<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Over-the-road drivers need not pull off for a self-administered breathalizer test if they think that</div>

Over-the-road drivers need not pull off for a self-administered breathalizer test if they think that

<div>Over-the-road drivers need not pull off for a self-administered breathalizer test if they think that they've just seen a giant thermos bottle of hot chocolate roll up alongside. Such an apparition is likely to be no more than the latest high-tech application of an old technology: the vacuum-controlled intermodal thermal tank.Keeping liquids unbelievably hot or seriously cold without the use of electricity, these tanks hit the market last fall and are expected to become a common sight soon.Engineered by Cryenco Inc., a Denver company that manufactures all sorts of cryogenic products, the trailers are marketed in North America by Chemical...

Over-the-road drivers need not pull off for a self-administered breathalizer test if they think that they've just seen a giant thermos bottle of hot chocolate roll up alongside. Such an apparition is likely to be no more than the latest high-tech application of an old technology: the vacuum-controlled intermodal thermal tank. Keeping liquids unbelievably hot or seriously cold without the use of electricity, these tanks hit the market last fall and are expected to become a common sight soon.Engineered by Cryenco Inc., a Denver company that manufactures all sorts of cryogenic products, the trailers are marketed in North America by Chemical Leaman Tank Lines Inc., of Exton, Pa. "The basic technology has been around for a long time. We've been making vacuum-insulated products since 1958. But we are the only ones who have applied it to an intermodal tank container," said Mike Lash, the national accounts manager for Cryenco. Chemical Leaman reckons that TVACs, as they've dubbed the tanks, can hold temperatures as low as minus-100 degrees Fahrenheit and as high as 450 degrees F, which "would cause meltdown in an MC 307 trailer," the industry standard for thermal tanks. Until now. The tanks are being used to carry liquid products ranging from food to hazardous chemicals to pharmaceuticals. John Repetto, Chemical Leaman's vice president of intermodal services, says, "In one side-by-side eight-day test with an MC 307 trailer, the TVACs maintained product temperature within 1.3 degrees F compared to a more-than- 20-degree F temperature variation in the MC 307 insulated trailers." Sounds a lot better than the performance I get out of my old coffee bottle. COLD INFORMATION SYSTEMS ARE HOT Perhaps the biggest technology surprise at the recent information management trade show in New York was the growth in the vendor ranks for COLD technology. COLD, short for computer output to laser disk, is an information management technology that involves storing computer data on optical laser disks, which hold up to a whopping 5 million pages each. Fifteen years ago, my first computer, a big blue Kaypro 64, used to choke up and drop its floppy disk door if I tried to store a file of more than about 50 pages. Charles Miles, a veteran in the data-imaging field, counted 66 vendors at the show, sponsored by the Association for Information and Image Management, of Silver Spring, Md. The number is surprising because the first COLD system was sold in 1988. Then again, it's understandable, since some 8,000 systems had been sold by the end of last year. A basic COLD system can run about $25,000 split evenly between hardware and software. With 1993 sales of COLD systems up to $108 million last year, the potential market is defined as the 1 trillion pages of text processed and stored by computers each year. Mr. Miles, who publishes Image Service Bureau News, from Westport, Conn., believes that sales of COLD systems will hit $3 billion by 1998. DIRECTORY REVEALS OBSCURITY A notable sourcebook for contacts in state offices involved with transportation, highways, information and export development, among other sectors and functions, arrived in the mail recently. The State Executive Directory, produced by Carroll Publishing Co., of Washington, is updated three times a year to insure accuracy, and is available on disk or on paper. With 37,000 state officials - including legislators - identified by name, title, address, and phone, and with indexes by function, office, name and state, the directory is a handy reference. Carroll will take its next step into electronic publishing in August, coming out with its first CD-ROM, a directory of the federal defense industry, including budgets, people and programs. The publisher also produces disk and paper directories of U.S. municipal and federal governments and of the Russian government. Tracey Ryan, who manages the directories at Carroll, says CD-ROM versions of other products should follow soon.

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

ON THE EDGE - CHARLES THURSTON GIANT THERMOS BOTTLES KEEP THEIR COOL IN BID FOR CONTAINER NICHE

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Internal and external forces in the first half of 2025 mitigated container vessel overcapacity, but steep challenges lie ahead, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.</div>

Internal and external forces in the first half of 2025 mitigated container vessel overcapacity, but steep challenges lie ahead, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

