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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">U.S. shippers are the most optimistic they have been in nearly three years about freight growth, but they are also bracing for the sharpest uptick in transportation costs, excluding fuel costs, since 2011, according to a recent survey.</div>

U.S. shippers are the most optimistic they have been in nearly three years about freight growth, but they are also bracing for the sharpest uptick in transportation costs, excluding fuel costs, since 2011, according to a recent survey.

<div><div><img></div>U.S. shippers are the most optimistic they have been in nearly three years about freight growth, but they are also bracing for the sharpest uptick in transportation costs, excluding fuel costs, since 2011, according to a recent survey.The roughly 600 shippers surveyed by Wolfe Research late last year are planning for same-store shipments to rise on average 3.5 percent during the next 12 months. Shippers expect far more freight growth than they anticipated last quarter when they forecast 2.8 percent gains, and a year ago when they budged for 3.2 percent freight expansion, according to Wolfe Research.Despite their expectations to...

U.S. shippers are the most optimistic they have been in nearly three years about freight growth, but they are also bracing for the sharpest uptick in transportation costs, excluding fuel costs, since 2011, according to a recent survey. The roughly 600 shippers surveyed by Wolfe Research late last year are planning for same-store shipments to rise on average 3.5 percent during the next 12 months. Shippers expect far more freight growth than they anticipated last quarter when they forecast 2.8 percent gains, and a year ago when they budged for 3.2 percent freight expansion, according to Wolfe Research. Despite their expectations to move more cargo, shippers pulled back on how much they think transportation costs will rise, largely because of lower fuel prices. Surveyed shippers — whose total annual transportation budgets exceed $10 billion — said they expect to pay 3.3 percent more, a deceleration from the 4.2 percent cost increase they expected in the fourth quarter of 2014. But when fuel is excluded, shippers expect to be spending more, with their latest forecast at 3.8 percent, compared to their projections made last quarter that transportation costs would increase 3.7 percent. “This is the highest level we’ve seen in our survey in three years,” said Wolfe Research, a New York-based investment research firm. “We believe this reflects accelerating volume and pricing expectations across almost all freight modes, offset by lower fuel.” Slightly more than half of the surveyed shippers expect lower fuel prices will spur transportation providers to raise rates this year. Shippers expect the sharpest volume increases to come from rail carload transport and truckload, with traffic in both sectors forecast to rise 3 percent. Shippers forecast cargo hauled by domestic ground services, container lines and intermodal trains to rise 2 to 3 percent, according to the survey. “Relative to last quarter, intermodal and (less-than-truckload) volume growth expectations showed the most among the major modes, while expectations for global air volumes improved to their highest level (about 1 percent) since we started asking this question over two years ago,” Wolfe Research said. Shippers say the sharpest price increases among domestic modes will be in rail carload transport. Rail carload pricing is expected to rise on average 3.7 percent, the healthiest pace in three years, according to survey results. Railroads enjoy strong carload pricing power as there are few competitive options and some shippers only have access to the network of a single Class I railroad. For domestic transport, shippers told Wolfe Research they think the truckload sectors will have the second-sharpest increase in rates, at 3.5 percent, followed by less-than-truckload, 3.1 percent; intermodal, 3 percent; ground parcel, 2.4 percent; and domestic air, 2.2 percent. Shippers on average expect ocean freight pricing to rise 2.9 percent, and for international heavy freight rates to expand 0.9 percent. The survey revealed shippers generally have higher inventory than they did a quarter and a year ago, which usually suggests sluggish freight growth ahead. But Wolfe Research thinks much of the more robust stocks are due to cushioning from U.S. West Coast port congestion. Fifty-four percent of shippers said their inventory was higher a year ago, compared with the 35 percent of surveyed shippers that said the same in the fourth quarter of 2014. Roughly 45 percent of shippers told Wolfe Research in fall 2013 that their stock was higher than the year prior. Contact Mark Szakonyi at mszakonyi@joc.com and follow him on Twitter: @szakonyi_joc .

Survey of US shippers finds biggest spurt of optimism since 2011

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">An immediate bump in cargo is likely in the wake of this week’s deal between Washington and Beijing, but it’s too early for US retailers who are tied to China to make supply chain decisions for 2026 spring and summer imports. </div>

An immediate bump in cargo is likely in the wake of this week’s deal between Washington and Beijing, but it’s too early for US retailers who are tied to China to make supply chain decisions for 2026 spring and summer imports.

