<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">LONDON - The European Union's last bastion of state monopoly and protection has crumbled after the r</div>

LONDON - The European Union's last bastion of state monopoly and protection has crumbled after the r

<div>LONDON - The European Union's last bastion of state monopoly and protection has crumbled after the rail industry finally won the freedom to run freight trains across the 15-nation bloc after a decade long regulatory dog fight. That's the theory. In reality, the deregulation that came into effect on March 15, removing cross border restrictions that stunted the growth of a seamless continental rail freight system, will do little to reverse the industry's long term decline unless the state-owned operators boost service standards and cut costs to lure shippers away from trucks and fledgling private operators are given the freedom...

LONDON - The European Union's last bastion of state monopoly and protection has crumbled after the rail industry finally won the freedom to run freight trains across the 15-nation bloc after a decade long regulatory dog fight. That's the theory. In reality, the deregulation that came into effect on March 15, removing cross border restrictions that stunted the growth of a seamless continental rail freight system, will do little to reverse the industry's long term decline unless the state-owned operators boost service standards and cut costs to lure shippers away from trucks and fledgling private operators are given the freedom to compete across the network. The omens aren't good. For a start, many EU countries haven't transcribed the new market-opening measures into national law more than a year after they were agreed to in Brussels. And France, as expected, is engaging in guerrilla warfare: its rail unions walked off the job to protest deregulation, the government sacked the head of state-owned SNCF's freight unit and succeeded in getting the next round of liberalization delayed. The EU's transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio says the commission will take legal action against recalcitrant member states but nobody thinks this will make a jot of difference. The protectionist lobby has less and less to protect. Rail's share of the EU's freight market plummeted from over 20 percent in 1970 to under 8 percent today compared with 40 percent in the US. And the industry remains a basket case, with passenger and cargo services soaking up over $30 billion a year in government handouts, making it the most protected sector after agriculture. Rail's stubborn resistance to market forces stands in sharp contrast to the deregulation of other previously immovable monopoly sectors from mail, which spawned global logistics players like Germany's Deutsche Post World Net and TPG of the Netherlands, to telecoms, and even gas and electricity utilities. Even the featherbedded airline business has been weaned off subsidies and protection leading to the bankruptcy of Belgium's Sabena, the first European-flag carrier to go belly-up. Rail's failure is all the more inexplicable given the pent-up demand for its services from shippers who long for an alternative to a straining road system which faces gridlock within 10 to 15 years if trucking continues to boost its market share beyond the current 70 percent. Inland shipping has made inroads into the market, particularly on the River Rhine where traffic to and from Rotterdam tops 1 million containers a year, but its capacity is limited. Rail is also a political favorite but it has failed to cash in on a raft of anti-truck measures including weekend bans on road transport. Rail's failure can be traced to union intransigence to change but the real culprit is a lack of "can-do" culture among managers who behave more like civil servants than businessmen.. Cross-border traffic also has been stymied by technical obstacles including different national voltages, safety systems and non-compatible locomotives which require crew changes at every border crossing, a process than can idle trains for as much as eight hours or more. When international trains do cross borders they are given lower priority than local passenger services making scheduling extremely difficult and competition with just-in-time trucking shipments almost impossible. But March 15 shouldn't be dismissed altogether as it will certainly provide opportunities to small, privately-owned operators eager to break into new markets and to the clutch of state-owned operators led by Germany's Deutsche Bahn, Europe's largest railway, which are finessing business models to survive and prosper from deregulation. Deregulation has arrived early in large swaths of the EU, from Britain where rail freight is entirely in private ownership, to the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. France, Belgium and Luxembourg are still resisting, slowing progress not only in their home markets but in neighboring countries whose cross-border rail services must travel over their tracks. The state monopolies are fighting a rearguard action, hatching incestuous cross-border alliances to stave off competition from brash newcomers. Mattias Raith, general manager of Rail4Chem, a private German operator serving the chemicals industry, likens them to " elderly boxers embracing one another in the ring because they both know they are at the end of their careers." Companies like Rail4Chem and Short Lines, a Rotterdam-based operator, are held up by the EU as proof that deregulation does work. Short Lines, which was set up in 1988, is a $15 million business transporting 230,000 containers a year. Rail4Chem has revenues of around $25 million but that represents a German market share of just 2 percent. But deregulation is expected to spur the private sector with shipping lines and shippers setting up their own operations. Europe Rail Shuttle, owned by Maersk Sealand and P&O Nedlloyd, has fought through the regulatory thicket to become a major player on the rail container routes out of Rotterdam into the European hinterland and rivals likely will attempt to replicate their success. Shippers have been encouraged by the success of Ikea, the giant furniture retailer, which last year became the first company to run its own rail operation - a shuttle between a plant in its native southern Sweden to a distribution hub in the German inland port of Duisburg. It has realistic ambitions to create a pan-European transport network, an experiment that's being closely followed by other companies yearning to break free from trucking or underperforming rail services. Shippers could hold the key to the revival of rail freight by shifting their business to private rail companies that can offer lower tariffs and higher service standards than the state railways they are forced to use at present. Philippe Armengaud, logistics chief of Arcelor, the pan-European steel giant that spends over $1 billion a year on rail transport, says rail freight must undergo a "cultural revolution" like that which shook up the steel business three decades ago. "Nothing will change until shippers help to tear down the walls", according to Rail4Chem's Raith. It isn't too late for rail to fight back as the freight market shows no signs of slowing down: North European container traffic likely will double to nearly 70 million TEUs by 2015 according to Ocean Shipping Consultants, a British consultancy. Rail transport will get a massive marketing boost in a few years with the opening of a $5 billion dedicated freight-only track linking the giant container terminals in Rotterdam to the German network. But nobody's betting his shirt the industry will seize the opportunity and launch the long-delayed counter offensive against trucks.

