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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The new terminal gates at the Port Newark Container Terminal at the Port of New York and New Jersey have helped decrease turn times for trucks moving dry containers by 20 percent, and for refrigerated containers by 50 percent.</div>

The new terminal gates at the Port Newark Container Terminal at the Port of New York and New Jersey have helped decrease turn times for trucks moving dry containers by 20 percent, and for refrigerated containers by 50 percent.

<div>Trucks passing through the new terminal gates at the Port Newark Container Terminal at the Port of New York and New Jersey. The operator says the gates have helped decrease turn times for trucks moving dry containers by 20 percent, and for refrigerated containers by 50 percent. Photo credit: Hugh R. Morley.New entry gates opened 11 weeks ago at the <a>Port Newark Container Terminal</a> (PNCT) in the <a>Port of New York and New Jersey</a> that are the latest stage of the terminal’s $500 million upgrade to prepare for an increase in <a>mega-ship</a> calls have already helped halve turn times for...

Trucks passing through the new terminal gates at the Port Newark Container Terminal at the Port of New York and New Jersey. The operator says the gates have helped decrease turn times for trucks moving dry containers by 20 percent, and for refrigerated containers by 50 percent. Photo credit: Hugh R. Morley. New entry gates opened 11 weeks ago at the Port Newark Container Terminal (PNCT) in the Port of New York and New Jersey that are the latest stage of the terminal’s $500 million upgrade to prepare for an increase in mega-ship calls have already helped halve turn times for refrigerated containers. The fruits of the upgrade are unfolding as the terminal, in a separate effort to improve fluidity for refrigerated containers, is about to test a program in which truckers and shippers looking to pick up or drop off a reefer at the terminal can pay $80 to do so after the normal closing time in a sort of pay-to-play extended gate. The pilot is part of the terminal’s Flex program, begun in February, which enabled truckers or shippers that paid $95.50 to get one of the first 50 gate slots in the day. New gates — only two stages The new gates, which opened July 16, have pared the old three-stage process to two stages, in the process reducing turn times on dry boxes by about 20 percent, terminal officials say. The gate system is part of a terminal-wide project that includes expanding the terminal’s 263-acre footprint, improving its electrical, global positioning, and Wi-Fi equipment, and adding four super-post-Panamax cranes, two of which arrived in the spring. Two more will arrive in the coming months and 20 new straddle carriers are also set to arrive this year. All of the port’s four main terminals have undergone varying levels of upgrade in preparation for the surge in mega-ship calls expected in the wake of the opening of the elevated Bayonne Bridge, in June 2017, and the expanded Panama Canal , in June 2016. The elevation of the bridge, from 151 to 215 feet, enabled ships of 9,500 TEU for the first time to reach three of the port’s four main terminals — PNCT, Maher Terminals, and APM Terminals. Before the elevation, vessels of that size could only reach GCT Bayonne. In a second major upgrade under way at New York-New Jersey, APM Terminals is spending $200 million on a modernization effort that includes four new cranes, an appointment system, and the strengthening of a berth so that the terminal can handle three mega-ships at once. PNCT officials previously predicted the new gates would cut turn times in the port by 25 percent, and they are confident that they will hit that goal once the final phase of the gate redesign — shrinking the process down to a single stage — is completed in about six months’ time. “We're optimistic it can go higher than 25 [percent] based on the results we've seen already,” said Chris Garbarino, PNCT’s chief operating officer. The terminal did not release turn time figures. Mega-ships: potentially large, intense unloading/loading bursts In the run up to the completion of the Bayonne Bridge project, port stakeholders anticipated that the frequent arrival of big ships, requiring intense loading and unloading of large volumes of cargo in a short time, would stress the port’s equipment supply, drayage fleet, and other resources. So far, however, that has not happened — in large part because although the port has seen an increase in mega-ship arrivals, the rise in cargo flow has not been that large. Many of the cargo loads and unloads have been about the same as those that have arrived on smaller ships in the past. PNCT said 75 ships that previously could not fit under the bridge have arrived at the terminal in the 15 months since the elevation of the bridge, or about five a month. The number of mega-ships arriving at the port as a whole has surged in recent months. Nearly 19 ships of more than 10,000 TEU a month arrived at