<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">CSX Transportation saw revenue fall 24.8 percent and net profit drop 20 percent on a sharp decline in shipping in the second quarter, but the railroad still managed a $308 million profit and said it m</div>

CSX Transportation saw revenue fall 24.8 percent and net profit drop 20 percent on a sharp decline in shipping in the second quarter, but the railroad still managed a $308 million profit and said it m

<div>CSX Transportation saw revenue fall 24.8 percent and net profit drop 20 percent on a sharp decline in shipping in the second quarter, but the railroad still managed a $308 million profit and said it may have reached the bottom of the economic slide. While the economy continues to significantly impact our business, there are some signs that we may be seeing the bottom in many markets, said Michael Ward, CSX chairman, president and CEO. The quarter ending June 26 saw revenue reach $2.2 billion. The railroad cut its operating expenses 27 percent, in part from a 10.2 percent cut...

CSX Transportation saw revenue fall 24.8 percent and net profit drop 20 percent on a sharp decline in shipping in the second quarter, but the railroad still managed a $308 million profit and said it may have reached the bottom of the economic slide. While the economy continues to significantly impact our business, there are some signs that we may be seeing the bottom in many markets, said Michael Ward, CSX chairman, president and CEO. The quarter ending June 26 saw revenue reach $2.2 billion. The railroad cut its operating expenses 27 percent, in part from a 10.2 percent cut in its workforce, which declined by 3,384 employees. &ldquo;We remained aggressive in right-sizing our train network while still providing reliable service,&rdquo; said Tony Ingram, executive vice president and chief operating officer. A better safety performance allowed the carrier to reduce its casualty reserves by $70 million. &ldquo;By improving safety, reducing costs and increasing productivity we lessened the impact of the struggling global economy on our business,&rdquo; Ingram said. CSX saw coal traffic fall 21 percent from a year earlier, while bulk materials and other merchandise hauls dropped 22 percent and intermodal fell 14 percent. Revenue slid a bit more than volume for the coal and merchandise traffic, suggesting either sluggish pricing or weaker mix of the kind of distance loads that boost sales. Intermodal revenue was down much more than volume at 24 percent, for a 12 percent per-unit drop, in line with widespread reports that rail pricing has weakened significantly in this recession amid fierce competition from trucks. Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com .

Rail News

North-American rail

CSX Profit Falls 20 Percent to $308 Million

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The company’s deal for E2open shows it is betting it can thread the needle between keeping its customers happy while targeting the customers of those customers.</div>

The company’s deal for E2open shows it is betting it can thread the needle between keeping its customers happy while targeting the customers of those customers.

