<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Supply chain software provider Manhattan Associates announced it will restate earnings from 1999 thr</div>

Supply chain software provider Manhattan Associates announced it will restate earnings from 1999 thr

<div>Supply chain software provider Manhattan Associates announced it will restate earnings from 1999 through 2004 due to tax accounting errors that inflated profits by $7 million.The Atlanta-based company posted net income of $18.6 million on $246.4 million in revenue in 2005, compared with restated net income of $21.6 million on $214.9 million in revenue in 2004. Net income was $5.7 million on $66.4 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2005, compared with restated net income of $4.5 million on $55.8 million in revenue for the same period a year ago. </div>...

Supply chain software provider Manhattan Associates announced it will restate earnings from 1999 through 2004 due to tax accounting errors that inflated profits by $7 million. The Atlanta-based company posted net income of $18.6 million on $246.4 million in revenue in 2005, compared with restated net income of $21.6 million on $214.9 million in revenue in 2004. Net income was $5.7 million on $66.4 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2005, compared with restated net income of $4.5 million on $55.8 million in revenue for the same period a year ago.

Logistics Technology News

Manhattan Associates to restate earnings

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The French liner is implementing changes to its Epic and Medex services due to operational complications caused by the war in the Persian Gulf. </div>

The French liner is implementing changes to its Epic and Medex services due to operational complications caused by the war in the Persian Gulf.

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<div class="phx-topic">CMA CGM will add a new call at Colombo Port in Sri Lanka to its India–North Europe "Epic” loop and revamp its “Medex” India–Mediterranean route amid operational pressures due to the war in the Middle East. Both moves are effective from early April. The call at Colombo will enable CMA CGM to handle Pakistan shipments that it was previously transshipping via the Persian Gulf. The new Epic rotation will start with the CMA CGM Gemini’s arrival in Mundra, slated for April 3. The new rotation for Epic will call Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Tangier Med, Southampton, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre, Algeciras and Nhava Sheva. Cosco Shipping is a vessel-sharing partner on the Epic, contributing three ships out of 10 vessels currently deployed on the rotation. The new Colombo call on the Epic loop will also allow CMA CGM to connect incremental volumes out of southern India by offering more reliable and faster transits than its existing coverage for the region via the “NEWMO” service out of Ennore Port (Chennai) that has longer roundtrip times. The reconfigured Medex, meanwhile, is due to begin westbound operations when the CMA CGM Ural arrives in Mundra on April 2. The changes to the route will introduce stops at Djibouti, Valencia and Fos-sur-Mer while dropping Abu Dhabi and Jebel Ali from the itinerary. Medex will call Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Djibouti, Jeddah, Port Said, Valencia, Fos-sur-Mer, Genoa, Malta, Piraeus, Beirut, Port Said, Jeddah and Mundra. <h3>Rates on the rise </h3>Ocean rates on the India–Europe trade lane have more than doubled since the start of the war in the Middle East, according to forwarders. Sources put average spot booking rates from West India to North Europe at $3,000 to $3,200 per FEU, up from $1,400 to $1,500/FEU reported in late February. Local forwarder executives who spoke with the Journal of Commerce have linked the rate boost in large part to capacity disruptions along with the impact of emergency fuel fees now being levied by carriers. “We do not see the rate surge as a sign of a recovering market,” said an executive at a Mumbai-based forwarding house who didn’t want to be identified. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com</a>. </div>

CMA CGM will add a new call at Colombo Port in Sri Lanka to its India–North Europe "Epic” loop and revamp its “Medex” India–Mediterranean route amid operational pressures due to the war in the Middle East. Both moves are effective from early April. The call at Colombo will enable CMA CGM to handle Pakistan shipments that it was previously transshipping via the Persian Gulf. The new Epic rotation will start with the CMA CGM Gemini’s arrival in Mundra, slated for April 3. The new rotation for Epic will call Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Tangier Med, Southampton, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre, Algeciras and Nhava Sheva. Cosco Shipping is a vessel-sharing partner on the Epic, contributing three ships out of 10 vessels currently deployed on the rotation. The new Colombo call on the Epic loop will also allow CMA CGM to connect incremental volumes out of southern India by offering more reliable and faster transits than its existing coverage for the region via the “NEWMO” service out of Ennore Port (Chennai) that has longer roundtrip times. The reconfigured Medex, meanwhile, is due to begin westbound operations when the CMA CGM Ural arrives in Mundra on April 2. The changes to the route will introduce stops at Djibouti, Valencia and Fos-sur-Mer while dropping Abu Dhabi and Jebel Ali from the itinerary. Medex will call Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Djibouti, Jeddah, Port Said, Valencia, Fos-sur-Mer, Genoa, Malta, Piraeus, Beirut, Port Said, Jeddah and Mundra. Rates on the rise Ocean rates on the India–Europe trade lane have more than doubled since the start of the war in the Middle East, according to forwarders. Sources put average spot booking rates from West India to North Europe at $3,000 to $3,200 per FEU, up from $1,400 to $1,500/FEU reported in late February. Local forwarder executives who spoke with the Journal of Commerce have linked the rate boost in large part to capacity disruptions along with the impact of emergency fuel fees now being levied by carriers. “We do not see the rate surge as a sign of a recovering market,” said an executive at a Mumbai-based forwarding house who didn’t want to be identified. Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com .

