<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Horizon Lines agreed to plead guilty and will pay $45 million in fines for antitrust violations in the Puerto Rico trade.</div>

Horizon Lines agreed to plead guilty and will pay $45 million in fines for antitrust violations in the Puerto Rico trade.

<div>Horizon Lines agreed to plead guilty and will pay $45 million in fines for antitrust violations in the Puerto Rico trade. The carrier also announced management changes, including the retirement of longtime CEO Charles G. Raymond, and said it is asking lenders to waive a default judgment arising from the guilty plea. The plea agreement with the Justice Department states that Horizon won't face additional charges related to the Puerto Rico trade and will not be charged with antitrust violations in the Alaska trade. The Justice Department indicated Horizon, the largest U.S. domestic ocean carrier, is not the subject or...

Horizon Lines agreed to plead guilty and will pay $45 million in fines for antitrust violations in the Puerto Rico trade. The carrier also announced management changes, including the retirement of longtime CEO Charles G. Raymond, and said it is asking lenders to waive a default judgment arising from the guilty plea. The plea agreement with the Justice Department states that Horizon won't face additional charges related to the Puerto Rico trade and will not be charged with antitrust violations in the Alaska trade. The Justice Department indicated Horizon, the largest U.S. domestic ocean carrier, is not the subject or target of any DOJ investigation in the Hawaii or Guam trades. Horizon said the Justice Department also agreed not to bring criminal charges against any current director or officer of Horizon, but that the agreement did not extend to Raymond or John V. Keenan, executive vice president. Raymond, 67, is retiring after 45 years with Horizon and its predecessor company Sea-Land Service. Keenan has been granted a leave of absence, Horizon said. Alex J. Mandl, a former chairman and CEO of Sea-Land, will become chairman. Stephen H. Frazer will become interim president and CEO. Brian W. Taylor, currently chief commercial officer, will take on the additional duties of chief operating officer. Michael T. Avara will be promoted from senior vice president and chief financial officer to executive vice president and chief financial officer. The changes are effective March 11. "Chuck Raymond and John Keenan are highly regarded veterans of the industry and have made tremendous contributions to our company over their decades of services," said William J. Flynn, the Horizon board's lead independent director. "Both have been instrumental in the growth of the company and steered it through recent challenges presented by the global economic recession and the Department of Justice investigation." Three former officials of Horizon and two from Sea Star Line pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges related to a federal investigation of antitrust violations in the Puerto Rico trade. The criminal investigation was followed by dozens of shippers' civil antitrust lawsuits that later were consolidated into a class action in San Juan. Horizon, Sea Star and Crowley Maritime agreed to settle the civil cases for a total of $53.25 million. "We have taken major steps to put the issues in the Puerto Rico trade lane behind us and are working diligently to resolve the civil litigation arising out of the DOJ investigation as it relates to Puerto Rico," Avara said. "These steps include reaching a settlement with the plaintiffs in the direct-purchaser Puerto Rico class-action antitrust cases. As part of this process, Wal-Mart recently released us from antitrust claims related to the Puerto Rico trade lane." Wal-Mart was one of numerous shippers who opted out of the class-action settlement, a move that freed them to pursue their own settlements with the carriers. In a separate case, Horizon said it entered a $1.8 million settlement with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and attorneys representing indirect purchasers of goods carried by shippers who allegedly paid inflated prices for goods moved by carriers that engaged in price-fixing between 2002 and 2008. The carrier said it was trying to amend its current credit agreement to overcome a default triggered by the $45 million judgment in the antitrust case. "The company also is requesting, by early March, relief from anticipated future financial covenant noncompliance, as it seeks new long-term financing," Avara said. "Horizon Lines and its advisors are engaging in constructive discussions with lenders to identify the best refinancing options for our company," Avara said. "We are working closely with our lenders and targeting completion of the refinancing process in the second or third quarter." Horizon's $45 million fine is payable over five years: $1 million within 30 days of court sentencing, $1 million a year later, $3 million on the second anniversary, $5 million on the third anniversary, $15 million on the fourth anniversary and $20 million on the fifth anniversary. -- Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com .