Feature image

<div class="phx-topic">WiseTech Global, in spending $2.1 billion to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/wisetech-notches-biggest-acquisition-with-21-billion-deal-for-e2open-6011581">buy E2open this week</a>, is placing a massive bet that it can overcome three forces that have historically hindered major logistics software acquisitions. First, the history of large technology companies built on the back of minor acquisitions successfully integrating with another large company is incredibly small. For evidence of the difficulty in doing so, WiseTech need look no further than the very company it acquired. E2open in the mid-2010s was a supply chain planning specialist catering to large multinational manufacturers. It then went on a five-year acquisition binge in the late 2010s and early 2020s, focused primarily on logistics and trade compliance technology, culminating in the $1.7 billion purchase of BluJay Solutions in 2021. The nesting doll of complexity that arose from that acquisition — with BluJay itself the combination of multiple software providers — certainly weighed heavily on E2open’s business. WiseTech’s model has been to buy, and buy frequently, but this gambit represents a bigger bite than the company has ever taken. <h3>Playing both sides </h3>A second force that the Australian company will have to reckon with is whether the deal to acquire E2open — whose tools are primarily aimed at shippers — will upset the relationship WiseTech has with its extensive third-party logistics provider (3PL) customer base. In its February first-half financial report, WiseTech said 24 of the top 25 global 3PLs now use the company’s products. While WiseTech is undoubtedly a critical backbone for these 3PLs, who use it for core functions like transportation management, trade compliance and accounting, there’s also no shortage of grumbling about the cost of the system, as well as the pace of integration and new product development. WiseTech spends a huge proportion of its operating profit on enhancing its platform each year, but the reality is that as a software company grows larger, the wants of the customer base often outpace the ability to satisfy those demands. Adding E2open, and its vast suites of products across supplier collaboration, planning, forecasting and logistics, only adds to the complexity. As WiseTech directly targets shippers, there’s the possibility that some 3PL customers grow weary of slow development timelines and wary of the software provider’s closer ties to their own customers. On the other hand, adding E2open’s product could allow WiseTech to bolster its shipper-focused service offerings to the benefit of those 3PLs. A good case in point is Infor Nexus, which began in the early 2000s as a platform aiming to disintermediate 3PLs by providing shippers with order management, global transportation management and visibility tools to replace the services they traditionally got from forwarders. In the end, Infor Nexus also became a supplier to 3PLs, enhancing their ability to serve shippers. Still, the E2open deal creates complexity and risk. <h3>Platform for all? </h3>Perhaps nowhere is that risk more evident than in the notion that software providers can cater effectively to all parties. In its statement about the E2open acquisition, WiseTech noted that the deal increases its total addressable market (TAM) by allowing it to reach into adjacent markets it never previously served. But building “software for everyone” has been a difficult needle to thread historically. While the logistics industry speaks glowingly about collaboration and win-win scenarios, the reality is more pragmatic. Shippers generally buy tools that give them leverage against their suppliers and transportation partners, and 3PLs do the same to give themselves leverage with carriers and shippers. There are examples of logistics software vendors selling products to multiple buyer categories — WiseTech competitor Descartes is a good example, as is Infor Nexus — but only when specific product lines are sold to specific types of buyers. But WiseTech doesn’t seem interested in that segmented sales approach. In the statement, the company said the deal “accelerates and deepens WiseTech’s plans to create a multi-sided marketplace connecting asset-based carriers, logistics providers, importers, exporters, shippers and many other logistics and supply chain participants.” If any company is equipped to build that marketplace, it’s likely WiseTech, whose strong position in the 3PL market will be enhanced by adding E2open’s network of carriers and intermediaries. But that doesn’t make the challenge any less daunting. By taking on $3 billion in debt (equivalent to roughly 13% of WiseTech’s market capitalization) to finance the E2open deal and other potential acquisitions, WiseTech has gambled that it can make a multi-headed hydra of software work, that it can keep its current customer base happy while chasing those customers’ customers, and that it can create an almost utopic marketplace with critical mass in a forever fragmented industry. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

