. </div>

National drayage providers experiencing a sharp decline in orders as US tariffs come into effect now warn that a second-half rebound could be just as disruptive.

<div class="phx-topic">Drayage providers who handled the early 2025 surge of US-bound cargo booked ahead of US tariffs are now bracing for a significant drop in business that will begin in May and potentially last into the third quarter. They’re also girding for a disruptive import rebound once trade disputes abate. “What happens in the third quarter is going to be the big story,” said Paul Brashier, vice president of global supply chain for ITS Logistics, a Reno, Nevada-based third-party logistics provider offering over-the-road truckload and drayage services. Once US trade disputes with China and other trading partners are resolved, “there will be a wave of freight that will stress the system,” Brashier said. “We’re pretty much looking at a similar event as we saw with COVID in 2020. There will be pent-up demand.” Indeed, container shipping lines are already warning that a rebound in Asian imports following the expected plunge linked to the US-China trade dispute may <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/container-lines-warn-of-congestion-threat-when-asia-imports-rebound-5993793">overwhelm major US ports</a>. The biggest danger, they say, could be a lack of capacity outside port gates to handle a rapid acceleration in freight. That concern starts at drayage. “We’re warning customers to be very strategic with their dray partners,” said Ken Kellaway, CEO of RoadOne IntermodaLogistics, a nationwide drayage provider with headquarters near Boston. “If we lose drivers over the next 30 to 45 days, it will take weeks to get them back,” Kellaway said. “Shippers will be in trouble if we can’t preserve the capacity we have in the system today.” He said a freight “whiplash” could hit US ports as early as mid-June. <h3>Potential for a ‘reset’ </h3>US drayage capacity appears to be <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/shrinking-us-drayage-capacity-to-continue-outstripping-demand-5971095">slowly shrinking from a 2022 high</a>, with some of those losses attributed to the migration of owner-operators to the security of larger carriers. Still, excess drayage capacity persists, putting pressure on already-low rates. However, the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape global trade could reset the drayage market, especially if trade negotiations drag on without a resolution or a lowering of tariff rates that would encourage beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) to boost US imports. “The market’s been soft anyway, so a lot of small drayage companies are struggling with cash flow, taking any freight to keep going,” said Joel Henry, CEO of IMC Logistics, a nationwide drayage provider with headquarters near Memphis. “Now without the volume, they’ll not even have that cash flow,” Henry said. That could push small carriers that have stayed in business despite low rates the past two years out of the market, tightening capacity immediately when a rebound hits US ports. “I think there’s going to be a shakeout in capacity in the next month,” said Brian Kempisty, co-founder of drayage broker Port X Logistics, based in Buffalo, New York. “It could be three months, but when freight comes back, it will come back with a vengeance.” <h3>Drayage on the edge </h3>With the trajectory of trade disputes with China and other countries uncertain, many shippers in April canceled or postponed purchase orders from China. That big pause will lead to a real plunge in drayage demand at US ports and inland rail ramps. The US imposed combined tariffs of 145% on China on April 2, and China in turn imposed a 125% tariff on many US goods, including agricultural products. Another tranche of reciprocal tariffs on trading partners around the globe was paused for 90 days until July 9. And importers are also dealing with a 10% tariff on goods from almost all US trading partners, as well as 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum and automotive products and 25% tariffs on <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/tariff-uncertainty-pushing-up-transportation-costs-at-us-mexico-border-5984698">other goods from Mexico and Canada</a> that took effect in March. Bookings for containers headed from China to the US <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/trans-pacific-capacity-cuts-accelerating-amid-sharp-reduction-in-chinese-cargo-5992769">dropped nearly 54%</a> during the week of April 21–28 versus the comparable week in March, according to maritime visibility provider Vizion and data and analytics company Dun &amp; Bradstreet. “One of our large customers who imports through Savannah shared with us that they canceled all their purchase orders from China for the next 30 days,” said Kent Williams, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Cookeville, Tennessee-based Averitt. The regional trucking and drayage provider, which drays about 45,000 containers a year in the Southeast, saw its drayage business jump 10% to 12% year over year in the first quarter as customers rushed goods to the US ahead of the tariffs. In the past month, as the tariffs on China took effect, Averitt’s drayage volumes have dropped 5% year over year. “There’s a real fear it could get worse,” Williams said. “All