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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Having US ports return to a pre-COVID “status quo” depends on a slowing of cargo volumes and a return of labor to the logistics workforce in significant enough numbers to improve cargo flow.</div>

Having US ports return to a pre-COVID “status quo” depends on a slowing of cargo volumes and a return of labor to the logistics workforce in significant enough numbers to improve cargo flow.

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<div>At some point, the realization may set in that the ship queue outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and broader trans-Pacific container supply chain problems aren’t going away any time soon. That would be a change in thinking for a consensus of observers and would have implications for what happens next. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the baseline for ships waiting outside Los Angeles-Long Beach was zero. And because the pandemic had an outsized, although historically rare, impact on the supply chain, the collective industry has been asking, “When will the pre-pandemic status quo be restored?” since...

At some point, the realization may set in that the ship queue outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and broader trans-Pacific container supply chain problems aren’t going away any time soon. That would be a change in thinking for a consensus of observers and would have implications for what happens next. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the baseline for ships waiting outside Los Angeles-Long Beach was zero. And because the pandemic had an outsized, although historically rare, impact on the supply chain, the collective industry has been asking, “When will the pre-pandemic status quo be restored?” since ships started lining up 15 months ago. The answer, however, depends on two factors that are beyond the industry’s control: a slowing of cargo volumes due to a pullback in consumer spending, and a return of labor to the logistics workforce in significant enough quantities to improve overall cargo flow. For that to happen, the pandemic would likely need to transition into an endemic phase. “One would have to believe in a couple things for fluidity to return in the near term regardless of some operational improvements taking place on the margins: a sustained moderation in volumes, an easing in the massive dislocation/congestion of ocean assets, and a reduction in the negative impact of COVID on the workforce,” said Ron Widdows, CEO of chassis provider FlexiVan Leasing and a former CEO of ocean carrier APL. “These are global dynamics, not only a US challenge.” Referring to the situation in Los Angeles–Long Beach, Hapag Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen told CNBC on Jan. 18, “In the end, I personally think it is only really going to turn when we see the people coming back to work and we have most of this hopefully last COVID wave behind us.” For the ports and White House Port Envoy John Porcari, the perilous link between supply chain backups and inflation makes it politically impossible to sit back and wait for broader economic or public health trends to come to the rescue. As a result, the market has witnessed a series of actions in recent months — from encouraging importers to move to 24/7 operations to threatened fees on long-dwelling containers — that have thus far had a limited impact on alleviating the backups. Urgency as an upside But there is an upside. The historic levels of congestion have brought attention to the supreme task at hand, which is speeding cargo flow through the marine terminals. The problem has been known for years, but there has never been greater urgency or focus from the top of the US government. When import cargo flows too slowly through the terminals, especially at a time of heavy volume, the terminal yards fill up with containers, leaving no space to unload additional containers and forcing ships to remain at berth for longer and, eventually, to queue up outside the ports. On Jan. 14, there were 106 container vessels outside Los Angeles–Long Beach and stretched across the Pacific awaiting a berth, just three short of the record 109 ships reported on Jan. 9, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California. IHS Markit Port Performance data shows that ships at the busiest US port complex were at berth for nearly 60 percent longer in the fourth quarter of 2021 versus the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. Ports for decades have watched with distaste as importers leaned on marine terminals as temporary storage space. Chronic overcapacity in the pre-pandemic container market led to contract terms that gave shippers weeks of free storage time on the terminals. Backups materialized whenever an unexpected surge occurred, such as in late 2018 when threatened Trump administration tariffs on Chinese-made goods led importers to front-load shipments ahead of the planned Jan. 1 implementation, leading to a rare 23 percent year-over-year spike in US imports from Asia in December 2018. Looking ahead, unless the plan is to wait out the pandemic, marine terminals must be viewed as sacrosanct. Cargo cannot be allowed to remain on the terminals beyond a few days, at most. Otherwise, the system will remain vulnerable even if the ship backup is eliminated. The question now becomes what the government is prepared to do about it, because all the evidence suggests that long-term solutions to terminal flow are beyond the capacity of the private sector. Long-imagined solutions such as intermodal rail shuttles to the Inland Empire, which the railroads have deemed unprofitable, or the creation of massive inland container yards, should be on the table. “Imagine if you simply said, ‘Let’s forget how much it costs, but we’re going to move containers en masse off of marine terminals, and we’re going keep terminal utilization at an optimal utilization which allows for consistent flow,’” Widdows said. “If this was to be considered a national emergency, [we would] condemn land, suspend regulation, and create massive inland container handling capacity. Then you can at least turn the ships and enable ships to operate on time. “The fact the containers are piling up out in the desert, that’s a different problem that you would have to reconcile, but by doing this you are eliminating port capacity as a constraint,” he added. Contact Peter Tirschwell at peter.tirschwell@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @petertirschwell .