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<div class="phx-topic">External forces and a modicum of industry discipline mitigated yawning overcapacity in container shipping in the first half of 2025. But the sharpest pressures on ocean carriers’ capacity control, and resulting pricing, in the coming year are only intensifying – as reflected by the plunge in container spot rates on the trans-Pacific. The signs and rewards of capacity discipline in the first six months were modest. Container lines concluded annual trans-Pacific service contracts at levels 10% to 20% higher than last year, moving closer to $2,000 per FEU to the US West Coast for mid-size importers, executives at three container lines told the Journal of Commence on the condition of anonymity. <div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/6030001_0.1.jpg"></img></div> Those gains are less impressive when carriers’ operating costs have risen in the mid-single digits in the same period, largely due to higher chartering rates and terminal handling charges, but still speak to carriers’ increasing control of the market. Service contract rate levels in the past have crumbled in the face of a second-half plunge in spot rates, with importers successfully demanding pricing relief on minimum quantity commitments (MQC) agreed to earlier in the year. There is no guarantee carriers would show the same resolve if a spot rate plunge followed the early and already waning peak season. But the fact that carriers mostly kept contracted importers to their MQC when spot rates began spiking in early May bodes well for their resolve. “We won’t be revising contracts,” an executive at a major Europe-based container line said he told major customers, adding that the biggest shipper customers finally realize that sharp enough rate declines will spur major capacity withdrawals, jeopardizing their restocking plans. The lessons of the danger of not pulling capacity fast enough when demand plunges, such as in 2008-2009 when rates fell on a pullback of US imports due to the global financial crisis, still resonates. When China bookings surged in early May, carriers were able to add some 600,000 TEUs of capacity in the trans-Pacific within roughly a month, equating to up to 15% more weekly capacity than normal deployment levels, said Michael Aldwell, Kuehne +Nagel’s executive vice president of sea logistics. That Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) is no longer in an alliance gave it a free hand to restore capacity faster, and a modest peak season in Asia-Europe allowed the deployment of extra loaders by the world’s largest carrier (as measured by tonnage) and its rivals. The Gemini Cooperation of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd substituted smaller vessels for larger ships when demand plunged, and then reversed course when bookings rebounded. Thus, Gemini didn’t need to blank capacity by skipping port calls, though some Asia outbound cargo initially shipped later than scheduled when demand outpaced what the smaller vessels could handle. That allowed Gemini to maintain its 90% reliability, keeping “our services going, while others have had to take capacity out by blanking,” Charles van der Steene, Maersk’s president of North America, told the Journal of Commerce in late May. But intra-Asia carriers piling into the trans-Pacific to take advantage of rising container spot rates, coupled with signs of a weaker-than-expected surge tied to the reprieve in higher US tariffs, began pulling down spot rates in early June. Carriers’ greater control of capacity “is a good thing, because we need stable, profitable ocean carriers to have a healthy industry,” Aldwell said in a June 16 interview at K+N’s headquarters in Schindellegi, Switzerland. ”The last thing we need is another Hanjin (Shipping) crisis, because we’ve got long sustained losses in an industry which is so vital to global trade,” he added, referring to the 2016 collapse of the South Korea-based carrier. While carriers have exercised greater capacity control in recent years, Aldwell said the overcapacity challenges are still steep but, “doesn’t have to be a train wreck financially if it’s managed well for both customers and suppliers.” <h3>External factors tying up capacity </h3>MSC and CMA CGM’s major purchase of second-hand tonnage, sapping the amount of available chartered tonnage, has also served as a backstop to overcapacity, said Jeremy Masters, a shipping analyst and Journal of Commerce contributor. Roughly 2.3 million TEUs of capacity in the most-traded sector of the charter market – 7,000- to 9,000-TEU ships – has shrunk by 3.7 million TEUs in the last five years, according to analyst Alphaliner. “Of course, there will be a point of oversupply where even if all the assets were in the hands of the carriers, they would not be able to park enough ships in a concerted enough fashion quickly enough to keep supply below demand and thus keep rates up,” said Masters. “Recently, the carriers have been like a cat with seven lives,” he added, referring to how looming overcapacity has yet to bite. External factors such as port congestion are also tying up functional capacity. Northern European ports have been congested for months, while Asian ports such as Shanghai and Singapore have also been heavily affected. Major container lines still view Suez Canal transits as too risky even after President Donald Trump’s early May assertion that the Houthi rebels would stop attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Anyway, the US missile attacks on Iran on Saturday demolished that fragile peace. The real test for container capacity control, according to the Europe-based shipping executive, will be after Golden Week, the week-long holiday in early October in which Chinese factories slow or halt production. US retailers’ confidence may falter by then, and the signals pointing to future consumption are worsening. In May, US retail sales fell, residential housing construction reached a five-year low and employment shrank, while airline travel fell in April and May. Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="mailto:mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com">mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com.</a></div>

