<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The US House of Representatives’ passage of a water resources bill improves the chances for the ports of Everglades and Charleston gaining federal funding for harbor-deepening projects, but it's still up to legislators to decide whether, or how, to dramatically shake-up how port projects such as those get funded in the first place.</div>

The US House of Representatives’ passage of a water resources bill improves the chances for the ports of Everglades and Charleston gaining federal funding for harbor-deepening projects, but it's still up to legislators to decide whether, or how, to dramatically shake-up how port projects such as those get funded in the first place.

<div>WASHINGTON — The US House of Representatives’ passage of a water resources bill improves the chances for the ports of Everglades and Charleston gaining federal funding for harbor-deepening projects, but it's still up to legislators to decide whether, or how, to dramatically shake-up how port projects such as those get funded in the first place.A House version of the Water Resources and Development Act passed overwhelmingly Wednesday evening, 399 to 25. That version must now be reconciled with a Senate version, which passed in the upper chamber by <a>a vote of 95 to 3</a> on Sept. 16. Sources on Capitol...

WASHINGTON — The US House of Representatives’ passage of a water resources bill improves the chances for the ports of Everglades and Charleston gaining federal funding for harbor-deepening projects, but it's still up to legislators to decide whether, or how, to dramatically shake-up how port projects such as those get funded in the first place. A House version of the Water Resources and Development Act passed overwhelmingly Wednesday evening, 399 to 25. That version must now be reconciled with a Senate version, which passed in the upper chamber by a vote of 95 to 3 on Sept. 16. Sources on Capitol Hill have told JOC.com it is likely the two bills will not enter conference until after the Nov. 8 election. Both bills allocate identical sums to ports in South Carolina and Florida for new harbor deepening projects and, at one time, both included language that would considerably change how those projects found funding on a federal level. The House bill was, however, stripped of that language before passage. Deemed controversial by many, the original House version would have taken the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund — which helps fund the cost of operations and maintenance for the nation’s deep draft and coastal waterways via a 0.125 percent levy on imported goods — off-budget. That would have meant the HMT would not be subject to the appropriations process and would ensure every year that HMT revenues are directed toward projects at the nation’s ports. Its omission was still considered a blow against port advocates in Congress. Those port advocates, however, do stand to gain some ground if a reconciled bill in conference adopts the Senate version’s cost-sharing formula for channel deepening projects, which would increase the minimum depth required for a 50-50 federal-state funding split from 45 to 50 feet — something port interest groups have applauded. The House water infrastructure bill, coming in at around $5 billion in federal funding, is narrower than the Senate’s $10.6 billion bill passed earlier this month. They both, however, allocate a fraction of what was authorized in the 2014 WRDA bill . They both also authorize funding for new US Army Corps of Engineers navigation projects, including projects to deepen harbors at the Port of Charleston in South Carolina and Port Everglades on Florida’s Atlantic coast: $224.3 million for Charleston and another $220.2 million for Port Everglades. The inclusion of Charleston and Everglades in the WRDA bill will open the door for both projects to receive federal funds and begin construction, but — in a unique instance — the Charleston project was actually already cleared weeks ago by the Senate to begin construction with or without the WRDA bill. Charleston, set is set to deepen the existing entrance channel from 47 feet to 54 feet and deepen the inner harbor from 45 feet to 52 feet, effectively making the port the deepest harbor on the US East Coast. The state of South Carolina has already secured roughly $300 million for the $493.3 million project, and has been waiting on Congress to authorize and appropriate the remaining dollars and cents through a new WRDA bill before starting construction. For most Army Corps port projects, port authorities must wait on Congress to authorize and appropriate the necessary funds before construction can begin. Charleston, though, recently managed to circumnavigate some of that bureaucratic red tape. The Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month granted approval for a provision that permits construction in the Charleston Harbor area. Farther south, however, Port Everglades will have to continue waiting for Congress to pass the most recent WRDA bill before it can begin dredging. The $322.7 million Port Everglades project included in the most recent WRDA bill is set to deepen the main navigational channel there from 42 feet to 48 feet as well as deepen and widen the port’s entrance channel and parts of the Intracoastal Waterway so that cargo ships can pass safely by docked cruise ships. Despite their differences, both harbor projects aim to prepare their respective ports for the arrival of mega-ships traversing a recently expanded Panama Canal , whose new locks can now handle ships with capacities of up to 14,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units, nearly triple the size of the ships that historically have transited the canal’s century-old waterway. Charleston is already preparing to spend a combined $2.2 billion over the next decade to expand marine terminal capacity, deepen its harbor and strengthen inland infrastructure to handle New Panamax ships that are expected to bring more cargo. The harbor investment plans met a warm welcome from the US port lobby. “WRDA 2016 helps do that by getting Congress back to the business of regularly addressing the needs of our ports and other waterway infrastructure,” said Kurt Nagle, president and CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities, the nation’s largest port lobbying group. Others though, like longtime port advocate Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Calif.), said she was disappointed to see language taking HMT off-budget stripped from the final House version. The HMT user fee aimed at funding port and harbor maintenance has had only a fraction of its revenue go toward such projects. Hahn refused to support the House WRDA bill which she called “botched.” A reconciled bill in conference that includes some of the Senate version’s funding shakeups may be an opportunity to make up for lost ground for House port advocates. The Senate WRDA bill takes steps to modernize the cost-share formula for channel-deepening projects, which hasn’t been updated in 30 years. The decision to increase the minimum depth required for a 50-50 federal-state funding split from 45 feet to 50 feet received a warm welcome from groups, like the AAPA. “Modernizing the channel deepening cost-share formula would make it similar to the maintenance cost-share formula,” the AAPA said in a statement. The AAPA also lauded the bill’s language extending the authorization to provide funds to Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund donors and energy transfer ports, which the group cited as “an important equity issue.” Contact Reynolds Hutchins at reynolds.hutchins@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @Hutchins_JOC .