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<div class="phx-topic">The US-China trade deal announced this week will prompt some US retailers to move quickly on imports they need in the short term, but the seemingly tenuous nature of the agreement – notably its one-year term – will likely prevent a broad shift back to traditional ordering patterns, market participants say. “If it’s needed now, it will be ordered. Longer term, retailers need more time. There will be hesitancy,” an industry consultant who managed the logistics departments of two national retailers, told the Journal of Commerce. Revelyst, an importer of outdoor gear, immediately shifted imports that it had scheduled to ship by air beginning Nov. 1 back to ocean mode after the US-China deal. “We’ll save a good deal of money,” said John Pace, the company’s senior manager of logistics. In the longer term, even with the deal’s elimination of the10% so-called “fentanyl tax” on imports from China, the total tariff on most imports from China is about 47%, which is higher than tariffs on most countries in Asia. As such, Revelyst will continue to explore sourcing options from countries such as Vietnam, Pace said. The broad agreement <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-china-suspend-reciprocal-port-fees-as-part-of-wider-trade-deal-6105849">announced Thursday</a> also included a one-year pause in the reciprocal port fees the US and China had implemented on Oct. 14. The National Retail Federation (NRF), which represents a broad range of retailers, said a bump in imports in the short-term is likely in the wake of the deal, but that it’s too early for retailers who are tied to China to make supply chain decisions for spring and summer imports in 2026. “The challenge for retailers is there’s still so much uncertainty about what’s going to come out and when it’s going to come out,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF’s vice president of supply chain and customs policy. Many details relating to tariffs on important commodities such as steel, aluminum, automobiles and lumber, when Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin to collect duties, and what the status is of duties that have already been collected are still uncertain, Gold said. Jason Cook, CEO of the forwarder Ardent Global Logistics, said there’s been a hesitancy over the past two months among retailers and direct importers to ship seasonal merchandise and replenishment product for fear the US-China talks would break down and the huge tariffs would remain in place. But those fears have been allayed, at least for now. “So make up for the hesitation and bring in as much inventory as possible in case things blow up again,” Cook said. <h3>Some importers keep supply chain strategy unchanged </h3>Still, some importers say their ordering patterns have not really been affected by the trade agreement. A national furniture retailer said the company earlier this year set its logistics plan and sourcing patterns for 2025, has stuck with those plans, and has no regrets for doing so. “The fact that major decisions are being made in such a knee-jerk fashion has us scared,” said the furniture retailer’s logistics manager. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="e8c13a3e-9f5a-412f-8741-adbf5e1a7779"></dynamic-object></div>An importer in the automotive sector said he has no intention of increasing imports from China. “A 10% (tariff) change is not material enough to make a switch,” the source said. “The overall rates are still very high.” <h3>Prior GRIs boosted rates in October </h3>Imports from all of Asia have remained relatively strong this fall even though carriers have been successful in propping up freight rates through a series of general rate increases (GRIs). Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global, pegged Asia-West Coast rates at $2,075 per FEU as of Oct. 30, up from $1,300 earlier in the month as an Oct. 1 GRI was taking hold. Rates to the East Coast have risen to $3,075 per FEU from $2,260 over the same period. Trans-Pacific carriers pre-filed GRIs to take effect on Nov. 1, and so far the alliance carriers have been holding on to the intended rate hike, said Jon Monroe, who serves as an advisor to forwarders. Most, but not all, carriers are posting rates of $3,800 per FEU to the East Coast and $2,800 per FEU to the West Coast this weekend, Monroe said. “It looks like carriers are holding it together publicly but privately they’re cutting deals,” he said. Importers and forwarders who utilize so-called bullet rates and on-line rates from individual carriers can save about $300 to $400 per FEU, according to Monroe. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="6a6ec157-c71e-4ab2-ae59-6658aada11d8"></dynamic-object></div>Carriers have succeeded in propping up rates by reducing capacity in the trans-Pacific through blank sailings, but reduced blanks scheduled so far for November could result in additional capacity being available. The blanking rate to the West Coast so far for November is 8.2% of capacity, down from 20.8% in October, according to maritime intelligence provider eeSea. Similarly, blanked capacity from Asia to the East Coast is pegged thus far at 10.9% for November, down from 22.8% in October. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at <a href="bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com">bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com</a>. Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:laura.robb@spglobal.com">laura.robb@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The US-China trade deal announced this week will prompt some US retailers to move quickly on imports they need in the short term, but the seemingly tenuous nature of the agreement – notably its one-year term – will likely prevent a broad shift back to traditional ordering patterns, market participants say. “If it’s needed now, it will be ordered. Longer term, retailers need more time. There will be hesitancy,” an industry consultant who managed the logistics departments of two national retailers, told the Journal of Commerce. Revelyst, an importer of outdoor gear, immediately shifted imports that it had scheduled to ship by air beginning Nov. 1 back to ocean mode after the US-China deal. “We’ll save a good deal of money,” said John Pace, the company’s senior manager of logistics. In the longer term, even with the deal’s elimination of the10% so-called “fentanyl tax” on imports from China, the total tariff on most imports from China is about 47%, which is higher than tariffs on most countries in Asia. As such, Revelyst will continue to explore sourcing options from countries such as Vietnam, Pace said. The broad agreement announced Thursday also included a one-year pause in the reciprocal port fees the US and China had implemented on Oct. 14. The National Retail Federation (NRF), which represents a broad range of retailers, said a bump in imports in the short-term is likely in the wake of the deal, but that it’s too early for retailers who are tied to China to make supply chain decisions for spring and summer imports in 2026. “The challenge for retailers is there’s still so much uncertainty about what’s going to come out and when it’s going to come out,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF’s vice president of supply chain and customs policy. Many details relating to tariffs on important commodities such as steel, aluminum, automobiles and lumber, when Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin to collect duties, and what the status is of duties that have already been collected are still uncertain, Gold said. Jason Cook, CEO of the forwarder Ardent Global Logistics, said there’s been a hesitancy over the past two months among retailers and direct importers to ship seasonal merchandise and replenishment product for fear the US-China talks would break down and the huge tariffs would remain in place. But those fears have been allayed, at least for now. “So make up for the hesitation and bring in as much inventory as possible in case things blow up again,” Cook said. Some importers keep supply chain strategy unchanged Still, some importers say their ordering patterns have not really been affected by the trade agreement. A national furniture retailer said the company earlier this year set its logistics plan and sourcing patterns for 2025, has stuck with those plans, and has no regrets for doing so. “The fact that major decisions are being made in such a knee-jerk fashion has us scared,” said the furniture retailer’s logistics manager. An importer in the automotive sector said he has no intention of increasing imports from China. “A 10% (tariff) change is not material enough to make a switch,” the source said. “The overall rates are still very high.” Prior GRIs boosted rates in October Imports from all of Asia have remained relatively strong this fall even though carriers have been successful in propping up freight rates through a series of general rate increases (GRIs). Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, pegged Asia-West Coast rates at $2,075 per FEU as of Oct. 30, up from $1,300 earlier in the month as an Oct. 1 GRI was taking hold. Rates to the East Coast have risen to $3,075 per FEU from $2,260 over the same period. Trans-Pacific carriers pre-filed GRIs to take effect on Nov. 1, and so far the alliance carriers have been holding on to the intended rate hike, said Jon Monroe, who serves as an advisor to forwarders. Most, but not all, carriers are posting rates of $3,800 per FEU to the East Coast and $2,800 per FEU to the West Coast this weekend, Monroe said. “It looks like carriers are holding it together publicly but privately they’re cutting deals,” he said. Importers and forwarders who utilize so-called bullet rates and on-line rates from individual carriers can save about $300 to $400 per FEU, according to Monroe. Carriers have succeeded in propping up rates by reducing capacity in the trans-Pacific through blank sailings, but reduced blanks scheduled so far for November could result in additional capacity being available. The blanking rate to the West Coast so far for November is 8.2% of capacity, down from 20.8% in October, according to maritime intelligence provider eeSea. Similarly, blanked capacity from Asia to the East Coast is pegged thus far at 10.9% for November, down from 22.8% in October. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com . Contact Laura Robb at laura.robb@spglobal.com .