External forces and a modicum of industry discipline mitigated yawning overcapacity in container shipping in the first half of 2025. But the sharpest pressures on ocean carriers’ capacity control, and resulting pricing, in the coming year are only intensifying – as reflected by the plunge in container spot rates on the trans-Pacific. The signs and rewards of capacity discipline in the first six months were modest. Container lines concluded annual trans-Pacific service contracts at levels 10% to 20% higher than last year, moving closer to $2,000 per FEU to the US West Coast for mid-size importers, executives at three container lines told the Journal of Commence on the condition of anonymity. Those gains are less impressive when carriers’ operating costs have risen in the mid-single digits in the same period, largely due to higher chartering rates and terminal handling charges, but still speak to carriers’ increasing control of the market. Service contract rate levels in the past have crumbled in the face of a second-half plunge in spot rates, with importers successfully demanding pricing relief on minimum quantity commitments (MQC) agreed to earlier in the year. There is no guarantee carriers would show the same resolve if a spot rate plunge followed the early and already waning peak season. But the fact that carriers mostly kept contracted importers to their MQC when spot rates began spiking in early May bodes well for their resolve. “We won’t be revising contracts,” an executive at a major Europe-based container line said he told major customers, adding that the biggest shipper customers finally realize that sharp enough rate declines will spur major capacity withdrawals, jeopardizing their restocking plans. The lessons of the danger of not pulling capacity fast enough when demand plunges, such as in 2008-2009 when rates fell on a pullback of US imports due to the global financial crisis, still resonates. When China bookings surged in early May, carriers were able to add some 600,000 TEUs of capacity in the trans-Pacific within roughly a month, equating to up to 15% more weekly capacity than normal deployment levels, said Michael Aldwell, Kuehne +Nagel’s executive vice president of sea logistics. That Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) is no longer in an alliance gave it a free hand to restore capacity faster, and a modest peak season in Asia-Europe allowed the deployment of extra loaders by the world’s largest carrier (as measured by tonnage) and its rivals. The Gemini Cooperation of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd substituted smaller vessels for larger ships when demand plunged, and then reversed course when bookings rebounded. Thus, Gemini didn’t need to blank capacity by skipping port calls, though some Asia outbound cargo initially shipped later than scheduled when demand outpaced what the smaller vessels could handle. That allowed Gemini to maintain its 90% reliability, keeping “our services going, while others have had to take capacity out by blanking,” Charles van der Steene, Maersk’s president of North America, told the Journal of Commerce in late May. But intra-Asia carriers piling into the trans-Pacific to take advantage of rising container spot rates, coupled with signs of a weaker-than-expected surge tied to the reprieve in higher US tariffs, began pulling down spot rates in early June. Carriers’ greater control of capacity “is a good thing, because we need stable, profitable ocean carriers to have a healthy industry,” Aldwell said in a June 16 interview at K+N’s headquarters in Schindellegi, Switzerland. ”The last thing we need is another Hanjin (Shipping) crisis, because we’ve got long sustained losses in an industry which is so vital to global trade,” he added, referring to the 2016 collapse of the South Korea-based carrier. While carriers have exercised greater capacity control in recent years, Aldwell said the overcapacity challenges are still steep but, “doesn’t have to be a train wreck financially if it’s managed well for both customers and suppliers.” External factors tying up capacity MSC and CMA CGM’s major purchase of second-hand tonnage, sapping the amount of available chartered tonnage, has also served as a backstop to overcapacity, said Jeremy Masters, a shipping analyst and Journal of Commerce contributor. Roughly 2.3 million TEUs of capacity in the most-traded sector of the charter market – 7,000- to 9,000-TEU ships – has shrunk by 3.7 million TEUs in the last five years, according to analyst Alphaliner. “Of course, there will be a point of oversupply where even if all the assets were in the hands of the carriers, they would not be able to park enough ships in a concerted enough fashion quickly enough to keep supply below demand and thus keep rates up,” said Masters. “Recently, the carriers have been like a cat with seven lives,” he added, referring to how looming overcapacity has yet to bite. External factors such as port congestion are also tying up functional capacity. Northern European ports have been congested for months, while Asian ports such as Shanghai and Singapore have also been heavily affected. Major container lines still view Suez Canal transits as too risky even after President Donald Trump’s early May assertion that the Houthi rebels would stop attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Anyway, the US missile attacks on Iran on Saturday demolished that fragile peace. The real test for container capacity control, according to the Europe-based shipping executive, will be after Golden Week, the week-long holiday in early October in which Chinese factories slow or halt production. US retailers’ confidence may falter by then, and the signals pointing to future consumption are worsening. In May, US retail sales fell, residential housing construction reached a five-year low and employment shrank, while airline travel fell in April and May. Contact Mark Szakonyi at mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com.

Container lines

Trans-Atlantic

Asia-Europe

North American ports

International ports

Maritime

Ocean carriers flex tonnage control, but overcapacity is mounting

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Iran has yet to make good on its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, but nervous carriers are preparing contingency plans as the region moves onto a war footing.</div>

Iran has yet to make good on its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, but nervous carriers are preparing contingency plans as the region moves onto a war footing.