Container lines

Asia-Europe

Container Shipping News

Maritime

CMA CGM reorganizes India-Europe/Med network amid Middle East port woes 

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">An estimated 30% of Asia-Europe air cargo is routed via the Middle East, so the sudden closure of airspace in the Persian Gulf has left forwarders scrambling for capacity on freighters and passenger aircraft out of Asia. </div>

An estimated 30% of Asia-Europe air cargo is routed via the Middle East, so the sudden closure of airspace in the Persian Gulf has left forwarders scrambling for capacity on freighters and passenger aircraft out of Asia.

<div class="phx-topic">Air cargo out of Asia is capitalizing on airlines relocating capacity from the war-torn Middle East, but the rising demand for direct flights to Europe is being quickly snapped up by forwarders. An estimated 30% of Asia-Europe air cargo is routed via the Middle East and the sudden closure of airspace in the Persian Gulf left forwarders scrambling for capacity on freighters and passenger aircraft out of Asia. Darren Greene, head of air, ocean and customs at EFL Distribution, the Irish partner of Hong Kong-based U-Freight Group, said there was heavy demand for space on air freight services being rerouted through London, Frankfurt and Istanbul. “In addition to rising surcharges, freighter aircraft capacity is tightening significantly, with space becoming increasingly scarce on these new routes,” Greene told the Journal of Commerce. To handle the demand, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific has redirected capacity from canceled Dubai and Riyadh services to London, Paris and Zurich while increasing the size of aircraft on its Asia-Europe routes. Singapore Airlines has also suspended all flights to Dubai and increased its European services. While the additional capacity is predominantly aimed at providing lift for passengers unable to fly via the Middle East, the long-haul aircraft offer considerable below-deck cargo space. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="1f8878b6-9e77-46fc-bdf5-c1982da8007e"></dynamic-object></div>Despite the capacity additions from Asian carriers and European airlines adding Asia-Europe flights, rates that leveled off last week have started to climb again, possibly on reports of growing backlogs at key hubs and rising fuel costs, according to Freightos. Data from the online rate marketplace showed Southeast Asia-Europe prices are up 17% from last week at $5/kg, China-Europe rates jumped 25% to $5.01/kg, and China-US prices rose 9% to $7.28/kg. “While base freight rates remain stable, the introduction of fuel and war risk surcharges has created significant cost constraints,” Greene said. <h3>Fuel price rise outstripping rate increases </h3>The rate increases are being outstripped by rising fuel prices that before the war made up around 30% of an airline’s total operating costs. Global average jet fuel prices increased to $197 per barrel for the week ended March 20, up 25% on the previous week and more than double the last week of February, according to the latest price data published by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Carriers have responded with fuel surcharges that are being revised regularly. Cathay Pacific tripled its fuel surcharge in mid-March to HK$12.9 per kilogram ($1.65) that will be valid until March 31. “If the steep increase of fuel costs cannot be effectively mitigated, we would not be able to sustain the effective operations of our network,” Cathay Pacific said in a statement Thursday. “To enable a more agile response to the volatile jet fuel prices, we will review and revise the fuel surcharge every two weeks to better capture jet fuel price movements in either upward or downward direction,” the carrier said. “This increased frequency of review is intended as a temporary measure and will be revisited when the Middle East situation stabilizes.” Singapore Airlines is charging CNY15/kg ($2.17) on long-haul shipments originating in China. Lufthansa Cargo will raise its fuel surcharge from €1.20/kg to €1.45 ($1.39 to $1.68) from March 30. Korean Air Cargo announced an "urgent adjustment" to its fuel surcharge policy effective April 1 without giving a surcharge price for cargo, while Maersk Air Freight has implemented emergency fuel surcharges and intermodal fuel fees because of the volatility in jet fuel prices. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Air cargo out of Asia is capitalizing on airlines relocating capacity from the war-torn Middle East, but the rising demand for direct flights to Europe is being quickly snapped up by forwarders. An estimated 30% of Asia-Europe air cargo is routed via the Middle East and the sudden closure of airspace in the Persian Gulf left forwarders scrambling for capacity on freighters and passenger aircraft out of Asia. Darren Greene, head of air, ocean and customs at EFL Distribution, the Irish partner of Hong Kong-based U-Freight Group, said there was heavy demand for space on air freight services being rerouted through London, Frankfurt and Istanbul. “In addition to rising surcharges, freighter aircraft capacity is tightening significantly, with space becoming increasingly scarce on these new routes,” Greene told the Journal of Commerce. To handle the demand, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific has redirected capacity from canceled Dubai and Riyadh services to London, Paris and Zurich while increasing the size of aircraft on its Asia-Europe routes. Singapore Airlines has also suspended all flights to Dubai and increased its European services. While the additional capacity is predominantly aimed at providing lift for passengers unable to fly via the Middle East, the long-haul aircraft offer considerable below-deck cargo space. Despite the capacity additions from Asian carriers and European airlines adding Asia-Europe flights, rates that leveled off last week have started to climb again, possibly on reports of growing backlogs at key hubs and rising fuel costs, according to Freightos. Data from the online rate marketplace showed Southeast Asia-Europe prices are up 17% from last week at $5/kg, China-Europe rates jumped 25% to $5.01/kg, and China-US prices rose 9% to $7.28/kg. “While base freight rates remain stable, the introduction of fuel and war risk surcharges has created significant cost constraints,” Greene said. Fuel price rise outstripping rate increases The rate increases are being outstripped by rising fuel prices that before the war made up around 30% of an airline’s total operating costs. Global average jet fuel prices increased to $197 per barrel for the week ended March 20, up 25% on the previous week and more than double the last week of February, according to the latest price data published by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Carriers have responded with fuel surcharges that are being revised regularly. Cathay Pacific tripled its fuel surcharge in mid-March to HK$12.9 per kilogram ($1.65) that will be valid until March 31. “If the steep increase of fuel costs cannot be effectively mitigated, we would not be able to sustain the effective operations of our network,” Cathay Pacific said in a statement Thursday. “To enable a more agile response to the volatile jet fuel prices, we will review and revise the fuel surcharge every two weeks to better capture jet fuel price movements in either upward or downward direction,” the carrier said. “This increased frequency of review is intended as a temporary measure and will be revisited when the Middle East situation stabilizes.” Singapore Airlines is charging CNY15/kg ($2.17) on long-haul shipments originating in China. Lufthansa Cargo will raise its fuel surcharge from €1.20/kg to €1.45 ($1.39 to $1.68) from March 30. Korean Air Cargo announced an "urgent adjustment" to its fuel surcharge policy effective April 1 without giving a surcharge price for cargo, while Maersk Air Freight has implemented emergency fuel surcharges and intermodal fuel fees because of the volatility in jet fuel prices. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Air Cargo