WiseTech Global, in spending $2.1 billion to buy E2open this week , is placing a massive bet that it can overcome three forces that have historically hindered major logistics software acquisitions. First, the history of large technology companies built on the back of minor acquisitions successfully integrating with another large company is incredibly small. For evidence of the difficulty in doing so, WiseTech need look no further than the very company it acquired. E2open in the mid-2010s was a supply chain planning specialist catering to large multinational manufacturers. It then went on a five-year acquisition binge in the late 2010s and early 2020s, focused primarily on logistics and trade compliance technology, culminating in the $1.7 billion purchase of BluJay Solutions in 2021. The nesting doll of complexity that arose from that acquisition — with BluJay itself the combination of multiple software providers — certainly weighed heavily on E2open’s business. WiseTech’s model has been to buy, and buy frequently, but this gambit represents a bigger bite than the company has ever taken. Playing both sides A second force that the Australian company will have to reckon with is whether the deal to acquire E2open — whose tools are primarily aimed at shippers — will upset the relationship WiseTech has with its extensive third-party logistics provider (3PL) customer base. In its February first-half financial report, WiseTech said 24 of the top 25 global 3PLs now use the company’s products. While WiseTech is undoubtedly a critical backbone for these 3PLs, who use it for core functions like transportation management, trade compliance and accounting, there’s also no shortage of grumbling about the cost of the system, as well as the pace of integration and new product development. WiseTech spends a huge proportion of its operating profit on enhancing its platform each year, but the reality is that as a software company grows larger, the wants of the customer base often outpace the ability to satisfy those demands. Adding E2open, and its vast suites of products across supplier collaboration, planning, forecasting and logistics, only adds to the complexity. As WiseTech directly targets shippers, there’s the possibility that some 3PL customers grow weary of slow development timelines and wary of the software provider’s closer ties to their own customers. On the other hand, adding E2open’s product could allow WiseTech to bolster its shipper-focused service offerings to the benefit of those 3PLs. A good case in point is Infor Nexus, which began in the early 2000s as a platform aiming to disintermediate 3PLs by providing shippers with order management, global transportation management and visibility tools to replace the services they traditionally got from forwarders. In the end, Infor Nexus also became a supplier to 3PLs, enhancing their ability to serve shippers. Still, the E2open deal creates complexity and risk. Platform for all? Perhaps nowhere is that risk more evident than in the notion that software providers can cater effectively to all parties. In its statement about the E2open acquisition, WiseTech noted that the deal increases its total addressable market (TAM) by allowing it to reach into adjacent markets it never previously served. But building “software for everyone” has been a difficult needle to thread historically. While the logistics industry speaks glowingly about collaboration and win-win scenarios, the reality is more pragmatic. Shippers generally buy tools that give them leverage against their suppliers and transportation partners, and 3PLs do the same to give themselves leverage with carriers and shippers. There are examples of logistics software vendors selling products to multiple buyer categories — WiseTech competitor Descartes is a good example, as is Infor Nexus — but only when specific product lines are sold to specific types of buyers. But WiseTech doesn’t seem interested in that segmented sales approach. In the statement, the company said the deal “accelerates and deepens WiseTech’s plans to create a multi-sided marketplace connecting asset-based carriers, logistics providers, importers, exporters, shippers and many other logistics and supply chain participants.” If any company is equipped to build that marketplace, it’s likely WiseTech, whose strong position in the 3PL market will be enhanced by adding E2open’s network of carriers and intermediaries. But that doesn’t make the challenge any less daunting. By taking on $3 billion in debt (equivalent to roughly 13% of WiseTech’s market capitalization) to finance the E2open deal and other potential acquisitions, WiseTech has gambled that it can make a multi-headed hydra of software work, that it can keep its current customer base happy while chasing those customers’ customers, and that it can create an almost utopic marketplace with critical mass in a forever fragmented industry. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Supply chain

Logistics Technology News

WiseTech makes $2 billion gamble on overturning complicated software history

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A squeeze on the talent pipeline for the MPV and heavy-lift sectors means that competition for crew and captains is set to intensify.</div>

A squeeze on the talent pipeline for the MPV and heavy-lift sectors means that competition for crew and captains is set to intensify.

