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☆ West Coast port labor issues persist from Los Angeles to Seattle, with supply chain frustration mounting
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A container ship is shown at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, November 22, 2021. Another Los Angeles Port terminal, Pacific Container Terminal (owned by SSA) announced Monday morning to truckers they would be closing the dayside shift on Tuesday. watch nowThe Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest port, processes $440 billion in cargo value per year. That market share has declined with more trade moving to the East Coast over the past year, at least partially due to labor issues on the West Coast that had supply chain managers worried about reliability of service. Recently, as the labor negotiations on the West Coast were said to have made progress, more trade started coming back.

Persons: Mike Blake, Paul Brashier, Brashier, ILWU Organizations: Port, Oakland, Logistics, CNBC, Marine Services, CMA, Maersk, Evergreen, ITS Logistics, Warehouse Union, Fenix Marine, Los Angeles Port, Container, SSA, Pacific Maritime Association Locations: Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles , California, West, Los Angeles, Seattle, OOCL, COSCO Shipping, Sealand, West Coast, Port, East Coast, China, of Los Angeles, East, Long, Oakland

The West Coast is home to the busiest U.S. container port complex at Los Angeles/Long Beach. Pacific Coast ports are an important engine of the U.S. economy and handle everything from apparel and furniture to agricultural products and automobiles. Some Port of Los Angeles terminals were affected by labor shortages, a spokesperson there said. Meanwhile, West Coast ports have lost cargo to rival ports on the East and Gulf Coasts as shippers worry that a breakdown in talks could strand cargo on ships or in docks. Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Will Dunham and Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Willie Adams, Adams, Mario Cordero, Cordero, Friday's, Lisa Baertlein, Will Dunham, Diane Craft Organizations: U.S . West, Pacific Maritime Association, Warehouse Union, ILWU, Twitter, Long Beach, Walmart, Thomson Locations: ANGELES, U.S . West Coast, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, California, Tacoma, Seattle, Washington, Coast, Pacific Coast, U.S, Port, Long, West Coast, Gulf Coasts

☆ Bankrupt Bed Bath & Beyond Seeks Millions From Ocean Carriers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Orient Overseas Container Line’s Hong Kong container ship sits anchored dockside in Felixstowe, U.K. Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg NewsBankrupt retailer Bed Bath & Beyond is seeking tens of millions of dollars from container shipping lines, claiming the carriers willfully abandoned service commitments at the height of supply-chain turbulence to reap enormous profits from the market turmoil. The home-goods retailer says in a complaint filed with U.S. maritime regulators that Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line pursued “brazen price gouging and profiteering” that cost Bed Bath & Beyond $31.7 million in extra freight charges, along with additional costs and lost profits.

☆ Retailers Reaping Big Savings on Ocean Transport Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Ocean carriers are struggling to fill space on ships after a steep drop-off in cargo that began in the fall. Retailers are gaining huge savings on ocean container transport as once sky-high shipping prices tumble toward prepandemic levels and companies delay signing annual contracts so they can bargain rates down even further. The average price for Asia-to-U.S. container trade has “fallen as dramatically as we’ve ever seen it fall,” said Jon Cargill , senior vice president and chief financial officer of Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.

☆ U.S. Importers Seize on New Shipping Rules to Fight Late Fees
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

U.S. importers are fighting millions of dollars in fees imposed by the world’s largest ocean carriers with the help of a new federal law and a newly emboldened regulator. He said his company, Lion Energy LLC, which imports about 800 containers a year, felt it had little power to dispute the charges. Now, Mr. Frey and hundreds of shippers like him are turning to rules set out in the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which passed Congress in June. The new shipping law endorsed an FMC rule published in 2020. But shippers are still able to challenge fees that predate the law under earlier FMC rules.