the port between May and July 2018, compared with about seven a month from July to September 2017, immediately after the elevated bridge opened, according to figures from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. By the end of the year, PNCT’s development will have increased the terminal’s capacity from 1.5 million TEU, of which the terminal utilizes on average 87 percent, to 2 million TEU, with an increase to 2.3 million TEU by the end of 2019, according to PNCT officials. A wharf improvement project, including the dredging of 400 feet of berth space, will enable the terminal to handle two 14,000-TEU mega-ships at a time, instead of one at present. The improved reefer turn times stem in large part from a terminal redesign that has put reefer stacks, generating equipment, and labor working on them closer together, and by increasing the number of reefer lanes from two to six, PNCT officials said. Reefer cargo volumes worldwide grew by 8 percent in 2017, over the year before, and are expected to expand by 4.5 percent a year for the next several years, in part due to a trend towards moving such goods in containers, and away from bulk ships, according to Drewry. The Port of New York and New Jersey is the largest port on the East Coast by loaded reefer volume. But the port’s market share has declined since 2010, from 23.8 percent to 19.1 percent in 2017, according to data from PIERS, a sister product of JOC.com. In second-place, the Port of Wilmington, Delaware, has also seen its share decline over the period, from 13.4 percent to 12.3 percent, while the share of third-ranked Port of Philadelphia has grown from 7.9 percent in 2010 to 11.2 percent in 2017, the figures show. New York-New Jersey’s share of the reefer market ticked up to 19.04 percent in the first seven months of 2018, handling 152,802 TEU, the PIERS figures show. The port’s reefer cargo volume increased by 7.8 percent over that period, compared with the period in 2017, PIERS figures show. Wilmington’s reefer share rose to 12.8 percent and Philadelphia increased its market share to 12.34 percent, over the same period, the figures show. The Port of Philadelphia is expected to face a challenge for market share in the coming years from Wilmington, 30 miles or so nearer to the mouth of the Delaware River, where United Arab Emirates-based Gulftainer has signed a 50-year agreement to operate the Port of Wilmington , and spend $600 million to quintuple its cargo capacity. Possible appointment system Jim Pelliccio, president and CEO of PNCT, said the terminal is considering implementing an appointment system next year, mainly to improve the flow of information rather than improve fluidity, because the terminals’ new gate system has already done that, he said. GCT Bayonne opened the first appointment system in the port in December 2016. The gate redesign has freed up workers to focus on other areas, among them the dry-container Flex program, which PNCT officials say has drawn a steady stream of users willing to pay extra to get on of the first slots of the day, usually to pick up or drop off time-sensitive cargo or to ensure they meet a delivery deadline. The program enables truckers to not only start early, but to jump the line of trucks that typically assembles at the terminal gates before it opens at 6 a.m. and get served immediately, Garbarino said. The program is a smaller, trial version of larger-scale programs used in other ports that offer improved service to beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) that are willing to pay more and also seek to improve the general fluidity of trucks in and out of the port. In Southern California, the ports of Los Angeles-Long Beach are mulling a flat fee of $63.04 per FEU on both the day and night shifts, to replace the congestion pricing fee of $144.14 per FEU that the ports levied 13 years ago on trucks arriving during the day shift. Other ports are charging a fee to pay for longer gate hours, among them the port of Montreal, which this summer began charging a $35 per container flat fee that enabled the port terminal to open until 11 p.m., instead of closing at about 2:30 p.m. in the past. The Flex program for reefers is like a smaller version of an extended-gate program. Truckers or BCOs can pay $80 to pick up or drop off a refrigerated container later than the usual closing time of 4:30 p.m. The appointments could be booked by an app on the truckers’ mobile phone that the terminal has developed, similar to the one currently available for the early morning slots, Garbarino said. “In a lot of cases it's going to generate one additional reefer [move] — receive or deliver one more move by having that additional time,” Garbarino said. “We've talked with some of the trucking companies that handle a lot of refrigerated cargo and there definitely is interest, and they can see that there would be times where they would definitely see the advantage to having an option like that.” Contact Hugh R. Morley at hugh.morley@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @HughRMorley1 .