<div class="phx-topic">Finding crew for the ultra-specialized multipurpose vessel sector is becoming the industry’s biggest challenge, ship operators say. Speaking to the Journal of Commerce, Christophe Grammare, managing director of AAL Shipping, said that while there are captains available today to safely sail MPVs, the pipeline for that talent is a concern.Grammare said that the increasing complexity of MPV cargoes is raising the amount of knowledge needed for the crew to safely deliver the load. While existing MPV masters have help from onshore engineers, it is getting “harder to find the new generation of younger captains to... go to sea and... to turn away from the traditional container side,” he said.While MPV operators have access to specialized training, the fundamental lack of incoming talent means that companies in this “specialized elite sector are fighting for a small pool of qualified people,” Grammare said, adding that increasingly complex cargoes exacerbate the problem. “This pushes us up to a higher level of technical knowledge,” he said. Kyriacos Panayides, CEO of AAL Shipping, described the availability of quality officers and crew as “the biggest threat” to the MPV industry.But it is not just crews that are suffering from a lack of talent coming through the pipeline in the multipurpose and heavy-lift sector. Elisabeth Cosmatos, CEO of Cosmatos Group and president of The Heavy Lift Group (THLG), said that young people associate the heavy-lift logistics industry as “early gray hair on the head because it's so stressful and the hours are terrible.”The Heavy Lift Group is an international group of specialized heavy transport companies.“We need to change the narrative,” she said. “The industry is diverse. You get to travel and experience different cultures. This sort of profession gives you the opportunity to do daily problem-solving, too.”Cosmatos said all THLG members are facing the same issues. “We need the right people with a willingness to learn,” she said.Contact Carly Fields at <a href="mailto:carly.fields@spglobal.com">carly.fields@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Finding crew for the ultra-specialized multipurpose vessel sector is becoming the industry’s biggest challenge, ship operators say. Speaking to the Journal of Commerce, Christophe Grammare, managing director of AAL Shipping, said that while there are captains available today to safely sail MPVs, the pipeline for that talent is a concern. Grammare said that the increasing complexity of MPV cargoes is raising the amount of knowledge needed for the crew to safely deliver the load. While existing MPV masters have help from onshore engineers, it is getting “harder to find the new generation of younger captains to... go to sea and... to turn away from the traditional container side,” he said. While MPV operators have access to specialized training, the fundamental lack of incoming talent means that companies in this “specialized elite sector are fighting for a small pool of qualified people,” Grammare said, adding that increasingly complex cargoes exacerbate the problem. “This pushes us up to a higher level of technical knowledge,” he said. Kyriacos Panayides, CEO of AAL Shipping, described the availability of quality officers and crew as “the biggest threat” to the MPV industry. But it is not just crews that are suffering from a lack of talent coming through the pipeline in the multipurpose and heavy-lift sector. Elisabeth Cosmatos, CEO of Cosmatos Group and president of The Heavy Lift Group (THLG), said that young people associate the heavy-lift logistics industry as “early gray hair on the head because it's so stressful and the hours are terrible.” The Heavy Lift Group is an international group of specialized heavy transport companies. “We need to change the narrative,” she said. “The industry is diverse. You get to travel and experience different cultures. This sort of profession gives you the opportunity to do daily problem-solving, too.” Cosmatos said all THLG members are facing the same issues. “We need the right people with a willingness to learn,” she said. Contact Carly Fields at carly.fields@spglobal.com .

Breakbulk carriers

Heavy-haul transport

Project cargo

Breakbulk News

Crew availability ‘biggest threat’ to multipurpose ship sector

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Whether the expected capacity injection on tap for June is enough to stem further rate increases remains unclear.</div>

Whether the expected capacity injection on tap for June is enough to stem further rate increases remains unclear.