Maritime

Container lines

Forwarding

Horizon Pleads Guilty, to Pay $45 Million

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The loss of An-124 heavy-lift air capacity will force a modal shift to ocean or a reduction in cargo sizes to fit into smaller craft, experts say.</div>

The loss of An-124 heavy-lift air capacity will force a modal shift to ocean or a reduction in cargo sizes to fit into smaller craft, experts say.

Feature image

<div class="phx-topic">The clock is ticking on the medium-term availability of aircraft for heavy-lift cargoes, with soaring demand clashing with an aging specialized fleet and no clear path to replacing assets. Consensus among specialists in the sector is that the current An-124, while capable of life-extending modifications, has a finite lifespan. The An-124 is the world’s heaviest gross weight production cargo airplane currently operating. Luís Branco, managing director of project freight forwarder L Branco Lda, questioned the future of these heavy-lift air cargo workhorses. “Their life can be extended, but there will be some point in time when there can be no more extensions,” he said.Replacing these giants is a monumental task. “It costs not only millions to develop them, but years to design and then you need to find someone to finance it,” Branco added. Ruslan Bykovets, head of air transportation at Ukraine-based Antonov Airlines, operator of seven An-124s, said that the first of those aircraft will reach the end of its operational life in 2034. Bykovets told the Journal of Commerce that Antonov is working on a modernization program that will add 10 more years to their working life.However, Ritesh Nair, head of projects at project cargo forwarder Rhenus Projects, acknowledged the modernization program was just a “soft stop-gap arrangement.”International sanctions applied against Russia in response to its 2022 invasion of Ukraine have exacerbated the heavy-lift aircraft availability problem. “When sanctions were applied to Russia in 2022 the number of available fleet on the market dropped 60%,” Bykovets said. That dramatic reduction, coupled with rising demand, has inevitably led to higher air charter rates. <h3>Financiers and builders needed</h3>Market experts raise the question of who will build the next generation of heavy-lift aircraft, ruling out manufacturers such as Boeing or Airbus. Without new investment, Bykovets said heavy air freight cargoes will either need to be sent by sea — with much longer transit times — or cargoes will need to be dismantled to fit into 747s or 777s. However, he said the latter is not an option for extra heavy cargo, such as transformers or refinery station engines.When the An-124s were first manufactured, they were funded by the government for military purposes. “Any entrepreneur today would be a little skeptical about laying out so much money, so a government agency has to step in to be able to fund these,” Nair said. In the face of those challenges, he said “out of the box solutions” could be explored, such as cargo going “to where the aircraft is” instead of the other way around. Nair also championed consolidation. “Most of the charters that are happening are full charters, and a lot of space gets wasted,” he said. “So, can a couple of forwarders or even Antonov entertain other inquiries, bring two cargoes together and flying them out?”But Bykovets said that would not be feasible as each chartered An-124 flight is a unique project, noting that adding another piece of heavy-lift cargo to the same flight would mean "twice the amount of people needed to load it." Clients paying $1.5 million for a full charter would not want third-party cargo included in their chartered aircraft, he added. Despite the challenges, demand for heavy-lift air cargo remains robust. Bykovets identified military assets as the top cargo, followed by aerospace, adding that “the numbers of aerospace cargo has increased five times since COVID.” He said that oil and gas-linked air freight demand is starting to grow again, while heavy-lift air cargoes for the power market are also on the rise.Contact Carly Fields at <a href="mailto:carly.fields@spglobal.com">carly.fields@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