North American ports

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

US Congress set to pass port bill, but funding shake-up still undecided

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A wave of AI-based tools for software developers is likely to raise shipper expectations around the effectiveness and cost of logistics software applications. </div>

A wave of AI-based tools for software developers is likely to raise shipper expectations around the effectiveness and cost of logistics software applications.

Feature image

<div class="phx-topic">Logistics software vendors and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) are turning en masse toward a relatively new cohort of artificial intelligence (AI)-based code development tools, a trend that’s likely to accelerate and broaden the scope of products aimed at shippers across modes. The impact of these tools is only just starting to reveal itself, with technology providers, whether standalone or part of a 3PL, telling the Journal of Commerce they are using code development tools in an ever-expanding way. Those tools — which notably include fast-growing brands like Cursor, Windsurf, Base44 and Lovable, among dozens of others — help companies generate, test and audit code, depending on their strengths. The potential impacts of the tools on customers are numerous. Logistics technology providers can build applications, features, or whole new products faster. They can expand the capacity of their engineering teams, without adding headcount, by having coding products build or edit base code, theoretically bringing down a provider’s operating costs. They can also audit code faster and, in general, more accurately than human engineers are able to. “Over 55% of our net new code is now AI-generated using tools like Cursor,” said project44 CEO Jett McCandless. “This includes everything from feature scaffolding to test creation. AI is now an embedded part of how we write and review code.” McCandless said project44 went from virtually no AI-generated code in late 2024 to 45% by March 2025, surpassing 50% by June. “The speed of adoption reflects both developer enthusiasm and a company-wide shift to treat AI as a foundational tool, not a novelty,” he said. <h3>Not alone </h3>And project44 is hardly alone on this fast-moving path. “We started using Cursor almost a year ago, and by the end of 2024 we were at 36% and currently on a journey to get it to 50%,” said Graham Parker, CEO of logistic software vendor ShipAngel. “We were at 44% in June — a little behind target but still an insane leap in a single year. And some of our [venture capital investor’s] portfolio companies in other sectors are at 80% already. “Headcount-wise, you could look at it and say you can now do the work of 20 engineers with maybe five to seven.” Parker pointed to the CEOs of major tech companies like Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic all saying 90% of code will be written with AI within a year. Journal of Commerce parent company S&amp;P Global recently signed a deal with Anthropic, whose code generation software Claude is one of the cohort of tools being used by developers. “It’s hard to disagree when they likely see unreleased models with this capability or least the clear path to it,” Parker said. Among software developers catering to the logistics industry, the biggest value is the speed and efficiency with which they can create what’s known in software circles as minimum viable products (MVPs). “We've probably cut the time to complete a project in half, but that doesn't necessarily correlate into that project being more worthwhile,” said Tobias Haahr Nielsen, founder of Anthem Agency, which does outsourced software production work in the supply chain and logistics industry. “One major value of AI is that creating MVPs is significantly easier because you can get the AI to do what would otherwise take a long time to write out.” That means, for instance, the MVP might not hit the target, but testing five different iterations would be faster than building one in a traditional development environment. “It's significantly cheaper to just get an AI agent that has an 80% accuracy rate,” Nielsen said. “So one-fifth fail, but we're aware of it. That's very valuable if you're just testing out the solution. It helps answer the question: would there actually be a use case here?” <h3>Different tools for different uses </h3>The breadth of code development tools available also signals a diversified market that assumes not every technology provider’s needs are the same. Some companies need advanced code generation tools to reduce the costs of hiring and retaining high level engineering talent. Others want tools that allow people in semi-technical roles — say, a product manager — to build a quick prototype based on a conversation with a customer. There are even products that allow beginners to spin up basic applications through natural language prompts akin to asking ChatGPT to create a PowerPoint presentation. “It gives smaller companies an advantage in that we don’t have to adhere to what tools our development team can and can’t use,” said Jake Hoffman, chief technology officer at logistics software provider Gnosis Freight. “If there’s something that will help us, we’re going to try it out.” Hoffman said Gnosis has “doubled down” on AI development tools, including Cursor, Windsurf and Devin. He said those tools will bridge the gap between developers and non-technical logistics experts in the way no-code and low-code software products bridged the gap between super users and entry-level users of logistics software. He said the tools Gnosis uses tackle tasks as varied as code generation, comprehending how existing code works, and checking for “AI hallucination.” “If I write something six months ago and we hire a new person, we can have that program explain to them why it was written and what it’s intended for,” Hoffman said. <h3>Humans remain important </h3>McCandless said project44’s engineers still take the lead on security-sensitive logic, performance-critical systems and new architectures. “That’s where judgment, experience, and creativity