<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">For years, North American shippers were warned a truck capacity crunch was coming, but that crunch never materialized. This year, with the accelerating US economy, that crunch finally arrived. That is pushing up inland supply chain costs and transport rates across the board, and shippers should not expect relief soon.</div>

For years, North American shippers were warned a truck capacity crunch was coming, but that crunch never materialized. This year, with the accelerating US economy, that crunch finally arrived. That is pushing up inland supply chain costs and transport rates across the board, and shippers should not expect relief soon.

<div><div><img></div>For years, North American shippers were warned a truck capacity crunch was coming, but that crunch never materialized. This year, with the accelerating US economy, that crunch finally arrived. Photo credit: Shutterstock.For years, North American shippers were warned a truck capacity crunch was coming, a crunch that never materialized, thanks to a stop-and-go, slow US economic recovery. After three quarters of steady economic growth, however, that crunch finally arrived this year, clenching supply chains with a vise-like grip, and shocking shippers who expected a slow first quarter.That is pushing up inland supply chain costs and transport rates across the board,...

For years, North American shippers were warned a truck capacity crunch was coming, but that crunch never materialized. This year, with the accelerating US economy, that crunch finally arrived. Photo credit: Shutterstock. For years, North American shippers were warned a truck capacity crunch was coming, a crunch that never materialized, thanks to a stop-and-go, slow US economic recovery. After three quarters of steady economic growth, however, that crunch finally arrived this year, clenching supply chains with a vise-like grip, and shocking shippers who expected a slow first quarter. That is pushing up inland supply chain costs and transport rates across the board, and shippers should not expect relief soon. These market conditions are likely to last into 2019, most experts say. In order to not be washed away by the oncoming wave, shippers will have to rigorously rethink how they ship goods, gather detailed data on their operations, and collaborate. Not since 2014 have US shippers and beneficial cargo owners seen such disruption to domestic and international containerized freight movement. And what they have seen starting in the autumn of 2017 and early 2018 makes 2014 look like “a blip compared with the environment we’re in now,” said Jeffrey Tucker, president and CEO of logistics firm Tucker Company Worldwide. Shippers ripped through trucking routing guides in January looking for space for freight. They found little relief on rails, as drayage truck capacity at either end of the tracks seemed to vanish, especially in Chicago, the largest US transportation hub. The impact of the capacity crunch rippled back to ports and ocean shipping lines, affecting plans for store-door deliveries. Tight capacity and high freight demand are propelling pricing for truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), drayage, and intermodal rail services skyward. Dry van truckload rates across the United States were up 17 to 25 percent on average in January, according to the Trans-Logistics Group North American Truckload Rate Index. “There is no place that rates are the same or lower than a year ago,” said Charles W. “Chuck” Clowdis Jr., founder and managing director of Trans-Logistics Group. The group’s analysis of contract and spot market prices in 14,700 unique origin-and-destination-point lanes shows a surge in medium-range hauls and rates, with lanes running 450 to 550 miles, Clowdis said. Networks out of kilter Some of that was caused by e-commerce, he suspects. But the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate, imposed on truck drivers Dec. 18, also is lengthening and shortening lanes and exacerbating shortages of trucks, equipment, and drivers, throwing shipping networks out of whack. One reason capacity is tight is because it is not where shippers expect. “This may well be one of the most unpredictable and quickly changing freight environments that many of us have ever experienced,” Douglas R. Waggoner, chairman and CEO of Echo Global Logistics, said last month. “January and February are traditionally the slowest months of the year, and right now the market is not as tight as [the fourth quarter], but it’s still tight.” “This was an entirely predictable surprise,” said Mike Regan, chief relationship officer at TranzAct Technologies and advocacy chair for the National Shippers Strategic Transportation Council. Shippers knew trucking conditions, especially a shortage of qualified drivers, would likely lead to a sharp contraction in capacity if the US economy expanded faster. Click to enlarge But many shippers, lulled perhaps by the failure of a driver or capacity crisis to materialize in 2015, and the steep drop in US surface transportation rates in 2016, did not expect the market to swing so suddenly. “The reality is it’s going to get a lot worse over the next couple of months,” Regan said. “People are worried about how they’re going to move freight in April and June.” Large retailers, he said, “to a person will tell you they’re not going to run out of trucks. They’re going to pay what they need to pay to get the trucks they need to move the freight they have. The question then becomes, if large shippers are willing to pay above-market rates to guarantee capacity, what does that say about what’s coming to the small to midsize shipper?” Higher costs are inevitable, Regan said, especially for those shippers who book freight on a mostly transactional, load-to-load basis, rewarding low bidders. “If you’re a great customer, a collaborative shipper, you might see an increase of 5 percent” in truckload rates, he said. “If you’re a transactional customer, you can expect your rates to rise 15 percent or more.” Another measure of truckload pricing, the Cass Truckload Linehaul Index, dropped from 134.5 in December to 133.5 in January, but was still up 6.5 percent year over year, compared with 6.2 percent in December. The Cass Intermodal Pricing Index hit an all-time high of 141.4 in January, a 5 percent year-over-year gain and a 5.3 percent increase from December. “In just the last seven months, our pricing forecast has increased from minus 1 to 2 percent, to 6 to 8 percent, and now we have reason to believe the risk to our estimate continues to be on the upside,” said Donald Broughton, managing partner at Broughton Capital and commentator for the Cass indices. “Contract pricing should keep rates in positive territory well into 2018.” In the fourth quarter, truckload rates paid by C.H. Robinson Worldwide, the largest