Strong market demand, tightening capacity, higher pricing, and data-driven technology are combining to give third-party logistics providers a bright outlook. The gross revenue of 3PLs in the US grew 10 percent in 2017 from the prior year in its four largest segments — domestic transportation management, international transportation management, value-added warehousing and distribution, and dedicated contract carriage, according to Armstrong & Associates — and is on track to grow another 8.4 percent this year, to $199.7 billion. Driving the growth are higher rates in the domestic truckload sector, as the strengthening US economy increases transportation demand, putting pressure on capacity already feeling the strains of this year’s electronic logging mandate. Importers, meanwhile, continue to race the clock on hundreds of billions of dollars in US tariffs, the latest of which will take effect on Jan. 1. That’s creating an extended container shipping peak season that likely will keep the pressure on supply chains well into 2019.

This webcast will analyze the state of logistics as 2018 winds down, examine the outlook in the year ahead, and discuss how shippers should prepare.

Moderator

Chris Brooks, Executive Editor, JOC Events, Maritime & Trade, IHS Markit

Speakers

Gabe Koch, Director, AlixPartners

Brian Nemeth, Director, AlixPartners

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Interested in sponsoring this webcast? For more information, please contact Tony Stein at Tony.Stein@ihsmarkit.com

The rush by container lines to economies of scale is proving something of a double-edged sword for levels of global port and berth productivity. The increasing scale of vessels and rising concentration of alliance volumes clearly creates considerable challenges for port operations, but it also forces key container shipping stakeholders focus more intently on meaningful projects to improve collaboration and leverage maturing technologies for improved operational efficiency. Port productivity data from the JOC and parent company IHS Markit reveal that more than a quarter of total global container moves now involve vessels capable of carrying more than 10,000 TEU. The average number of container moves per port call is now well more than 1,000 globally, and many ports must deal regularly with double-digit percentage increases in the average number of boxes exchanged during calls.

This webcast will leverage the world's largest active port productivity database to deliver unique insights into developments on global, regional, and national levels. It will include discussion and analysis of the most important productivity improvement projects underway globally, how challenges are being overcome, and the opportunities arising to add value through cutting waste and improving efficiency in port operations.

Moderator

Chris Brooks, Executive Editor, JOC Events, Maritime & Trade, IHS Markit

Speaker(s)

Turloch Mooney, Senior Editor, Global Ports, JOC, Maritime & Trade, IHS Markit

Mikael Lind, Associate Professor and Research Manager, Sustainable Transports, Research Institutes of Sweden

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Interested in sponsoring this webcast? For more information, please contact Tony Stein at Tony.Stein@ihsmarkit.com

As the globalization of world trade accelerates, achieving operational speed without sacrificing accuracy is paramount to the success of all stakeholders in the international trading system. For shippers, terminal operators, and ocean carriers alike, anticipating the exact time of arrival of each freight shipment, as well as the moment when it will be available for each subsequent link in the supply chain, remains a vital issue. Sharing timely operational information about each shipment among all parties can shed a great deal of light on the “dark spots” along the supply chain that make it so difficult to achieve this critical visibility.

In a 2018 survey of approximately 250 shipping industry executives and professionals conducted by JOC.com/IHS Markit, Navis, and XVELA, more than half of all respondents anticipated that their performance metrics would improve by at least 50 percent if they could access such real-time operational information. However, 56 percent surveyed see the lack of industry data standards as the primary challenge that needs to be overcome to achieve widespread industry collaboration. 

This webcast will explore the “Working as One” survey results and examine the potential path to real-time collaboration across the industry, including cultural and operational challenges facing adoption.

Moderator:

Alessandra Gregory Barrett, Senior Content Editor, JOC, Maritime & Trade, IHS Markit

Presenters:

Andreas Mrozek, Global Head of Marine & Terminal Operations (OPS), Hamburg Sud

Scott Peoples, President TOS Business Line, Navis

Sumitha Sampath, Vice President, Operations, XVELA

The stakes have rarely been so high for shippers trying to navigate fast-rising rates, high freight demand and constrained truck and intermodal capacity. The pace of rate inflation may be slowing, but prices remain much higher than in 2017, let alone 2016. Thank a strong US economy, higher fuel prices, and a supply chain prone to disruption. Hurricane Florence is the latest reminder of just how fragile and prone to disruption the North American freight network actually is at a time when freight demand is at record levels. How will we deal with the challenges economic expansion and constrained capacity will pose as the peak shipping season for trucking approaches, and as we look beyond into 2019?

This webcast will analyze the current state of the market discuss how shippers should prepare for the final quarter of 2018 and beyond, and serve as a primer to deeper discussion at the JOC Inland Distribution Conference in Oak Brook, Illinois, on Oct. 20-22. https://events.joc.com/inland-2018 

After years of pain for the depressed breakbulk and project markets, 2018 opened with signs that the multipurpose vessel and heavy-lift fleet was finally shaking off the long shadow of the Great Recession. Broad improvement in the global economy was boosting demand and keeping competition from other sectors at bay, consolidation was reconfiguring the fleet, and scrapping and moderate vessel orders were keeping capacity growth in check. However, these positive signs could be undermined if and when threatened trade wars between the US and the rest of the world come into full force. And rising oil prices, while a positive for the project industry overall, also mean rising marine fuel costs -- and these are expected to jump much higher in 2020.

The global fleet, and its clients, must grapple with the IMO's rapidly approaching January 1, 2020, deadline requiring that the sulfur content of marine fuels be reduced from 3.5 percent to .5 percent. The knock-on complications of this regulation are massive and include questions about fuel costs and availability, refining capacity, vessel adaptation, and regulation enforcement. Although a substantial percentage of shipowners believe the deadline will be pushed back, there are strong signs that it will not be, possibly leading to a capacity crunch in some sectors.

In this webcast our experts, Susan Oatway and Roger Strevens, will analyze these issues and their implications for the fleet and the breakbulk and project industry, and discuss their expectations for the rest of 2018 and into early 2019.

Moderator

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift, JOC, Maritime & Trade, IHS Markit

Speaker(s)

Susan Oatway, Senior Analyst, Multipurpose and Breakbulk Shipping, Drewry

Roger Strevens, Head of Sustainability, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, and Chairman, Trident Alliance

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Interested in sponsoring this webcast? For more information, please contact Tony Stein at Tony.Stein@ihsmarkit.com