<div class="phx-topic">Ocean carriers are poised to adjust schedules and omit key Persian Gulf transshipment hubs should Tehran carry out its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping following Sunday’s US bombing raids on Iranian nuclear facilities. A series of customer advisories were issued by carriers on Monday, emphasizing the safety of crew, vessels and cargo as the shipping companies closely monitor a rapidly deteriorating security situation. “We are actively evaluating potential risks and stand ready to adjust our operations should conditions change,” Hapag-Lloyd said in an advisory. “At present, our vessels continue to transit the Strait of Hormuz. The safety and well-being of our crews and ships remain our highest priority.” The US launched airstrikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan early Sunday in a dramatic escalation of the war between Iran and Israel. Iran’s parliament voted on June 22 in support of closing the Strait of Hormuz, though the final decision will be made by the Supreme Leader in consultation with the Supreme National Security Council. As of Monday, the only entrance to the Persian Gulf remained open to shipping. Lars Jensen, CEO of consultant Vespucci Maritime and a Journal of Commerce analyst, said how and where Iran would retaliate against US interests in the region was being closely monitored. “But for commercial shipping, the question is not whether or not vessels are attacked -- the question is whether or not the risk itself is sufficient to cause a change in vessel deployment to reduce traffic through the Strait of Hormuz,” Jensen wrote in a LinkedIn post. In a country risk report Monday, S&amp;P Global Martime Intelligence noted that Iran’s leadership now almost certainly perceives a severe threat to its survival, whether direct or indirect, and that is likely to heavily influence decision making. "We expect Iran’s response to first remain focused on continued ballistic missile and [drone] attacks on Israel [and] being likely to attempt to impede transit through the Strait of Hormuz,” the report noted. Disrupting ship transits could include vessel seizures, GPS/AIS spoofing and the use of military boats to harass vessels, it added. CMA CGM said in its customer advisory that “the geopolitical context is evolving.” “At this stage, we confirm that shipping activities are proceeding as normal in the area, and that our operations and logistics chains remain unchanged,” the carrier stated. “We continue to ensure full service coverage across all routes and ports of call.” However, ocean visibility provider eeSea noted that CMA CGM’s CMA-LMX service has been renamed and rerouted. The Europe-Middle East service that has been operating in the Persian Gulf since September 2024 has dropped calls to Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi and Jubail in the Gulf and has added an additional call to the Turkish port of Ambarli near Istanbul. The service is now advertised under the name CMA-LRX (Levant Red Sea Express) and will see a reduction of three slots and a total roundtrip time cut in half from 42 to 21 days. <h3>Hormuz closure would impact key transshipment hub </h3>Any closure of the Strait of Hormuz will be felt first in the energy markets. According to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global, more than 17 million barrels of crude oil each day move through Hormuz, coming not just from Iran, but from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar. That is more than 20% of daily global crude production. But container traffic would face significant disruption as well, with 4% of global volume passing through the strait in 2024, primarily destined for the United Arab Emirates’ transshipment hubs of Jebel Ali and Khalifa, and for the ports of Dammam in Saudi Arabia and Doha in Qatar. Jebel Ali, which handled 15.5 million TEUs in 2024, has become the region’s leading transshipment hub with feeder services connecting ports across the Persian Gulf, South Asia and East Africa. A blockade of Hormuz would see calls diverted to neighboring Indian, Omani and East African ports where a surge in transshipment demand could lead to congestion and delays, a report from S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence noted. Multipurpose carrier AAL Shipping said in a statement Monday it was “deeply concerned” with the war between Israel and Iran and its impact on shipping in the region. “While our normal trade lane schedules currently remain unaffected, we are monitoring the situation and taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our crew and cargo as we trade regional waters for our customers,” AAL said. But the carrier warned that there was also a rising cost element to the deteriorating situation in the Middle East. “We would highlight that such evolving threats can lead to increased insurance premiums and other security-related costs, affecting operational considerations for all parties,” it said. Meanwhile, at the other end of the war, Maersk announced it was cutting calls to the Israeli port of Haifa in the Mediterranean. "After carefully analyzing threat risk reports regarding the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran – particularly the potential risks of calling specific Israeli ports and their implications for the safety of our crews – Maersk has made the decision to temporarily suspend vessel calls at the Port of Haifa, Israel, and also suspend cargo acceptance for Haifa,” the carrier said in an advisory Friday. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com ">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a></div>