Industry confronts limited reach to solve US port woes

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">ODFL, XPO and Saia reported annualized declines in third-quarter shipments but are positioning themselves for a stronger freight market in 2026. </div>

ODFL, XPO and Saia reported annualized declines in third-quarter shipments but are positioning themselves for a stronger freight market in 2026.

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<div class="phx-topic">US less-than-truckload (LTL) providers are pursuing highly individualized paths in an anemic freight market, with shipment volumes rising but still lower than a year ago. Three of the largest LTL carriers this week reported gains in average revenue per hundredweight for the third quarter, a sign that their pricing is not falling despite a weak market. LTL revenue per hundredweight, with or without fuel surcharges, was up 4.7% year over year at Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) in the third quarter. At XPO, it rose 5.8% with surcharges and 5.9% without them. Saia reported a 0.5% increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight including surcharges and a 0.1% drop without them. Even with a flatter yield, Saia reported an average contract pricing renewal rate of 5.1% for the quarter. The company recently announced a 5.9% general rate increase (GRI) for non-contract tariff rates, which was effective Oct. 1. ODFL is pursuing a 4.9% non-contract GRI, effective Nov. 3, while LTL sector leader FedEx Freight will seek a 5.9% GRI on Jan. 5. The motor carriers reject claims that LTL carrier pricing discipline is weakening under the pressure of low freight demand. The US long-distance LTL producer price index, a measure of total LTL costs paid by shippers, was up 10.5% year over year in August, the last month for which data is available thanks to the US government shutdown. In discussions with shippers, “the tone is starting to shift,” Mario Harik, CEO of XPO, the fourth-largest US LTL provider, said in an interview. “A lot of customers are concerned about capacity. They can go to a discount carrier, but when the market starts to turn, will they have capacity? More and more customers expect a recovery in 2026.” <h3>Limited expectations </h3>Harik spoke with the Journal of Commerce before XPO’s earnings call with Wall Street analysts Thursday. ODFL, the second-largest US LTL carrier, released earnings Wednesday, and Saia, ranked sixth among LTL carriers by revenue, announced results Thursday. Their results differed, but their expectations were similar. “Demand feels consistent to me, but obviously we haven’t seen the inflection that we’ve all been waiting for,” ODFL CEO Adam Satterfield said Wednesday. “When will the market change? I mean, that’s obviously the big question. I’ve asked ChatGPT that, and it suggests next year. So who knows? We’ll see if AI is right or another economic forecast [is].” Saia’s shipper customers are “incrementally more positive” about prospects for 2026, CEO Frederick Holzgrefe told analysts Thursday. “We’ve got a view of the tariff landscape,” he said. “We’ve got a view of tax policy. We’ve got a view around interest rates. All that is incrementally positive, right? I’m waiting to see it in the numbers.” So far, the numbers are mostly negative in terms of volume. ODFL’s average daily shipment (ADS) count dropped 7.9% year over year in the third quarter. At XPO, the ADS fell 3.5%, while Saia’s shipments dropped 1.9% from a year ago. “We are not yet seeing a demand recovery,” XPO’s Harik said, and he doesn’t expect one in the fourth quarter. “Customers expect the market to be steady” through the end of 2025, he said. “Things aren’t getting better, but they’re not getting worse.” Customers do expect improvement in 2026, Harik said. For one, a drop in the federal funds rate could stimulate industrial demand and more corporate investment. “We have all these tailwinds,” he said. <h3>Established strategies </h3>ODFL, XPO and Saia are taking long-established approaches to the market as they wait for those tailwinds to blow. ODFL’s third-quarter decline in daily shipments was accompanied by a 4.3% annualized drop in revenue to $1.4 billion. The company remains highly profitable despite a 12.2% drop in net profit to $271 million, with a 74.3% operating ratio. ODFL has consistently been willing to protect its bottom line at the expense of top-line revenue, maintaining a premium price to protect profit margin rather than trying to use price to gain market share — a model many LTL carriers are trying to emulate. “We want to win market share; we don’t want to go out and try to take it,” said Satterfield. Saia’s revenue fell 0.3% year over year in the quarter to $839.6 million, while its net profit dropped 6.9% to $86.3 million. Its operating ratio rose slightly to 85.9%. Saia hopes to grow “share of wallet” by gaining new business from existing customers as it realigns its network, which has expanded nationwide with 39 new terminals since 2022, many of them purchased from Yellow. “It’s really not about how quickly we can grow shipment count for the sake of shipment count,” CFO Matthew Batteh said. XPO is adding new customers, onboarding 2,500 small business shippers in the third quarter and 7,500 year to date, Harik said. Those “local” customers now account for 25% of XPO’s LTL revenue, he said. The carrier is also gaining revenue from new premium services launched over the past year that carry a higher price, generating more revenue. XPO’s North American LTL revenue rose 0.3% to $1.3 billion. Operating income for the North American LTL business rose 9.6% to $217 million, although overall net income dropped 13.7% to $82 million. “We’re still in the early innings” of a freight recovery, Harik told analysts. “When the cycle starts turning, we’ll improve even more.” Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