The clock is ticking on the medium-term availability of aircraft for heavy-lift cargoes, with soaring demand clashing with an aging specialized fleet and no clear path to replacing assets. Consensus among specialists in the sector is that the current An-124, while capable of life-extending modifications, has a finite lifespan. The An-124 is the world’s heaviest gross weight production cargo airplane currently operating. Luís Branco, managing director of project freight forwarder L Branco Lda, questioned the future of these heavy-lift air cargo workhorses. “Their life can be extended, but there will be some point in time when there can be no more extensions,” he said. Replacing these giants is a monumental task. “It costs not only millions to develop them, but years to design and then you need to find someone to finance it,” Branco added. Ruslan Bykovets, head of air transportation at Ukraine-based Antonov Airlines, operator of seven An-124s, said that the first of those aircraft will reach the end of its operational life in 2034. Bykovets told the Journal of Commerce that Antonov is working on a modernization program that will add 10 more years to their working life. However, Ritesh Nair, head of projects at project cargo forwarder Rhenus Projects, acknowledged the modernization program was just a “soft stop-gap arrangement.” International sanctions applied against Russia in response to its 2022 invasion of Ukraine have exacerbated the heavy-lift aircraft availability problem. “When sanctions were applied to Russia in 2022 the number of available fleet on the market dropped 60%,” Bykovets said. That dramatic reduction, coupled with rising demand, has inevitably led to higher air charter rates. Financiers and builders needed Market experts raise the question of who will build the next generation of heavy-lift aircraft, ruling out manufacturers such as Boeing or Airbus. Without new investment, Bykovets said heavy air freight cargoes will either need to be sent by sea — with much longer transit times — or cargoes will need to be dismantled to fit into 747s or 777s. However, he said the latter is not an option for extra heavy cargo, such as transformers or refinery station engines. When the An-124s were first manufactured, they were funded by the government for military purposes. “Any entrepreneur today would be a little skeptical about laying out so much money, so a government agency has to step in to be able to fund these,” Nair said. In the face of those challenges, he said “out of the box solutions” could be explored, such as cargo going “to where the aircraft is” instead of the other way around. Nair also championed consolidation. “Most of the charters that are happening are full charters, and a lot of space gets wasted,” he said. “So, can a couple of forwarders or even Antonov entertain other inquiries, bring two cargoes together and flying them out?” But Bykovets said that would not be feasible as each chartered An-124 flight is a unique project, noting that adding another piece of heavy-lift cargo to the same flight would mean "twice the amount of people needed to load it." Clients paying $1.5 million for a full charter would not want third-party cargo included in their chartered aircraft, he added. Despite the challenges, demand for heavy-lift air cargo remains robust. Bykovets identified military assets as the top cargo, followed by aerospace, adding that “the numbers of aerospace cargo has increased five times since COVID.” He said that oil and gas-linked air freight demand is starting to grow again, while heavy-lift air cargoes for the power market are also on the rise. Contact Carly Fields at carly.fields@spglobal.com .

Air Cargo

Heavy-haul transport

Project cargo

Breakbulk News

Market seeks to navigate medium-term cuts to heavy-lift air cargo capacity

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">OTR Capital argues DAT, the largest load board for truckload freight in North America, violated a non-compete clause when it acquired factoring company Outgo in May. </div>

OTR Capital argues DAT, the largest load board for truckload freight in North America, violated a non-compete clause when it acquired factoring company Outgo in May.

<div class="phx-topic">A court in Georgia has ordered DAT Freight &amp; Solutions to stop providing factoring service until a hearing can be held on whether DAT is violating a non-compete agreement with OTR Capital. DAT, the largest load board for truckload freight in North America, stressed that the June 10 order from the Superior Court of Cobb County is temporary. DAT is being sued by OTR. “We believe the suit is without merit and will defend ourselves vigorously,” DAT said in a statement Friday. “We are concerned that OTR’s actions directly impact the cash flow of our carrier customers,” it added. “Cash flow is the lifeblood of these small businesses, and any disruption to it can severely impede their operations.” Freight factoring is a financial service in which carriers sell their unpaid invoices to a third party that advances them the cash they are owed, generally in exchange for a single-digit percentage of the invoice amount. DAT has offered factoring services to its carrier customers since 2007 via external partnerships, most recently with OTR Solutions. DAT’s <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/dat-acquires-trucker-tools-in-move-to-reduce-load-board-driver-churn-5907848">acquisition of Outgo</a> last month led to the complaint from OTR. OTR Capital, a part of OTR Solutions, claimed the Outgo deal violated a non-compete clause in its agreement with DAT. In the June 10 ruling, Senior Judge Adele Grubbs ordered DAT not to compete with OTR through Outgo or any other factoring service. Grubbs also ordered DAT to cease providing any factoring services through Outgo. The order, issued in response to a request for emergency relief from OTR, lasts until a full hearing is held on the case. OTR, in a June 12 filing, claimed DAT has violated that order. “DAT has refused to expressly confirm that it has stopped providing all factoring services to its existing clients,” OTR said in the filing. The acquisition of Outgo is part of DAT’s efforts to expand its platform, grounded in truckload spot market load-matching. The acquisition was DAT’s second in six months, after it <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/dat-acquires-trucker-tools-in-move-to-reduce-load-board-driver-churn-5907848">acquired Trucker Tools</a>, a load visibility tool for brokers, in December. “As this is pending litigation, we have no further comment on the case itself at this time,” DAT said in its statement. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