Ocean carriers are poised to adjust schedules and omit key Persian Gulf transshipment hubs should Tehran carry out its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping following Sunday’s US bombing raids on Iranian nuclear facilities. A series of customer advisories were issued by carriers on Monday, emphasizing the safety of crew, vessels and cargo as the shipping companies closely monitor a rapidly deteriorating security situation. “We are actively evaluating potential risks and stand ready to adjust our operations should conditions change,” Hapag-Lloyd said in an advisory. “At present, our vessels continue to transit the Strait of Hormuz. The safety and well-being of our crews and ships remain our highest priority.” The US launched airstrikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan early Sunday in a dramatic escalation of the war between Iran and Israel. Iran’s parliament voted on June 22 in support of closing the Strait of Hormuz, though the final decision will be made by the Supreme Leader in consultation with the Supreme National Security Council. As of Monday, the only entrance to the Persian Gulf remained open to shipping. Lars Jensen, CEO of consultant Vespucci Maritime and a Journal of Commerce analyst, said how and where Iran would retaliate against US interests in the region was being closely monitored. “But for commercial shipping, the question is not whether or not vessels are attacked -- the question is whether or not the risk itself is sufficient to cause a change in vessel deployment to reduce traffic through the Strait of Hormuz,” Jensen wrote in a LinkedIn post. In a country risk report Monday, S&P Global Martime Intelligence noted that Iran’s leadership now almost certainly perceives a severe threat to its survival, whether direct or indirect, and that is likely to heavily influence decision making. "We expect Iran’s response to first remain focused on continued ballistic missile and [drone] attacks on Israel [and] being likely to attempt to impede transit through the Strait of Hormuz,” the report noted. Disrupting ship transits could include vessel seizures, GPS/AIS spoofing and the use of military boats to harass vessels, it added. CMA CGM said in its customer advisory that “the geopolitical context is evolving.” “At this stage, we confirm that shipping activities are proceeding as normal in the area, and that our operations and logistics chains remain unchanged,” the carrier stated. “We continue to ensure full service coverage across all routes and ports of call.” However, ocean visibility provider eeSea noted that CMA CGM’s CMA-LMX service has been renamed and rerouted. The Europe-Middle East service that has been operating in the Persian Gulf since September 2024 has dropped calls to Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi and Jubail in the Gulf and has added an additional call to the Turkish port of Ambarli near Istanbul. The service is now advertised under the name CMA-LRX (Levant Red Sea Express) and will see a reduction of three slots and a total roundtrip time cut in half from 42 to 21 days. Hormuz closure would impact key transshipment hub Any closure of the Strait of Hormuz will be felt first in the energy markets. According to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, more than 17 million barrels of crude oil each day move through Hormuz, coming not just from Iran, but from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar. That is more than 20% of daily global crude production. But container traffic would face significant disruption as well, with 4% of global volume passing through the strait in 2024, primarily destined for the United Arab Emirates’ transshipment hubs of Jebel Ali and Khalifa, and for the ports of Dammam in Saudi Arabia and Doha in Qatar. Jebel Ali, which handled 15.5 million TEUs in 2024, has become the region’s leading transshipment hub with feeder services connecting ports across the Persian Gulf, South Asia and East Africa. A blockade of Hormuz would see calls diverted to neighboring Indian, Omani and East African ports where a surge in transshipment demand could lead to congestion and delays, a report from S&P Global Market Intelligence noted. Multipurpose carrier AAL Shipping said in a statement Monday it was “deeply concerned” with the war between Israel and Iran and its impact on shipping in the region. “While our normal trade lane schedules currently remain unaffected, we are monitoring the situation and taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our crew and cargo as we trade regional waters for our customers,” AAL said. But the carrier warned that there was also a rising cost element to the deteriorating situation in the Middle East. “We would highlight that such evolving threats can lead to increased insurance premiums and other security-related costs, affecting operational considerations for all parties,” it said. Meanwhile, at the other end of the war, Maersk announced it was cutting calls to the Israeli port of Haifa in the Mediterranean. "After carefully analyzing threat risk reports regarding the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran – particularly the potential risks of calling specific Israeli ports and their implications for the safety of our crews – Maersk has made the decision to temporarily suspend vessel calls at the Port of Haifa, Israel, and also suspend cargo acceptance for Haifa,” the carrier said in an advisory Friday. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com

Container Shipping News

Carriers ‘stand ready’ to cut Persian Gulf calls as security threat escalates

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">From his hometown hub of Memphis, Fred Smith built FedEx from a $4 million inheritance to an $88 billion behemoth. </div>

From his hometown hub of Memphis, Fred Smith built FedEx from a $4 million inheritance to an $88 billion behemoth.