<div class="phx-topic">Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are adding a new trans-Pacific express service to the US West Coast, while Mediterranean Shipping Co. looks to restart a suspended East Coast service. The moves signal new confidence about trans-Pacific demand as rates continue to strengthen going into June. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd said in statements Monday that the Gemini Cooperation vessel-sharing agreement between them would offer a new express service connecting China and South Korea to the West Coast, branded respectively as the TP9/WC6. The first voyage from Xiamen, China, will take place June 24 on the 4,622-TEU Rhone Maersk, with subsequent calls at Busan and Long Beach. The Gemini partners said the service would offer an 18-day transit from Xiamen to Long Beach. The new Gemini service launches after a two-month turnaround in trans-Pacific shipping demand that saw ocean <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/asia-us-blank-sailing-forecast-for-may-increasing-amid-cancellations-5988996">carriers quickly remove ships</a> after President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China halted container bookings, then rapidly restore capacity amid the 90-day tariff reprieve that expires in mid-August. The demand whipsaw over that time has <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/eastbound-trans-pac-spot-rates-in-revival-mode-in-wake-of-us-china-trade-deal-6004803">almost doubled spot freight rates</a> from China to the West Coast. Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global, assessed North Asia to US West Coast container freight rates at $3,840 per FEU as of May 23, up from $1,960 per FEU on April 11. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="7536dc3e-05bb-456c-bdd0-bcc5c4f332a4"></dynamic-object></div>June is expected to see the most container ship capacity in the trans-Pacific since last November, according to data from ocean visibility provider eeSea. It expects 1.268 million TEUs of vessel capacity between Asia and the US West Coast next month, up 34,000 TEUs from May. The amount of “blanked” capacity removed from the market will be 113,234 TEUs, the lowest since June 2024. <h3>‘Sufficient space available’ </h3>Whether the expected capacity injection for June will be enough to stem further rate increases remains unclear. A US-based executive for a Taiwanese ocean carrier told the Journal of Commerce that because some ships have been repositioned to serve other trade lanes, it will be early July before he expects meaningful capacity additions to affect the trans-Pacific market. However, Alphaliner analyst Tan Hua Joo told the Journal of Commerce some carriers, such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, are in a better position to respond to resurgent demand because they did not remove ships during the recent turmoil. Other carriers may also be better able to add capacity quickly to the trans-Pacific market. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="672dcba4-2aca-447a-9d9e-a3c419bbb174"></dynamic-object></div>“I expect there will be sufficient space available in the market as trans-Pacific capacity will return very quickly and all carriers are adding ships over the next three weeks, apart from the Gemini carriers who have not withdrawn any ships from the trans-Pacific during the turmoil of the last five weeks,” Hua Joo said. Along with the trans-Pacific West Coast, the US East Coast should also see more ships in service by June. MSC appears ready for a mid-June restart of its Empire service from north China to the East Coast after announcing a suspension of the service in early May amid the demand downturn. According to MSC’s vessel schedule, the Empire service will offer direct voyages from Shanghai to the Port of New York and New Jersey starting with the June 18 departure of the 6,730-TEU MSC Barbara. There are six other ships nominated for weekly departures on the service through the end of July. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are adding a new trans-Pacific express service to the US West Coast, while Mediterranean Shipping Co. looks to restart a suspended East Coast service. The moves signal new confidence about trans-Pacific demand as rates continue to strengthen going into June. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd said in statements Monday that the Gemini Cooperation vessel-sharing agreement between them would offer a new express service connecting China and South Korea to the West Coast, branded respectively as the TP9/WC6. The first voyage from Xiamen, China, will take place June 24 on the 4,622-TEU Rhone Maersk, with subsequent calls at Busan and Long Beach. The Gemini partners said the service would offer an 18-day transit from Xiamen to Long Beach. The new Gemini service launches after a two-month turnaround in trans-Pacific shipping demand that saw ocean carriers quickly remove ships after President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China halted container bookings, then rapidly restore capacity amid the 90-day tariff reprieve that expires in mid-August. The demand whipsaw over that time has almost doubled spot freight rates from China to the West Coast. Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, assessed North Asia to US West Coast container freight rates at $3,840 per FEU as of May 23, up from $1,960 per FEU on April 11. June is expected to see the most container ship capacity in the trans-Pacific since last November, according to data from ocean visibility provider eeSea. It expects 1.268 million TEUs of vessel capacity between Asia and the US West Coast next month, up 34,000 TEUs from May. The amount of “blanked” capacity removed from the market will be 113,234 TEUs, the lowest since June 2024. ‘Sufficient space available’ Whether the expected capacity injection for June will be enough to stem further rate increases remains unclear. A US-based executive for a Taiwanese ocean carrier told the Journal of Commerce that because some ships have been repositioned to serve other trade lanes, it will be early July before he expects meaningful capacity additions to affect the trans-Pacific market. However, Alphaliner analyst Tan Hua Joo told the Journal of Commerce some carriers, such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, are in a better position to respond to resurgent demand because they did not remove ships during the recent turmoil. Other carriers may also be better able to add capacity quickly to the trans-Pacific market. “I expect there will be sufficient space available in the market as trans-Pacific capacity will return very quickly and all carriers are adding ships over the next three weeks, apart from the Gemini carriers who have not withdrawn any ships from the trans-Pacific during the turmoil of the last five weeks,” Hua Joo said. Along with the trans-Pacific West Coast, the US East Coast should also see more ships in service by June. MSC appears ready for a mid-June restart of its Empire service from north China to the East Coast after announcing a suspension of the service in early May amid the demand downturn. According to MSC’s vessel schedule, the Empire service will offer direct voyages from Shanghai to the Port of New York and New Jersey starting with the June 18 departure of the 6,730-TEU MSC Barbara. There are six other ships nominated for weekly departures on the service through the end of July. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Trans-Pacific

Container lines

Ocean carriers bring in more trans-Pacific container services amid rate surge

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The facility, the carrier’s first investment in northern Vietnam, will have a combined capacity of 1.9 million TEUs when operational in 2028. </div>

The facility, the carrier’s first investment in northern Vietnam, will have a combined capacity of 1.9 million TEUs when operational in 2028.