A court in Georgia has ordered DAT Freight & Solutions to stop providing factoring service until a hearing can be held on whether DAT is violating a non-compete agreement with OTR Capital. DAT, the largest load board for truckload freight in North America, stressed that the June 10 order from the Superior Court of Cobb County is temporary. DAT is being sued by OTR. “We believe the suit is without merit and will defend ourselves vigorously,” DAT said in a statement Friday. “We are concerned that OTR’s actions directly impact the cash flow of our carrier customers,” it added. “Cash flow is the lifeblood of these small businesses, and any disruption to it can severely impede their operations.” Freight factoring is a financial service in which carriers sell their unpaid invoices to a third party that advances them the cash they are owed, generally in exchange for a single-digit percentage of the invoice amount. DAT has offered factoring services to its carrier customers since 2007 via external partnerships, most recently with OTR Solutions. DAT’s acquisition of Outgo last month led to the complaint from OTR. OTR Capital, a part of OTR Solutions, claimed the Outgo deal violated a non-compete clause in its agreement with DAT. In the June 10 ruling, Senior Judge Adele Grubbs ordered DAT not to compete with OTR through Outgo or any other factoring service. Grubbs also ordered DAT to cease providing any factoring services through Outgo. The order, issued in response to a request for emergency relief from OTR, lasts until a full hearing is held on the case. OTR, in a June 12 filing, claimed DAT has violated that order. “DAT has refused to expressly confirm that it has stopped providing all factoring services to its existing clients,” OTR said in the filing. The acquisition of Outgo is part of DAT’s efforts to expand its platform, grounded in truckload spot market load-matching. The acquisition was DAT’s second in six months, after it acquired Trucker Tools , a load visibility tool for brokers, in December. “As this is pending litigation, we have no further comment on the case itself at this time,” DAT said in its statement. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Trucking News

Logistics Technology News

Truckload

Surface

Court orders DAT to temporarily halt trucking factoring service

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">UP’s new protection program for high-value freight comes amid heightened concerns over cargo theft in the US and will cost users $100 per container.</div>

UP’s new protection program for high-value freight comes amid heightened concerns over cargo theft in the US and will cost users $100 per container.