☆ MSC, world's biggest shipping company and U.S.-China trade bellwether, isn't talking like a recession is coming for economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"The return post-Chinese New Year has been positive," Toft said. SONAR FreightWaves data shows the slow pick up in global freight orders post-Chinese New Year. Ocean freight rates, which were the largest inflationary pressure on products, have dropped sharply back to pre-pandemic levels. Rejections for ocean freight have increased, which means containers filled with product for the current or upcoming season are delayed. At a time when ocean carriers are increasingly canceling sailings because of the decrease in ocean freight orders, MSC has responded by increasing the size of its fleet.

☆ Retailers Hope to Bargain for Lower Ocean-Freight Rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Richard Galanti, chief financial officer of Costco Wholesale Corp. , said lower freight rates should lead to price cuts at the members-only retailer, which imports more than 200,000 containers a year from Asia. An International Monetary Fund study found that when ocean-freight rates double it causes inflation to rise by 0.7 percentage point. Jonathan Ostry, a Georgetown University professor and a co-author of the study, said cutting shipping rates in half should reduce inflation by the same amount. In the ocean-shipping spot market, where importers book containers without a contract, rates have dropped to $1,000 on some trans-Pacific routes. But they say lower ocean shipping expenses will help in steadying prices.

☆ U.S. East Coast Port Workers Begin Early Contract Talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

The International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers, in September asked its locals to open talks with regional employer groups, said James McNamara, an ILA spokesman. A spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents carriers and terminal operators on the West Coast, declined to comment. The Port of Houston and Georgia’s Port of Savannah have also benefited from freight diversions away from the West Coast. The West Coast labor talks have significant hurdles to overcome once the two sides resolve their regional disagreements, according to shipping industry officials. Shipping industry officials say the talks covering Gulf Coast and East Coast ports face fewer stumbling blocks.

☆ Retailers Pull Back From Using Chartered Cargo Ships
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Retailers are moving away from using chartered ships to get around pandemic-triggered disruptions now that congestion at ports has cleared and pressures in supply chains have eased. A representative for Home Depot said it stopped using chartered vessels earlier this year as space opened up in global shipping. Party City started booking space on chartered vessels in mid-2021 in advance of Halloween, its busiest time of year, said Bruce Dzinski, Party City’s director of international transportation. Will Harwood, a spokesman for Lidl, said Tailwind owns two container ships and can carry additional cargo on other chartered vessels. Most other companies, like Home Depot and Costco, relied on third-party companies to operate chartered ships.

☆ East Coast ports including New York are winning a domestic trade war at the expense of California
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

According to ITS Logistics which monitors rail cargo trends, the volume of freight moving out of the East Coast doubles that of the West Coast. East Coast ports making major investments East Coast ports like Georgia, Virginia and Maryland have been increasing their investment to accommodate the increase in rail capacity. "CSX continues to see the East Coast ports as a growth opportunity as volumes shift from congested West coast gateways," said Cindy Schild, CSX spokesperson. West Coast port declinewatch nowCargo volumes on the West Coast remained soft at the Port of Los Angeles in November, which saw a 21% decrease year over year in volumes. While the East Coast gains are significant, there was a "leveling" off of imports detected on the East Coast in November, according to port TEU data from the CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map.

French container line CMA CGM sees the ownership of cargo terminals at U.S. ports as the next step in its bid to extend its shipping business into greater inland logistics. “Port terminals are an essential piece of the supply-chain efficiency, being at the crossroads of sea and land operations,” said Christine Cabau Woehrel, CMA CGM Group’s executive vice president of operations and assets. CMA CGM earned $17.9 billion in net profits in 2021 and its earnings in the first three quarters of this year reached more than $20.4 billion. The purchases come as CMA CGM is spending billions to buy logistics operations and more recently launch an airfreight service. China’s Cosco Shipping Ports has expanded its terminal operations around the world in concert with expansion by state-owned Cosco Shipping Lines.

