US truck shippers are enjoying the feast stage of a feast-and-famine cycle, as last year’s tightest trucking market on record gives way to an all-time capacity glut this year. As the fall shipping season approaches, spot dry van truckload rates are down by double-digit percentages from this time last year, and contract rates are nearly flat year over year. Where rates are rising — in the less-than-truckload market, for example — they’re climbing much more slowly than last year. Shippers say LTL carriers that initially seek high single-digit percentage rate hikes in annual contracts often settle for much lower increases. There’s debate over how long this shipper’s market will last, however, with some optimistic trucking executives expecting a rebound in the second half of 2019. Others don’t expect much change until 2020. This webcast will discuss what trucking shippers, motor carriers, and others can expect in the truckload, LTL, and other sectors as 2019 enters the home stretch. Along the way, it will address the following questions:        

Last year’s peak season was anything but normal. The front-loading of cargo to beat a series of US tariffs on Chinese goods, coupled with a pullback in capacity related to carrier anticipation of weakening demand, frustrated shippers and forwarders as demand at times overwhelmed the system. Although this year’s peak season might be a bit softer than a year ago, US consumer confidence is still strong as shippers ramp up for the holiday gift-giving season. The big question is whether the supply chain will operate efficiently, or whether carriers manage capacity by rolling cargo, streamline services, or pull ships out of service for retrofitting ahead of the January implementation of the IMO’s low-sulfur fuel mandate. 

This webcast will analyze the outlook for the summer-fall peak season with a focus on the following issues:

• The outlook for US importers.

• The macro economy: Is a slowdown ahead?

• The impact of tariffs and what’s next in the US-China trade war.

• Supply chain hotspots and the risk for disruption.

Moderator: 
Chris Brooks, Director, Programming, JOC Events, Maritime & Trade, IHS Markit

Speakers: 
Jonathan Gold, Vice President, Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation
Alan Murphy, CEO & Founder, Sea-Intelligence ApS

The annual Top 100 Importers and Exporters report is one of the most extensive products The Journal of Commerce produces. Based on exclusive research, it analyzes the largest global companies shipping containerized goods to and from the US — essential information for shippers, carriers, and third-party logistics providers.

This webcast, the first in a two-part series, will analyze the makeup and dynamics of the Top 100 US Importers and the factors driving inbound trade. It also will look ahead to the rest of 2019 and the regulatory, economic, and transportation issues US importers face.

Moderator: 
Chris Brooks, Executive Editor, JOC Events

Speakers:
Dustin Braden, Shipper Engagement Manager, JOC
Eric Johnson, Senior Editor, Technology, JOC
Bill Mongelluzzo, Senior Editor, West Coast, JOC
Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor, JOC

Growth in containerized cargo volumes through Canadian freight networks is shifting into a slower gear two year after surging in 2017. Even so, containerized cargo is set to keep expanding in the mid-single digits, thanks to new trade pacts and an expanding domestic economy. Year-over-year growth in imports through the top four Canadian ports slowed to 3.1 percent in 2018 after jumping 13.3 percent in 2017. Containerized exports increased 3.5 percent last year after expanding 6.5 percent in 2017. At the same time, broader Canadian economic growth is slowing, and consumer demand may weaken, putting renewed pressure on the need to better enable exports.

This webcast, a primer for the 3rd Annual JOC Canada Trade Conference in Toronto, will analyze the state of the Canadian container shipping, transportation, and logistics market, with an emphasis on the following issues, challenges, and trends:

• The import-export outlook
• The impact of new trade agreements
• Port efficiency and disruption
• The ELD effect on trucking
• The regulatory landscape

Moderator:
Dustin Braden, Shipper Engagement Manager, JOC

Speakers:
Dean Davison, Technical Director, Maritime, WSP
Patrick Lo, CEO, Canaan Group

One of the most intense trucking capacity crises in recent memory throttled inland distribution channels in 2018, thanks to high import volumes and enforcement of the electronic logging device mandate. Capacity began to creep back late in the year as transportation networks found a new balance, but demand for drayage, truckload and LTL capacity remained strong, and truck utilization rates were high, keeping pressure on pricing.

As the industry rounds the first-quarter bend of 2019, this webcast will analyze the current landscape, the outlook for the rest of the year, and focus on these key questions:

• Will shippers find capacity relief?
• Will slower economic growth mean more capacity or will increasing complexity and other obstacles keep capacity tight?
• What can shippers do to ensure capacity they need in drayage and over-the-road trucking?

Moderator:
William Cassidy, Senior Editor, Trucking and Domestic Transportation, JOC

Speakers:
Kevin M. Zweier, Vice President, Transportation Practice, Chainalytics