<div class="phx-topic">Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx who revolutionized parcel shipment through his visionary “hub-and-spoke” model, which helped to galvanize global trade, died Saturday at 80. From his hometown hub of Memphis, Fred Smith built FedEx from a $4 million inheritance to an $88 billion behemoth, with spokes reaching more than 210 countries and territories. His idea, famously rejected by his then college professor, collected packages at central points, from which they would be flown to various locations overnight. The US Marine veteran founded Federal Express in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1971, beginning operations in Memphis two years later with fewer than 400 employees and serving 25 cities. The company, which now has more than 500,00 employees, includes truck and delivery van service FedEx Ground, less-than-truckload carrier FedEx Freight, and forwarder FedEx Trade Networks. Smith was a forceful advocate for free trade, championing FedEx’s role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. “Trade has made America great, and expanding trade has been a bipartisan pursuit for over 80 years,” Smith told the National Council on Competitiveness a month before President Donald Trump’s first inauguration in January 2017. “The failure to continue to do so would be a severe mistake with enormous consequences for America and the world.” Smith vehemently lobbied for air cargo deregulation signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. “Protectionism squelches competition and lowers economic growth,” Smith said at the TPM Conference in 2014, where he was the keynote speaker. “Over the last few years, almost every trading nation has introduced policies that permit greater government intervention in the trade process.” Smith had more influence on federal regulation than any other transportation executive, and his impact rippled through all modes of shipping, said Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group. “He saw the importance of information about the documents and parcels being shipped long before businesses and people even had computers,” Jindel said. Calling him “more than just the pioneer and the founder,” FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam said in a statement that Smith was the heart and soul of FedEx – its (people-first-philosophy) culture, values, integrity, and spirit.” Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com.">mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx who revolutionized parcel shipment through his visionary “hub-and-spoke” model, which helped to galvanize global trade, died Saturday at 80. From his hometown hub of Memphis, Fred Smith built FedEx from a $4 million inheritance to an $88 billion behemoth, with spokes reaching more than 210 countries and territories. His idea, famously rejected by his then college professor, collected packages at central points, from which they would be flown to various locations overnight. The US Marine veteran founded Federal Express in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1971, beginning operations in Memphis two years later with fewer than 400 employees and serving 25 cities. The company, which now has more than 500,00 employees, includes truck and delivery van service FedEx Ground, less-than-truckload carrier FedEx Freight, and forwarder FedEx Trade Networks. Smith was a forceful advocate for free trade, championing FedEx’s role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. “Trade has made America great, and expanding trade has been a bipartisan pursuit for over 80 years,” Smith told the National Council on Competitiveness a month before President Donald Trump’s first inauguration in January 2017. “The failure to continue to do so would be a severe mistake with enormous consequences for America and the world.” Smith vehemently lobbied for air cargo deregulation signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. “Protectionism squelches competition and lowers economic growth,” Smith said at the TPM Conference in 2014, where he was the keynote speaker. “Over the last few years, almost every trading nation has introduced policies that permit greater government intervention in the trade process.” Smith had more influence on federal regulation than any other transportation executive, and his impact rippled through all modes of shipping, said Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group. “He saw the importance of information about the documents and parcels being shipped long before businesses and people even had computers,” Jindel said. Calling him “more than just the pioneer and the founder,” FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam said in a statement that Smith was the heart and soul of FedEx – its (people-first-philosophy) culture, values, integrity, and spirit.” Contact Mark Szakonyi at mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com .

Trucking News

Air Cargo Forwarder News

Air Cargo Carriers News

Fred Smith, FedEx founder and visionary, dead at 80

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">With little relief forthcoming, cargo owners need to build delays into their shipping plans as port and ship capacity remain tight, speakers at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s annual meeting said.</div>

With little relief forthcoming, cargo owners need to build delays into their shipping plans as port and ship capacity remain tight, speakers at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s annual meeting said.

<div class="phx-topic">TACOMA — Ongoing congestion at Asian and European transshipment ports and stricter carbon emission rules are hurting vessel schedule reliability, industry experts said at an agriculture shipping conference this week. With little relief on either issue forthcoming, cargo owners need to build delays into their shipping plans as port and ship capacity remain tight. Speaking at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s (AgTC’s) annual meeting here, Kuehne + Nagel Vice President Bill Rooney said schedule reliability among ocean carriers is “still a dumpster fire.” He cited data that showed less than 60% of vessel calls in April globally were within a day of their scheduled berthing window. The post-COVID-19 high for schedule reliability was near 65%, Rooney said, adding that he doubts the industry can hit that target, much less pre-pandemic levels of service reliability. Agriculture shippers are among the most sensitive to poor schedule reliability due to the high handling costs and perishability of their products. “The traditional number was more like 75% or 80%,” Rooney said. “I’m not sure we’ll get back there.” Since its start this year, the Gemini Cooperation alliance of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd has said it has been reaching its 90% schedule reliability goal regularly. However, Rooney said that likely reflects major linehaul services from the two carriers and not necessarily feeder or standalone services. Individually, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have global schedule reliability hovering under 70%, he estimated. “They may achieve 90% on your trade lane, but my advice is to check whether your port is now a feeder port versus a linehaul port,” said Rooney. Slower ships factor into the lower reliability, he said. In 2023, the global fleet averaged speeds at just under 14 knots, or about 16 miles per hour. That’s the slowest speed on record and about half the average speed that ships traveled 50 years earlier, he said. “If you were 12 hours behind schedule, you could step on the gas and make your slot at your terminal,” Rooney said. “That’s not happening ever again.” He added shippers will have to plan around the fact that schedule reliability will likely remain subpar indefinitely. “You want to build a resilient supply chain? Resiliency is recognizing that the ships are seldom on time,” Rooney said. <h3>IMO rules, port congestion </h3>In 2023, the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) rating went into effect for ships, requiring them to report and collect fuel consumption data. Fabio Santucci, US president for Mediterranean Shipping Co., said lower speeds reduce fuel consumption to meet the increasingly strict CII ratings. “Vessels cannot legally afford to go any faster,” Santucci said. “That’s where we lost, as an industry, the ability to catch up.” Along with slower speeds, ports globally are operating at nearly full capacity, Santucci said. Overall, there were about 900 million TEUs of containers shipped globally in 2024, with nameplate port capacity at about 1 billion TEUs. Santucci said congestion both inside and outside a port takes up the remaining capacity, leaving little space to manage cargo. While North American ports are mostly fluid, other ports across the globe right now are experiencing congestion levels as high as during the pandemic, Santucci said, with the problem most acute at major transshipment ports. “If your cargo is transshipping, it’s witnessing congestion levels that are as high as those seen during COVID,” he said. “While we don’t see this effect in the United States, we have issues pretty much everywhere else in the world.” Among major European transshipment ports, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/no-end-to-the-congestion-choking-gateway-ports-in-north-europe-5995853">Hamburg</a> and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/bottlenecks-flare-in-barcelona-as-port-battles-rise-in-transshipment-volumes-5244343">Tanger Med</a> are “heavily disrupted,” according to a Kuehne + Nagel port status report. In the Western Hemisphere, Santucci said <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/cargo-bottlenecks-persist-at-mexicos-manzanillo-port-one-month-after-strike-6027313">Manzanillo</a> and the transshipment ports of Panama are also congested. Many ports throughout China are also congested, as are the Southeast Asia ports, including Malaysia’s Port Klang and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/asia-port-disruption-wave-reaches-singapore-6014754">Singapore</a>, which Santucci said has been working at close to full capacity for months. “Singapore has been steadily working at 90% capacity for months and months and months,” Santucci said. “I can tell you that working at 90% capacity for months generates a lot of inefficiencies.” MSC’s large fleet allows it to offer more direct port calls, but Santucci said transshipping will remain a necessity for some services, particularly as shippers diversify their product sourcing to other countries. With only about 1% of the global container fleet idled, Santucci said carriers have little capacity to offer more direct services without the use of transshipping. “Transshipment is always going to remain the Achilles heel of any network,” he said. “The more you transship, the more issues and more costs you’re going to have.” Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