Euro View: Can rail see green signal?

<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.

Feature image

<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

Container lines

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

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Marseille-based carrier has finalized operational plans to shift vessels deployed on its MEDEX service back to the normal sailing journey through the Suez Canal beginning next month, sources say. </div>

The Marseille-based carrier has finalized operational plans to shift vessels deployed on its MEDEX service back to the normal sailing journey through the Suez Canal beginning next month, sources say.

<div class="phx-topic">CMA CGM appears to be the first carrier among mainline heavyweights making a firm bid to return to the traditional — and significantly shorter — Suez Canal route that remains a tricky proposition for the industry despite recent reports of a de-escalation of hostilities in the Red Sea. The Marseille-based carrier has finalized operational plans to shift vessels deployed on its India-Middle East-Mediterranean service, named the MEDEX, back to the normal sailing journey through the Suez beginning next month, new schedule data obtained by the Journal of Commerce from industry sources reveals. The first vessel marking the routing change will be the CMA CGM Palleas, departing India’s Nhava Sheva Port on June 7 and transiting the Suez June 28. That sailing will be followed by the CMA CGM Nabucco and CMA CGM Titus, due to transit the Suez on July 5 and July 12, respectively, sources say. The weekly MEDEX deploys a fleet of 10 CMA CGM ships, with Cosco Shipping co-loading on the service through slot charter rights that sources put at approximately 1,000 TEUs per week out of the Indian region, including Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port. Sources at CMA CGM and Cosco in India who spoke with the Journal of Commerce confirmed the resumption of the Suez rotation for the MEDEX service. “This is a permanent shift as of now,” said a consortium executive who didn’t want to be identified. With the recent omission of Karachi Port (Pakistan), the MEDEX now rotates Khalifa Port, Jebel Ali, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Jeddah, Piraeus, Malta, Genoa, Fos-sur-Mer, Barcelona, Valencia, Jeddah and Khalifa. The MEDEX Suez return comes on the heels of the Egyptian canal authority doling out a 15% discount on container ship transit fees for 90 days from May 15. And it comes just weeks after <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/apparent-houthi-ceasefire-raises-container-shipping-overcapacity-risk-5999930">US President Donald Trump said Houthi militants operating from Yemen had agreed to stop their 18-month-long series of attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea</a>. The attacks have forced ocean carriers to divert around southern Africa since late 2023, adding time and cost to their voyages. Despite CMA CGM’s apparent return to the Suez, the route is still viewed as a risk by other major liners. <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-houthi-ceasefire-claim-not-sufficient-for-carrier-return-to-red-sea-maersk-6001686">Maersk has ruled out a return to Red Sea transits this year</a>, saying Trump’s announcement about the Houthis standing down was still “pretty far” from the threshold that would make the carrier comfortable in resuming Suez transits. Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com</a>. </div>