NY-NJ PNCT’s new gates halve reefer turn times

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">S&amp;P Global’s outlook for the transportation sector sees US ports facing a volume decline in 2026 with the potential for recovery in 2027. </div>

S&P Global’s outlook for the transportation sector sees US ports facing a volume decline in 2026 with the potential for recovery in 2027.

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<div class="phx-topic">US ports face another down year for volumes in 2026 due to ongoing uncertainty over the direction of US trade and tariff policy, according to an S&amp;P Global credit outlook. The forecasted drop in container volumes echoes similar outlooks from major US port operators whose fortunes are not expected to turn around until 2027. S&amp;P Global Ratings said Tuesday that while US economic output and employment are expected to remain stable through next year, ports face a down year as the Trump administration’s wide-ranging tariffs against most US trade partners likely makes shippers cautious and continue to reshore production. Trade with China might stabilize in 2026 due to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/trade-deal-could-boost-short-term-china-imports-but-uncertainty-lingers-6106809">the trade deal the US struck with China through next November</a>, S&amp;P Global Ratings said. But tariffs against China and other trading partners remain at record high levels, forcing shippers to be cautious. A US Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s tariffs could reignite cargo shipments, the outlook said. Nevertheless, S&amp;P Global said US port container volumes will decline 2% in 2026. The outlook calls for a rebound in volume of 6% in 2027 on the hopes of a more stable trade policy. The outlook did not include actual volume figures. “US ports face the greatest uncertainty due to the evolving tariff landscape in 2026,” S&amp;P Global Ratings said. “The recently negotiated truce in the US-China trade conflict provides a measure of certainty until that agreement expires. Our estimate of slightly lower container volumes in 2026 is followed by a solid recovery in 2027.” The outlook follows a similar forecast from the National Retail Federation, which said Monday <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/december-us-imports-on-track-to-be-lowest-since-june-23-retailers-6130632">first-quarter 2026 port volumes could see double-digit declines from the year earlier</a>. Overall, the NRF expects 2025 volumes to come in slightly below 2024. Credit ratings agency Moody’s on Nov. 18 warned that US import volumes in 2026 will be flat to down 2% from this year. Port operators, too, are budgeting for declines or only slow growth in 2026. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in November it’s budgeting for total container volumes of 8.5 million TEUs in 2026, which would be just over a 2% decline from 2024. Since 2016, NY-NJ port container volumes have grown at an annual average of 4.2%. Port Houston Authority also said last month it’s budgeting for container volumes to reach 4.4 million TEUs in 2026, which would represent growth of 4.7%, below the port’s decade-long average volume growth of 7%. S&amp;P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a></div>

US ports face another down year for volumes in 2026 due to ongoing uncertainty over the direction of US trade and tariff policy, according to an S&P Global credit outlook. The forecasted drop in container volumes echoes similar outlooks from major US port operators whose fortunes are not expected to turn around until 2027. S&P Global Ratings said Tuesday that while US economic output and employment are expected to remain stable through next year, ports face a down year as the Trump administration’s wide-ranging tariffs against most US trade partners likely makes shippers cautious and continue to reshore production. Trade with China might stabilize in 2026 due to the trade deal the US struck with China through next November , S&P Global Ratings said. But tariffs against China and other trading partners remain at record high levels, forcing shippers to be cautious. A US Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s tariffs could reignite cargo shipments, the outlook said. Nevertheless, S&P Global said US port container volumes will decline 2% in 2026. The outlook calls for a rebound in volume of 6% in 2027 on the hopes of a more stable trade policy. The outlook did not include actual volume figures. “US ports face the greatest uncertainty due to the evolving tariff landscape in 2026,” S&P Global Ratings said. “The recently negotiated truce in the US-China trade conflict provides a measure of certainty until that agreement expires. Our estimate of slightly lower container volumes in 2026 is followed by a solid recovery in 2027.” The outlook follows a similar forecast from the National Retail Federation, which said Monday first-quarter 2026 port volumes could see double-digit declines from the year earlier . Overall, the NRF expects 2025 volumes to come in slightly below 2024. Credit ratings agency Moody’s on Nov. 18 warned that US import volumes in 2026 will be flat to down 2% from this year. Port operators, too, are budgeting for declines or only slow growth in 2026. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in November it’s budgeting for total container volumes of 8.5 million TEUs in 2026, which would be just over a 2% decline from 2024. Since 2016, NY-NJ port container volumes have grown at an annual average of 4.2%. Port Houston Authority also said last month it’s budgeting for container volumes to reach 4.4 million TEUs in 2026, which would represent growth of 4.7%, below the port’s decade-long average volume growth of 7%. S&P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com

US container volumes set for weak 2026 amid ongoing trade uncertainty

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">While dry-van spot rates typically climb in December, this year’s increase is the highest for early December in more than five years, according to DAT Freight &amp; Analytics. </div>

While dry-van spot rates typically climb in December, this year’s increase is the highest for early December in more than five years, according to DAT Freight & Analytics.