Trade deal could boost short-term China imports, but uncertainty lingers

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The carrier, as it seeks with BlackRock to acquire the majority of Hutchison Port Holdings, is developing a mega-terminal in New Orleans and another terminal in Baltimore. </div>

The carrier, as it seeks with BlackRock to acquire the majority of Hutchison Port Holdings, is developing a mega-terminal in New Orleans and another terminal in Baltimore.

<div class="phx-topic">Charleston, South Carolina — The president of Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s US business believes there aren’t enough new US port projects in the works that will create the capacity needed to handle the anticipated growth in cargo volumes in the coming years. Fabio Santucci says that better use of existing terminal footprints and more greenfield development were needed to support a market where consumer spending accounts for 70% of gross domestic product (GDP). And he said he’s confident in longer-term import growth and hopes the finalization of US trade deals will give cargo owners more certainty on changing tariff levels. “I think it’s essential that ports like Charleston and many others, continue to invest heavily in densifying the facilities, in focusing on their operating model because, let’s face it, there are not many new ports coming to the rescue,” Santucci said Wednesday at the South Carolina International Trade Conference. MSC, as it seeks with BlackRock to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/hutchison-deal-shows-thirst-of-big-carriers-to-control-global-terminal-assets-5960717">acquire the majority of Hutchison Port Holdings</a>, is developing <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-gulf-coast-ports-expanding-to-handle-continued-volume-growth-5911512">a mega-terminal in New Orleans</a> and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/new-msc-backed-baltimore-container-terminal-on-track-for-2028-debut-5220430">another terminal in Baltimore</a>. The carrier, already the largest container operator by tonnage, would become the biggest marine terminal operator via its Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) arm if the $23 billion Hutchison deal is completed. Santucci acknowledged that US ports were able to handle import-driven surges earlier this year, but said overall performance has room to improve. “Nobody wants to keep a vessel at anchor waiting. It’s costing somebody a lot of money and there must be an impediment on the landside,” he said. <h3>Southeast ‘poised’ for growth </h3>MSC has grown its volume through Charleston by 15% this year, well above the port’s total growth. US laden volume through Charleston ticked up 0.5% year over year between January and August, according to PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. “The southeast [ports], specifically, the growth that we see on the industrial side, the population growth, specifically Charleston, are poised for a lot of growth in the coming years,” said Santucci. “The import market is not growing 15% so it means that our joint customers are seeing Charleston as a very good and useful gateway.” MSC earlier this year opened an expanded Charleston campus. In his first State of the Port address, Micah Mallace, the new head of the SC Port Authority, said <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/new-charleston-ceo-seeks-to-regain-container-growth-momentum-6104583">the port had ample terminal capacity</a> and would prioritize projects in the short term to feed expanded terminal capacity. When it opened in 2021, Charleston’s Leatherman terminal was the first new US terminal to come online since 2009. Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="mailto:mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com">mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Charleston, South Carolina — The president of Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s US business believes there aren’t enough new US port projects in the works that will create the capacity needed to handle the anticipated growth in cargo volumes in the coming years. Fabio Santucci says that better use of existing terminal footprints and more greenfield development were needed to support a market where consumer spending accounts for 70% of gross domestic product (GDP). And he said he’s confident in longer-term import growth and hopes the finalization of US trade deals will give cargo owners more certainty on changing tariff levels. “I think it’s essential that ports like Charleston and many others, continue to invest heavily in densifying the facilities, in focusing on their operating model because, let’s face it, there are not many new ports coming to the rescue,” Santucci said Wednesday at the South Carolina International Trade Conference. MSC, as it seeks with BlackRock to acquire the majority of Hutchison Port Holdings , is developing a mega-terminal in New Orleans and another terminal in Baltimore . The carrier, already the largest container operator by tonnage, would become the biggest marine terminal operator via its Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) arm if the $23 billion Hutchison deal is completed. Santucci acknowledged that US ports were able to handle import-driven surges earlier this year, but said overall performance has room to improve. “Nobody wants to keep a vessel at anchor waiting. It’s costing somebody a lot of money and there must be an impediment on the landside,” he said. Southeast ‘poised’ for growth MSC has grown its volume through Charleston by 15% this year, well above the port’s total growth. US laden volume through Charleston ticked up 0.5% year over year between January and August, according to PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. “The southeast [ports], specifically, the growth that we see on the industrial side, the population growth, specifically Charleston, are poised for a lot of growth in the coming years,” said Santucci. “The import market is not growing 15% so it means that our joint customers are seeing Charleston as a very good and useful gateway.” MSC earlier this year opened an expanded Charleston campus. In his first State of the Port address, Micah Mallace, the new head of the SC Port Authority, said the port had ample terminal capacity and would prioritize projects in the short term to feed expanded terminal capacity. When it opened in 2021, Charleston’s Leatherman terminal was the first new US terminal to come online since 2009. Contact Mark Szakonyi at  mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com .