outperform AI suggestions,” he said. “We let AI handle the bulk and humans handle the edge cases and innovation. We prioritize engineers who can design systems and collaborate with AI. Some roles, like manual quality assurance or maintenance, are shrinking as AI absorbs that work. Teams are leaner but more productive.” But the tools are not magic bullets yet. “Cursor works best when the scope is clear and repetitive,” McCandless said. “It’s less effective in legacy codebases or workflows that require interpreting ambiguous business logic. That’s where engineers step in to guide the process.” Parker, however, said he’s seen Cursor improve at tasks with which it once struggled. “Cursor started out being good at writing basic code, then it became good at editing, then auditing, and now architecture,” he said. “You can talk to it and ask questions and it will give you the ‘why.’” While logistics software companies seem largely convinced of the power of AI code development tools, some say the jury is still out on whether it is making engineers more efficient. METR, a research non-profit group measuring the impact of AI capabilities, said in early July that a test of nearly 250 coding tasks undertaken using AI tools slowed developers by 19% when the developers believed they would be 24% faster using those tools. “When AI is allowed, developers spend less time actively coding and searching for information, and instead spend time prompting AI, waiting on or reviewing AI outputs, or idle,” METR said in its report. That has specific relevance to the logistics industry, where the going theory has been that developers with domain expertise in freight and transportation are more effective since they understand the nuances of what customers want. “It’s not the process itself, it’s the nuance in a process,” Hoffman said. “You have code and AI agents that can now speak to the nuance of a process.” For instance, a developer that understands the business case for the software he or she is building can be more effective in prompting AI code generation tools. “The prompt for a new customer can be, ‘look how we implemented for these customers. Do the same, but for this customer call it discharge instead of available date,’” Hoffman said. <h3>Tech titans fuel progress </h3>In terms of the pace of development, Hoffman said the logistics industry is benefiting from intense competition in the generative AI world in both general purpose and industry-specific solutions. “All the big companies in our industry are building on top of openAI, Gemini and Grok, and they’re all beating each other up on models,” he said. “So there are two layers of competition where it’s getting better all the time.” Parker said the usage rate in logistics tech will inevitably lag other sectors. “Some of these products are trained on large existing code bases and, as we know, there is a lot less modern logistics code than, say, in [customer relationship management] software,” he said. But he has no doubt that customers will come to demand products from companies using AI development tools. “This era will usher in a new capability to create great products much faster than before, replace legacy products and iterate at lightning speed,” Parker said. “For customers of logistics software, it will drive a higher bar and better products.” Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Logistics software vendors and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) are turning en masse toward a relatively new cohort of artificial intelligence (AI)-based code development tools, a trend that’s likely to accelerate and broaden the scope of products aimed at shippers across modes. The impact of these tools is only just starting to reveal itself, with technology providers, whether standalone or part of a 3PL, telling the Journal of Commerce they are using code development tools in an ever-expanding way. Those tools — which notably include fast-growing brands like Cursor, Windsurf, Base44 and Lovable, among dozens of others — help companies generate, test and audit code, depending on their strengths. The potential impacts of the tools on customers are numerous. Logistics technology providers can build applications, features, or whole new products faster. They can expand the capacity of their engineering teams, without adding headcount, by having coding products build or edit base code, theoretically bringing down a provider’s operating costs. They can also audit code faster and, in general, more accurately than human engineers are able to. “Over 55% of our net new code is now AI-generated using tools like Cursor,” said project44 CEO Jett McCandless. “This includes everything from feature scaffolding to test creation. AI is now an embedded part of how we write and review code.” McCandless said project44 went from virtually no AI-generated code in late 2024 to 45% by March 2025, surpassing 50% by June. “The speed of adoption reflects both developer enthusiasm and a company-wide shift to treat AI as a foundational tool, not a novelty,” he said. Not alone And project44 is hardly alone on this fast-moving path. “We started using Cursor almost a year ago, and by the end of 2024 we were at 36% and currently on a journey to get it to 50%,” said Graham Parker, CEO of logistic software vendor ShipAngel. “We were at 44% in June — a little behind target but still an insane leap in a single year. And some of our [venture capital investor’s] portfolio companies in other sectors are at 80% already. “Headcount-wise, you could look at it and say you can now do the work of 20 engineers with maybe five to seven.” Parker pointed to the CEOs of major tech companies like Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic all saying 90% of code will be written with AI within a year. Journal of Commerce parent company S&P Global recently signed a deal with Anthropic, whose code generation software Claude is one of the cohort of tools being used by developers. “It’s hard to disagree when they likely see unreleased models with this capability or least the clear path to it,” Parker said. Among software developers catering to the logistics industry, the biggest