<div class="phx-topic">US truckload spot rates have surged in recent days as cold weather, snowstorms and a compressed holiday shopping season tighten capacity ahead of Christmas, analysts say. Spot rates on the 50 largest US lanes rose 4% on average during the first week of December, according to DAT Freight &amp; Analytics. While dry-van spot rates typically climb in December, this year’s increase is the highest for early December in more than five years, according to DAT. On average, dry-van spot rates were flat to up about 1% during the first week of December between 2020 and 2024. Bascome Majors, a transportation industry analyst for Susquehanna Bank, classified the bump as “super-seasonal,” but noted that carriers consider it a seasonal blip and not a shift in the market. “Over the last six weeks, spot rates are now cumulatively about 8% above the long-term average sequential change,” Majors wrote an investor note Tuesday. “Tender rejection rates have risen slightly to about 7%, returning to levels last seen in July of this year but just similar to December 2019 levels.” Dean Croke, principal analyst with DAT, said the combination of frigid temperatures and widespread snowfall in the Midwest and Northeast has pushed rates higher. More storms are expected this week, with another round of arctic air poised to impact the same regions. Dry-van spot rates in Wisconsin, hit with cold temperatures and heavy snow last week, jumped 19 cents per mile. “In the Midwest region, rates were up 23% week over week, a significant departure from post-Thanksgiving rates in that Midwest area,” Croke told the Journal of Commerce. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="13499d91-a088-4824-b1c4-db0f2c552702"></dynamic-object></div>Freezing weather can damage truck components, but even when equipment remains operational, snow and ice force drivers to reduce speeds or temporarily halt movement. Slower driving lowers daily mileage and reduces the number of loads a driver can complete in a week, tightening overall capacity for shippers. There were stretches of Interstate 70 in Indiana and Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania shut down because of crashes during snowstorms last week. More ice, snow and cold temperatures are expected across the Midwest and Northeast this week. <h3>Fewer shopping days </h3>The shortened shopping season is another factor behind the rate increases, Croke said. The last two Thanksgivings have been on Nov. 27 and Nov. 28, respectively, the latest two dates possible, compressing the shopping season between Black Friday and Christmas. It leaves less time for e-commerce companies and traditional retailers to replenish inventory. By contrast, Thanksgiving fell on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24 in 2022 and 2023. Rates on one high-volume e-commerce lane, Allentown, Pa., to Boston, shot up 30 cents in the first week of December, according to DAT. Rates between Chicago and the warehousing hub of Columbus, Ohio, have climbed between 10 and 15 cents per mile in each direction during the same period. “A lot of e-commerce-to-e-commerce warehouses in that overnight 300-mile range are red hot with demand,” Croke said. “Anywhere you’ve got big distribution centers within that 300-mile radius where truckers can be out and back home within 12 hours are busy this time of year.” Rates have risen sharply in other states with large concentrations of distribution centers, climbing 21 cents per mile in Maryland and 14 cents in New Jersey, DAT said. Whether the spot surge will influence contract rates remains to be seen. Many annual agreements are signed after the rates fall again post-holidays in mid-January. Derek Leathers, CEO of Werner Enterprises, said he is seeing more shippers ask what it would take to lock in contract capacity early and avoid exposure later to a potentially tighter market. He referred to it as “derisking” — pulling freight out of the traditional bid cycle. “I would say, in general, [the renewals] are lower than mid-single-digit increases,” Leathers said during the UBS Industrials and Transportation Conference on Dec. 2. “It could be bigger than 2%, but it’s not 5%, 6%, or 7%.” Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

US truckload spot rates have surged in recent days as cold weather, snowstorms and a compressed holiday shopping season tighten capacity ahead of Christmas, analysts say. Spot rates on the 50 largest US lanes rose 4% on average during the first week of December, according to DAT Freight & Analytics. While dry-van spot rates typically climb in December, this year’s increase is the highest for early December in more than five years, according to DAT. On average, dry-van spot rates were flat to up about 1% during the first week of December between 2020 and 2024. Bascome Majors, a transportation industry analyst for Susquehanna Bank, classified the bump as “super-seasonal,” but noted that carriers consider it a seasonal blip and not a shift in the market. “Over the last six weeks, spot rates are now cumulatively about 8% above the long-term average sequential change,” Majors wrote an investor note Tuesday. “Tender rejection rates have risen slightly to about 7%, returning to levels last seen in July of this year but just similar to December 2019 levels.” Dean Croke, principal analyst with DAT, said the combination of frigid temperatures and widespread snowfall in the Midwest and Northeast has pushed rates higher. More storms are expected this week, with another round of arctic air poised to impact the same regions. Dry-van spot rates in Wisconsin, hit with cold temperatures and heavy snow last week, jumped 19 cents per mile. “In the Midwest region, rates were up 23% week over week, a significant departure from post-Thanksgiving rates in that Midwest area,” Croke told the Journal of Commerce. Freezing weather can damage truck components, but even when equipment remains operational, snow and ice force drivers to reduce speeds or temporarily halt movement. Slower driving lowers daily mileage and reduces the number of loads a driver can complete in a week, tightening overall capacity for shippers. There were stretches of Interstate 70 in Indiana and Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania shut down because of crashes during snowstorms last week. More ice, snow and cold temperatures are expected across the Midwest and Northeast this week. Fewer shopping days The shortened shopping season is another factor behind the rate increases, Croke said. The last two Thanksgivings have been on Nov. 27 and Nov. 28, respectively, the latest two dates possible, compressing the shopping season between Black Friday and Christmas. It leaves less time for e-commerce companies and traditional retailers to replenish inventory. By contrast, Thanksgiving fell on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24 in 2022 and 2023. Rates on one high-volume e-commerce lane, Allentown, Pa., to Boston, shot up 30 cents in the first week of December, according to DAT. Rates between Chicago and the warehousing hub of Columbus, Ohio, have climbed between 10 and 15 cents per mile in each direction during the same period. “A lot of e-commerce-to-e-commerce warehouses in that overnight 300-mile range are red hot with demand,” Croke said. “Anywhere you’ve got big distribution centers within that 300-mile radius where truckers can be out and back home within 12 hours are busy this time of year.” Rates have risen sharply in other states with large concentrations of distribution centers, climbing 21 cents per mile in Maryland and 14 cents in New Jersey, DAT said. Whether the spot surge will influence contract rates remains to be seen. Many annual agreements are signed after the rates fall again post-holidays in mid-January. Derek Leathers, CEO of Werner Enterprises, said he is seeing more shippers ask what it would take to lock in contract capacity early and avoid exposure later to a potentially tighter market. He referred to it as “derisking” — pulling freight out of the traditional bid cycle. “I would say, in general, [the renewals] are lower than mid-single-digit increases,” Leathers said during the UBS Industrials and Transportation Conference on Dec. 2. “It could be bigger than 2%, but it’s not 5%, 6%, or 7%.” Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