US port capacity lagging ahead of potential volume growth: MSC

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The railroads will make a harder play to capture Dallas-to-East Coast freight after track upgrades come online along the Gulf Coast early next year. </div>

The railroads will make a harder play to capture Dallas-to-East Coast freight after track upgrades come online along the Gulf Coast early next year.

<div class="phx-topic">Partners Canadian Pacific Kansas City and CSX Transportation plan to complete major track upgrades along the Gulf Coast early next year that will enable faster intermodal train service between Texas and the US Southeast and bring the route closer to competing with trucking. The upgrade project began after the US Surface Transportation Board in October 2024 approved two transactions allowing CPKC and CSX to acquire approximately 140 miles of track in Alabama and Mississippi from the Meridian &amp; Bigbee Railroad, a short line. The railroads have been replacing old infrastructure that limited trains to a speed of 25 miles per hour with new tracks capable of handling trains moving at nearly twice that pace. Work is expected to wrap up in January or February. “[It will] allow us to create a transit time and a product option never before possible. This is going to connect Atlanta to Dallas in about 30 hours,” CPKC CEO Keith Creel said on an earnings call this week. “And 30 hours is truck-like competitive, single truck-like competitive. I think it’s a unique differentiator that can’t be replicated in a UP-NS combination.” Allowing that possibility required upgrading CPKC’s 50-mile section of track and CSX’s 94-mile portion. “We put a tremendous amount of investment when we took that line back, upwards of $100 million already,” Kevin Boone, CSX’s CFO, said at the South Carolina International Trade Conference on Thursday. “It’s already a good service today, but you’ll see a very, very competitive service, and even more to go next year.” The main beneficiary of the work is intermodal service provider Schneider National, which has close partnerships with both railroads and anchors the Southeast Mexico Express trains linking Mexico and Atlanta through the same corridor. Creel emphasized that the upgrades finally give CPKC and CSX a chance to compete for domestic freight between Atlanta and Dallas, which the Journal of Commerce Intermodal Savings Index shows has long favored trucks on both cost and speed. <h3>Truck advantages hard to overcome </h3>Still, while intermodal service on the route becomes more competitive, the track upgrades might not completely change the calculus. The 780-mile run between Atlanta and Dallas requires a driver to take a 10-hour rest break en route. But at an average of 450 miles per day, the total door-to-door highway transit is approximately 24 hours, faster than the projected 30-hour schedule by rail. The CPKC-CSX transit also assumes a perfect handoff between the railroads in Myrtlewood, Alabama. CPKC itself has noted the frequent delays that occur on interchanges between two railroads in general when highlighting the benefits of its single-line railroad between Mexico and Chicago versus a two-railroad solution. And the 30-hour figure excludes drayage, lift-on and lift-off time at terminals, and mounting containers onto chassis, all key elements in true door-to-door intermodal transit. Even so, the track upgrades do narrow the competitive gap and give Schneider a platform to market other advantages of rail, such as capacity alternative and lower greenhouse gas emissions. If the service proves reliable and the pricing remains competitive, the Atlanta-Dallas route could begin to see a shift of truckload volumes to intermodal. The improved corridor could also open new routes, such as Charlotte and Jacksonville to Dallas via Atlanta. BNSF Railway and CSX launched a similar service in September linking Southern California with Charlotte and Jacksonville, building on a train that has run between California and Atlanta for nearly two decades. A comparable overlay toward Dallas could follow. While Union Pacific Railroad offers an option from Mexico to the Southeast via Memphis, it requires a truck to dray containers between terminals. The upgraded Meridian &amp; Bigbee line represents one of the final building blocks in creating a more direct, rail-only link between Mexico, Texas, and the Southeast for the first time in a generation. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Partners Canadian Pacific Kansas City and CSX Transportation plan to complete major track upgrades along the Gulf Coast early next year that will enable faster intermodal train service between Texas and the US Southeast and bring the route closer to competing with trucking. The upgrade project began after the US Surface Transportation Board in October 2024 approved two transactions allowing CPKC and CSX to acquire approximately 140 miles of track in Alabama and Mississippi from the Meridian & Bigbee Railroad, a short line. The railroads have been replacing old infrastructure that limited trains to a speed of 25 miles per hour with new tracks capable of handling trains moving at nearly twice that pace. Work is expected to wrap up in January or February. “[It will] allow us to create a transit time and a product option never before possible. This is going to connect Atlanta to Dallas in about 30 hours,” CPKC CEO Keith Creel said on an earnings call this week. “And 30 hours is truck-like competitive, single truck-like competitive. I think it’s a unique differentiator that can’t be replicated in a UP-NS combination.” Allowing that possibility required upgrading CPKC’s 50-mile section of track and CSX’s 94-mile portion. “We put a tremendous amount of investment when we took that line back, upwards of $100 million already,” Kevin Boone, CSX’s CFO, said at the South Carolina International Trade Conference on Thursday. “It’s already a good service today, but you’ll see a very, very competitive service, and even more to go next year.” The main beneficiary of the work is intermodal service provider Schneider National, which has close partnerships with both railroads and anchors the Southeast Mexico Express trains linking Mexico and Atlanta through the same corridor. Creel emphasized that the upgrades finally give CPKC and CSX a chance to compete for domestic freight between Atlanta and Dallas, which the Journal of Commerce Intermodal Savings Index shows has long favored trucks on both cost and speed. Truck advantages hard to overcome Still, while intermodal service on the route becomes more competitive, the track upgrades might not completely change the calculus. The 780-mile run between Atlanta and Dallas requires a driver to take a 10-hour rest break en route. But at an average of 450 miles per day, the total door-to-door highway transit is approximately 24 hours, faster than the projected 30-hour schedule by rail. The CPKC-CSX transit also assumes a perfect handoff between the railroads in Myrtlewood, Alabama. CPKC itself has noted the frequent delays that occur on interchanges between two railroads in general when highlighting the benefits of its single-line railroad between Mexico and Chicago versus a two-railroad solution. And the 30-hour figure excludes drayage, lift-on and lift-off time at terminals, and mounting containers onto chassis, all key elements in true door-to-door intermodal transit. Even so, the track upgrades do narrow the competitive gap and give Schneider a platform to market other advantages of rail, such as capacity alternative and lower greenhouse gas emissions. If the service proves reliable and the pricing remains competitive, the Atlanta-Dallas route could begin to see a shift of truckload volumes to intermodal. The improved corridor could also open new routes, such as Charlotte and Jacksonville to Dallas via Atlanta. BNSF Railway and CSX launched a similar service in September linking Southern California with Charlotte and Jacksonville, building on a train that has run between California and Atlanta for nearly two decades. A comparable overlay toward Dallas could follow. While Union Pacific Railroad offers an option from Mexico to the Southeast via Memphis, it requires a truck to dray containers between terminals. The upgraded Meridian & Bigbee line represents one of the final building blocks in creating a more direct, rail-only link between Mexico, Texas, and the Southeast for the first time in a generation. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

CPKC-CSX target 2026 as big year for Mexico-Texas-East Coast trade

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The company’s spending push is another sign that shipping and logistics multinationals are increasingly betting on India’s potential as an alternative maritime hub. </div>

The company’s spending push is another sign that shipping and logistics multinationals are increasingly betting on India’s potential as an alternative maritime hub.