<div class="phx-topic">Union Pacific Railroad (UP) will launch a new insurance program on July 1 offering shippers up to $250,000 in liability coverage against cargo theft, more than double the company’s existing protection. That additional protection, however, comes with tighter security requirements, more logistical planning, and added costs. UP’s so-called “High-Value Product” program comes amid heightened concerns over cargo theft in the US, a growing problem in the rail industry. Criminal networks have become <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/tpm25-bnsf-ceo-says-fighting-cargo-theft-requires-collective-effort-5956508">increasingly sophisticated</a>, sabotaging trains and signal systems, deploying counter-surveillance teams to detect law enforcement and drones, and obtaining insider details about the contents of individual containers, according to the Los Angeles Times. UP’s standard liability coverage is $100,000 per container. The new tier of coverage would bring the railroad in line with its chief rival, BNSF Railway, which already provides up to $250,000 in coverage for high-value goods. The enhanced coverage with UP will come at a cost — a surcharge of $100 per container. UP announced the new insurance program via a policy change posted on <a href="https://www.up.com/customers/announcements/premium/policyandprograms/PR2025-41.html">its website</a>; the railroad did not respond to a request for comment about the program from the Journal of Commerce. High-value cargo carried by railroads is often loaded in the bottom well of a double-stack train, where the container doors are positioned flush against the steel frame of the railcar and topped with another container. It is unclear, however, whether all of UP’s “High-Value Product” freight will be placed in the bottom well. <h3>Extra work for shippers </h3>To qualify for the $250,000 in coverage, shippers must use a special commodity code for high-value cargo that charges a higher per-container fee. They are also expressly prohibited from using plastic seals on their freight, and instead must use specialized high-security locks and theft-deterrent barrier seals that go around the container door. Customers must also include the pin number for the seal in the paperwork filed with UP and take digital, date-stamped photographs showing the container number, seal application and lock with its unique identification number visible. BNSF Railway does not require specialized locks and theft-deterrent seals as part of its $250,000 liability program. It charges $80 per container for the higher-cost policy. In general, while shippers and intermodal marketing companies support enhanced efforts to combat cargo theft, some have raised concerns about the logistics of reusing high-security locks and barrier seals. For instance, if a shipper sends a container from Los Angeles to Chicago using a specialized locking device, it is unclear how that hardware would be returned to Southern California for reuse, or who would bear the costs involved. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Union Pacific Railroad (UP) will launch a new insurance program on July 1 offering shippers up to $250,000 in liability coverage against cargo theft, more than double the company’s existing protection. That additional protection, however, comes with tighter security requirements, more logistical planning, and added costs. UP’s so-called “High-Value Product” program comes amid heightened concerns over cargo theft in the US, a growing problem in the rail industry. Criminal networks have become increasingly sophisticated , sabotaging trains and signal systems, deploying counter-surveillance teams to detect law enforcement and drones, and obtaining insider details about the contents of individual containers, according to the Los Angeles Times. UP’s standard liability coverage is $100,000 per container. The new tier of coverage would bring the railroad in line with its chief rival, BNSF Railway, which already provides up to $250,000 in coverage for high-value goods. The enhanced coverage with UP will come at a cost — a surcharge of $100 per container. UP announced the new insurance program via a policy change posted on its website ; the railroad did not respond to a request for comment about the program from the Journal of Commerce. High-value cargo carried by railroads is often loaded in the bottom well of a double-stack train, where the container doors are positioned flush against the steel frame of the railcar and topped with another container. It is unclear, however, whether all of UP’s “High-Value Product” freight will be placed in the bottom well. Extra work for shippers To qualify for the $250,000 in coverage, shippers must use a special commodity code for high-value cargo that charges a higher per-container fee. They are also expressly prohibited from using plastic seals on their freight, and instead must use specialized high-security locks and theft-deterrent barrier seals that go around the container door. Customers must also include the pin number for the seal in the paperwork filed with UP and take digital, date-stamped photographs showing the container number, seal application and lock with its unique identification number visible. BNSF Railway does not require specialized locks and theft-deterrent seals as part of its $250,000 liability program. It charges $80 per container for the higher-cost policy. In general, while shippers and intermodal marketing companies support enhanced efforts to combat cargo theft, some have raised concerns about the logistics of reusing high-security locks and barrier seals. For instance, if a shipper sends a container from Los Angeles to Chicago using a specialized locking device, it is unclear how that hardware would be returned to Southern California for reuse, or who would bear the costs involved. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

North-American rail

Union Pacific will offer shippers enhanced liability coverage for cargo theft

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Economies of scale are prompting shippers to superscale project cargoes, putting pressure on carriers and forwarders. </div>

Economies of scale are prompting shippers to superscale project cargoes, putting pressure on carriers and forwarders.