US less-than-truckload (LTL) providers are pursuing highly individualized paths in an anemic freight market, with shipment volumes rising but still lower than a year ago. Three of the largest LTL carriers this week reported gains in average revenue per hundredweight for the third quarter, a sign that their pricing is not falling despite a weak market. LTL revenue per hundredweight, with or without fuel surcharges, was up 4.7% year over year at Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) in the third quarter. At XPO, it rose 5.8% with surcharges and 5.9% without them. Saia reported a 0.5% increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight including surcharges and a 0.1% drop without them. Even with a flatter yield, Saia reported an average contract pricing renewal rate of 5.1% for the quarter. The company recently announced a 5.9% general rate increase (GRI) for non-contract tariff rates, which was effective Oct. 1. ODFL is pursuing a 4.9% non-contract GRI, effective Nov. 3, while LTL sector leader FedEx Freight will seek a 5.9% GRI on Jan. 5. The motor carriers reject claims that LTL carrier pricing discipline is weakening under the pressure of low freight demand. The US long-distance LTL producer price index, a measure of total LTL costs paid by shippers, was up 10.5% year over year in August, the last month for which data is available thanks to the US government shutdown. In discussions with shippers, “the tone is starting to shift,” Mario Harik, CEO of XPO, the fourth-largest US LTL provider, said in an interview. “A lot of customers are concerned about capacity. They can go to a discount carrier, but when the market starts to turn, will they have capacity? More and more customers expect a recovery in 2026.” Limited expectations Harik spoke with the Journal of Commerce before XPO’s earnings call with Wall Street analysts Thursday. ODFL, the second-largest US LTL carrier, released earnings Wednesday, and Saia, ranked sixth among LTL carriers by revenue, announced results Thursday. Their results differed, but their expectations were similar. “Demand feels consistent to me, but obviously we haven’t seen the inflection that we’ve all been waiting for,” ODFL CEO Adam Satterfield said Wednesday. “When will the market change? I mean, that’s obviously the big question. I’ve asked ChatGPT that, and it suggests next year. So who knows? We’ll see if AI is right or another economic forecast [is].” Saia’s shipper customers are “incrementally more positive” about prospects for 2026, CEO Frederick Holzgrefe told analysts Thursday. “We’ve got a view of the tariff landscape,” he said. “We’ve got a view of tax policy. We’ve got a view around interest rates. All that is incrementally positive, right? I’m waiting to see it in the numbers.” So far, the numbers are mostly negative in terms of volume. ODFL’s average daily shipment (ADS) count dropped 7.9% year over year in the third quarter. At XPO, the ADS fell 3.5%, while Saia’s shipments dropped 1.9% from a year ago. “We are not yet seeing a demand recovery,” XPO’s Harik said, and he doesn’t expect one in the fourth quarter. “Customers expect the market to be steady” through the end of 2025, he said. “Things aren’t getting better, but they’re not getting worse.” Customers do expect improvement in 2026, Harik said. For one, a drop in the federal funds rate could stimulate industrial demand and more corporate investment. “We have all these tailwinds,” he said. Established strategies ODFL, XPO and Saia are taking long-established approaches to the market as they wait for those tailwinds to blow. ODFL’s third-quarter decline in daily shipments was accompanied by a 4.3% annualized drop in revenue to $1.4 billion. The company remains highly profitable despite a 12.2% drop in net profit to $271 million, with a 74.3% operating ratio. ODFL has consistently been willing to protect its bottom line at the expense of top-line revenue, maintaining a premium price to protect profit margin rather than trying to use price to gain market share — a model many LTL carriers are trying to emulate. “We want to win market share; we don’t want to go out and try to take it,” said Satterfield. Saia’s revenue fell 0.3% year over year in the quarter to $839.6 million, while its net profit dropped 6.9% to $86.3 million. Its operating ratio rose slightly to 85.9%. Saia hopes to grow “share of wallet” by gaining new business from existing customers as it realigns its network, which has expanded nationwide with 39 new terminals since 2022, many of them purchased from Yellow. “It’s really not about how quickly we can grow shipment count for the sake of shipment count,” CFO Matthew Batteh said. XPO is adding new customers, onboarding 2,500 small business shippers in the third quarter and 7,500 year to date, Harik said. Those “local” customers now account for 25% of XPO’s LTL revenue, he said. The carrier is also gaining revenue from new premium services launched over the past year that carry a higher price, generating more revenue. XPO’s North American LTL revenue rose 0.3% to $1.3 billion. Operating income for the North American LTL business rose 9.6% to $217 million, although overall net income dropped 13.7% to $82 million. “We’re still in the early innings” of a freight recovery, Harik told analysts. “When the cycle starts turning, we’ll improve even more.” Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Top LTL carriers maintain profit while planning paths to freight recovery