☆ Manufacturing orders from China down 40% in unrelenting demand collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

U.S. manufacturing orders in China are down 40 percent, according to the latest CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map data. HLS expects most carriers to extend their West Coast rates until December 14, holding at $1,300-$1,400 per forty-foot equivalent containers (FEU). The 2M Alliance of Maersk and MSC has suspended almost half of its U.S. West Coast services for December. is also impacting Vietnam, which has been booming as a manufacturing hub as more trade moved away from China. Canceled ocean sailings bound for Vietnam are up 50% for December.

☆ Southern California’s Container Ship Backup Ends
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

It is “time to move into a different phase of operations and declare that the backup has ended,“ Mr. Louttit said. The backup rippled through supply chains, causing monthslong delays in deliveries of furniture, electronics and clothing, and helped push ocean shipping prices to record levels. Many importers have also diverted goods away from West Coast ports. Disputes between dockworkers and their employers during previous labor talks on the West Coast have led to significant shipping delays. The diversions triggered backups at Gulf Coast and East Coast ports.

☆ Canceled sailings from China and 'radical' vessel cuts hit U.S. ability to reach export market
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

"As shipping lines reduce their vessel calls in the form of blank sailings, this reduces the capacity for outbound volumes. Sea-Intelligence wrote in its recent blank sailings report that it has detected some unannounced cancellations for the calendar-year period of weeks 42-52 in the past two weeks. "Blank sailings have been ramped up drastically on the Transpacific, but not so much on Asia-Europe," said Alan Murphy, CEO at Sea-Intelligence. On Asia-North Europe routes, Sea-Intelligence is only seeing an additional six blank sailings, and on Asia-Mediterranean routes an increase of four blank sailings. The weekly average of vessels waiting this week is 14, waiting for an average of 6.3 days.

☆ Union vs. Union Dispute Stalls West Coast Port Labor Talks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

A dispute between two unions over which workers get certain jobs at a cargo-handling terminal at the Port of Seattle is holding up labor talks between West Coast dockworkers and their employers. West Coast port labor talks are often fraught. Importers are already diverting some goods to Gulf Coast and East Coast ports because of the risk of labor strife. The port talks are taking place against a backdrop of global freight labor unrest. West Coast dockworkers have been working without a contract since the most recent labor agreement expired in early July.

Mr. Skou said the strategy should help insulate Maersk from the boom-and-bust cycles of the container industry. “Our strategy is not to gain market share in ocean,” Mr. Skou said. “When the customers themselves suffer from the effects of economic decline, volume can’t be conjured out of the thin air,” Mr. Skou said. He said the company is trying with its logistics investments “to break away from the cyclicality of the shipping industry and the commoditized nature of traditional container shipping. “We are well on the way towards a significant market position in the logistics industry,” Mr. Skou said.

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☆ Global supply chain woes have seen 'huge improvement,' Flexport founder says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Global supply chain woes have eased ahead of the holiday season, according to Flexport founder and co-CEO Ryan Petersen. Ports are less congested, and the cost of shipping goods has fallen significantly this year, Petersen said. The global supply chain was pummeled with high costs, lengthy delays, crowded ports and shipping container shortages during the coronavirus pandemic. Flexport helps its customers navigate supply chain challenges by providing them with more visibility and data-driven control over their inventories while they are in transit. But despite the improvements to the supply chain, Petersen is not convinced the industry has learned much from the challenges of the pandemic.

☆ China, 'factory of the world,' is losing more of its manufacturing and export dominance, latest data shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The container ship Emma Mærsk docked at the Dapukou container terminal of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port on August 21, 2022 in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. Teodoro said Vietnam's close proximity to China and cheap labor are reasons why Vietnam is considered a suitable alternative. Vietnam has taken the lion's share of the manufacturing trade away from China with an almost 360% increase in far-distance trade since 2014 — the year the country started to invest in its maritime and manufacturing sector. Malaysia and Bangladesh have taken apparel manufacturing away from China, according to MDS Transmodal, while Taiwan has seen a marginal uptick in metal manufacturing. Ningbo port hit by Covid policiesThe Port of Ningbo, the world's largest port and the third-largest container port, is the latest Chinese trade hub to see an impact from the government's "Zero Covid" policies.