<div class="phx-topic">The supersizing of conventional power cargoes is increasing project complexity and pushing the limits of available transportation, market experts say. Conventional power project cargo is changing, with both weight and size increasing, Satish Singh, CEO of Mumbai-based freight forwarder Total Movements, told the Journal of Commerce. The trend is being driven by an industry push for cost competitiveness, leading to larger power plants and “a lot of heavy, heavy stuff — heavy turbines, heavy generators, heavy boilers,” Singh said. Project cargo shippers are opting for larger packages to streamline on-site assembly, aiming to “move in 30 days compared to six months,” he added. While conventional power projects are expanding in scale, the green mandate in Europe is now a significant factor influencing demand within the continent. “Within Europe, the focus is more on renewable energy,” Tristan Boorsma of Netherlands-based project cargo forwarder NMT Projects said. “Slowly, we see that at least in Europe, the demand for conventional power cargoes is reducing.” However, Boorsma said there would be a continued need for conventional power generation in regions “where the infrastructure is not really there for renewables.” The European energy transition also requires significant upgrades to existing infrastructure, a further boon for project cargo demand. To meet this there are more transformers being moved, which are also getting heavier, Boorsma said. That surge in demand for transformers has been so profound that Iris Mullejans, managing director of Germany-based project forwarder Riedl, said transformer manufacturers cannot keep up with demand. “They are full for transformer orders through to 2030,” she told the Journal of Commerce. <h3>Road limitations restrict mode options </h3>The movement of these increasingly large project cargo components presents transportation challenges, especially in Europe. “There, we are quite limited in terms of road transportation, so we have to look at alternatives,” Boorsma said. “We have to do a lot by inland barging.” Permitting is another pain point. “The permit application within Europe is very difficult with long lead times,” he said. “Every country has different rules and regulations.” Mullejans added that European infrastructure is generally “really run down,” although she acknowledged investments in Germany and the presence of heavy lift corridors in Finland, Sweden and Iceland that “really help.” The challenge of navigating infrastructure extends beyond Europe. Juan Turner, director/owner of Argentina-based forwarder Rowners, noted that while permits in the country can be obtained online in as little as a week to 10 days, there are instances where “you have to invent and find a solution, and then it’s a completely different story.” A recurring capacity theme is the shortage of essential resources. Turner highlighted the lack of “sufficient asset capacity to meet demand in remote locations,” citing Paraguay as an example where equipment often needs to be sourced from neighboring countries. Even more critical, he stressed, is ”manpower — the drivers and all the logistics team.” Mullejans added that a lack of good engineering and engineers led her firm to employ that expertise in-house. Singh said India faces its own unique challenge. “We have a lot of coastlines, but the government hasn’t developed any seaports for industrial zones,” he said. Frequently, Total Movements has to build temporary jetties to roll up and transport project cargoes. The alternative is relying on major Indian ports that are “way too far from the project,” NMT’s Boorsma said. Contact Carly Fields at <a href="mailto:carly.fields@spglobal.com">carly.fields@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The supersizing of conventional power cargoes is increasing project complexity and pushing the limits of available transportation, market experts say. Conventional power project cargo is changing, with both weight and size increasing, Satish Singh, CEO of Mumbai-based freight forwarder Total Movements, told the Journal of Commerce. The trend is being driven by an industry push for cost competitiveness, leading to larger power plants and “a lot of heavy, heavy stuff — heavy turbines, heavy generators, heavy boilers,” Singh said. Project cargo shippers are opting for larger packages to streamline on-site assembly, aiming to “move in 30 days compared to six months,” he added. While conventional power projects are expanding in scale, the green mandate in Europe is now a significant factor influencing demand within the continent. “Within Europe, the focus is more on renewable energy,” Tristan Boorsma of Netherlands-based project cargo forwarder NMT Projects said. “Slowly, we see that at least in Europe, the demand for conventional power cargoes is reducing.” However, Boorsma said there would be a continued need for conventional power generation in regions “where the infrastructure is not really there for renewables.” The European energy transition also requires significant upgrades to existing infrastructure, a further boon for project cargo demand. To meet this there are more transformers being moved, which are also getting heavier, Boorsma said. That surge in demand for transformers has been so profound that Iris Mullejans, managing director of Germany-based project forwarder Riedl, said transformer manufacturers cannot keep up with demand. “They are full for transformer orders through to 2030,” she told the Journal of Commerce. Road limitations restrict mode options The movement of these increasingly large project cargo components presents transportation challenges, especially in Europe. “There, we are quite limited in terms of road transportation, so we have to look at alternatives,” Boorsma said. “We have to do a lot by inland barging.” Permitting is another pain point. “The permit application within Europe is very difficult with long lead times,” he said. “Every country has different rules and regulations.” Mullejans added that European infrastructure is generally “really run down,” although she acknowledged investments in Germany and the presence of heavy lift corridors in Finland, Sweden and Iceland that “really help.” The challenge of navigating infrastructure extends beyond Europe. Juan Turner, director/owner of Argentina-based forwarder Rowners, noted that while permits in the country can be obtained online in as little as a week to 10 days, there are instances where “you have to invent and find a solution, and then it’s a completely different story.” A recurring capacity theme is the shortage of essential resources. Turner highlighted the lack of “sufficient asset capacity to meet demand in remote locations,” citing Paraguay as an example where equipment often needs to be sourced from neighboring countries. Even more critical, he stressed, is ”manpower — the drivers and all the logistics team.” Mullejans added that a lack of good engineering and engineers led her firm to employ that expertise in-house. Singh said India faces its own unique challenge. “We have a lot of coastlines, but the government hasn’t developed any seaports for industrial zones,” he said. Frequently, Total Movements has to build temporary jetties to roll up and transport project cargoes. The alternative is relying on major Indian ports that are “way too far from the project,” NMT’s Boorsma said. Contact Carly Fields at carly.fields@spglobal.com .