TACOMA — Ongoing congestion at Asian and European transshipment ports and stricter carbon emission rules are hurting vessel schedule reliability, industry experts said at an agriculture shipping conference this week. With little relief on either issue forthcoming, cargo owners need to build delays into their shipping plans as port and ship capacity remain tight. Speaking at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s (AgTC’s) annual meeting here, Kuehne + Nagel Vice President Bill Rooney said schedule reliability among ocean carriers is “still a dumpster fire.” He cited data that showed less than 60% of vessel calls in April globally were within a day of their scheduled berthing window. The post-COVID-19 high for schedule reliability was near 65%, Rooney said, adding that he doubts the industry can hit that target, much less pre-pandemic levels of service reliability. Agriculture shippers are among the most sensitive to poor schedule reliability due to the high handling costs and perishability of their products. “The traditional number was more like 75% or 80%,” Rooney said. “I’m not sure we’ll get back there.” Since its start this year, the Gemini Cooperation alliance of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd has said it has been reaching its 90% schedule reliability goal regularly. However, Rooney said that likely reflects major linehaul services from the two carriers and not necessarily feeder or standalone services. Individually, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have global schedule reliability hovering under 70%, he estimated. “They may achieve 90% on your trade lane, but my advice is to check whether your port is now a feeder port versus a linehaul port,” said Rooney. Slower ships factor into the lower reliability, he said. In 2023, the global fleet averaged speeds at just under 14 knots, or about 16 miles per hour. That’s the slowest speed on record and about half the average speed that ships traveled 50 years earlier, he said. “If you were 12 hours behind schedule, you could step on the gas and make your slot at your terminal,” Rooney said. “That’s not happening ever again.” He added shippers will have to plan around the fact that schedule reliability will likely remain subpar indefinitely. “You want to build a resilient supply chain? Resiliency is recognizing that the ships are seldom on time,” Rooney said. IMO rules, port congestion In 2023, the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) rating went into effect for ships, requiring them to report and collect fuel consumption data. Fabio Santucci, US president for Mediterranean Shipping Co., said lower speeds reduce fuel consumption to meet the increasingly strict CII ratings. “Vessels cannot legally afford to go any faster,” Santucci said. “That’s where we lost, as an industry, the ability to catch up.” Along with slower speeds, ports globally are operating at nearly full capacity, Santucci said. Overall, there were about 900 million TEUs of containers shipped globally in 2024, with nameplate port capacity at about 1 billion TEUs. Santucci said congestion both inside and outside a port takes up the remaining capacity, leaving little space to manage cargo. While North American ports are mostly fluid, other ports across the globe right now are experiencing congestion levels as high as during the pandemic, Santucci said, with the problem most acute at major transshipment ports. “If your cargo is transshipping, it’s witnessing congestion levels that are as high as those seen during COVID,” he said. “While we don’t see this effect in the United States, we have issues pretty much everywhere else in the world.” Among major European transshipment ports, Hamburg and Tanger Med are “heavily disrupted,” according to a Kuehne + Nagel port status report. In the Western Hemisphere, Santucci said Manzanillo and the transshipment ports of Panama are also congested. Many ports throughout China are also congested, as are the Southeast Asia ports, including Malaysia’s Port Klang and Singapore , which Santucci said has been working at close to full capacity for months. “Singapore has been steadily working at 90% capacity for months and months and months,” Santucci said. “I can tell you that working at 90% capacity for months generates a lot of inefficiencies.” MSC’s large fleet allows it to offer more direct port calls, but Santucci said transshipping will remain a necessity for some services, particularly as shippers diversify their product sourcing to other countries. With only about 1% of the global container fleet idled, Santucci said carriers have little capacity to offer more direct services without the use of transshipping. “Transshipment is always going to remain the Achilles heel of any network,” he said. “The more you transship, the more issues and more costs you’re going to have.” Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Port News