value is the speed and efficiency with which they can create what’s known in software circles as minimum viable products (MVPs). “We've probably cut the time to complete a project in half, but that doesn't necessarily correlate into that project being more worthwhile,” said Tobias Haahr Nielsen, founder of Anthem Agency, which does outsourced software production work in the supply chain and logistics industry. “One major value of AI is that creating MVPs is significantly easier because you can get the AI to do what would otherwise take a long time to write out.” That means, for instance, the MVP might not hit the target, but testing five different iterations would be faster than building one in a traditional development environment. “It's significantly cheaper to just get an AI agent that has an 80% accuracy rate,” Nielsen said. “So one-fifth fail, but we're aware of it. That's very valuable if you're just testing out the solution. It helps answer the question: would there actually be a use case here?” Different tools for different uses The breadth of code development tools available also signals a diversified market that assumes not every technology provider’s needs are the same. Some companies need advanced code generation tools to reduce the costs of hiring and retaining high level engineering talent. Others want tools that allow people in semi-technical roles — say, a product manager — to build a quick prototype based on a conversation with a customer. There are even products that allow beginners to spin up basic applications through natural language prompts akin to asking ChatGPT to create a PowerPoint presentation. “It gives smaller companies an advantage in that we don’t have to adhere to what tools our development team can and can’t use,” said Jake Hoffman, chief technology officer at logistics software provider Gnosis Freight. “If there’s something that will help us, we’re going to try it out.” Hoffman said Gnosis has “doubled down” on AI development tools, including Cursor, Windsurf and Devin. He said those tools will bridge the gap between developers and non-technical logistics experts in the way no-code and low-code software products bridged the gap between super users and entry-level users of logistics software. He said the tools Gnosis uses tackle tasks as varied as code generation, comprehending how existing code works, and checking for “AI hallucination.” “If I write something six months ago and we hire a new person, we can have that program explain to them why it was written and what it’s intended for,” Hoffman said. Humans remain important McCandless said project44’s engineers still take the lead on security-sensitive logic, performance-critical systems and new architectures. “That’s where judgment, experience, and creativity outperform AI suggestions,” he said. “We let AI handle the bulk and humans handle the edge cases and innovation. We prioritize engineers who can design systems and collaborate with AI. Some roles, like manual quality assurance or maintenance, are shrinking as AI absorbs that work. Teams are leaner but more productive.” But the tools are not magic bullets yet. “Cursor works best when the scope is clear and repetitive,” McCandless said. “It’s less effective in legacy codebases or workflows that require interpreting ambiguous business logic. That’s where engineers step in to guide the process.” Parker, however, said he’s seen Cursor improve at tasks with which it once struggled. “Cursor started out being good at writing basic code, then it became good at editing, then auditing, and now architecture,” he said. “You can talk to it and ask questions and it will give you the ‘why.’” While logistics software companies seem largely convinced of the power of AI code development tools, some say the jury is still out on whether it is making engineers more efficient. METR, a research non-profit group measuring the impact of AI capabilities, said in early July that a test of nearly 250 coding tasks undertaken using AI tools slowed developers by 19% when the developers believed they would be 24% faster using those tools. “When AI is allowed, developers spend less time actively coding and searching for information, and instead spend time prompting AI, waiting on or reviewing AI outputs, or idle,” METR said in its report. That has specific relevance to the logistics industry, where the going theory has been that developers with domain expertise in freight and transportation are more effective since they understand the nuances of what customers want. “It’s not the process itself, it’s the nuance in a process,” Hoffman said. “You have code and AI agents that can now speak to the nuance of a process.” For instance, a developer that understands the business case for the software he or she is building can be more effective in prompting AI code generation tools. “The prompt for a new customer can be, ‘look how we implemented for these customers. Do the same, but for this customer call it discharge instead of available date,’” Hoffman said. Tech titans fuel progress In terms of the pace of development, Hoffman said the logistics industry is benefiting from intense competition in the generative AI world in both general purpose and industry-specific solutions. “All the big companies in our industry are building on top of openAI, Gemini and Grok, and they’re all beating each other up on models,” he said. “So there are two layers of competition where it’s getting better all the time.” Parker said the usage rate in logistics tech will inevitably lag other sectors. “Some of these products are trained on large existing code bases and, as we know, there is a lot less modern logistics code than, say, in [customer relationship management] software,” he said. But he has no doubt that customers will come to demand products from companies using AI development tools. “This era will usher in a new capability to create great products much faster than before, replace legacy products and iterate at lightning speed,” Parker said. “For customers of logistics software, it will drive a higher bar and better products.” Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Supply chain