Demand for direct Asia-Europe air cargo fills rerouted Middle East flights

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Stocks that were already in the fuel supply chain and en route to refueling hubs when the Middle East conflict started have now been delivered, and those ports are running down their inventories.</div>

Stocks that were already in the fuel supply chain and en route to refueling hubs when the Middle East conflict started have now been delivered, and those ports are running down their inventories.

<div class="phx-topic">The availability of bunker fuel in Asia for ocean carriers is manageable for now but beginning to tighten, and global suppliers warn that shortages will be felt around the world should the Strait of Hormuz remain closed to ship traffic for much longer. Meanwhile, carriers are deploying a range of strategic operational and financial measures to mitigate the potential fuel shortages and the rising prices that will result. These include slow steaming to conserve fuel, filling ships in the US and Europe and transferring bunkers to Asia, and levying emergency fuel surcharges to recover rising costs. The implications of widening fuel shortages on container shipping operations could be profound, according to Erik Deventak, chief technology and data officer at rate benchmarking platform Xeneta. “In a worst-case scenario, any bunker shortage will hit supply because a carrier cannot run as many ships,” he said. “There’s no way around it and carriers will eventually need to reduce supply, likely through blank sailings.” While Deventak added a caveat — “realistically, no one is fully aware of what the scale of the bunker shortages could be” — he said the carriers would need to be selective on which services they were prepared to operate and which would be suspended. Hapag-Lloyd spokesperson Tim Seifert said the impact on the carrier’s operations so far was “limited and manageable,” but that Hapag was taking contingency measures to mitigate potential shortfalls. “We are taking on more fuel in ports where we would normally buy less to keep stock levels high,” he said. “As a fallback, we are considering bunker-only calls, but this has not been necessary so far.” About one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and refined products — 20 million barrels per day — is exported via the Strait of Hormuz, but that slowed to a trickle after the US and Israel began air strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Export volumes of crude and refined products exiting the strait are currently at less than 10% of pre-war levels, forcing fuel suppliers across the region to reduce or shut down production. Bunker stocks that were already in the fuel supply chain and en route to refueling hubs when the war started have now been delivered, and those ports are running down their inventories. With Hormuz essentially unavailable to commercial shipping, there is no replenishment inbound. “If the Strait of Hormuz were to remain inaccessible, we would expect the market to tighten further — not only across Asia, but also into Europe and potentially parts of Africa,” Mikkel Kannegaard, head of global supply at Bunker Holding Group, the world’s largest bunker fuel supplier and trader, told the Journal of Commerce. “In Asia, availability remains acceptable so far, although supply uncertainty and backwardation are pushing up the delivery premiums,” he added. “At this stage, supply in Singapore and China appears to be holding up and looks manageable into April.” Backwardation is a market structure in which the spot price of a commodity is higher than its futures price, which can be a sign of supply disruptions. <h3>Emergency reserves inbound </h3>To address disruptions to oil markets stemming from the war in the Middle East, the 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on March 11 agreed to make 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves available to the market. While the market has welcomed the measure, the fuel-strapped markets in Asia will not see the emergency reserves for at least two months, according to Sebastiaan Kosman, founder of bunker fuel analytics firm Spotbarge. “Even if you ship the oil now from the Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp area [known as ARA] to Asia, it will take two months to get the product loaded, shipped and refined,” Kosman said. Container shipping uses a range of different fuels, predominantly very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) and low-sulfur marine gasoil (MGO). Liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand is increasing as more dual-fuel ships hit the water, but its usage depends on its price differential compared with conventional fuels, particularly MGO. Bunker fuel prices soared when the war began but have fallen over the past few days. The March 24 prices from Singapore assessed by industry platform Ship &amp; Bunker show VLSFO up 71% since late February at $894 per metric ton but down 10% since the start of the week. MGO is up 151% at $1,784/metric ton but has fallen 8% this week. The largest pricing decline was from HSFO. After rising 146% since the end of February to a high of $1,073/mt on March 9, the heavy fuel dropped steadily to $712/mt by March 24. Rotterdam fuel prices have also fallen this week and are substantially lower than Singapore. As of March 24, VLSFO was at $757/mt, up 54% compared with Feb. 27; MGO at $1,334/mt was almost double the pre-conflict level, and HSFO was up 63% at $714/mt, according to Ship &amp; Bunker. Kosman said Singapore’s crude oil comes from the Middle East and the supply chain disruption was widening the bunker fuel price differential between Singapore and Rotterdam. “That already gives you indication that Singapore is really tight,” he noted. “If Hormuz remains closed in the long term, bunkers in Singapore, Korea or Japan will be empty way earlier than terminals in Antwerp and Rotterdam.” <h3>Offsetting fuel price impact </h3>To recover bunker costs that comprise half their operating expenses, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/war-reignites-tussle-between-ocean-carriers-cargo-owners-over-fuel-surcharges-6188632">carriers have rolled out emergency fuel surcharges</a> on top of the quarterly bunker adjustment factors (BAFs) that were no match for fuel prices that doubled in two weeks. Analysts at investment bank Jefferies said in a note to customers this week that rates would need to strengthen by 15% to fully offset the impact of rising fuel prices, which would be challenging given the <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/scrapping-strategy-looms-large-in-2026-as-carriers-manage-growing-oversupply-6168918">excess capacity in the market.</a>On Monday, the US Federal Maritime Commission <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/fmc-rejects-requests-by-carriers-to-waive-waiting-period-for-middle-east-surcharges-6191881">unanimously rejected separate requests from four ocean carriers</a> to waive a 30-day notice period to implement surcharges tied to the war in the Middle East, forcing the four to wait until early April to charge their shipper customers. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="ef167537-108b-4e1b-ac11-43e99f815839"></dynamic-object></div>Meanwhile, spot rates on the Asia outbound trade lanes rose through March but have softened on Asia-Europe and flattened or even fallen on some trans-Pacific routes, according to the various pricing indexes tracked by the Journal of Commerce. Asia-North Europe rates this week are 41% above their pre-war levels at $2,800 per FEU, while Asia-Mediterranean rates are up 34% at $3,800/FEU, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. However, prices on both trade lanes softened in the past week. Although rates from Asia to the US West and East coasts rose in the first week of the war, they have since fallen below Feb. 28 levels. Deventak said although the rising price of fuel will drive up the price of shipping in the short term, he noted that the underlying market fundamentals remained in place — an oversupply of vessel capacity and demand that has been softened by a weak global economy. “We have seen the initial shock to container shipping, but the ultimate supply and demand structure has not massively changed since the conflict escalated, and it is this supply-demand balance that carries most weight in driving freight rates rather than carriers’ costs,” he said. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