Trans-Pacific

Poor ocean reliability presents major challenge for US ag exporters

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">But sources do not think carriers will have an opportunity to net full recovery of the proposed amounts in the current market environment unless strategic capacity cuts occur. </div>

But sources do not think carriers will have an opportunity to net full recovery of the proposed amounts in the current market environment unless strategic capacity cuts occur.

<div class="phx-topic">Container carriers on the India-US East Coast trade lane appear optimistic about the market outlook ahead of the onset of traditional peak season bookings despite tariff-linked uncertainty. Major lines have already announced hefty rate hikes for July, with Maersk leading the pack. The Danish carrier plans to implement a peak season surcharge (PSS) of $4,000 per container for Indian loads to the US and Canada beginning July 16. July rate hike announcements from other major carriers are generally in the range of $1,000 to $2,000 per box, although some liners have lined up multiple rounds for the month. “All our recent vessels have sailed full,” a sales executive at a European carrier who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. “We are also tightly booked for the next two sailings.” That “sold-out” scenario is arguably in large part due to a big cut in capacity out of West India — as many as five void calls in June that followed schedule disruptions linked to regional trade and military tensions during May. As a result, Indian shippers have faced an increasing number of container rollovers in recent weeks. Traditionally, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have significant service contract volumes, which freight forwarder sources believe could help those carriers attempt larger rate increases for limited spot space during the peak season. Still, sources do not think carriers will have an opportunity to net full recovery of the proposed amounts in the current market environment unless strategic capacity cuts occur. While July vessel updates were not immediately available, CMA CGM is set to add more ships to its Indamex (India-USEC) service soon to improve schedule reliability that has taken a hit due to its inability to provide a weekly rotation after it began standalone operations amid the pressure of longer transits around southern Africa, sources say. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="56199e2b-5df4-468f-a149-b18ae7c32e51"></dynamic-object></div>But a lack of pricing discipline from Asian operators — notably OOCL, Cosco Shipping and HMM working on slot charter capacity, as well as Ocean Network Express (ONE) — remains a concern for the lead carriers. “The best chance of rate recovery is often torpedoed by undercutting,” said a sales executive at a second European carrier. “With some voids expected, we should be able to rally an appreciable spot rate recovery.” Spot rates for India to the US East Coast were pegged at $2,650 per FEU as of June 19 by Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. That’s down from $3,030 per FEU two weeks ago. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com</a>.</div>

Container carriers on the India-US East Coast trade lane appear optimistic about the market outlook ahead of the onset of traditional peak season bookings despite tariff-linked uncertainty. Major lines have already announced hefty rate hikes for July, with Maersk leading the pack. The Danish carrier plans to implement a peak season surcharge (PSS) of $4,000 per container for Indian loads to the US and Canada beginning July 16. July rate hike announcements from other major carriers are generally in the range of $1,000 to $2,000 per box, although some liners have lined up multiple rounds for the month. “All our recent vessels have sailed full,” a sales executive at a European carrier who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. “We are also tightly booked for the next two sailings.” That “sold-out” scenario is arguably in large part due to a big cut in capacity out of West India — as many as five void calls in June that followed schedule disruptions linked to regional trade and military tensions during May. As a result, Indian shippers have faced an increasing number of container rollovers in recent weeks. Traditionally, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have significant service contract volumes, which freight forwarder sources believe could help those carriers attempt larger rate increases for limited spot space during the peak season. Still, sources do not think carriers will have an opportunity to net full recovery of the proposed amounts in the current market environment unless strategic capacity cuts occur. While July vessel updates were not immediately available, CMA CGM is set to add more ships to its Indamex (India-USEC) service soon to improve schedule reliability that has taken a hit due to its inability to provide a weekly rotation after it began standalone operations amid the pressure of longer transits around southern Africa, sources say. But a lack of pricing discipline from Asian operators — notably OOCL, Cosco Shipping and HMM working on slot charter capacity, as well as Ocean Network Express (ONE) — remains a concern for the lead carriers. “The best chance of rate recovery is often torpedoed by undercutting,” said a sales executive at a second European carrier. “With some voids expected, we should be able to rally an appreciable spot rate recovery.” Spot rates for India to the US East Coast were pegged at $2,650 per FEU as of June 19 by Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. That’s down from $3,030 per FEU two weeks ago. Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com .

India-US liners attempt hefty peak season rate hikes despite trade volatility

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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

SMC3rates_shutterstock_5247046.jpg

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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