US freight broker, rose 15 percent year over year. The logistics provider boosted its own truckload charges to shipper customers by 14.5 percent. “We continue to be active in repricing business where appropriate across all our modes and services,” CEO John Wiehoff said Jan. 31. ELD out-of-service enforcement nears Shippers are racing the clock to find ways to lock in capacity and restrain pricing before full-fledged out-of-service enforcement of the ELD mandate begins April 1. “I’m not waiting for trucking companies to come to me, I’m going to them,” said John Janson, global logistics director at SanMar, an Issaquah, Washington-based supplier of apparel and accessories. But their options are narrower than ever before. Domestic intermodal rail traffic began 2018 with a 7.4 percent year-over-year jump in January, according to the Intermodal Association of North America, compared with a 3.7 percent expansion in January 2017. Railcar provider TTX forecasts the number of 53-foot containers will rise 4.4 percent to 309,000 by year’s end. The ability to shift more freight off the highway to rail is limited by intermodal’s reliance on drayage — which faces the same capacity constraints as over-the-road trucking and the extra burden of chassis — and rail service reliability issues. “The trains are not running on time right now,” Ron Joseph, chief operating officer at Direct ChassisLink (DCLI), said in late February. “If you’ve got them running behind, it’s hard to make projections on when to move chassis in and have them ready,” Joseph said. “If we’re planning a train arriving at a certain time and it gets delayed for some reason, if they don’t tell us that, we can’t get the right amount of chassis to the right place at the right time.” That is the US capacity problem in an intermodal nutshell. Shippers told The Journal of Commercevariable service makes it tough to shift freight off-highway to intermodal containers, especially when they face increasingly stringent delivery requirements from retail customers. “Truck plus one is fine, but when you don’t know if it’s going to be plus one or plus three, that volatility kills us,” said a shipper who requested anonymity. Click to enlarge “Shippers have two challenges: rate increases and more and more demanding delivery times,” said Ben Cubitt, senior vice president of engineering and procurement at third-party logistics (3PL) company Transplace. “They need highly capable service-oriented carriers, so they can’t offset the prices. There’s lots of discussion about how to lock in capacity, but still no resolution.” In February, some shippers said it took days to get containers out of Chicago railyards. Other midwestern markets were disrupted. DCLI shifted chassis from the East Coast to several Midwest locations in reaction to the disruption, reallocating 450 chassis from the South Atlantic and Northeast by late February, with plans to move about 1,600 chassis to the Midwest. “We continue to work with our supply chain partners to manage traffic flows and alleviate the delays,” Canadian National Railway said in a statement. “We are working to secure more driver power in the Chicago area to increase terminal fluidity, and have encouraged carters to schedule appointments at off hours such as nights and weekends,” the railroad told customers. Drivers contemplate shift Just as shippers look to expand use of intermodal rail, more drayage drivers are thinking of moving to over-the-road trucking. “I would say 50 percent of the drivers or more are considering flipping [to over-the-road] to avoid the ramps,” Susan Keldani, vice president of On Track Transportation in Illinois, told The Journal of Commerce. “Owner-operators just get fed up.” Among several factors influencing the capacity crunch, two identifiable causes stand out: the US economy and a resurgent driver shortage. “The ELD is easy to blame for all of our sins, but the root problem is not recruiting, training, and paying drivers enough,” Clowdis said. If real GDP was still growing at 2016 rates, the ELD’s arrival might have gone unnoticed. But with the slack gone from the US economy, which expanded between 2.6 and 3.2 percent over the last three quarters and is expected to continue growing at a faster pace this year, the ELD mandate adds a new layer of complexity to the transportation capacity issue. The mandate’s add-on impact may be enough to keep capacity tight when freight demand ebbs. For one, the effect of the mandate is very broad. The mandate covers more than 3 million commercial truck drivers who kept (or keep) paper logs to track their working hours. The introduction of the mandate is arguably the biggest regulatory change for US truckers since the introduction of the commercial drivers license and mandatory random drug testing in the 1980s. The main obstacle to hiring more truck drivers is money. Plenty of factors feed the driver shortage, from the demographics of an aging workforce to a tightening regulatory net, led by the ELD mandate. But pay is the axle on which all those factors turn. For proof, just look at the current wave of truckload driver pay and benefit increases and bonuses. “The driver market is really in flux,” said Lana Batts, co-president of Driver iQ, a driver screening and monitoring service. “Motor carriers are trying a lot of different things to recruit drivers. They’re all adding pay. About 50 percent are doing sign-on bonuses. I think, basically, motor carriers are optimistic they can find drivers. I don’t think they’re optimistic they can keep them.” Time, not trucks, trailers, chassis or containers, terminal doors or drivers, may be the determining factor in capacity. The biggest impact on capacity from the ELD mandate is loss of time for those drivers still behind the wheel. Less time means fewer weekly turns, which means more trucks and drivers are needed simply to haul the same number of shipments. Ken Spicer, director of transportation and carrier management at chemicals distributor Univar, saw three small motor carriers shut down in December. “It’s a shame these carriers came to us too late in the game,” Spicer said in an interview available on TranzAct Technologies’ Market Storm Center website. “We could have paved the way for them to run our dedicated lanes.” “Before the ELD mandate took effect, I thought the primary impact would be carriers leaving the marketplace,” Regan said. “That’s still a legitimate concern. But the real impact is how the ELD mandate is changing lanes and equipment utilization. We had several lanes that were one-day lanes before Dec. 18 that now are two-day lanes because carriers won’t risk log violations.” In a detailed analysis of the impact of the ELD mandate on shipping lanes, Zipline Logistics found transit times creeping up. “We’ve been able to identify the subset of lanes that will be most drastically affected,” Zipline president