The availability of bunker fuel in Asia for ocean carriers is manageable for now but beginning to tighten, and global suppliers warn that shortages will be felt around the world should the Strait of Hormuz remain closed to ship traffic for much longer. Meanwhile, carriers are deploying a range of strategic operational and financial measures to mitigate the potential fuel shortages and the rising prices that will result. These include slow steaming to conserve fuel, filling ships in the US and Europe and transferring bunkers to Asia, and levying emergency fuel surcharges to recover rising costs. The implications of widening fuel shortages on container shipping operations could be profound, according to Erik Deventak, chief technology and data officer at rate benchmarking platform Xeneta. “In a worst-case scenario, any bunker shortage will hit supply because a carrier cannot run as many ships,” he said. “There’s no way around it and carriers will eventually need to reduce supply, likely through blank sailings.” While Deventak added a caveat — “realistically, no one is fully aware of what the scale of the bunker shortages could be” — he said the carriers would need to be selective on which services they were prepared to operate and which would be suspended. Hapag-Lloyd spokesperson Tim Seifert said the impact on the carrier’s operations so far was “limited and manageable,” but that Hapag was taking contingency measures to mitigate potential shortfalls. “We are taking on more fuel in ports where we would normally buy less to keep stock levels high,” he said. “As a fallback, we are considering bunker-only calls, but this has not been necessary so far.” About one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and refined products — 20 million barrels per day — is exported via the Strait of Hormuz, but that slowed to a trickle after the US and Israel began air strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Export volumes of crude and refined products exiting the strait are currently at less than 10% of pre-war levels, forcing fuel suppliers across the region to reduce or shut down production. Bunker stocks that were already in the fuel supply chain and en route to refueling hubs when the war started have now been delivered, and those ports are running down their inventories. With Hormuz essentially unavailable to commercial shipping, there is no replenishment inbound. “If the Strait of Hormuz were to remain inaccessible, we would expect the market to tighten further — not only across Asia, but also into Europe and potentially parts of Africa,” Mikkel Kannegaard, head of global supply at Bunker Holding Group, the world’s largest bunker fuel supplier and trader, told the Journal of Commerce. “In Asia, availability remains acceptable so far, although supply uncertainty and backwardation are pushing up the delivery premiums,” he added. “At this stage, supply in Singapore and China appears to be holding up and looks manageable into April.” Backwardation is a market structure in which the spot price of a commodity is higher than its futures price, which can be a sign of supply disruptions. Emergency reserves inbound To address disruptions to oil markets stemming from the war in the Middle East, the 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on March 11 agreed to make 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves available to the market. While the market has welcomed the measure, the fuel-strapped markets in Asia will not see the emergency reserves for at least two months, according to Sebastiaan Kosman, founder of bunker fuel analytics firm Spotbarge. “Even if you ship the oil now from the Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp area [known as ARA] to Asia, it will take two months to get the product loaded, shipped and refined,” Kosman said. Container shipping uses a range of different fuels, predominantly very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) and low-sulfur marine gasoil (MGO). Liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand is increasing as more dual-fuel ships hit the water, but its usage depends on its price differential compared with conventional fuels, particularly MGO. Bunker fuel prices soared when the war began but have fallen over the past few days. The March 24 prices from Singapore assessed by industry platform Ship & Bunker show VLSFO up 71% since late February at $894 per metric ton but down 10% since the start of the week. MGO is up 151% at $1,784/metric ton but has fallen 8% this week. The largest pricing decline was from HSFO. After rising 146% since the end of February to a high of $1,073/mt on March 9, the heavy fuel dropped steadily to $712/mt by March 24. Rotterdam fuel prices have also fallen this week and are substantially lower than Singapore. As of March 24, VLSFO was at $757/mt, up 54% compared with Feb. 27; MGO at $1,334/mt was almost double the pre-conflict level, and HSFO was up 63% at $714/mt, according to Ship & Bunker. Kosman said Singapore’s crude oil comes from the Middle East and the supply chain disruption was widening the bunker fuel price differential between Singapore and Rotterdam. “That already gives you indication that Singapore is really tight,” he noted. “If Hormuz remains closed in the long term, bunkers in Singapore, Korea or Japan will be empty way earlier than terminals in Antwerp and Rotterdam.” Offsetting fuel price impact To recover bunker costs that comprise half their operating expenses, carriers have rolled out emergency fuel surcharges on top of the quarterly bunker adjustment factors (BAFs) that were no match for fuel prices that doubled in two weeks. Analysts at investment bank Jefferies said in a note to customers this week that rates would need to strengthen by 15% to fully offset the impact of rising fuel prices, which would be challenging given the excess capacity in the market. On Monday, the US Federal Maritime Commission unanimously rejected separate requests from four ocean carriers to waive a 30-day notice period to implement surcharges tied to the war in the Middle East, forcing the four to wait until early April to charge their shipper customers. Meanwhile, spot rates on the Asia outbound trade lanes rose through March but have softened on Asia-Europe and flattened or even fallen on some trans-Pacific routes, according to the various pricing indexes tracked by the Journal of Commerce. Asia-North Europe rates this week are 41% above their pre-war levels at $2,800 per FEU, while Asia-Mediterranean rates are up 34% at $3,800/FEU, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. However, prices on both trade lanes softened in the past week. Although rates from Asia to the US West and East coasts rose in the first week of the war, they have since fallen below Feb. 28 levels. Deventak said although the rising price of fuel will drive up the price of shipping in the short term, he noted that the underlying market fundamentals remained in place — an oversupply of vessel capacity and demand that has been softened by a weak global economy. “We have seen the initial shock to container shipping, but the ultimate supply and demand structure has not massively changed since the conflict escalated, and it is this supply-demand balance that carries most weight in driving freight rates rather than carriers’ costs,” he said. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Port News

International ports

Bunker fuel shortages in Asia at tipping point as war disruption continues

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The American Trucking Associations’ February truck tonnage report showed a 2.6% month-over-month increase, making it the largest sequential gain in three years.</div>

The American Trucking Associations’ February truck tonnage report showed a 2.6% month-over-month increase, making it the largest sequential gain in three years.