US truckload rates jump on poor weather, shorter holiday shopping season

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The move into transportation management expands Transfix’s scope from its current focus on brokerage pricing technology. </div>

The move into transportation management expands Transfix’s scope from its current focus on brokerage pricing technology.

<div class="phx-topic">Former truckload broker turned software vendor Transfix on Wednesday released a transportation management system (TMS) product designed specifically to help freight brokers wean themselves off third-party applications for processes such as scheduling and payment processing. The new product represents an expansion of Transfix’s offerings after it <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/transfix-selling-digital-brokerage-business-to-nfi-industries-5244349">sold its brokerage business to NFI in mid-2024</a> and spun out its technology to serve all brokers. In conjunction with the launch, NFI said it is using the Transfix TMS across its entire brokerage business. Transfix CEO Jonathan Salama said the development of Transfix’s TMS, which builds on its existing pricing products for brokers, was designed to help brokers simplify their tech stacks as they are bombarded by vendors with applications meant to patch over insufficient features within the TMSs they use. He referred to this as an <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/ma-pace-signals-truckload-tech-industry-unsure-about-unbundling-5909043">‘unbundling’ of TMS</a> in recent years, driven in part by the rise of artificial intelligence-based and automation-based vendors aiming to improve discrete processes for a broker. “TMSs are meant to do the work themselves; they’re not meant to do the work through a third party,” Salama told the Journal of Commerce. “We’re obviously going to have an [application programming interface] that makes it easy to integrate with partners, but the idea is you’re not going to need as many partners.” Salama said Transfix essentially “road tested” the TMS when it operated as a broker and has since refined it through working with other brokers as a technology vendor. The focus is around “what you need to do to keep your cost of operation as low as possible,” he said. “Brokerage has seen the toughest market [the last few years],” Salama added. “You have to understand where your costs go, and it goes to two things: people and tech stack, and if you keep adding vendors, it will cost more. Even taking out extra costs, it’s managing fewer vendors. One versus 20 is easier to manage.” NFI CEO Sid Brown said the company had chosen to apply the Transfix TMS across its brokerage business “after evaluating several TMS platforms in the market.” <h3>Transfix seeking larger piece of broker spending </h3>Salama said brokers are better managing their cost per shipment, asserting that the cost to manage a load can rise to more than $100, a number higher than the margin in some cases. “Our [cost per shipment] at Transfix was $40, and that’s where the TMS comes in,” he said. Since spinning off its technology as a standalone business, Transfix has largely competed with a small group of vendors, including AVRL, Parade, Greenscreens.AI (<a href="https://www.joc.com/article/triumph-acquires-broker-focused-pricing-technology-provider-greenscreensai-5951484">purchased in early 2025 by Triumph</a>) and Sonar, that assist brokers with their pricing strategy. Large load board providers, namely DAT Freight &amp; Analytics and Truckstop.com, also play in that space. In going after the broker TMS segment, Transfix is angling for a larger share of broker spend, but it’s also entering a more crowded category, with long-established incumbents such as McLeod, Trimble and MercuryGate (acquired in 2024 by Korber and rebranded as Infios) competing against newer options such as Tai and Revenova. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Former truckload broker turned software vendor Transfix on Wednesday released a transportation management system (TMS) product designed specifically to help freight brokers wean themselves off third-party applications for processes such as scheduling and payment processing. The new product represents an expansion of Transfix’s offerings after it sold its brokerage business to NFI in mid-2024 and spun out its technology to serve all brokers. In conjunction with the launch, NFI said it is using the Transfix TMS across its entire brokerage business. Transfix CEO Jonathan Salama said the development of Transfix’s TMS, which builds on its existing pricing products for brokers, was designed to help brokers simplify their tech stacks as they are bombarded by vendors with applications meant to patch over insufficient features within the TMSs they use. He referred to this as an ‘unbundling’ of TMS in recent years, driven in part by the rise of artificial intelligence-based and automation-based vendors aiming to improve discrete processes for a broker. “TMSs are meant to do the work themselves; they’re not meant to do the work through a third party,” Salama told the Journal of Commerce. “We’re obviously going to have an [application programming interface] that makes it easy to integrate with partners, but the idea is you’re not going to need as many partners.” Salama said Transfix essentially “road tested” the TMS when it operated as a broker and has since refined it through working with other brokers as a technology vendor. The focus is around “what you need to do to keep your cost of operation as low as possible,” he said. “Brokerage has seen the toughest market [the last few years],” Salama added. “You have to understand where your costs go, and it goes to two things: people and tech stack, and if you keep adding vendors, it will cost more. Even taking out extra costs, it’s managing fewer vendors. One versus 20 is easier to manage.” NFI CEO Sid Brown said the company had chosen to apply the Transfix TMS across its brokerage business “after evaluating several TMS platforms in the market.” Transfix seeking larger piece of broker spending Salama said brokers are better managing their cost per shipment, asserting that the cost to manage a load can rise to more than $100, a number higher than the margin in some cases. “Our [cost per shipment] at Transfix was $40, and that’s where the TMS comes in,” he said. Since spinning off its technology as a standalone business, Transfix has largely competed with a small group of vendors, including AVRL, Parade, Greenscreens.AI ( purchased in early 2025 by Triumph ) and Sonar, that assist brokers with their pricing strategy. Large load board providers, namely DAT Freight & Analytics and Truckstop.com, also play in that space. In going after the broker TMS segment, Transfix is angling for a larger share of broker spend, but it’s also entering a more crowded category, with long-established incumbents such as McLeod, Trimble and MercuryGate (acquired in 2024 by Korber and rebranded as Infios) competing against newer options such as Tai and Revenova. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Transfix targets ‘unbundled’ chaos of truckload brokerage with TMS product