Andrew Lynch said, “anything between 450 and 550 miles,” the same length of haul highlighted by Clowdis’s Trans-Logistics Group. On those lanes, transit times on average rose from 1.05 transit days before Dec. 18, when the ELD mandate took effect, to 1.22 transit days after the mandate, a 16.2 percent increase. That accounts to about four additional hours of transit time, on average, enough to turn a seven-hour haul into an 11-hour trip, pushing drivers to the limit of their daily legal driving time. Tripping the time limits Truckers would likely clock out beyond the legal limit when any delays or unexpected stops come into play. That’s enough to turn a same-day trip into a next-day delivery. “That’s a pretty big impact,” Lynch said. “The cost to run the truck hasn’t changed, so these guys are just losing time.” That additional time alone translates to a 4 percent increase in freight costs, he said. That is real money to SanMar’s Janson. “We didn’t expect as big of an impact [from the ELD mandate] on five- to six-hour runs,” he said. “We would have expected it on longer hauls, but these shorter runs are well within the legal limits and have always been acceptable. Now they’re getting turned down.” When he asked truck drivers why, the answer surprised him. Although the five- to six-hour length of haul was well within the 11-hour daily driving limit, extra hours were easily racked up because of unexpected delays at pickup and delivery points and because of congestion, especially on multistop routes, Janson said. That meant drivers often found themselves short of the time needed to deliver goods and find backhauls. “In the past, I think they pushed the envelope, or maybe they fudged their logs a little bit to get home. Now they can’t do that,” Janson said. Now SanMar is looking for niche carriers that need freight “that balances their network,” he said. The apparel shipper found one such carrier that needed freight between Southern California and Phoenix, for example, and signed it up. Click to enlarge SanMar also dropped its former 3PL. “We kept getting calls from our 3PL that drivers were running out of hours. That caught the 3PL off guard. We believe the asset-based carriers provide better control over the situation,” Janson said. And SanMar is considering a modal shift as it tries to meet delivery deadlines. “Our LTL business is seeing some growth,” he said. From Zipline to Transplace to TranzAct, companies arranging shipments and processing payments for shippers can provide dozens of similar examples of supply chains thrown off-kilter by the sudden dislocation of resources. It is the shipping lines’ container matchback problem writ large and across modes throughout the inland supply chain and domestic transportation. For some shippers, “it’s getting harder to move loads over the weekend,” Cubitt said. “Carriers are putting embargoes on certain destinations based on time constraints.” They are also taking a page from the books of the parcel carriers, FedEx and UPS, and adding more accessorial surcharges and fees to recover rising costs that often are not covered by rates alone. Reports are rife that surface transportation providers, over-the-road and intermodal, are reaching into their rules tariffs for little-used accessorial charges, such as congestion fees levied in certain markets, and also refusing new business as peak-level demand in January and February limited their ability to reposition tractor-trailers and containers to meet requests. For example, intermodal marketing company Hub Group told The Journal of Commerce it charges certain customers fees that might total hundreds of dollars to move freight not covered by contracts in certain highly congested markets, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas, and Atlanta. The charges are dynamic and depend on the cost of getting equipment. Changing behavior “There are going to be times in which we will have to do unique things to provide capacity that comes with an additional cost, especially with surge capacity like the market we’re seeing today,” said Brian Meents, Hub Group senior vice president of enterprise customer solutions. The issue is being able to allocate drivers and equipment. “I personally see a shift away from using assessorials to cover your costs, to trying to drive a change in the behavior of the shipper,” said Brian Broadhurst, vice president of transportation solutions at consulting firm Spend Management Experts. Broadhurst and others see that accessorial trend starting in the parcel business and extending to LTL and truckload. Increasingly, truckers simply refuse loads. “There’s been a real drop in shipment tender acceptance,” Cubitt said. “Everything has changed in this market. Last year, if your primary carrier didn’t take a load, you could get a secondary carrier quickly. This year, you go to that secondary, and then a third carrier. On some lanes you can go to 50 carriers and not get a yes.” The tightness that gripped US supply chains in January eased somewhat in February, but “peak-like” conditions persisted in many markets during what is usually the slowest month of the year. With spring imports moving inland, the produce season on the horizon, and the April 1 deadline for full ELD enforcement coming fast, shippers are bracing for more disruption. “People are in panic mode,” Clowdis said. With more than 50 years of experience in trucking, Clowdis has seen tight markets before as economic cycles come and go, but this capacity crunch is “unprecedented,” he said. Surviving it will require long-term thinking and lasting changes from shippers as well as their transportation and logistics partners. “I’ve had a shipper tell me he’s considering creating a 160-truck private fleet to ensure he has capacity when he needs it,” Clowdis said. “I asked him, ‘Where will you get the drivers?’ He didn’t know. I asked him why he didn’t go to a dedicated operation. ‘It costs too much,’ he said. You’ll have to ask what’s really going to cost ‘too much’ if you want to keep freight moving.” “We’re no longer going to be able to push the easy button,” Janson said. He said shippers need to look at transportation less from a one-way perspective and think more holistically. “You need to look at the complete network now,” including how the shipper’s freight plans overlay and match up with truckers’ transportation network and needs. “If our business is meaningful to the carrier, that makes a difference,” he said. “A strong relationship means a lot. We have to ask, does our freight balance their network” in terms of backhauls and the forward positioning of equipment, Janson said. “It’s more than just trucking behavior that is changing,” he said. “This situation is changing a lot of things.” Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @wbcassidy_joc .Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @ariashe_joc.