<div class="phx-topic">Soaring diesel fuel prices and the nationwide crackdown by the federal government on non-domiciled commercial drivers is tightening truckload capacity in the US, putting a floor under rates. And new data showing that demand may be perking up has raised hopes in the trucking industry, albeit cautiously, that the freight recession going on four years could be nearing an end. Still, trucking executives say for any recovery to be long-term, demand needs to show steady and solid growth over several months. The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA’s) February truck tonnage report showed a 2.6% month-over-month increase, making it the largest sequential gain in three years, according to Bob Costello, the group’s chief economist. On a year-over-year basis, the increase was 2.1%. “February’s robust gain is great to see, but the size of the gain is likely magnified due to lower industry capacity,” Costello said in a statement. “Particularly after a very prolonged freight recession, improving volumes in any manner is welcomed.” Capacity, meanwhile, is being crimped by diesel prices that have rocketed higher since the war in the Middle East began Feb. 28, forcing many small and midsize drivers to park their trucks given the fast-rising expense. The average price of on-highway diesel in the US jumped to almost $5.38 per gallon as of March 23, up 30 cents in one week and $1.80 higher than it was a year ago. Prices in California were at $6.87/gal. The sudden and steep increase in diesel is impacting capacity, according to Dean Croke, principal analyst for DAT Freight &amp; Analytics. “Diesel is up about $1.30 a gallon since the war started and that’s really crushed a lot of the small carriers because they haven’t been able to get the full fuel surcharge built into the loads,” Croke said. “A lot of carriers are saying they’re going to sit this out until things stabilize.” The latest information on rates from DAT showed that for the week ending March 21, dry van spot rates were flat week to week at $1.92 per mile. Reefer spot rates increased to $2.32 per mile, up 2 cents, and flatbed spot rates moved 3 cents higher to $2.34 per mile. DAT said as fuel surcharges have increased 44% to 64 cents per mile, carriers are struggling to negotiate load-by-load rate increases that fully offset the higher prices for diesel. “Capacity is tightening. It is putting a floor on rates that we’ve not seen in many years,” Croke said. “I suspect as you get into the spring building, construction and nursery season volume bump, you’ll see rates start to move up again.” <h3>CDLs culled in California </h3>Adding to the tightening capacity is the <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/capacity-cuts-fuel-shocks-provide-openings-for-trucking-and-rail-6188739">US Department of Transportation’s crackdown</a> on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) while toughening standards around the English language proficiency of all drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has canceled an estimated 13,000 CDLs in California. Raman Dillon, president of the 2,000-member North American Punjabi Trucking Association, said the loss of those drivers and high diesel prices will continue to tighten capacity in the state. “The drivers are suffering and the impact on the public and the supply chain has yet to be seen,” Dillon told the Journal of Commerce. “These CDLs were not picked up at a convenience store, they were issued by the government. You cannot say that every one of the 13,000 drivers they took out is a bad driver... “We feel like we are being made scapegoats, but it will tighten capacity, because our industry has a shortage of good drivers,” he added. Dillon agreed with Croke that high diesel prices will push drivers to the sidelines, at least for the time being, tightening capacity and impacting shippers by making it more costly and harder to find dependable ways to move freight. “We have diesel in some places being sold for seven dollars or more a gallon, and that’s a surcharge that you and me, we’re going to pay,” he said. “Everything is going to get more expensive.” <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/house-committee-advances-bill-targeting-non-domiciled-commercial-drivers-licenses-6188801">Legislation making its way through Congress</a>, meanwhile, contains several provisions that go far beyond the scope of the FMCSA’s rule restricting non-domiciled CDLs, which the agency estimates could remove up to 194,000 drivers from the market over five years. Still, the trucking industry is <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/impact-of-non-domiciled-cdl-enforcement-splits-us-trucking-sector-6135184">split on whether the federal regulations will significantly impact trucking and drayage capacity</a> amid the more than four-year freight recession. Contact Dan Ronan at <a href="mailto:contactdanronan@gmail.com">contactdanronan@gmail.com</a>.</div>