the canceled bookings and blanked sailings are about to hit the supply chain in a big way.” The effects of the trade war on drayage are just becoming apparent, said Port X’s Kempisty. “Freight that sailed April 1,” just before the US tariffs on China took effect, “is arriving in the US now,” he said. But that will be the last frontloaded freight from China. “In drayage, we’re at the front end of this,” said Kempisty. The initial impact will be on the West Coast, but it won’t be long before inland markets begin to see volumes drop. “Inland drayage markets in Chicago and Kansas City are going to see a fairly substantial decline in the next couple of weeks,” he said. IMC Logistics, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/kn-acquires-majority-stake-in-big-us-drayage-provider-5817584">purchased by global forwarder</a> Kuehne + Nagel last November, saw its drayage volume drop 14.2% in the last seven days as of Tuesday, and 8.1% in the last 30 days. “We’re seeing double-digit decreases in the orders we’re tracing,” Henry said. Added RoadOne’s Kellaway: “We haven’t seen the business fall off yet, but we know it’s coming.” Over the next few weeks, RoadOne anticipates its drayage volumes will drop 30% on the West Coast, 20% in the Midwest and 15% on the East Coast. “We could see a three- to four-week lull in volumes, so we’re moving equipment around,” he said. <h3>How long a decline? </h3>Other drayage providers offered similar forecasts of shipment decline, but no one has a clear idea of how long it will last. Guesses — it’s hard to call them estimates — have ranged from three weeks to three months or longer, in worst-case scenarios. The monthly Global Port Tracker produced by the National Retail Foundation (NRF) and Hackett Associates in April predicted US retail imports will be down 20% year over year in the second half of 2025, with a 20.2% decline in May and a 26.6% drop in June. “Even if there’s a [US-China] agreement today, there will still be this period where there will be less work coming inbound to the ports, with less drays, less transload, less truckload and less-than-truckload [LTL],” said Williams. “All this is already in motion.” The longer the “lull” or “pause” in Asian imports lasts, the bigger the long-term impact on drayage. And the bigger the rebound may be when trade disputes are settled. “If we get agreements before July, we could have an aggressive second half of the year,” Keith Prather, managing partner at Armada Capital Intelligence, said during an SMC3 webinar Tuesday on tariffs, the economy and the LTL sector. A big enough freight snap could boost not only drayage but other transportation modes out of what’s now a four-year freight downturn. “I look forward to dealing with the congestion,” said Henry. “That’s a much better challenge than this decline, because our driver base will be stable.” Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="Mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.Associate editor Laura Robb contributed to this story. </div>

Drayage providers who handled the early 2025 surge of US-bound cargo booked ahead of US tariffs are now bracing for a significant drop in business that will begin in May and potentially last into the third quarter. They’re also girding for a disruptive import rebound once trade disputes abate. “What happens in the third quarter is going to be the big story,” said Paul Brashier, vice president of global supply chain for ITS Logistics, a Reno, Nevada-based third-party logistics provider offering over-the-road truckload and drayage services. Once US trade disputes with China and other trading partners are resolved, “there will be a wave of freight that will stress the system,” Brashier said. “We’re pretty much looking at a similar event as we saw with COVID in 2020. There will be pent-up demand.” Indeed, container shipping lines are already warning that a rebound in Asian imports following the expected plunge linked to the US-China trade dispute may overwhelm major US ports . The biggest danger, they say, could be a lack of capacity outside port gates to handle a rapid acceleration in freight. That concern starts at drayage. “We’re warning customers to be very strategic with their dray partners,” said Ken Kellaway, CEO of RoadOne IntermodaLogistics, a nationwide drayage provider with headquarters near Boston. “If we lose drivers over the next 30 to 45 days, it will take weeks to get them back,” Kellaway said. “Shippers will be in trouble if we can’t preserve the capacity we have in the system today.” He said a freight “whiplash” could hit US ports as early as mid-June. Potential for a ‘reset’ US drayage capacity appears to be slowly shrinking from a 2022 high , with some of those losses attributed to the migration of owner-operators to the security of larger carriers. Still, excess drayage capacity persists, putting pressure on already-low rates. However, the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape global trade could reset the drayage market, especially if trade negotiations drag on without a resolution or a lowering of tariff rates that would encourage beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) to boost US imports. “The market’s been soft anyway, so a lot of small drayage companies are struggling with cash flow, taking any freight to keep going,” said Joel Henry, CEO of IMC Logistics, a