Logistics Technology News

Trucking News

US shippers face unprecedented truck, intermodal cost hikes

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The uptick in rates comes despite a 9% surge in deployed capacity on regional services since February, according to figures from British transport consultant MDS Transmodal. </div>

The uptick in rates comes despite a 9% surge in deployed capacity on regional services since February, according to figures from British transport consultant MDS Transmodal.

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<div class="phx-topic">Strong cargo demand from China to Southeast Asia and longer-haul intra-Asia markets propelled intra-Asia freight rates higher in June despite a surge of new shipping capacity entering the market, logistics and shipping executives say, with some expecting the buoyant conditions to continue in the second half of the year. “Depending on the carrier, rates are around $650 to $700 per TEU from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City and $800 to $900 per TEU from Shanghai to Bangkok,” a senior executive at a Hong Kong-based forwarder told the Journal of Commerce. The rates for China to Southeast Asia are generally the highest since Christmas and the pre-Lunar New Year period when they were $1,000 to $1,100 per TEU to Bangkok, according to the source. “They’ve been trending higher since the end of May/early June on increased demand possibly due to the US tariff [pause] window or higher regional growth,” the executive said. “We don’t really see any slowdown in demand.” Cliff Xu, Greater China CEO for Rhenus Air &amp; Ocean, said there is a “strong market” for China cargo outbound to Southeast Asia. “This could partially be due to stable growth in the Southeast Asian economies especially with Chinese companies’ growing investment or business expansion in the region,” he said. “Orders received from businesses within the intra-Southeast Asia market are also showing very positive growth.” Xu said the strong cargo demand seen in the first half would continue for the rest of the year. <h3>Boost in deployed capacity </h3>Peter Sand, chief analyst at online benchmarking platform Xeneta, said cargo demand in the intra-Asia region grew 6.6% in the first four months of this year. Exports from China to other Far East countries climbed 15% year over year between January and April, he added, quoting the latest Chinese government figures available. FIBS Logistics was more cautious, indicating China’s long Oct. 1 National Day holidays, which start at the end of September, could impact the trade environment. “The market development/picture for this year’s Chinese National Holiday is unclear,” a FIBS spokesperson said. “We might need to review the outlook again at the end of August, although the impact of the peak season on the intra-Asia trade is later than for long-haul because intra-Asia transit times are relatively short.” Rates on longer-haul intra-Asia routes to India have also climbed to their highest level in about six months, with rates from China to Nhava Sheva near $2,600/FEU, the highest since mid-January, according to Xeneta data. Rates from China to Dubai are up 35% since January to $3,000/FEU, although Sand attributed the increase to the military conflict in the Middle East, where operational costs, including higher fuel prices and security measures, have risen on concerns of increased risks to shipping. The uptick in rates comes despite a 9% surge in deployed capacity on regional services since February, according to figures specially prepared for the Journal of Commerce by British transport consultant MDS Transmodal. Data shows capacity increased from almost 4.3 million TEUs per month in February to nearly 4.7 million TEUs in June. The figures are likely higher because they don’t include capacity increases on mainline services to Europe or the Mediterranean, which include calls at ports in Asia. Carriers that saw the biggest increase in capacity deployment include Mediterranean Shipping Co., which deployed an extra 10% of capacity, or nearly 52,000 TEUs, to the intra-Asia trade between the first and second quarters. CMA CGM, Taiwan’s Wan Hai Lines and South Korea’s Sinokor Merchant Marine also boosted capacity, according to MDS figures. <h3>Equipment challenges in key ports </h3>That comes as shippers are facing equipment challenges in key export ports. FIBS Logistics said Monday all mainline carriers including Hapag-Lloyd, Evergreen Marine, CMA CGM and Cosco Shipping Lines are facing tight supply or shortages of equipment in Ho Chi Minh City and Haiphong, while CMA CGM is facing a tight supply of containers at Shanghai, Ningbo and Shenzhen and Taiwanese ports including Kaohsiung. Other carriers such as Hapag-Lloyd, Evergreen and HMM are experiencing equipment issues at other ports including Shanghai and Ningbo, according to FIBS. “Overall, space for intra-Asia remains tight and overbooked,” the FIBS Logistics spokesperson told the Journal of Commerce. Rhenus’ Xu said although the availability of equipment has generally improved year over year as carriers took delivery of new boxes, “ships exiting China may face tight supply of equipment in the short term before the long holidays in September.” Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>. </div>