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Recent tensions involved CPKC’s opposition to the UP-NS merger, but the battle has morphed into a larger disagreement about poor service on a 300-mile stretch of track in Louisiana and Mississippi known as the Meridian Speedway. </div>

Recent tensions involved CPKC’s opposition to the UP-NS merger, but the battle has morphed into a larger disagreement about poor service on a 300-mile stretch of track in Louisiana and Mississippi known as the Meridian Speedway.

<div class="phx-topic">Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) is escalating its dispute with rivals Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), taking aim at the two over intermodal service in the US Southeast while reiterating criticism of their proposed merger. CPKC was one of the first railroads to come out against the $85 billion deal between UP and NS, but the battle has morphed into a larger disagreement about poor service on a 300-mile stretch of track in Louisiana and Mississippi known as the <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/cpkc-pushes-back-on-ns-complaint-over-meridian-track-access-6090887">Meridian Speedway</a>. The Meridian Speedway represents the fastest way to route cargo from California to the US Southeast, but intermodal service has deteriorated significantly in 2025. CPKC owns 70% of the joint venture operating the Speedway, shuttling cargo between UP and NS in addition to its own freight in the corridor. NS, which filed a complaint to the US Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Sept. 30, alleges that more than two-thirds of the trains on Meridian in August took longer than the contractually guaranteed 13-hour transit, resulting in a 10% decline in volume as shippers such as FedEx and UPS trucked shipments to avoid the delays. CPKC on Wednesday called the NS complaint a “self-serving narrative” without merit. “There was infrastructure built for 8,500-foot trains, but our predecessors at [Kansas City Southern] allowed NS to run long trains,” CPKC CEO Keith Creel said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call. “That’s what we stopped, and that’s what NS and UP do not like.” UP CEO Jim Vena told the Journal of Commerce Inland Distribution Conference on Oct. 1 that he was unhappy with the restrictions implemented by CPKC. “We started running two trains because we’re not leaving the customer traffic behind,” Vena said at the conference. “[CPKC was] delaying both trains. The amount of delay on the first train was excessive and then our second train sat around for 12, 16, 24 hours at times.” But Creel argued that Meridian’s rail siding — akin to a shoulder on a highway — was not built to handle the 10,000- to 12,000-foot trains routinely delivered by UP and NS. When two trains need to use the same track, the CPKC train is the one parked on the siding because it’s the only one that fits. “Our trains are taking over an 11-hour delay per day to accommodate a longer train. It doesn’t make any sense,” Creel said on the CPKC call. “I’m not going to subsidize NS’ operation, nor am I going to subsidize UP’s operation for their operational synergies at the cost of my service to my customers. I have a responsibility to protect my customers as well. [Meridian is] built to run 8,500-foot trains. That’s what we’re going to do.” CPKC and NS have reached a temporary truce allowing one long eastbound train per day through mid-November, when a new CPKC crew will be added and restrictions return to 8,500 feet. NS agreed to compensate CPKC for delays to its trains. The STB is closed during the government shutdown, preventing any action on the dispute. <h3>CPKC again attacks UP-NS transaction </h3>Creel on Wednesday also elaborated on why CPKC opposes the UP-NS merger, urging the STB not to rush the regulatory process. “I know there’s an echo chamber. I read it, I hear it, I sense it,” Creel said. “I know there’s a lot of invested investors that perhaps want this to be a layup. This is not a layup.” He cautioned that UP must clear a high hurdle to get approval, calling it “a hurdle not even remotely close to being the same” as the lower one applied when Canadian Pacific acquired Kansas City Southern in 2023. Creel said the STB also remembers how UP suffered significant service failures four years ago, and if the deal was approved, UP-NS would control more than 40% of US rail traffic. Creel rejected the idea that the concerns of CPKC, a Canada-based company, will fall on deaf ears in Washington. “One-third of our employees live, work and are taxpaying [citizens] in the United States ... we are undeniably wrapped in the American flag,” he said. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) is escalating its dispute with rivals Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), taking aim at the two over intermodal service in the US Southeast while reiterating criticism of their proposed merger. CPKC was one of the first railroads to come out against the $85 billion deal between UP and NS, but the battle has morphed into a larger disagreement about poor service on a 300-mile stretch of track in Louisiana and Mississippi known as the Meridian Speedway . The Meridian Speedway represents the fastest way to route cargo from California to the US Southeast, but intermodal service has deteriorated significantly in 2025. CPKC owns 70% of the joint venture operating the Speedway, shuttling cargo between UP and NS in addition to its own freight in the corridor. NS, which filed a complaint to the US Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Sept. 30, alleges that more than two-thirds of the trains on Meridian in August took longer than the contractually guaranteed 13-hour transit, resulting in a 10% decline in volume as shippers such as FedEx and UPS trucked shipments to avoid the delays. CPKC on Wednesday called the NS complaint a “self-serving narrative” without merit. “There was infrastructure built for 8,500-foot trains, but our predecessors at [Kansas City Southern] allowed NS to run long trains,” CPKC CEO Keith Creel said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call. “That’s what we stopped, and that’s what NS and UP do not like.” UP CEO Jim Vena told the Journal of Commerce Inland Distribution Conference on Oct. 1 that he was unhappy with the restrictions implemented by CPKC. “We started running two trains because we’re not leaving the customer traffic behind,” Vena said at the conference. “[CPKC was] delaying both trains. The amount of delay on the first train was excessive and then our second train sat around for 12, 16, 24 hours at times.” But Creel argued that Meridian’s rail siding — akin to a shoulder on a highway — was not built to handle the 10,000- to 12,000-foot trains routinely delivered by UP and NS. When two trains need to use the same track, the CPKC train is the one parked on the siding because it’s the only one that fits. “Our trains are taking over an 11-hour delay per day to accommodate a longer train. It doesn’t make any sense,” Creel said on the CPKC call. “I’m not going to subsidize NS’ operation, nor am I going to subsidize UP’s operation for their operational synergies at the cost of my service to my customers. I have a responsibility to protect my customers as well. [Meridian is] built to run 8,500-foot trains. That’s what we’re going to do.” CPKC and NS have reached a temporary truce allowing one long eastbound train per day through mid-November, when a new CPKC crew will be added and restrictions return to 8,500 feet. NS agreed to compensate CPKC for delays to its trains. The STB is closed during the government shutdown, preventing any action on the dispute. CPKC again attacks UP-NS transaction Creel on Wednesday also elaborated on why CPKC opposes the UP-NS merger, urging the STB not to rush the regulatory process. “I know there’s an echo chamber. I read it, I hear it, I sense it,” Creel said. “I know there’s a lot of invested investors that perhaps want this to be a layup. This is not a layup.” He cautioned that UP must clear a high hurdle to get approval, calling it “a hurdle not even remotely close to being the same” as the lower one applied when Canadian Pacific acquired Kansas City Southern in 2023. Creel said the STB also remembers how UP suffered significant service failures four years ago, and if the deal was approved, UP-NS would control more than 40% of US rail traffic. Creel rejected the idea that the concerns of CPKC, a Canada-based company, will fall on deaf ears in Washington. “One-third of our employees live, work and are taxpaying [citizens] in the United States ... we are undeniably wrapped in the American flag,” he said. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