Soaring diesel fuel prices and the nationwide crackdown by the federal government on non-domiciled commercial drivers is tightening truckload capacity in the US, putting a floor under rates. And new data showing that demand may be perking up has raised hopes in the trucking industry, albeit cautiously, that the freight recession going on four years could be nearing an end. Still, trucking executives say for any recovery to be long-term, demand needs to show steady and solid growth over several months. The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA’s) February truck tonnage report showed a 2.6% month-over-month increase, making it the largest sequential gain in three years, according to Bob Costello, the group’s chief economist. On a year-over-year basis, the increase was 2.1%. “February’s robust gain is great to see, but the size of the gain is likely magnified due to lower industry capacity,” Costello said in a statement. “Particularly after a very prolonged freight recession, improving volumes in any manner is welcomed.” Capacity, meanwhile, is being crimped by diesel prices that have rocketed higher since the war in the Middle East began Feb. 28, forcing many small and midsize drivers to park their trucks given the fast-rising expense. The average price of on-highway diesel in the US jumped to almost $5.38 per gallon as of March 23, up 30 cents in one week and $1.80 higher than it was a year ago. Prices in California were at $6.87/gal. The sudden and steep increase in diesel is impacting capacity, according to Dean Croke, principal analyst for DAT Freight & Analytics. “Diesel is up about $1.30 a gallon since the war started and that’s really crushed a lot of the small carriers because they haven’t been able to get the full fuel surcharge built into the loads,” Croke said. “A lot of carriers are saying they’re going to sit this out until things stabilize.” The latest information on rates from DAT showed that for the week ending March 21, dry van spot rates were flat week to week at $1.92 per mile. Reefer spot rates increased to $2.32 per mile, up 2 cents, and flatbed spot rates moved 3 cents higher to $2.34 per mile. DAT said as fuel surcharges have increased 44% to 64 cents per mile, carriers are struggling to negotiate load-by-load rate increases that fully offset the higher prices for diesel. “Capacity is tightening. It is putting a floor on rates that we’ve not seen in many years,” Croke said. “I suspect as you get into the spring building, construction and nursery season volume bump, you’ll see rates start to move up again.” CDLs culled in California Adding to the tightening capacity is the US Department of Transportation’s crackdown on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) while toughening standards around the English language proficiency of all drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has canceled an estimated 13,000 CDLs in California. Raman Dillon, president of the 2,000-member North American Punjabi Trucking Association, said the loss of those drivers and high diesel prices will continue to tighten capacity in the state. “The drivers are suffering and the impact on the public and the supply chain has yet to be seen,” Dillon told the Journal of Commerce. “These CDLs were not picked up at a convenience store, they were issued by the government. You cannot say that every one of the 13,000 drivers they took out is a bad driver... “We feel like we are being made scapegoats, but it will tighten capacity, because our industry has a shortage of good drivers,” he added. Dillon agreed with Croke that high diesel prices will push drivers to the sidelines, at least for the time being, tightening capacity and impacting shippers by making it more costly and harder to find dependable ways to move freight. “We have diesel in some places being sold for seven dollars or more a gallon, and that’s a surcharge that you and me, we’re going to pay,” he said. “Everything is going to get more expensive.” Legislation making its way through Congress , meanwhile, contains several provisions that go far beyond the scope of the FMCSA’s rule restricting non-domiciled CDLs, which the agency estimates could remove up to 194,000 drivers from the market over five years. Still, the trucking industry is split on whether the federal regulations will significantly impact trucking and drayage capacity amid the more than four-year freight recession. Contact Dan Ronan at contactdanronan@gmail.com .

Trucking News

Truckload

Surface

Diesel shock puts floor under trucking rates as demand shows some life

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">TotalEnergies accepted a $1 billion payment from the Trump administration to walk away from two offshore wind projects and instead reinvest the funds in fossil fuel projects along the Gulf Coast.</div>

TotalEnergies accepted a $1 billion payment from the Trump administration to walk away from two offshore wind projects and instead reinvest the funds in fossil fuel projects along the Gulf Coast.