Strong cargo demand from China to Southeast Asia and longer-haul intra-Asia markets propelled intra-Asia freight rates higher in June despite a surge of new shipping capacity entering the market, logistics and shipping executives say, with some expecting the buoyant conditions to continue in the second half of the year. “Depending on the carrier, rates are around $650 to $700 per TEU from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City and $800 to $900 per TEU from Shanghai to Bangkok,” a senior executive at a Hong Kong-based forwarder told the Journal of Commerce. The rates for China to Southeast Asia are generally the highest since Christmas and the pre-Lunar New Year period when they were $1,000 to $1,100 per TEU to Bangkok, according to the source. “They’ve been trending higher since the end of May/early June on increased demand possibly due to the US tariff [pause] window or higher regional growth,” the executive said. “We don’t really see any slowdown in demand.” Cliff Xu, Greater China CEO for Rhenus Air & Ocean, said there is a “strong market” for China cargo outbound to Southeast Asia. “This could partially be due to stable growth in the Southeast Asian economies especially with Chinese companies’ growing investment or business expansion in the region,” he said. “Orders received from businesses within the intra-Southeast Asia market are also showing very positive growth.” Xu said the strong cargo demand seen in the first half would continue for the rest of the year. Boost in deployed capacity Peter Sand, chief analyst at online benchmarking platform Xeneta, said cargo demand in the intra-Asia region grew 6.6% in the first four months of this year. Exports from China to other Far East countries climbed 15% year over year between January and April, he added, quoting the latest Chinese government figures available. FIBS Logistics was more cautious, indicating China’s long Oct. 1 National Day holidays, which start at the end of September, could impact the trade environment. “The market development/picture for this year’s Chinese National Holiday is unclear,” a FIBS spokesperson said. “We might need to review the outlook again at the end of August, although the impact of the peak season on the intra-Asia trade is later than for long-haul because intra-Asia transit times are relatively short.” Rates on longer-haul intra-Asia routes to India have also climbed to their highest level in about six months, with rates from China to Nhava Sheva near $2,600/FEU, the highest since mid-January, according to Xeneta data. Rates from China to Dubai are up 35% since January to $3,000/FEU, although Sand attributed the increase to the military conflict in the Middle East, where operational costs, including higher fuel prices and security measures, have risen on concerns of increased risks to shipping. The uptick in rates comes despite a 9% surge in deployed capacity on regional services since February, according to figures specially prepared for the Journal of Commerce by British transport consultant MDS Transmodal. Data shows capacity increased from almost 4.3 million TEUs per month in February to nearly 4.7 million TEUs in June. The figures are likely higher because they don’t include capacity increases on mainline services to Europe or the Mediterranean, which include calls at ports in Asia. Carriers that saw the biggest increase in capacity deployment include Mediterranean Shipping Co., which deployed an extra 10% of capacity, or nearly 52,000 TEUs, to the intra-Asia trade between the first and second quarters. CMA CGM, Taiwan’s Wan Hai Lines and South Korea’s Sinokor Merchant Marine also boosted capacity, according to MDS figures. Equipment challenges in key ports That comes as shippers are facing equipment challenges in key export ports. FIBS Logistics said Monday all mainline carriers including Hapag-Lloyd, Evergreen Marine, CMA CGM and Cosco Shipping Lines are facing tight supply or shortages of equipment in Ho Chi Minh City and Haiphong, while CMA CGM is facing a tight supply of containers at Shanghai, Ningbo and Shenzhen and Taiwanese ports including Kaohsiung. Other carriers such as Hapag-Lloyd, Evergreen and HMM are experiencing equipment issues at other ports including Shanghai and Ningbo, according to FIBS. “Overall, space for intra-Asia remains tight and overbooked,” the FIBS Logistics spokesperson told the Journal of Commerce. Rhenus’ Xu said although the availability of equipment has generally improved year over year as carriers took delivery of new boxes, “ships exiting China may face tight supply of equipment in the short term before the long holidays in September.” Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Maritime

Container Shipping News

Container lines

Strong China demand buoys intra-Asia rates despite capacity surge

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Loup Logistics provides direct access to nearly 80,000 rail-owned containers across North America, significantly expanding UP’s transloading options.</div>

Loup Logistics provides direct access to nearly 80,000 rail-owned containers across North America, significantly expanding UP’s transloading options.

<div class="phx-topic">A subsidiary of Union Pacific Railroad has launched a new transloading service that will transfer imports into rail-owned 53-foot containers for inland hauls, presenting new competition to rival BNSF Railway. Loup Logistics said Tuesday the “port-to-door” service will be available at any US port. Union Pacific currently relies on partners such as Hub Group, Schneider National and STG Logistics, among others, for transloaded freight. But Loup provides direct access to nearly 80,000 rail-owned containers across North America, significantly expanding UP’s transloading options. Formed in 2017, Loup works with non-asset intermodal marketing companies (IMCs) to provide a door-to-door domestic intermodal product. Loup’s service removes the burden of securing drayage and chassis, making it an appealing option for IMCs seeking turnkey solutions for their shippers. It remains unclear whether Loup will market the new transloading service directly to importers or continue partnering with IMCs to expand relationships with their customers. Logistics powerhouse J.B. Hunt Transport Services, a partner of BNSF, has aggressively expanded its <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/tpm23-intermodal-providers-banking-on-transloading-surge-5217461">transloading operations</a> in Los Angeles and the Seattle-Tacoma area in recent years. J.B. Hunt will also be a key partner in transloading through <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/tpm25-bnsf-believes-barstow-hub-can-improve-service-to-smaller-markets-5955620">BNSF’s Barstow International Gateway</a>, which is due to open in 2027. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