nationwide drayage provider with headquarters near Memphis. “Now without the volume, they’ll not even have that cash flow,” Henry said. That could push small carriers that have stayed in business despite low rates the past two years out of the market, tightening capacity immediately when a rebound hits US ports. “I think there’s going to be a shakeout in capacity in the next month,” said Brian Kempisty, co-founder of drayage broker Port X Logistics, based in Buffalo, New York. “It could be three months, but when freight comes back, it will come back with a vengeance.” Drayage on the edge With the trajectory of trade disputes with China and other countries uncertain, many shippers in April canceled or postponed purchase orders from China. That big pause will lead to a real plunge in drayage demand at US ports and inland rail ramps. The US imposed combined tariffs of 145% on China on April 2, and China in turn imposed a 125% tariff on many US goods, including agricultural products. Another tranche of reciprocal tariffs on trading partners around the globe was paused for 90 days until July 9. And importers are also dealing with a 10% tariff on goods from almost all US trading partners, as well as 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum and automotive products and 25% tariffs on other goods from Mexico and Canada that took effect in March. Bookings for containers headed from China to the US dropped nearly 54% during the week of April 21–28 versus the comparable week in March, according to maritime visibility provider Vizion and data and analytics company Dun & Bradstreet. “One of our large customers who imports through Savannah shared with us that they canceled all their purchase orders from China for the next 30 days,” said Kent Williams, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Cookeville, Tennessee-based Averitt. The regional trucking and drayage provider, which drays about 45,000 containers a year in the Southeast, saw its drayage business jump 10% to 12% year over year in the first quarter as customers rushed goods to the US ahead of the tariffs. In the past month, as the tariffs on China took effect, Averitt’s drayage volumes have dropped 5% year over year. “There’s a real fear it could get worse,” Williams said. “All the canceled bookings and blanked sailings are about to hit the supply chain in a big way.” The effects of the trade war on drayage are just becoming apparent, said Port X’s Kempisty. “Freight that sailed April 1,” just before the US tariffs on China took effect, “is arriving in the US now,” he said. But that will be the last frontloaded freight from China. “In drayage, we’re at the front end of this,” said Kempisty. The initial impact will be on the West Coast, but it won’t be long before inland markets begin to see volumes drop. “Inland drayage markets in Chicago and Kansas City are going to see a fairly substantial decline in the next couple of weeks,” he said. IMC Logistics, purchased by global forwarder Kuehne + Nagel last November, saw its drayage volume drop 14.2% in the last seven days as of Tuesday, and 8.1% in the last 30 days. “We’re seeing double-digit decreases in the orders we’re tracing,” Henry said. Added RoadOne’s Kellaway: “We haven’t seen the business fall off yet, but we know it’s coming.” Over the next few weeks, RoadOne anticipates its drayage volumes will drop 30% on the West Coast, 20% in the Midwest and 15% on the East Coast. “We could see a three- to four-week lull in volumes, so we’re moving equipment around,” he said. How long a decline? Other drayage providers offered similar forecasts of shipment decline, but no one has a clear idea of how long it will last. Guesses — it’s hard to call them estimates — have ranged from three weeks to three months or longer, in worst-case scenarios. The monthly Global Port Tracker produced by the National Retail Foundation (NRF) and Hackett Associates in April predicted US retail imports will be down 20% year over year in the second half of 2025, with a 20.2% decline in May and a 26.6% drop in June. “Even if there’s a [US-China] agreement today, there will still be this period where there will be less work coming inbound to the ports, with less drays, less transload, less truckload and less-than-truckload [LTL],” said Williams. “All this is already in motion.” The longer the “lull” or “pause” in Asian imports lasts, the bigger the long-term impact on drayage. And the bigger the rebound may be when trade disputes are settled. “If we get agreements before July, we could have an aggressive second half of the year,” Keith Prather, managing partner at Armada Capital Intelligence, said during an SMC3 webinar Tuesday on tariffs, the economy and the LTL sector. A big enough freight snap could boost not only drayage but other transportation modes out of what’s now a four-year freight downturn. “I look forward to dealing with the congestion,” said Henry. “That’s a much better challenge than this decline, because our driver base will be stable.” Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .Associate editor Laura Robb contributed to this story.

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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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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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