☆ Freight Operators’ Peak Shipping Season Is Crumbling
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Paul Berger | Paul Page | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

The peak shipping season is fizzling as overstocked retailers cancel overseas orders and freight companies scale back expectations for heavy freight volumes heading into the holidays. Many retailers pulled peak season orders in early this year to avoid a repeat of 2021 when supply-chain congestion caused delays and product shortages during the holidays. Container shipping rates that hit record highs last year have also pulled back sharply, although they still remain above 2019 levels. The peak shipping season cascades down into package transport, as United Parcel Service Inc., FedEx Corp. and others typically handle growing volumes as the calendar counts down to Christmas. Citi analysts say they expect a “weaker peak season and a large amount of uncertainty in terms of the magnitude of demand.”—Esther Fung and Liz Young contributed to this article.

☆ Freight Operators’ Peak Shipping Season is Crumbling
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Paul Berger | Paul Page | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

The peak shipping season is fizzling as overstocked retailers cancel overseas orders and freight companies scale back expectations for heavy freight volumes heading into the holidays. But a range of measures of shipping demand across the U.S. are sliding, freight rates are falling as a result, leading carriers to pull back capacity amid concerns a deeper downturn is coming. Many retailers pulled peak season orders in early this year to avoid a repeat of 2021 when supply-chain congestion caused delays and product shortages during the holidays. Container shipping rates that hit record highs last year have also pulled back sharply, although they still remain above 2019 levels. The peak shipping season cascades down into package transport, as United Parcel Service Inc., FedEx Corp. and others typically handle growing volumes as the calendar counts down to Christmas.

A once-bustling logistics mergers-and-acquisitions market is quieting down as slipping freight demand and higher borrowing costs dampen deal making in the sector. Company valuations are moderating in a softening freight market and rising borrowing costs are making deals tougher to complete. The market for freight and logistics companies surged during the pandemic as retailers sought to rush goods to consumers, fueling strong growth in shipping demand, higher freight rates and record profits for companies ranging from regional truck operators to international freight forwarders. Foreign-based ocean carriers and freight forwarders have also shown great interest in the U.S. logistics market as they seek to expand their end-to-end supply-chain services. But logistics companies looking to expand their reach and private-equity firms looking to expand existing logistics portfolios are still hunting deals.

☆ Small Businesses Getting Squeezed Out in Push for Warehouse Space
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Liz Young | Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

A warehouse crush across the U.S. is squeezing out smaller companies as big retailers fill industrial storage sites with their growing stockpiles of inventory. Karen Galena, president of First Logistics, which has four warehouses in the Chicago area that provide space for retailers and manufacturers, said bigger customers are willing to pay higher prices for increasingly scarce storage space. “It’s tough for the small guy,” Ms. Galena said, noting labor and other costs are rising for warehouse operators. The challenges small businesses face finding warehouse space mirrors difficulties many had securing room on container ships earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic, when ocean carriers drove up rates and bumped smaller shippers to make way for larger clients. He said some companies are even generating revenue from unconventional storage space.

☆ Tensions rise in West Coast port labor battles, with unions and management trading accusations
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Tensions are rising in West Coast port labor battles as unions and port management trade accusations about worker productivity and the awarding of job assignments. Jerome Roberts, GVP of marketing at supply chain consulting company Blume Global, told CNBC the one shift protest had no lasting productivity impact. Logistics companies fear the latest round of accusations will only increase tensions for a supply chain and national port infrastructure already dealing with multiple labor concerns. Project44, which also collects and analyzes port productivity for the CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map, has tracked some recent issues at Seattle operations. Container dwell times at the Port of Oakland have been improving over the month of September, according to Josh Brazil, vice president of supply chain insights at Project44.

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