A subsidiary of Union Pacific Railroad has launched a new transloading service that will transfer imports into rail-owned 53-foot containers for inland hauls, presenting new competition to rival BNSF Railway. Loup Logistics said Tuesday the “port-to-door” service will be available at any US port. Union Pacific currently relies on partners such as Hub Group, Schneider National and STG Logistics, among others, for transloaded freight. But Loup provides direct access to nearly 80,000 rail-owned containers across North America, significantly expanding UP’s transloading options. Formed in 2017, Loup works with non-asset intermodal marketing companies (IMCs) to provide a door-to-door domestic intermodal product. Loup’s service removes the burden of securing drayage and chassis, making it an appealing option for IMCs seeking turnkey solutions for their shippers. It remains unclear whether Loup will market the new transloading service directly to importers or continue partnering with IMCs to expand relationships with their customers. Logistics powerhouse J.B. Hunt Transport Services, a partner of BNSF, has aggressively expanded its transloading operations in Los Angeles and the Seattle-Tacoma area in recent years. J.B. Hunt will also be a key partner in transloading through BNSF’s Barstow International Gateway , which is due to open in 2027. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

Surface

Rail News

North-American rail

Intermodal providers

Union Pacific subsidiary jumps into transloading with ‘port-to-door' service

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Easing freight rates and demand suggest a “wait-and-see” approach by US importers as the July 9 end of the temporary reprieve on so-called “reciprocal” tariffs nears.</div>

Easing freight rates and demand suggest a “wait-and-see” approach by US importers as the July 9 end of the temporary reprieve on so-called “reciprocal” tariffs nears.

<div class="phx-topic">Ocean carriers are keeping trans-Atlantic capacity at high levels ahead of next week’s expiration of President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. Easing freight rates and demand, meanwhile, suggest a “wait-and-see” approach by US importers. The pause ends on July 9 as trade negotiations continue between the US and the European Union. Market expectations are for the 10% across-the-board tariffs on all US trading partners to be applied to the EU and be accompanied by some level of tariffs on automobiles, steel and aluminum. Trump has also suggested he could extend the pause on reciprocal tariffs while talks continue. With no certainty over the outcome of the trade talks, carriers are keeping capacity available to handle any increase in shipments once there is greater clarity around tariff levels. Data from ocean visibility provider eeSea shows that carriers will deploy 344,811 TEUs of capacity in July on the westbound trans-Atlantic, the highest in the past 12 months, then easing slightly to 327,226 TEUs in August. Just 24,840 TEUs will be blanked in July, while no blank sailings have yet been announced for August. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="739d3923-220d-4e28-bddd-a3113b21dddf"></dynamic-object></div>Meanwhile, Peter Sand, chief analyst at rate benchmarking platform Xeneta, said the decline in short-term rates slowed in May and June after they fell 21.6% in the first quarter. The North Europe-North America rate is now down 37% compared with the beginning of the year, at $1,206 per FEU, according to Xeneta. “It comes on the back of falling demand in January to April, down from last year by 0.5%, with deployed capacity on this trade growing from 75,000 TEUs per week in mid-February to 89,000 TEUs per week now,” Sand told the Journal of Commerce. “Looking into the early days of July, we anticipate a slide in rates to the extent of $40 to $50 per FEU,” he added. “At the same time, carriers have announced that capacity could increase to as much as 95,000 to 97,000 TEUs/week in July and August.” The spot market assessed by Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global, show that rates from North Europe to the East Coast of North America have remained at $1,700 per FEU since May 16. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="588a0a38-fc1c-473a-a9b5-5d71ec3b54dc"></dynamic-object></div>Casper Ellerbaek, global head of ocean freight at DHL Global Forwarding, said “some degree” of frontloading could be seen on westbound trans-Atlantic routes in some sectors, but noted that with the uncertainty surrounding the trade lane, it was hardly conclusive. “This does not warrant drawing any conclusions or making assessments about the general development of demand,” Ellerbaek told the Journal of Commerce. Imports from North Europe to the US came in at 196,580 TEUs in May, down from the peak so far this year of 212,730 TEUs in March, according to PIERS, also part of S&amp;P Global. US imports from the Mediterranean hit a 2025 high in April of 170,360 TEUs, but PIERS data for May shows a 19% drop in volume to 137,710 TEUs. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Ocean carriers are keeping trans-Atlantic capacity at high levels ahead of next week’s expiration of President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. Easing freight rates and demand, meanwhile, suggest a “wait-and-see” approach by US importers. The pause ends on July 9 as trade negotiations continue between the US and the European Union. Market expectations are for the 10% across-the-board tariffs on all US trading partners to be applied to the EU and be accompanied by some level of tariffs on automobiles, steel and aluminum. Trump has also suggested he could extend the pause on reciprocal tariffs while talks continue. With no certainty over the outcome of the trade talks, carriers are keeping capacity available to handle any increase in shipments once there is greater clarity around tariff levels. Data from ocean visibility provider eeSea shows that carriers will deploy 344,811 TEUs of capacity in July on the westbound trans-Atlantic, the highest in the past 12 months, then easing slightly to 327,226 TEUs in August. Just 24,840 TEUs will be blanked in July, while no blank sailings have yet been announced for August. Meanwhile, Peter Sand, chief analyst at rate benchmarking platform Xeneta, said the decline in short-term rates slowed in May and June after they fell 21.6% in the first quarter. The North Europe-North America rate is now down 37% compared with the beginning of the year, at $1,206 per FEU, according to Xeneta. “It comes on the back of falling demand in January to April, down from last year by 0.5%, with deployed capacity on this trade growing from 75,000 TEUs per week in mid-February to 89,000 TEUs per week now,” Sand told the Journal of Commerce. “Looking into the early days of July, we anticipate a slide in rates to the extent of $40 to $50 per FEU,” he added. “At the same time, carriers have announced that capacity could increase to as much as 95,000 to 97,000 TEUs/week in July and August.” The spot market assessed by Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, show that rates from North Europe to the East Coast of North America have remained at $1,700 per FEU since May 16. Casper Ellerbaek, global head of ocean freight at DHL Global Forwarding, said “some degree” of frontloading could be seen on westbound trans-Atlantic routes in some sectors, but noted that with the uncertainty surrounding the trade lane, it was hardly conclusive. “This does not warrant drawing any conclusions or making assessments about the general development of demand,” Ellerbaek told the Journal of Commerce. Imports from North Europe to the US came in at 196,580 TEUs in May, down from the peak so far this year of 212,730 TEUs in March, according to PIERS, also part of S&P Global. US imports from the Mediterranean hit a 2025 high in April of 170,360 TEUs, but PIERS data for May shows a 19% drop in volume to 137,710 TEUs. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Trans-Atlantic