CPKC slams UP, NS on Meridian congestion, merger plans

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">China-based Cosco’s latest earnings came as Beijing and Washington announced a one-year pause in their reciprocal port fees as part of a broader trade framework that included a reduction in US tariffs on Chinese imports.</div>

China-based Cosco’s latest earnings came as Beijing and Washington announced a one-year pause in their reciprocal port fees as part of a broader trade framework that included a reduction in US tariffs on Chinese imports.

<div class="phx-topic">Plunging freight rates and US tariff policy led to a 56% slump in net profit for Cosco Shipping Holdings in the third quarter, the company said Thursday, as profits fell to $1.3 billion from $3 billion in the prior-year period. Revenue fell 20% to $8.2 billion between July and September, from $10.3 billion a year earlier, the container line and ports group said in a third-quarter report. “In the first three quarters of 2025, affected by the continuous spillover effects caused by [US] tariff policies, rising geopolitical uncertainties and weakening demand for global trade in goods, freight rates in the container shipping market continued to fluctuate,” Cosco said. China-based Cosco’s earnings came as <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-china-suspend-reciprocal-port-fees-as-part-of-wider-trade-deal-6105849">Beijing and Washington announced a one-year pause</a> in their reciprocal port fees as part of a broader trade framework that included a reduction in US tariffs on Chinese imports. For the nine months through September, Cosco said net profit fell 29% to $3.8 billion, while revenues slipped 4% to $23.6 billion. Cosco said revenue dropped on all trades except for domestic services, despite an increase in liftings on all services except the trans-Pacific. The worst affected trades were the trans-Pacific, where third-quarter revenue plunged 34% to $2 billion, and Asia-Europe, including the Mediterranean, which saw a 33% fall in revenue to $1.5 billion. Revenue from intra-Asia and Australia trades fell 14% to $1.9 billion in the third quarter. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="a2606c91-b30c-4219-b617-9491b44b6af1"></dynamic-object></div>Cosco’s total liftings in the third quarter climbed 5% to 6.9 million TEUs, although the trans-Pacific recorded a 4% fall in container volumes to 1.2 million TEUS. Cosco saw a 3% rise in liftings on Asia-Europe/Mediterranean services to 1 million TEUs, with 2% growth on intra-Asia services to 2.3 million TEUs. Meanwhile, Cosco Shipping Ports contributed $82 million to group net profit in the third quarter and $264 million in the first nine months, up 1% and 20%, respectively, year over year. Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>.</div>

Plunging freight rates and US tariff policy led to a 56% slump in net profit for Cosco Shipping Holdings in the third quarter, the company said Thursday, as profits fell to $1.3 billion from $3 billion in the prior-year period. Revenue fell 20% to $8.2 billion between July and September, from $10.3 billion a year earlier, the container line and ports group said in a third-quarter report. “In the first three quarters of 2025, affected by the continuous spillover effects caused by [US] tariff policies, rising geopolitical uncertainties and weakening demand for global trade in goods, freight rates in the container shipping market continued to fluctuate,” Cosco said. China-based Cosco’s earnings came as Beijing and Washington announced a one-year pause in their reciprocal port fees as part of a broader trade framework that included a reduction in US tariffs on Chinese imports. For the nine months through September, Cosco said net profit fell 29% to $3.8 billion, while revenues slipped 4% to $23.6 billion. Cosco said revenue dropped on all trades except for domestic services, despite an increase in liftings on all services except the trans-Pacific. The worst affected trades were the trans-Pacific, where third-quarter revenue plunged 34% to $2 billion, and Asia-Europe, including the Mediterranean, which saw a 33% fall in revenue to $1.5 billion. Revenue from intra-Asia and Australia trades fell 14% to $1.9 billion in the third quarter. Cosco’s total liftings in the third quarter climbed 5% to 6.9 million TEUs, although the trans-Pacific recorded a 4% fall in container volumes to 1.2 million TEUS. Cosco saw a 3% rise in liftings on Asia-Europe/Mediterranean services to 1 million TEUs, with 2% growth on intra-Asia services to 2.3 million TEUs. Meanwhile, Cosco Shipping Ports contributed $82 million to group net profit in the third quarter and $264 million in the first nine months, up 1% and 20%, respectively, year over year. Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Cosco cites falling freight rates, tariff woes for 56% drop in Q3 net profits