CMA CGM appears to be the first carrier among mainline heavyweights making a firm bid to return to the traditional — and significantly shorter — Suez Canal route that remains a tricky proposition for the industry despite recent reports of a de-escalation of hostilities in the Red Sea. The Marseille-based carrier has finalized operational plans to shift vessels deployed on its India-Middle East-Mediterranean service, named the MEDEX, back to the normal sailing journey through the Suez beginning next month, new schedule data obtained by the Journal of Commerce from industry sources reveals. The first vessel marking the routing change will be the CMA CGM Palleas, departing India’s Nhava Sheva Port on June 7 and transiting the Suez June 28. That sailing will be followed by the CMA CGM Nabucco and CMA CGM Titus, due to transit the Suez on July 5 and July 12, respectively, sources say. The weekly MEDEX deploys a fleet of 10 CMA CGM ships, with Cosco Shipping co-loading on the service through slot charter rights that sources put at approximately 1,000 TEUs per week out of the Indian region, including Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port. Sources at CMA CGM and Cosco in India who spoke with the Journal of Commerce confirmed the resumption of the Suez rotation for the MEDEX service. “This is a permanent shift as of now,” said a consortium executive who didn’t want to be identified. With the recent omission of Karachi Port (Pakistan), the MEDEX now rotates Khalifa Port, Jebel Ali, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Jeddah, Piraeus, Malta, Genoa, Fos-sur-Mer, Barcelona, Valencia, Jeddah and Khalifa. The MEDEX Suez return comes on the heels of the Egyptian canal authority doling out a 15% discount on container ship transit fees for 90 days from May 15. And it comes just weeks after US President Donald Trump said Houthi militants operating from Yemen had agreed to stop their 18-month-long series of attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea . The attacks have forced ocean carriers to divert around southern Africa since late 2023, adding time and cost to their voyages. Despite CMA CGM’s apparent return to the Suez, the route is still viewed as a risk by other major liners. Maersk has ruled out a return to Red Sea transits this year , saying Trump’s announcement about the Houthis standing down was still “pretty far” from the threshold that would make the carrier comfortable in resuming Suez transits. Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com .

Asia-Europe

CMA CGM unveils plans for Suez return on India-Mediterranean service

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The widely used forwarding software platform has long been acquisitive, but its pending purchase of logistics and planning platform E2open represents a new foray into shipper-focused technology.</div>

The widely used forwarding software platform has long been acquisitive, but its pending purchase of logistics and planning platform E2open represents a new foray into shipper-focused technology.