Trans-Atlantic ocean trade readies for end to 90-day pause on US tariffs

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The procedural reauthorization bill would provide funding for the agency for the next three fiscal years and add more outside expertise on ports and ocean carriers.</div>

The procedural reauthorization bill would provide funding for the agency for the next three fiscal years and add more outside expertise on ports and ocean carriers.

<div class="phx-topic">A bill reauthorizing the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) for another three years has been introduced in the House of Representatives, with the proposed legislation also adding more outside expertise to the agency for help on ocean carriers and ports and allowing for a complaint process covering freight indices. Representatives John Garamendi (D-Calif.), along with Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Mike Ezell (R-Miss.) and Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), introduced the bill last week to reauthorize the FMC through 2029, Garamendi’s office said in a statement Monday. The bill, which includes funding for the agency, aims to build on Garamendi and Johnson’s work on the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA-22), the statement said. “Ocean shipping is a critical aspect of America’s national, food and economic security,” Johnson said in the statement. That’s why our Federal Maritime Commission must be equipped with the proper tools to keep the industry operating above bar.” The reauthorization bill, which is a standard procedure for many federal agencies, outlines funding for the FMC through the next three fiscal years. The FMC’s budget will increase from $49.2 million in 2026 to $57 million in 2029, representing an average 5% annual increase over that time. Along with the funding, the bill includes <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-house-bills-keep-shipping-reform-effort-alive-even-after-freight-rate-plunge-5241752">tweaks to OSRA-22 that Garamendi and Johnson had been pushing for</a>. The reauthorization bill proposes the creation of a 13-member national port advisory committee. The committee would be comprised of five members from marine terminal operators, five from port authorities and three members of the longshore workforce. It also includes a new ocean carrier advisory committee with six members from ocean carriers and three from ocean forwarders or non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs). The bill also includes new regulations for freight index providers such as the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. OSRA-22 required that within three years of its passage, shipping exchanges be registered with the FMC and that their underlying rules and regulations for any service contracts using their indices be published. The new bill would also allow the FMC to investigate any complaints about “alleged incidents of market manipulation or other anticompetitive practices” by shipping exchanges. The legislation also extends the deadline for shipping exchanges to register with the FMC until two years after the reauthorization’s passage. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

A bill reauthorizing the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) for another three years has been introduced in the House of Representatives, with the proposed legislation also adding more outside expertise to the agency for help on ocean carriers and ports and allowing for a complaint process covering freight indices. Representatives John Garamendi (D-Calif.), along with Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Mike Ezell (R-Miss.) and Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), introduced the bill last week to reauthorize the FMC through 2029, Garamendi’s office said in a statement Monday. The bill, which includes funding for the agency, aims to build on Garamendi and Johnson’s work on the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA-22), the statement said. “Ocean shipping is a critical aspect of America’s national, food and economic security,” Johnson said in the statement. That’s why our Federal Maritime Commission must be equipped with the proper tools to keep the industry operating above bar.” The reauthorization bill, which is a standard procedure for many federal agencies, outlines funding for the FMC through the next three fiscal years. The FMC’s budget will increase from $49.2 million in 2026 to $57 million in 2029, representing an average 5% annual increase over that time. Along with the funding, the bill includes tweaks to OSRA-22 that Garamendi and Johnson had been pushing for . The reauthorization bill proposes the creation of a 13-member national port advisory committee. The committee would be comprised of five members from marine terminal operators, five from port authorities and three members of the longshore workforce. It also includes a new ocean carrier advisory committee with six members from ocean carriers and three from ocean forwarders or non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs). The bill also includes new regulations for freight index providers such as the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. OSRA-22 required that within three years of its passage, shipping exchanges be registered with the FMC and that their underlying rules and regulations for any service contracts using their indices be published. The new bill would also allow the FMC to investigate any complaints about “alleged incidents of market manipulation or other anticompetitive practices” by shipping exchanges. The legislation also extends the deadline for shipping exchanges to register with the FMC until two years after the reauthorization’s passage. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

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Congress seeks reauthorization of FMC through 2029

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Although spot rates from Asia to the US are dropping due to waning demand and overcapacity, the carrier is zeroing in on the e-commerce sector with its expedited transit times and the quick delivery of containers upon discharge from vessels. </div>

Although spot rates from Asia to the US are dropping due to waning demand and overcapacity, the carrier is zeroing in on the e-commerce sector with its expedited transit times and the quick delivery of containers upon discharge from vessels.