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The rise in bookings is driving an increase in the capacity offered by ocean carriers on Asia to North Europe and the Mediterranean that this week reached record levels on both trades. </div>

The rise in bookings is driving an increase in the capacity offered by ocean carriers on Asia to North Europe and the Mediterranean that this week reached record levels on both trades.

<div class="phx-topic">Robust demand in December is filling ships on the Asia to North Europe and Mediterranean container shipping trades, with the strong volume expected to continue through January as cargo owners lock in bookings ahead of February’s Lunar New Year. Data from container shipment tracker Vizion shows bookings for the three weeks ending Dec. 7 rose 10% compared with the prior three weeks, with 207,000 TEUs booked on Asia-Europe. Peter Sand, chief analyst at rate benchmarking platform Xeneta, said high demand in December has become a “new normal” on the westbound corridors. “In 2023 and 2024, and probably also 2025, December is the month of the year with the highest demand,” he said, adding that it was “real demand” with no sign of shippers frontloading orders. The rise in bookings is driving an increase in the capacity offered by ocean carriers on Asia to North Europe and the Mediterranean that this week reached record levels on both trades. Data from Xeneta shows carriers are deploying 1.12 million TEUs of capacity in December on Asia-North Europe while blanking 84,000 TEUs, down from 126,000 TEUs blanked in November. Planned capacity for the trade in January is at a record 1.17 million TEUs, while blanks announced so far are at 54,000 TEUs. Capacity deployed on Asia-Mediterranean in December is at 788,842 TEUs with 69,218 TEUs blanked, compared with November, when 713,489 TEUs were deployed and 98,296 TEUs blanked, Xeneta data shows. A record 849,371 TEUs are planned for January deployment, with blank sailings currently at 39,706 TEUs. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="f4ff8e0a-22c0-44e8-99ff-43c43501ec74"></dynamic-object></div>A spokesperson for Hapag-Lloyd said regular capacity deployed on the main trade lanes into Europe was increasing to meet the rising demand, while rates “are expected to peak in early January with a gradual slowdown towards February.” The rising volume through the fourth quarter is being accompanied by a steep increase in spot rates. Asia-North Europe rates reached $2,350 per FEU as of Dec. 9, up 80% since the beginning of October, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. Asia-Mediterranean rates of $3,250/FEU this week are just over double where they were on Oct. 1. Jacob Moe, senior vice president of global FCL (full container load) at DHL Global Forwarding, said Asia-Europe demand leading into the Lunar New Year was “very strong” in December with a “strong booking intake” already being made for January. “We are for now not seeing extra loaders being put in but are watching the blank sailing program as this seems to be enough to manage the capacity from the carrier side,” Moe told the Journal of Commerce. <h3>Year of high demand growth </h3>Demand growth in Asia-Europe this year is up between 10% and 14%, depending on the market vertical, according to Michael Aldwell, executive vice president of sea logistics at Kuehne + Nagel. “We haven’t seen growth like that on the Far East westbound trade since before the global financial crisis,” Aldwell told the Journal of Commerce in a recent interview. Total Asian exports to North Europe and the Mediterranean of 21.95 million TEUs from January through October are up 8.6% year over year, with almost 2 million more boxes this year than last, according to Container Trades Statistics (CTS). <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="1757bc92-59e3-4e30-b987-63a9d840cd61"></dynamic-object></div>One explanation for the solid growth in European import volumes into December is that shippers are building inventory as a buffer to counter the <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/stretched-logistics-capacity-in-europe-threatened-by-red-sea-return-6129492">disruption that is likely to occur should widespread Red Sea transits resume</a>, with the later-than-usual Lunar New Year that starts on Feb. 17 giving shippers more time to stock up. But Andy Gillespie, senior logistics advisor at supply chain managers WOWL, said shippers trying to plan orders three or four months out while factoring in a potential return to the Red Sea was virtually impossible. “[Reducing] inventories and replenishment planning with some orders suddenly transiting two weeks faster while others are taking the Cape of Good Hope routing is unplannable for those supply chain managers that are placing orders 90 to 120 days in advance of when they think they need the products at destination [distribution centers] or with customers,” he told the Journal of Commerce. Gillespie said logistics service providers will have to pick up the slack in Europe, adding that yards or warehouses with capacity at 80% or higher “will be slammed” as ships diverting around southern Africa and those transiting the Red Sea converge. “For shippers and the routing of cargo, we won’t know which services are going which way exactly or where the feeders will hook up on which service, so the logistics people will deal with the chaos,” he said. “In the end, though, back to Suez safely is a great thing.” Despite some carriers moving capacity through the Suez, there remains no clarity on when large-scale mainline Asia-Europe services will resume voyages through the critical waterway. Carriers are assessing the risk profile of returning to the Red Sea, which they say revolves around the safety of the crew, ship and cargo. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Robust demand in December is filling ships on the Asia to North Europe and Mediterranean container shipping trades, with the strong volume expected to continue through January as cargo owners lock in bookings ahead of February’s Lunar New Year. Data from container shipment tracker Vizion shows bookings for the three weeks ending Dec. 7 rose 10% compared with the prior three weeks, with 207,000 TEUs booked on Asia-Europe. Peter Sand, chief analyst at rate benchmarking platform Xeneta, said high demand in December has become a “new normal” on the westbound corridors. “In 2023 and 2024, and probably also 2025, December is the month of the year with the highest demand,” he said, adding that it was “real demand” with no sign of shippers frontloading orders. The rise in bookings is driving an increase in the capacity offered by ocean carriers on Asia to North Europe and the Mediterranean that this week reached record levels on both trades. Data from Xeneta shows carriers are deploying 1.12 million TEUs of capacity in December on Asia-North Europe while blanking 84,000 TEUs, down from 126,000 TEUs blanked in November. Planned capacity for the trade in January is at a record 1.17 million TEUs, while blanks announced so far are at 54,000 TEUs. Capacity deployed on Asia-Mediterranean in December is at 788,842 TEUs with 69,218 TEUs blanked, compared with November, when 713,489 TEUs were deployed and 98,296 TEUs blanked, Xeneta data shows. A record 849,371 TEUs are planned for January deployment, with blank sailings currently at 39,706 TEUs. A spokesperson for Hapag-Lloyd said regular capacity deployed on the main trade lanes into Europe was increasing to meet the rising demand, while rates “are expected to peak in early January with a gradual slowdown towards February.” The rising volume through the fourth quarter is being accompanied by a steep increase in spot rates. Asia-North Europe rates reached $2,350 per FEU as of Dec. 9, up 80% since the beginning of October, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Asia-Mediterranean rates of $3,250/FEU this week are just over double where they were on Oct. 1. Jacob Moe, senior vice president of global FCL (full container load) at DHL Global Forwarding, said Asia-Europe demand leading into the Lunar New Year was “very strong” in December with a “strong booking intake” already being made for January. “We are for now not seeing extra loaders being put in but are watching the blank sailing program as this seems to be enough to manage the capacity from the carrier side,” Moe told the Journal of Commerce. Year of high demand growth Demand growth in Asia-Europe this year is up between 10% and 14%, depending on the market vertical, according to Michael Aldwell, executive vice president of sea logistics at Kuehne + Nagel. “We haven’t seen growth like that on the Far East westbound trade since before the global financial crisis,” Aldwell told the Journal of Commerce in a recent interview. Total Asian exports to North Europe and the Mediterranean of 21.95 million TEUs from January through October are up 8.6% year over year, with almost 2 million more boxes this year than last, according to Container Trades Statistics (CTS). One explanation for the solid growth in European import volumes into December is that shippers are building inventory as a buffer to counter the disruption that is likely to occur should widespread Red Sea transits resume , with the later-than-usual Lunar New Year that starts on Feb. 17 giving shippers more time to stock up. But Andy Gillespie, senior logistics advisor at supply chain managers WOWL, said shippers trying to plan orders three or four months out while factoring in a potential return to the Red Sea was virtually impossible. “[Reducing] inventories and replenishment planning with some orders suddenly transiting two weeks faster while others are taking the Cape of Good Hope routing is unplannable for those supply chain managers that are placing orders 90 to 120 days in advance of when they think they need the products at destination [distribution centers] or with customers,” he told the Journal of Commerce. Gillespie said logistics service providers will have to pick up the slack in Europe, adding that yards or warehouses with capacity at 80% or higher “will be slammed” as ships diverting around southern Africa and those transiting the Red Sea converge. “For shippers and the routing of cargo, we won’t know which services are going which way exactly or where the feeders will hook up on which service, so the logistics people will deal with the chaos,” he said. “In the end, though, back to Suez safely is a great thing.” Despite some carriers moving capacity through the Suez, there remains no clarity on when large-scale mainline Asia-Europe services will resume voyages through the critical waterway. Carriers are assessing the risk profile of returning to the Red Sea, which they say revolves around the safety of the crew, ship and cargo. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Cargo bookings for Asia-Europe ocean trade rise sharply in December