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">But there was no indication when the pause would take effect or what would happen to the port fees already paid by ship operators in the two weeks since the US and China imposed the reciprocal levies on Oct. 14.</div>

But there was no indication when the pause would take effect or what would happen to the port fees already paid by ship operators in the two weeks since the US and China imposed the reciprocal levies on Oct. 14.

<div class="phx-topic">The US and China have agreed to pause tit-for-tat port fees for one year as part of wider trade-related measures announced Thursday after talks between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea meant to deescalate tensions between the two superpowers. China’s Commerce Ministry confirmed that port levies on US-built, -controlled or -registered ships calling at Chinese ports would be suspended, while a similar measure on Chinese-built or -controlled ships will be lifted by the US. But there was no indication when the pause would take effect or what would happen to the port fees already paid by ship operators in the two weeks since the US and China imposed the reciprocal levies on Oct. 14. “Following the US suspension, China will also suspend its countermeasures against the US for one year,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement. The ministry also confirmed that Chinese export controls imposed earlier this month on rare earths, used in automobiles, airplanes, mobile phones and other equipment, would also be suspended for a year. The US and China also agreed to expand agricultural trade, with China again ready to buy US soybeans. As part of the broad agreement, the US will “cancel the 10% so-called ‘fentanyl tariffs’ and suspend, for an additional year, the 24% reciprocal tariffs levied on Chinese goods,” the Commerce Ministry added. This will reduce the overall US tariffs on Chinese goods to 47%. The ministry said all the measures were agreed to during economic and trade talks last weekend in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between delegations led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. But details were only released Thursday to coincide with the Trump-Xi meeting in Gyeongju, about 43 miles from Busan, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Commenting on the suspension of reciprocal port fees, Lars Jensen, CEO of consultant Vespucci Maritime and a Journal of Commerce contributor, said ocean carriers are likely to adopt a cautious response to the fee suspensions. “Given this is a time-limited suspension it would likely see shipping lines maintain a deployment stance whereby they, to some degree, still abide by the restrictions and certainly keep a plan for vessel-reshuffling handy,” Jensen said in a LinkedIn post Thursday. “Overall, this does point to some de-escalation in the trade war between the US and China, but there is not necessarily a long-term certainty of the trade environment given that some of these agreements are one-year only,” he added. Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>. </div>

The US and China have agreed to pause tit-for-tat port fees for one year as part of wider trade-related measures announced Thursday after talks between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea meant to deescalate tensions between the two superpowers. China’s Commerce Ministry confirmed that port levies on US-built, -controlled or -registered ships calling at Chinese ports would be suspended, while a similar measure on Chinese-built or -controlled ships will be lifted by the US. But there was no indication when the pause would take effect or what would happen to the port fees already paid by ship operators in the two weeks since the US and China imposed the reciprocal levies on Oct. 14. “Following the US suspension, China will also suspend its countermeasures against the US for one year,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement. The ministry also confirmed that Chinese export controls imposed earlier this month on rare earths, used in automobiles, airplanes, mobile phones and other equipment, would also be suspended for a year. The US and China also agreed to expand agricultural trade, with China again ready to buy US soybeans. As part of the broad agreement, the US will “cancel the 10% so-called ‘fentanyl tariffs’ and suspend, for an additional year, the 24% reciprocal tariffs levied on Chinese goods,” the Commerce Ministry added. This will reduce the overall US tariffs on Chinese goods to 47%. The ministry said all the measures were agreed to during economic and trade talks last weekend in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between delegations led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. But details were only released Thursday to coincide with the Trump-Xi meeting in Gyeongju, about 43 miles from Busan, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Commenting on the suspension of reciprocal port fees, Lars Jensen, CEO of consultant Vespucci Maritime and a Journal of Commerce contributor, said ocean carriers are likely to adopt a cautious response to the fee suspensions. “Given this is a time-limited suspension it would likely see shipping lines maintain a deployment stance whereby they, to some degree, still abide by the restrictions and certainly keep a plan for vessel-reshuffling handy,” Jensen said in a LinkedIn post Thursday. “Overall, this does point to some de-escalation in the trade war between the US and China, but there is not necessarily a long-term certainty of the trade environment given that some of these agreements are one-year only,” he added. Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

US, China suspend reciprocal port fees as part of wider trade deal

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">While some carriers reported a positive outlook for freight stemming from power generation and mining projects, others noted that demand for offshore wind has been dented by regulatory upheaval. </div>

While some carriers reported a positive outlook for freight stemming from power generation and mining projects, others noted that demand for offshore wind has been dented by regulatory upheaval.

