The pandemic adds impetus to the rush to develop more sophisticated tools that can give shippers better insight into future truck rates, and eventually “forward-looking visibility.”
Saturday April 4, 2020
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Coronavirus Effect on Supply Chains
Coronavirus Effect on Supply Chains
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is delivering some early year disruption to the container shipping market. Chinese factories may be slowly getting back to work but the damage is already done, and there's no guarantee factories will be up to full power anytime soon. China travel restrictions are crimping domestic truck delivery and challenging factories' ability to get crucial components from their suppliers. Unsurprisingly, the backlog of factory orders is frustrating container lines and importers alike. Cargo owners have few options, with air cargo services connecting to China restricted and container lines blanking sailings due to reduced demand. Check this special page for regular updates on how the industry is responding.
News & Analysis
25 Mar 2020
Reports of cancelled Asia to North America ocean bookings are a sharp reversal from just a few weeks ago, when shippers were looking to accelerate shipments through the supply chain to replenish inventories depleted due to the prolonged China shutdown.
25 Mar 2020
Importers can apply to CBP to request an extension to pay applicable duties and taxes due to disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
24 Mar 2020
The truck plant shutdowns follow a wave of broader automotive factory shutdowns the previous week, led by the big three automakers, Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, who were followed by Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen.
24 Mar 2020
With 30 percent of its containerized imports tied to China, the sole container terminal at the Port of Baltimore will close for two more days in March due to low cargo volumes from the coronavirus-afflicted nation.
24 Mar 2020
Terminal operators in the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland are adding an extra hour between the day and night shifts in order to sanitize equipment, but they say the move should not cause operational disruptions.
24 Mar 2020
Tightness in air cargo capacity is unlikely to ease as the global spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) increases demand for medical supplies and perishables.
24 Mar 2020
The lessons learned from logistics managers, carriers, shippers, and high-technology companies — such as inventory backstops and redundancy in the network — will create the groundwork of a new way of approaching mitigating sourcing risk.
23 Mar 2020
A significant number of truck drivers serving India’s major public port have not been reporting to work in recent days because of fears over the coronavirus outbreak and related government restrictions.
23 Mar 2020
Demand for container shipping depends on the return of consumer spending in North America and the European Union, but most businesses in those regions are shut and consumers are holed up inside their homes
20 Mar 2020
Workers at ports, warehouses, and trucking companies are receiving exemptions from state “stay-at-home” mandates because they are judged as essential to the US supply chain.
20 Mar 2020
Despite the expected decline in throughput due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the South Carolina Ports Authority says work shifts and hours will not be reduced, nor will restrictions be imposed on empty returns.
20 Mar 2020
Non-vessel operating common carriers say the small drop in trans-Pacific eastbound spot rates is a temporary blip.
20 Mar 2020
Spot truck rates are up about 5 percent since the end of February on demand for consumer staples, even as the US economy slows. Pricing may still be elevated when Chinese imports hit US ports and produce season puts the screws to US trucking capacity.
20 Mar 2020
A preliminary assessment by the Port of Montreal predicts cargo volumes could fall as much as 13 percent in 2020, in a sign of how the Chinese slowdown continues to disrupt supply chains even as ports prepare for a drop in cargo due to Europe’s economic slump.
20 Mar 2020
The world’s container lines face an uncertain 2020 with the coronavirus impact on demand still to be felt as the major markets of Europe and the US struggle to contain the spread of the disease.
19 Mar 2020
DHL Global Forwarding on Thursday warned customers of a potential inability to fulfill its ocean and air freight contracts, echoing warnings from other forwarders that spoke with JOC.com.
19 Mar 2020
The 10-year US economic expansion is over, killed by the response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019), and the recovery will be slow, IHS Markit chief economist Nariman Behravesh warns.
19 Mar 2020
The 23-hour shutdown of two Houston container terminals spotlighted a potential new risk of disruption for all ports as they already face the possibility of coronavirus-related supply chain disruptions such as blank sailings, an excess of containers, and cargo surges.
19 Mar 2020
Global oil prices have crashed in recent weeks, driven lower by a dramatic drop in demand due to COVID-19 and the collapse of a crude production alliance between OPEC and Russia.
19 Mar 2020
While truck activity is rampant for essential goods, US fashion footwear freight movement is slowing to a halt as department stores shut down, according to supply chain executives.
19 Mar 2020
A trio of prominent logistics technology CEOs told shippers that navigating the coronavirus crisis comes down to decentralizing inventory and avoiding investment in fixed assets.
19 Mar 2020
The response to the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is dominating business at FedEx, as global air and domestic ground supply needs swing and the firm looks to prioritize test kits and relief supplies.
19 Mar 2020
FedEx expands use of its US ground unit to deliver more air express packages, as e-commerce volumes swell and Amazon ups the competitive ante.
18 Mar 2020
The dearth of Asia volumes will give way to surges hitting North American and European ports that may be short-lived as recessionary conditions dampen demand.
18 Mar 2020
Forwarders facing the task of continuing operations while under work-from-home mandates are getting a boost from software providers offering free versions of their products to help companies cope with the new distributed environment.
18 Mar 2020
It comes as no surprise that carriers will be hit hard by falling demand and deteriorating earnings this year, but the scale of the expected impact will raise concerns.
18 Mar 2020
Truck capacity is being tightened in drive-thru-sized bites as restaurant and rest stop closings delay drivers.
18 Mar 2020
Ports in Europe are concerned that closing borders across the continent to stop the movement of people will have a knock-on effect on the free flow of cargo essential to logistics networks.
17 Mar 2020
The coronavirus is creating new opportunities for cargo thieves, and demands better “continuity planning” from businesses that ship freight, BSI says.
17 Mar 2020
Ports, terminal operators, the ILWU, truckers, and warehouse operators say they are complying with state and local health restrictions liked to COVID-19 while still handling cargo volumes.
17 Mar 2020
Although the economy had a fairly good head of steam coming into the crisis, its heavy reliance on the consumer will make it particularly vulnerable to the pullback in consumer spending that will result from the changes wrought by the coronavirus.
17 Mar 2020
Airlines are using their empty passenger aircraft as cargo planes amid widening COVID-19 travel bans across the globe that have cut huge amounts of belly cargo from service.
17 Mar 2020
The logistics software provider Freightos is the latest to react to an uncertain freight market by cutting staff, a move the company attributes to the effect the coronavirus disease is having on supply chains and the financial ecosystem.
17 Mar 2020
While Chinese manufacturing and trucking capacity is recovering as workers return from quarantine, the surge of containerized exports being produced threaten to overwhelm some North American ports and inland networks.
16 Mar 2020
BCOs, trucking groups, and transportation intermediaries urge the Federal Maritime Commission to adopt its proposed rule to provide shipping lines guidance as to when they should be able to charge detention and demurrage fees.
Commentary
Word of the year: Supply chain
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