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Israel-based carrier is urging shareholders to reelect its current slate of directors later this month after alternate nominees were put forth by dissident shareholders. </div>

The Israel-based carrier is urging shareholders to reelect its current slate of directors later this month after alternate nominees were put forth by dissident shareholders.

<div class="phx-topic">A group of shareholders has launched a proxy fight to get their candidates elected to the board of Zim Integrated Shipping Services after the ocean carrier rejected <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/zim-says-reviewing-buyout-offers-including-one-from-ceo-6123362">an initial buyout offer from its chief executive</a> as too low and continues to review other potential bids. The Israel-based ocean carrier said in a statement Tuesday that a proxy advisor recommended shareholders reelect eight current board members at the company’s Dec. 26 annual meeting. The advisor also recommended that Zim shareholders vote against a slate of three directors nominated by an investor group that “made no attempt to work constructively with the board nor provided any suggestions for improving the company’s business or any other insight into how to create long-term value for shareholders,” Zim said. The investor group — Mor Gemel &amp; Pension Ltd., Reading Capital Ltd., and Sparta 24 — said in a letter nominating its candidates that it holds 5% of the company’s stock, Zim said. The investor group did not release the required stock exchange disclosures or a public statement about its proxy fight. There was no contact information available for the investors. The investor group put up their nominees after a report that Zim Chief Executive Eli Glickman made a buyout offer that was less than the company’s cash balance, Zim said in its statement. While Zim evaluated Glickman’s proposal, it “unanimously determined that it materially undervalued the company,” the carrier said. “The rumor that the board was willing to accept such an undervalued bid was clearly false,” Zim said. The investor group wants the company to issue a special dividend, Zim said, which would undermine Zim’s “liquidity and create substantial risk to shareholder value given our charter-intensive model, which requires adequate cash to navigate industry cycles.” Zim’s board said that it’s continuing a review of strategic alternatives that could include a merger or other another transaction. As part of that review, Zim has set up a transaction committee and appointed two additional outside directors to review any offers. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

A group of shareholders has launched a proxy fight to get their candidates elected to the board of Zim Integrated Shipping Services after the ocean carrier rejected an initial buyout offer from its chief executive as too low and continues to review other potential bids. The Israel-based ocean carrier said in a statement Tuesday that a proxy advisor recommended shareholders reelect eight current board members at the company’s Dec. 26 annual meeting. The advisor also recommended that Zim shareholders vote against a slate of three directors nominated by an investor group that “made no attempt to work constructively with the board nor provided any suggestions for improving the company’s business or any other insight into how to create long-term value for shareholders,” Zim said. The investor group — Mor Gemel & Pension Ltd., Reading Capital Ltd., and Sparta 24 — said in a letter nominating its candidates that it holds 5% of the company’s stock, Zim said. The investor group did not release the required stock exchange disclosures or a public statement about its proxy fight. There was no contact information available for the investors. The investor group put up their nominees after a report that Zim Chief Executive Eli Glickman made a buyout offer that was less than the company’s cash balance, Zim said in its statement. While Zim evaluated Glickman’s proposal, it “unanimously determined that it materially undervalued the company,” the carrier said. “The rumor that the board was willing to accept such an undervalued bid was clearly false,” Zim said. The investor group wants the company to issue a special dividend, Zim said, which would undermine Zim’s “liquidity and create substantial risk to shareholder value given our charter-intensive model, which requires adequate cash to navigate industry cycles.” Zim’s board said that it’s continuing a review of strategic alternatives that could include a merger or other another transaction. As part of that review, Zim has set up a transaction committee and appointed two additional outside directors to review any offers. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Zim faces proxy fight after rejecting CEO’s buyout bid

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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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