<div class="phx-topic">Global terminal and logistics giant DP World is rapidly bolstering its Indian footprint in anticipation of demand growth amid trade diversification moves and other promising regional market dynamics. The Dubai-based company has committed a further $5 billion to expand its integrated supply chain ecosystems in India. The announcement came Thursday during a government-spearheaded maritime conclave in Mumbai. That fresh investment adds to the $3 billion DP World has already poured into the Indian market across marine terminal and multimodal logistics verticals, the company said in a statement. “DP World has been a part of India’s growth story for nearly three decades,” said group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem. “This new investment, combined with the strategic partnerships, reaffirms our commitment to advancing India’s maritime and logistics industry and cementing the nation’s position in global trade.” The group aims to tap new opportunities in coastal shipping, shipbuilding and repair, and other advanced freight service solutions. Coastal shipping development seems to be an emerging priority on DP World’s growth agenda for India, possibly by adding more locally flagged assets to subsidiary Unifeeder’s fleet. Unifeeder acquired Indian feeder line Shreyas Shipping in 2020. DP World subsidiary Drydocks World also plans to open a ship repair cluster at Cochin, looking beyond the port gates. <h3>DP World not alone in new Indian investment </h3>The global operator already holds five container terminal concessions across four port locations in India. Additionally, it is building a $550-million box terminal off Kandla Port along the Indian west coast with an annual designed capacity of 2.2 million TEUs, targeted to begin phase 1 operations in 2027. DP World’s 2024 Indian container volumes stood at 5.4 million TEUs, representing approximately 22% of the 24 million TEUs handled nationally during the year, data shows. The company’s investment push is another sign that shipping and logistics multinationals are increasingly betting on India’s potential as an alternative maritime hub. For example, in addition <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/maersk-joins-cma-cgm-in-reflagging-container-ships-in-india-amid-antitrust-pressure-6104614">to vessel reflaggings and shipyard-related interests</a>, Maersk now intends to extend its Indian reach to container manufacturing, historically a Chinese fiefdom. The Danish liner is said to be exploring a partnership with Delhi-based diversified group DCM Shriram for local production and/or sourcing. This seemingly ties in with DCM’s existing joint venture with South Korea’s Hyundai Mobis in that field. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com</a>. </div>

Global terminal and logistics giant DP World is rapidly bolstering its Indian footprint in anticipation of demand growth amid trade diversification moves and other promising regional market dynamics. The Dubai-based company has committed a further $5 billion to expand its integrated supply chain ecosystems in India. The announcement came Thursday during a government-spearheaded maritime conclave in Mumbai. That fresh investment adds to the $3 billion DP World has already poured into the Indian market across marine terminal and multimodal logistics verticals, the company said in a statement. “DP World has been a part of India’s growth story for nearly three decades,” said group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem. “This new investment, combined with the strategic partnerships, reaffirms our commitment to advancing India’s maritime and logistics industry and cementing the nation’s position in global trade.” The group aims to tap new opportunities in coastal shipping, shipbuilding and repair, and other advanced freight service solutions. Coastal shipping development seems to be an emerging priority on DP World’s growth agenda for India, possibly by adding more locally flagged assets to subsidiary Unifeeder’s fleet. Unifeeder acquired Indian feeder line Shreyas Shipping in 2020. DP World subsidiary Drydocks World also plans to open a ship repair cluster at Cochin, looking beyond the port gates. DP World not alone in new Indian investment The global operator already holds five container terminal concessions across four port locations in India. Additionally, it is building a $550-million box terminal off Kandla Port along the Indian west coast with an annual designed capacity of 2.2 million TEUs, targeted to begin phase 1 operations in 2027. DP World’s 2024 Indian container volumes stood at 5.4 million TEUs, representing approximately 22% of the 24 million TEUs handled nationally during the year, data shows. The company’s investment push is another sign that shipping and logistics multinationals are increasingly betting on India’s potential as an alternative maritime hub. For example, in addition to vessel reflaggings and shipyard-related interests , Maersk now intends to extend its Indian reach to container manufacturing, historically a Chinese fiefdom. The Danish liner is said to be exploring a partnership with Delhi-based diversified group DCM Shriram for local production and/or sourcing. This seemingly ties in with DCM’s existing joint venture with South Korea’s Hyundai Mobis in that field. Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com .

DP World lines up $5 billion investment program for India expansion

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

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

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

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

Top LTL carriers maintain profit while planning paths to freight recovery

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

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Shippers save money, time with automated transportation bidding tools

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

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Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

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