<div class="phx-topic">French shipping giant CMA CGM has extended its terminal network in Vietnam after signing a $600 million deal with Saigon Newport Corporation to build and operate a deepwater container terminal complex in Haiphong in northern Vietnam. The agreement, inked Monday on the sidelines of an official visit to Vietnam by French President Emmanuel Macron, covers the design, construction and operation of terminals 7 and 8 at Haiphong’s Lach Huyen deepwater port. The terminals, CMA CGM’s first investment in northern Vietnam, will have a combined capacity of 1.9 million TEUs when operational in 2028. The facility will complement CMA CGM’s two existing co-owned terminals in southern Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City and Cai Mep. CMA CGM said the Haiphong facility will help it secure long-term container handling capacity amid a strong increase in container volumes, adding it has 29 weekly services calling at ports in Vietnam. The Haiphong project is part of a wider investment by CMA CGM in Vietnam after it launched an electric barge service in December between Binh Duong and its terminal at Cai Mep to transport Nike sports products. CMA CGM’s terminal agreement also comes just weeks after APM Terminals, in a joint venture with Vietnamese logistics and real estate group HATECO, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/apm-enhances-partnership-for-ultra-large-container-terminal-at-haiphong-port-5244608">opened terminals 5 and 6 at Lach Huyen on April 5</a>. Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>. </div>

French shipping giant CMA CGM has extended its terminal network in Vietnam after signing a $600 million deal with Saigon Newport Corporation to build and operate a deepwater container terminal complex in Haiphong in northern Vietnam. The agreement, inked Monday on the sidelines of an official visit to Vietnam by French President Emmanuel Macron, covers the design, construction and operation of terminals 7 and 8 at Haiphong’s Lach Huyen deepwater port. The terminals, CMA CGM’s first investment in northern Vietnam, will have a combined capacity of 1.9 million TEUs when operational in 2028. The facility will complement CMA CGM’s two existing co-owned terminals in southern Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City and Cai Mep. CMA CGM said the Haiphong facility will help it secure long-term container handling capacity amid a strong increase in container volumes, adding it has 29 weekly services calling at ports in Vietnam. The Haiphong project is part of a wider investment by CMA CGM in Vietnam after it launched an electric barge service in December between Binh Duong and its terminal at Cai Mep to transport Nike sports products. CMA CGM’s terminal agreement also comes just weeks after APM Terminals, in a joint venture with Vietnamese logistics and real estate group HATECO, opened terminals 5 and 6 at Lach Huyen on April 5 . Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Maritime

Port News

Port infrastructure

Marine terminals

International ports

CMA CGM signs deal to develop $600 million Haiphong terminal complex

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Seoul-based carrier is teaming with Singapore’s PIL and X-Press Feeders on a new service that will be inaugurated from Tianjin on June 19. </div>

The Seoul-based carrier is teaming with Singapore’s PIL and X-Press Feeders on a new service that will be inaugurated from Tianjin on June 19.