Energy projects

Heavier power cargoes challenge transport, infrastructure limitations

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Forwarders moving cargo on monthly contracts have pegged average week-to-week gains at $200 to $300 per FEU for bookings from West India to Felixstowe/London Gateway or Rotterdam. </div>

Forwarders moving cargo on monthly contracts have pegged average week-to-week gains at $200 to $300 per FEU for bookings from West India to Felixstowe/London Gateway or Rotterdam.

<div class="phx-topic">After seeing a sharp downward correction in early May with the end of Indian seasonal grape volumes, ocean rates on the India-Europe trade have ticked up in the last two weeks, according to new data obtained by the Journal of Commerce from local freight forwarders. Forwarder executives said that while westbound volumes remain somewhat flat, carriers have been able to push rates higher due mainly to issues linked to vessel capacity and equipment availability. The sources believe some mainliners have swapped larger vessels with smaller ships for Indian coverage in a strategic repositioning of capacity into the now-heated trans-Pacific trade. Forwarders moving cargo on monthly contracts have pegged average week-to-week gains at $200 to $300 per FEU for bookings from West India (Nhava Sheva/Mundra) to Felixstowe/London Gateway or Rotterdam. “Rates have been steady to slightly rising over the last two to three weeks,” said an executive at a Mumbai-based forwarding house. That uptick comes as carriers have lined up a new round of rate hikes for India-Europe loads beginning June 15, and July 1 in some cases. Expecting these attempts to work, at least partially, major carriers on the trade lane have also revised spot rates upward for late-June/early-July sailings, sources said. “Our ocean tariff rates from the Indian subcontinent to North Europe and the Mediterranean Sea will increase,” Hapag-Lloyd told customers, announcing a $1,000-per-box hike for West India. Sources have also reported sporadic difficulty securing enough empty boxes at hinterland locations in recent weeks, especially out of the southern India region. “It’s not an acute shortage situation, but empties are fewer, varying from carrier to carrier for the type of equipment under pressure,” a second forwarder told the Journal of Commerce. Additionally, CMA CGM’s premier “Epic” service on the India-Europe trade lane has declared two void calls for West India in June due to what it said were “operational constraints.” Contact Bency Mathew at <a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com">bencyvmathew@gmail.com</a>. </div>

After seeing a sharp downward correction in early May with the end of Indian seasonal grape volumes, ocean rates on the India-Europe trade have ticked up in the last two weeks, according to new data obtained by the Journal of Commerce from local freight forwarders. Forwarder executives said that while westbound volumes remain somewhat flat, carriers have been able to push rates higher due mainly to issues linked to vessel capacity and equipment availability. The sources believe some mainliners have swapped larger vessels with smaller ships for Indian coverage in a strategic repositioning of capacity into the now-heated trans-Pacific trade. Forwarders moving cargo on monthly contracts have pegged average week-to-week gains at $200 to $300 per FEU for bookings from West India (Nhava Sheva/Mundra) to Felixstowe/London Gateway or Rotterdam. “Rates have been steady to slightly rising over the last two to three weeks,” said an executive at a Mumbai-based forwarding house. That uptick comes as carriers have lined up a new round of rate hikes for India-Europe loads beginning June 15, and July 1 in some cases. Expecting these attempts to work, at least partially, major carriers on the trade lane have also revised spot rates upward for late-June/early-July sailings, sources said. “Our ocean tariff rates from the Indian subcontinent to North Europe and the Mediterranean Sea will increase,” Hapag-Lloyd told customers, announcing a $1,000-per-box hike for West India. Sources have also reported sporadic difficulty securing enough empty boxes at hinterland locations in recent weeks, especially out of the southern India region. “It’s not an acute shortage situation, but empties are fewer, varying from carrier to carrier for the type of equipment under pressure,” a second forwarder told the Journal of Commerce. Additionally, CMA CGM’s premier “Epic” service on the India-Europe trade lane has declared two void calls for West India in June due to what it said were “operational constraints.” Contact Bency Mathew at bencyvmathew@gmail.com .

Container Shipping News

Asia-Europe

India-Europe ocean rates rebound on space, equipment pressures

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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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