<div class="phx-topic">The cancellation of a pair of US offshore wind projects in exchange for a $1 billion payment from the Trump administration is the latest development to chip away at renewable project cargo opportunities. But the deal could potentially drive cargo for fossil fuel projects. French energy giant TotalEnergies signed off on a March 23 agreement to accept $1 billion from the US government to give up the leases on its two offshore wind projects — Carolina Long Bay and New York Bight — and instead pivot to the buildout of gas and power production and export facilities in the US. “Considering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the country’s interest, we have decided to renounce offshore wind development in the United States in exchange for the reimbursement of the lease fees,” TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said in a statement. US offshore wind projects have come under attack by President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order banning new wind power projects upon taking office in January 2025. In December, the administration’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued stop-work orders on five East Coast offshore wind projects that are fully permitted and over halfway complete. The TotalEnergies projects were not among the five. The payout to TotalEnergies comes after the administration <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/trump-administration-seeks-to-undo-court-rulings-favoring-offshore-wind-projects-6173748">began taking steps to reverse a sweep of recent court victories</a> for the five offshore wind projects as developers rush to complete work on the projects after courts allowed work to resume. Sam Salustro, senior vice president of policy and market affairs for industry group Oceantic Network, told the Journal of Commerce that TotalEnergies’ projects were still in the pre-environmental review phase when project cargo and logistics activity is limited. “These two projects were not well advanced in the development or permitting pipeline, so impacts stemming directly from this would be negligible,” he said. Salustro said that despite the project cancellations, the long-term trajectory of the US offshore wind industry remains secure because states continue to rely on wind as a foundational power source amid rapidly rising energy demands. “This is political theater meant to obscure the fact that offshore wind capacity is being pulled out of the pipeline when energy prices are skyrocketing, even as other offshore wind projects continue delivering reliable and affordable power to the grid,” he said. Under the agreement, TotalEnergies will reinvest the refunded lease fees to finance the construction of NextDecade Corp.’s Rio Grande LNG plant under way near Brownsville, Texas, and to support the development of other US gas production and export projects. TotalEnergies’ energy pivot comes at a time when LNG export capacity in the US, which is already the world’s largest LNG exporter, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/lng-project-cargo-poised-for-us-boom-amid-war-6185867">is expected to nearly double in the next five years</a>, according to recent analyses by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). <h3>Wind cargo shifting to Canada </h3>For facilities such as the Port of Vancouver USA in Washington state, project cargo movement has been reflecting the move away from wind energy in the US. Alex Strogen, the port’s chief commercial officer, told the Journal of Commerce that he has observed more wind cargo moving to Canada because of the falloff in US wind projects. “This is a shift that we’ve seen gaining momentum for the past three or four years,” he said. From a ports perspective, policies under Trump and former President Joe Biden have made wind farm installations more expensive, Strogen said. He cited Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act incentivizing manufacturers to move production to the US — creating short-term capital expenses while domestic supply chains were gaining their footing — and Trump’s push to dial back permits for wind farms on federal lands. Because Canadian ports don’t have the infrastructure in place to move massive wind turbine components, one silver lining for US facilities such as the Port of Vancouver is that they have been able to capture some of Canada’s wind project cargo business. “The Port of Vancouver and the Port of Longview [Washington] have been taking advantage of the falloff of US wind projects and capitalizing on the relatively steady demand for wind farms going up historically in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and now we are seeing a shift into British Columbia as well,” Strogen said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at <a href="mailto:autumn@autumngiusti.com">autumn@autumngiusti.com</a>.</div>