<div class="phx-topic">HMM has teamed up with Singapore’s Pacific International Lines and X-Press Feeders to launch a weekly North China-Singapore-Indonesia service beginning next month as part of a wider plan by HMM to expand its network beyond its core long-haul services. The new China-Singapore-Indonesia service will be inaugurated from Tianjin on June 19, Seoul-based HMM said in a statement Monday, adding the loop would enhance its “competitiveness in the Indonesian market and strengthen feeder connectivity to ... long-haul trades.” Surendran Mathilagath, general manager for Pacific International Lines’ intra-Asia services, said the service is “designed to support our customers in meeting the growing demand in Asia for both dry and reefer trades.” The three carriers will deploy a total of five vessels ranging between 4,000 TEUs and 5,000 TEUs, with the full rotation for the 35-day roundtrip voyage being Tianjin, Qingdao, Xiamen, Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya, Singapore and Tianjin. <h3>Surge in intra-Asia connectivity over past year </h3>The new service comes amid a year-over-year surge in intra-Asia connectivity, with double-digit increases in the number of services between China and key markets including Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. According to figures from transport consultancy MDS Transmodal, that includes an 18% gain, from 131 to 154, in the number of services between China and Vietnam from the second quarter of last year to the current quarter. The figures, compiled by MDS for the Journal of Commerce, also show a 14% increase, from 120 to 137, in the number of services between China and Singapore over the same period. Meanwhile, the number of services between China and Thailand is up 13% from 63 to 71, MDS data shows. There has been a commensurate increase in deployed capacity, with the biggest growth — 31% — on the China-Vietnam trade lane, according to MDS Transmodal. The launch of the new service coincides with an uptick in intra-Asia freight rates despite the market being oversupplied, Drewry said. “Rates are relatively strong, and we expect further increases in June,” Stijn Rubens, senior consultant for Drewry Supply Chain Advisors, said. “The strength we see on intra-Asia, as well as the increases we anticipate for June, are not owing to market strength, but rather due to spillover effects of the operational disruptions [on mainline trades].” The new service also continues a trend of mainline carriers teaming up with regional players on intra-Asia services. This year alone that includes Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport linking with Taiwanese feeder operator Interasia Lines and Hong Kong-listed TS Lines to launch a Japan-Taiwan-China-Vietnam service; Ocean Network Express partnering with Indonesian carrier Samudera Shipping Line on an extended Thailand-India-Gulf (TIG) service; and Evergreen Marine teaming with Wan Hai Lines, Thailand’s Regional Container Lines and Singapore-based Bengal Tiger Line on a Vietnam-Thailand-East Coast India service. Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>. </div>

HMM has teamed up with Singapore’s Pacific International Lines and X-Press Feeders to launch a weekly North China-Singapore-Indonesia service beginning next month as part of a wider plan by HMM to expand its network beyond its core long-haul services. The new China-Singapore-Indonesia service will be inaugurated from Tianjin on June 19, Seoul-based HMM said in a statement Monday, adding the loop would enhance its “competitiveness in the Indonesian market and strengthen feeder connectivity to ... long-haul trades.” Surendran Mathilagath, general manager for Pacific International Lines’ intra-Asia services, said the service is “designed to support our customers in meeting the growing demand in Asia for both dry and reefer trades.” The three carriers will deploy a total of five vessels ranging between 4,000 TEUs and 5,000 TEUs, with the full rotation for the 35-day roundtrip voyage being Tianjin, Qingdao, Xiamen, Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya, Singapore and Tianjin. Surge in intra-Asia connectivity over past year The new service comes amid a year-over-year surge in intra-Asia connectivity, with double-digit increases in the number of services between China and key markets including Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. According to figures from transport consultancy MDS Transmodal, that includes an 18% gain, from 131 to 154, in the number of services between China and Vietnam from the second quarter of last year to the current quarter. The figures, compiled by MDS for the Journal of Commerce, also show a 14% increase, from 120 to 137, in the number of services between China and Singapore over the same period. Meanwhile, the number of services between China and Thailand is up 13% from 63 to 71, MDS data shows. There has been a commensurate increase in deployed capacity, with the biggest growth — 31% — on the China-Vietnam trade lane, according to MDS Transmodal. The launch of the new service coincides with an uptick in intra-Asia freight rates despite the market being oversupplied, Drewry said. “Rates are relatively strong, and we expect further increases in June,” Stijn Rubens, senior consultant for Drewry Supply Chain Advisors, said. “The strength we see on intra-Asia, as well as the increases we anticipate for June, are not owing to market strength, but rather due to spillover effects of the operational disruptions [on mainline trades].” The new service also continues a trend of mainline carriers teaming up with regional players on intra-Asia services. This year alone that includes Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport linking with Taiwanese feeder operator Interasia Lines and Hong Kong-listed TS Lines to launch a Japan-Taiwan-China-Vietnam service; Ocean Network Express partnering with Indonesian carrier Samudera Shipping Line on an extended Thailand-India-Gulf (TIG) service; and Evergreen Marine teaming with Wan Hai Lines, Thailand’s Regional Container Lines and Singapore-based Bengal Tiger Line on a Vietnam-Thailand-East Coast India service. Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Container Shipping News

HMM adds to boom in intra-Asia services with China-Singapore-Indonesia loop

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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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Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

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