<div class="phx-topic">Logistics software vendor WiseTech Global on Sunday announced the largest acquisition of its multiyear buying spree in scooping up E2open for $2.1 billion, deepening its reach into core transportation and trade compliance for shippers. The long-rumored deal — WiseTech’s largest to date — will be funded through debt and values E2open at $3.30 per share. It is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2026. The Australia-based company, which most of the world’s top 25 forwarders use for either transportation management, trade compliance or accounting, has been extending its reach in the past few years. Most notably, the <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/wisetech-continues-acquisition-campaign-with-414-million-blume-purchase-5227167">2023 acquisitions of Blume Global</a> and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/wisetech-makes-us-drayage-play-with-acquisition-of-envase-5203235">Envase Technologies</a>, for a combined $644 million, gave WiseTech reach into the US domestic drayage and intermodal markets. Buying E2open gives WiseTech an array of products catering primarily to shippers, including transportation management, global trade management, supply chain planning, ocean freight booking, and supplier collaboration tools. E2open was founded in the early 2000s by a consortium of high-tech electronics manufacturers to create an electronic supply chain planning exchange with suppliers that all its members could leverage. E2open has, similar to WiseTech, grown over the years through a series of acquisitions, the most transformative of which was its <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/e2open-acquires-blujay-solutions-for-17-billion-5249821">2021 purchase of BluJay Solutions</a> for $1.7 billion. BluJay, itself the combination of trade compliance specialist Kewill and transportation management system vendor Lean Logistics, bolstered E2open’s reach with shippers outside of the manufacturing realm and allowed it to access forwarders as customers for the first time. That deal came after E2open completed a sequence of acquisitions that expanded its reach from <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/e2open-builds-container-shipping-beachhead-5208598">supply chain planning to logistics</a>, including global trade management and visibility provider <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/amber-road-expands-e2open-global-trade-reach-amid-tensions-5221971">Amber Road in 2019 for $425 million</a> and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/inttra-to-be-acquired-by-manufacturer-focused-software-provider-5227321">ocean freight booking platform INTTRA in 2018</a> for an undisclosed amount. <h3>Flagging demand </h3>Amid all this, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/public-market-headwinds-buffet-e2opens-acquisition-led-growth-5243046">E2open struggled to fulfill the promise of its amassed solutions</a>, turning to a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in 2021 to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/e2open-relists-on-nyse-to-bolster-long-term-capital-needs-5250801">retake the company public</a>. The <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/e2open-going-back-to-public-markets-after-spac-deal-5194790">SPAC deal in 2021</a> valued E2open at $2.6 billion, a 19% premium over what WiseTech has acquired it for this week, a sign of flagging demand for its products. E2open’s most recent financial statement, for its quarter ending Feb. 28, saw revenue decline 1% year over year, to $133 million, and gross profit decrease 4.8%, to $76.6 million. WiseTech — publicly traded on the Australian stock exchange — has had its own storm to weather over the past year, as founder, former CEO and current executive chairman Richard White has battled a series of personal scandals. White said in a statement Monday the E2open deal “will enable WiseTech to create a multi-sided marketplace that connects all trade and logistics stakeholders to efficiently offer and acquire services, removing complex disconnected processes and driving visibility, predictability and cost savings through the value chain.” WiseTech’s interest in E2open bubbled up in early 2025, dovetailing with comments White made to the Journal of Commerce two years earlier about eventually building <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/logistics-software-helping-blur-lines-between-forwarder-shipper-processes-wisetech-ceo-5215825">a platform that catered to shippers</a> as well as logistics services providers. How this move impacts WiseTech’s existing relationships with forwarders, who ostensibly use WiseTech’s flagship product CargoWise One to serve shippers customers, is not yet clear. WiseTech has a long history of acquiring solutions providers — everything from freight rate management tools for forwarders to a stream of region-specific trade compliance technology vendors to, more recently, products addressing automation, data extraction and electronic bill of lading creation. And WiseTech is likely not done. The debt facility raised to fund the E2open deal is $3 billion, meaning the company has nearly $1 billion more for future acquisitions. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Logistics software vendor WiseTech Global on Sunday announced the largest acquisition of its multiyear buying spree in scooping up E2open for $2.1 billion, deepening its reach into core transportation and trade compliance for shippers. The long-rumored deal — WiseTech’s largest to date — will be funded through debt and values E2open at $3.30 per share. It is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2026. The Australia-based company, which most of the world’s top 25 forwarders use for either transportation management, trade compliance or accounting, has been extending its reach in the past few years. Most notably, the 2023 acquisitions of Blume Global and Envase Technologies , for a combined $644 million, gave WiseTech reach into the US domestic drayage and intermodal markets. Buying E2open gives WiseTech an array of products catering primarily to shippers, including transportation management, global trade management, supply chain planning, ocean freight booking, and supplier collaboration tools. E2open was founded in the early 2000s by a consortium of high-tech electronics manufacturers to create an electronic supply chain planning exchange with suppliers that all its members could leverage. E2open has, similar to WiseTech, grown over the years through a series of acquisitions, the most transformative of which was its 2021 purchase of BluJay Solutions for $1.7 billion. BluJay, itself the combination of trade compliance specialist Kewill and transportation management system vendor Lean Logistics, bolstered E2open’s reach with shippers outside of the manufacturing realm and allowed it to access forwarders as customers for the first time. That deal came after E2open completed a sequence of acquisitions that expanded its reach from supply chain planning to logistics , including global trade management and visibility provider Amber Road in 2019 for $425 million and ocean freight booking platform INTTRA in 2018 for an undisclosed amount. Flagging demand Amid all this, E2open struggled to fulfill the promise of its amassed solutions , turning to a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in 2021 to retake the company public . The SPAC deal in 2021 valued E2open at $2.6 billion, a 19% premium over what WiseTech has acquired it for this week, a sign of flagging demand for its products. E2open’s most recent financial statement, for its quarter ending Feb. 28, saw revenue decline 1% year over year, to $133 million, and gross profit decrease 4.8%, to $76.6 million. WiseTech — publicly traded on the Australian stock exchange — has had its own storm to weather over the past year, as founder, former CEO and current executive chairman Richard White has battled a series of personal scandals. White said in a statement Monday the E2open deal “will enable WiseTech to create a multi-sided marketplace that connects all trade and logistics stakeholders to efficiently offer and acquire services, removing complex disconnected processes and driving visibility, predictability and cost savings through the value chain.” WiseTech’s interest in E2open bubbled up in early 2025, dovetailing with comments White made to the Journal of Commerce two years earlier about eventually building a platform that catered to shippers as well as logistics services providers. How this move impacts WiseTech’s existing relationships with forwarders, who ostensibly use WiseTech’s flagship product CargoWise One to serve shippers customers, is not yet clear. WiseTech has a long history of acquiring solutions providers — everything from freight rate management tools for forwarders to a stream of region-specific trade compliance technology vendors to, more recently, products addressing automation, data extraction and electronic bill of lading creation. And WiseTech is likely not done. The debt facility raised to fund the E2open deal is $3 billion, meaning the company has nearly $1 billion more for future acquisitions. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Supply chain