The cancellation of a pair of US offshore wind projects in exchange for a $1 billion payment from the Trump administration is the latest development to chip away at renewable project cargo opportunities. But the deal could potentially drive cargo for fossil fuel projects. French energy giant TotalEnergies signed off on a March 23 agreement to accept $1 billion from the US government to give up the leases on its two offshore wind projects — Carolina Long Bay and New York Bight — and instead pivot to the buildout of gas and power production and export facilities in the US. “Considering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the country’s interest, we have decided to renounce offshore wind development in the United States in exchange for the reimbursement of the lease fees,” TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said in a statement. US offshore wind projects have come under attack by President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order banning new wind power projects upon taking office in January 2025. In December, the administration’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued stop-work orders on five East Coast offshore wind projects that are fully permitted and over halfway complete. The TotalEnergies projects were not among the five. The payout to TotalEnergies comes after the administration began taking steps to reverse a sweep of recent court victories for the five offshore wind projects as developers rush to complete work on the projects after courts allowed work to resume. Sam Salustro, senior vice president of policy and market affairs for industry group Oceantic Network, told the Journal of Commerce that TotalEnergies’ projects were still in the pre-environmental review phase when project cargo and logistics activity is limited. “These two projects were not well advanced in the development or permitting pipeline, so impacts stemming directly from this would be negligible,” he said. Salustro said that despite the project cancellations, the long-term trajectory of the US offshore wind industry remains secure because states continue to rely on wind as a foundational power source amid rapidly rising energy demands. “This is political theater meant to obscure the fact that offshore wind capacity is being pulled out of the pipeline when energy prices are skyrocketing, even as other offshore wind projects continue delivering reliable and affordable power to the grid,” he said. Under the agreement, TotalEnergies will reinvest the refunded lease fees to finance the construction of NextDecade Corp.’s Rio Grande LNG plant under way near Brownsville, Texas, and to support the development of other US gas production and export projects. TotalEnergies’ energy pivot comes at a time when LNG export capacity in the US, which is already the world’s largest LNG exporter, is expected to nearly double in the next five years , according to recent analyses by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Wind cargo shifting to Canada For facilities such as the Port of Vancouver USA in Washington state, project cargo movement has been reflecting the move away from wind energy in the US. Alex Strogen, the port’s chief commercial officer, told the Journal of Commerce that he has observed more wind cargo moving to Canada because of the falloff in US wind projects. “This is a shift that we’ve seen gaining momentum for the past three or four years,” he said. From a ports perspective, policies under Trump and former President Joe Biden have made wind farm installations more expensive, Strogen said. He cited Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act incentivizing manufacturers to move production to the US — creating short-term capital expenses while domestic supply chains were gaining their footing — and Trump’s push to dial back permits for wind farms on federal lands. Because Canadian ports don’t have the infrastructure in place to move massive wind turbine components, one silver lining for US facilities such as the Port of Vancouver is that they have been able to capture some of Canada’s wind project cargo business. “The Port of Vancouver and the Port of Longview [Washington] have been taking advantage of the falloff of US wind projects and capitalizing on the relatively steady demand for wind farms going up historically in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and now we are seeing a shift into British Columbia as well,” Strogen said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at autumn@autumngiusti.com .

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Offshore wind cancellations set up energy project pivot in the US

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