<div class="phx-topic">Hede Shipping in mid-July will launch its third expedited service from China to Los Angeles as the niche carrier seeks to expand its share of the trans-Pacific e-commerce market. Although spot rates from Asia to the US <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/trans-pacific-sailing-into-slowdown-asia-europe-outlook-brightens-analysts-6031694">continue to drop due to waning demand and overcapacity in the overall market</a>, China-based Hede is zeroing in on the e-commerce sector with its expedited transit times and the quick delivery of containers upon discharge from vessels. “The e-commerce market is already there. It’s here to stay,” Roger Zhang, COO of Duke Shipping, the exclusive agent for Hede’s trans-Pacific services, told the Journal of Commerce Monday. Still, the new service that launches July 16 comes as e-commerce volumes, more typically the domain of the air cargo market, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/signs-of-air-cargo-recovery-on-the-trans-pacific-as-freighter-aircraft-return-6019701">are under pressure in the trans-Pacific</a>. The US on May 2 eliminated the duty-free exemption for low-value shipments from China valued at under $800. Less than two weeks later, the US reduced the so-called de minimis tariff on low-value imports from 120% to 54%. Items sent via post from China to the US will be charged a flat fee of $100, regardless of value. In 2024, e-commerce shipments accounted for about 50% of China-to-US air freight volume, according to rate benchmarking platform Xeneta. Since the duty-free status of low-value Chinese imports was revoked in May, the volume has declined. Hede’s new service initially will be biweekly, with a 14-day transit time from Nansha in South China to Los Angeles. Last year, Hede phased in two weekly services from Shanghai to Los Angeles covering northern and eastern China, Zhang said. The average transit time from China to Southern California for nonexpedited services ranges from 15 to 18 days. Average transit times from Shanghai to Los Angeles in May were 18 days, according to the latest data available from InforNexus. Hede’s new Nansha service will begin with three container ships ranging in size from 3,000 to 4,000 TEUs. Vessels operated by the alliance carriers are generally 10,000-TEU capacity or higher. At present, securing additional vessels is difficult, Zhang said. “The charter market is so hot,” he said. Hede competes in the expedited service space with Zim Integrated Shipping Services and CMA CGM. UWL offers an expedited service from Southeast Asia to Seattle. <h3>Expedited container handling landside in Los Angeles </h3>As with its first two trans-Pacific services, vessels will call at the West Basin Container Terminal (WBCT) in Los Angeles. Hede offers a wheeled operation at WBCT and a dedicated chassis pool. “Expedited containers are ready for pickup within 24 hours after discharge, offering a fast logistics solution for time-sensitive cargo,” Zhang said. The spot rate from Shanghai to Los Angeles as of last Thursday was $3,741 per FEU, down 27% week over week and 36% from June 5, according to Drewry. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at <a href="mailto:bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com">bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Hede Shipping in mid-July will launch its third expedited service from China to Los Angeles as the niche carrier seeks to expand its share of the trans-Pacific e-commerce market. Although spot rates from Asia to the US continue to drop due to waning demand and overcapacity in the overall market , China-based Hede is zeroing in on the e-commerce sector with its expedited transit times and the quick delivery of containers upon discharge from vessels. “The e-commerce market is already there. It’s here to stay,” Roger Zhang, COO of Duke Shipping, the exclusive agent for Hede’s trans-Pacific services, told the Journal of Commerce Monday. Still, the new service that launches July 16 comes as e-commerce volumes, more typically the domain of the air cargo market, are under pressure in the trans-Pacific . The US on May 2 eliminated the duty-free exemption for low-value shipments from China valued at under $800. Less than two weeks later, the US reduced the so-called de minimis tariff on low-value imports from 120% to 54%. Items sent via post from China to the US will be charged a flat fee of $100, regardless of value. In 2024, e-commerce shipments accounted for about 50% of China-to-US air freight volume, according to rate benchmarking platform Xeneta. Since the duty-free status of low-value Chinese imports was revoked in May, the volume has declined. Hede’s new service initially will be biweekly, with a 14-day transit time from Nansha in South China to Los Angeles. Last year, Hede phased in two weekly services from Shanghai to Los Angeles covering northern and eastern China, Zhang said. The average transit time from China to Southern California for nonexpedited services ranges from 15 to 18 days. Average transit times from Shanghai to Los Angeles in May were 18 days, according to the latest data available from InforNexus. Hede’s new Nansha service will begin with three container ships ranging in size from 3,000 to 4,000 TEUs. Vessels operated by the alliance carriers are generally 10,000-TEU capacity or higher. At present, securing additional vessels is difficult, Zhang said. “The charter market is so hot,” he said. Hede competes in the expedited service space with Zim Integrated Shipping Services and CMA CGM. UWL offers an expedited service from Southeast Asia to Seattle. Expedited container handling landside in Los Angeles As with its first two trans-Pacific services, vessels will call at the West Basin Container Terminal (WBCT) in Los Angeles. Hede offers a wheeled operation at WBCT and a dedicated chassis pool. “Expedited containers are ready for pickup within 24 hours after discharge, offering a fast logistics solution for time-sensitive cargo,” Zhang said. The spot rate from Shanghai to Los Angeles as of last Thursday was $3,741 per FEU, down 27% week over week and 36% from June 5, according to Drewry. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com .

Trans-Pacific

Hede Shipping to launch third expedited service from China to Los Angeles

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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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