Logistics Technology News

WiseTech notches biggest acquisition with $2.1 billion deal for E2open

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Gov. Gavin Newsom says a Senate vote that appears to be the first step in killing California’s stringent emissions standards is “illegal” and will be challenged in court.</div>

Gov. Gavin Newsom says a Senate vote that appears to be the first step in killing California’s stringent emissions standards is “illegal” and will be challenged in court.

<div class="phx-topic">California will take legal action to overturn a party-line vote in the US Senate that killed a federal waiver allowing the state to set its own emissions standards for cars that are tougher than national standards. “This Senate vote is illegal. Republicans went around their own parliamentarian to defy decades of precedent,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement after Thursday’s 51-44 Senate vote. “We won’t stand by as Trump Republicans make America smoggy again.” While that challenge is ongoing, the Senate is likely to next target California’s electric truck mandates and diesel emissions rules, meaning Thursday’s vote was just the first of three taking aim at California’s stringent emissions standards. The second and third resolutions would seek to overturn waivers for California’s electric truck mandate and tighter controls on diesel truck emissions. The state wants all drayage trucks to be “zero-emissions” trucks by 2035 and all medium- and heavy-duty trucks by 2045. The US House of Representatives approved all three resolutions attacking the Golden State’s vehicle emissions and clean air programs on April 30. Congress is trying to revoke the federal waivers allowing California to set its own standards — authorized under the Clean Air Act — using the Congressional Review Act (CRA). However, the Government Accountability Office and Senate Parliamentarian both advised that use of the CRA in this case is illegal; Republicans in Congress say it is legal. That opens the door for lawsuits challenging the overturning of these three waivers. <h3>‘Foolish vote’ </h3>The Senate’s action also brought quick responses from California’s clean air regulatory agency. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) said in a statement it “profoundly disagrees with [Thursday’s] unconstitutional illegal and foolish vote attempting to undermine critical clean air protections.” “California will pursue every available remedy to challenge these actions and defend our right to protect the public from dangerous air pollution,” said Liane Randolph, CARB’s chairman. “Turning the clock back on both cleaner combustion engine requirements and zero-emission technology is an attack on clean air.” The Senate’s action will have no immediate impact on the ongoing efforts of drayage operators to tap into grant money that has been provided by sources such as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association, told the Journal of Commerce Friday. The grant money is used by drayage operators to purchase zero-emission trucks, as well as for the development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor area, Schrap said. “There’s a ton of grant money out there,” he said. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for the past three years have been helping to fund a <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/la-lb-ports-investing-25-million-in-charging-infrastructure-for-electric-trucks-5192220">clean truck program</a> by charging $10 per TEU on loaded containers hauled to and from their marine terminals. The California Trucking Association (CTA), which represents trucking companies throughout the state, said in a statement Friday that truckers have responded to the nation’s toughest environmental regulations by “reducing emissions by over 99%.” But the Senate’s action effectively resets the discussion, which, moving forward, “must be grounded in reality, [must] consider affordability and be focused on the achievable rather than the aspirational,” CTA said. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at <a href="mailto:bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com">bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com</a>.Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

California will take legal action to overturn a party-line vote in the US Senate that killed a federal waiver allowing the state to set its own emissions standards for cars that are tougher than national standards. “This Senate vote is illegal. Republicans went around their own parliamentarian to defy decades of precedent,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement after Thursday’s 51-44 Senate vote. “We won’t stand by as Trump Republicans make America smoggy again.” While that challenge is ongoing, the Senate is likely to next target California’s electric truck mandates and diesel emissions rules, meaning Thursday’s vote was just the first of three taking aim at California’s stringent emissions standards. The second and third resolutions would seek to overturn waivers for California’s electric truck mandate and tighter controls on diesel truck emissions. The state wants all drayage trucks to be “zero-emissions” trucks by 2035 and all medium- and heavy-duty trucks by 2045. The US House of Representatives approved all three resolutions attacking the Golden State’s vehicle emissions and clean air programs on April 30. Congress is trying to revoke the federal waivers allowing California to set its own standards — authorized under the Clean Air Act — using the Congressional Review Act (CRA). However, the Government Accountability Office and Senate Parliamentarian both advised that use of the CRA in this case is illegal; Republicans in Congress say it is legal. That opens the door for lawsuits challenging the overturning of these three waivers. ‘Foolish vote’ The Senate’s action also brought quick responses from California’s clean air regulatory agency. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) said in a statement it “profoundly disagrees with [Thursday’s] unconstitutional illegal and foolish vote attempting to undermine critical clean air protections.” “California will pursue every available remedy to challenge these actions and defend our right to protect the public from dangerous air pollution,” said Liane Randolph, CARB’s chairman. “Turning the clock back on both cleaner combustion engine requirements and zero-emission technology is an attack on clean air.” The Senate’s action will have no immediate impact on the ongoing efforts of drayage operators to tap into grant money that has been provided by sources such as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association, told the Journal of Commerce Friday. The grant money is used by drayage operators to purchase zero-emission trucks, as well as for the development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor area, Schrap said. “There’s a ton of grant money out there,” he said. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for the past three years have been helping to fund a clean truck program by charging $10 per TEU on loaded containers hauled to and from their marine terminals. The California Trucking Association (CTA), which represents trucking companies throughout the state, said in a statement Friday that truckers have responded to the nation’s toughest environmental regulations by “reducing emissions by over 99%.” But the Senate’s action effectively resets the discussion, which, moving forward, “must be grounded in reality, [must] consider affordability and be focused on the achievable rather than the aspirational,” CTA said. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com .Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

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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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