<div class="phx-topic">The recent postponement of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) net-zero emissions framework has compounded ongoing market uncertainty amid unpredictable US trade and tariff policies, operators in the project cargo and multipurpose vessel (MPV) sector say. Although the One World Shipbrokers’ Market Sentiment Index (MSI) rose marginally from 53 to 53.3 in the third quarter, its first increase of 2025, the 27 MPV carriers surveyed for the benchmark indicator reported increasing uncertainty amid a strong outlook for freight demand, said Justin Archard, managing partner at One World Shipbrokers. “The combination of regulations changing frequently in the US, together with increasingly arbitrary power in policy making, means carriers are wedged between a short-term market which is sitting on its hands and hoping a full-blown trade war does not erupt, and a longer-term market that is offering increasing project cargoes,” Archard told the Journal of Commerce. And with the IMO <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/delay-in-imo-decarbonization-plans-robs-green-fuel-investors-of-certainty-6101250">delaying a full vote on the net-zero framework</a> for at least a year, thanks in large part to US opposition, shipowners and fuel suppliers lack the certainty they need to fund the transition to net-zero fuels, he added. “Rather than moving toward greater clarity, companies are finding it harder to anticipate the rules and frameworks that affect their operations,” an MPV carrier said in comments for the MSI report. “The absence of consistency and transparency continues to delay projects and decision-making, as organizations hesitate amid ongoing ambiguity.” <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="69dec518-45f6-4724-a701-dc94e23bec33"></dynamic-object></div>While some carriers reported a positive outlook for freight stemming from power generation and mining projects, others noted that demand for offshore wind has been dented by regulatory upheaval. “The Trump administration has pulled funding for wind projects on federal land, casting a pall over European wind project developers,” Archard said. In addition, both Denmark and Germany suspended offshore wind auctions over the summer when no bids came forward. Contact Felicity Landon at <a href="mailto:felicity@felicitylandon.com">felicity@felicitylandon.com</a>. </div>

The recent postponement of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) net-zero emissions framework has compounded ongoing market uncertainty amid unpredictable US trade and tariff policies, operators in the project cargo and multipurpose vessel (MPV) sector say. Although the One World Shipbrokers’ Market Sentiment Index (MSI) rose marginally from 53 to 53.3 in the third quarter, its first increase of 2025, the 27 MPV carriers surveyed for the benchmark indicator reported increasing uncertainty amid a strong outlook for freight demand, said Justin Archard, managing partner at One World Shipbrokers. “The combination of regulations changing frequently in the US, together with increasingly arbitrary power in policy making, means carriers are wedged between a short-term market which is sitting on its hands and hoping a full-blown trade war does not erupt, and a longer-term market that is offering increasing project cargoes,” Archard told the Journal of Commerce. And with the IMO delaying a full vote on the net-zero framework for at least a year, thanks in large part to US opposition, shipowners and fuel suppliers lack the certainty they need to fund the transition to net-zero fuels, he added. “Rather than moving toward greater clarity, companies are finding it harder to anticipate the rules and frameworks that affect their operations,” an MPV carrier said in comments for the MSI report. “The absence of consistency and transparency continues to delay projects and decision-making, as organizations hesitate amid ongoing ambiguity.” While some carriers reported a positive outlook for freight stemming from power generation and mining projects, others noted that demand for offshore wind has been dented by regulatory upheaval. “The Trump administration has pulled funding for wind projects on federal land, casting a pall over European wind project developers,” Archard said. In addition, both Denmark and Germany suspended offshore wind auctions over the summer when no bids came forward. Contact Felicity Landon at felicity@felicitylandon.com .

Rising MSI belies heightened uncertainty in multipurpose vessel sector

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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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Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

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