Logistics Technology News

Code generation tools altering efficiency, capacity for logistics technology providers

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">As tariff fatigue sets in, US retailers are concentrating more on their product delivery needs rather than adjusting their supply chains on the fly to the vagaries of the Trump administration’s trade policy.</div>

As tariff fatigue sets in, US retailers are concentrating more on their product delivery needs rather than adjusting their supply chains on the fly to the vagaries of the Trump administration’s trade policy.

<div class="phx-topic">The whiplash reality of the Trump administration’s tariff policy is no longer driving sharp swings in import volumes from Asia, but expectations of more blank sailings to curb the capacity overhang in the trans-Pacific could still jostle the weakening inbound trade. US retailers are giving less thought to the tariffs in terms of their ordering for the rest of the year, having gained at least some degree of clarity through the several trade deals that have been announced to date. Importantly, a growing number of retail logistics managers and importers, exhausted by the US’ ever-shifting trade policy, have given up on trying to beat moving tariff deadlines. “It doesn’t seem that tariffs and trade deals are quite the driving factor that they had been as recently as six to eight weeks ago,” Stephen Nothdurft, vice president of sales for North America at the forwarder MOL Consolidation Services, told the Journal of Commerce. “The import community has kind of decided, ‘It is what it is, and we can’t control it, but what we can control is just making sure our freight is on the shelf when we need it.’” Indeed, the prospects of a final rush of cargo tied to US trade policy announcements are fading, even if some forwarders and carriers hold out for a final pop in volumes in August. “Strategic planning and long-term decision-making based on tariff deadlines makes no sense because you just don’t know what those deadlines will be from week to week,” the logistics manager of a national furniture retailer told the Journal of Commerce. Ocean carriers <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/looming-august-tariff-deadline-prompts-carriers-to-pull-trans-pacific-capacity-6045526">plan to deploy less tonnage</a> from Asia to the United States in August than in July, according to ocean visibility provider eeSea. So far, ocean carriers are planning to blank less capacity next month than in July, although carriers warn that may change as container spot rates keep falling. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="88ff376b-3b44-447f-ae0f-22d6a0011592"></dynamic-object></div>Spot rates, a measure of how capacity matches up with demand, have been falling since late May and early June, according to various indexes. At a little more than $2,000 per FEU, spot rates from China to the US West Coast are down 70% from a year ago, according to the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index. Some cargo owner customers are still uncertain whether the Aug. 1 deadline — in which the 10% blanket tariff on all US imports will revert to higher levels for countries that haven’t hashed out an agreement with the Trump administration — will hold, a carrier executive said. He added that while some tariff-related price increases have taken place, they haven’t blunted consumer demand enough to have a noticeable impact on import volumes. One automotive industry importer said that at the current 10% reciprocal tariff rate, his company can move product as the sector has absorbed that level. “However, we will not take product into the US at rates above 15% to 20% as some countries have negotiated,” he said. “We have completely pulled out of China due to tariffs.” <h3>GRIs unlikely to stick </h3>While carriers may attempt to impose general rate increases (GRIs) on the first and 15th of each month, forwarders and importers on the trans-Pacific <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/pause-in-tariff-hikes-drives-big-gains-in-trans-pacific-spot-rates-6017111">do not expect any further rate hikes this peak season to stick.</a> “There’s no impetus to keep prices high,” Nothdurft said. “I don’t know what the carriers are banking on in August, but it doesn’t appear that those ships are full, either.” A steady stream of frontloading of fall and holiday merchandise has taken the wind out of carrier attempts to sustain price increases. “A lot of cargo for the rest of the year is already here in the US so there is no need for anyone to rush any huge amounts of cargo into the US for the next few months,” said Sanjay Tejwani, chief executive officer at the consulting firm 365 Logistics. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="a2606c91-b30c-4219-b617-9491b44b6af1"></dynamic-object></div>Even some carriers agree that the extensive frontloading that has already taken place in the eastbound trans-Pacific means cargo volumes may drop off dramatically in the fourth quarter. “I think it’s going to be a bad Q4,” a carrier executive told the Journal of Commerce. For importers, planning their supply chains while attempting to balance the cost of ocean transportation with the delivery of their product to store shelves on schedule requires the use of several forms of shipping. John Pace, senior manager of global logistics at Revelyst, a manufacturer of outdoor performance gear, said that for merchandise that was ordered months ago and is scheduled to be delivered this summer and fall, he can use the preferred mode of regular ocean shipping. As delivery deadlines approach for products with tighter deadlines, he will shift some shipments to expedited ocean service with guaranteed next-day container availability landside. Pace said he will use air freight as a last resort. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at <a href="mailto:bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com">bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com</a>. Contact Laura Robb at <a href="mailto:laura.robb@spglobal.com">laura.robb@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The whiplash reality of the Trump administration’s tariff policy is no longer driving sharp swings in import volumes from Asia, but expectations of more blank sailings to curb the capacity overhang in the trans-Pacific could still jostle the weakening inbound trade. US retailers are giving less thought to the tariffs in terms of their ordering for the rest of the year, having gained at least some degree of clarity through the several trade deals that have been announced to date. Importantly, a growing number of retail logistics managers and importers, exhausted by the US’ ever-shifting trade policy, have given up on trying to beat moving tariff deadlines. “It doesn’t seem that tariffs and trade deals are quite the driving factor that they had been as recently as six to eight weeks ago,” Stephen Nothdurft, vice president of sales for North America at the forwarder MOL Consolidation Services, told the Journal of Commerce. “The import community has kind of decided, ‘It is what it is, and we can’t control it, but what we can control is just making sure our freight is on the shelf when we need it.’” Indeed, the prospects of a final rush of cargo tied to US trade policy announcements are fading, even if some forwarders and carriers hold out for a final pop in volumes in August. “Strategic planning and long-term decision-making based on tariff deadlines makes no sense because you just don’t know what those deadlines will be from week to week,” the logistics manager of a national furniture retailer told the Journal of Commerce. Ocean carriers plan to deploy less tonnage from Asia to the United States in August than in July, according to ocean visibility provider eeSea. So far, ocean carriers are planning to blank less capacity next month than in July, although carriers warn that may change as container spot rates keep falling. Spot rates, a measure of how capacity matches up with demand, have been falling since late May and early June, according to various indexes. At a little more than $2,000 per FEU, spot rates from China to the US West Coast are down 70% from a year ago, according to the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index. Some cargo owner customers are still uncertain whether the Aug. 1 deadline — in which the 10% blanket tariff on all US imports will revert to higher levels for countries that haven’t hashed out an agreement with the Trump administration — will hold, a carrier executive said. He added that while some tariff-related price increases have taken place, they haven’t blunted consumer demand enough to have a noticeable impact on import volumes. One automotive industry importer said that at the current 10% reciprocal tariff rate, his company can move product as the sector has absorbed that level. “However, we will not take product into the US at rates above 15% to 20% as some countries have negotiated,” he said. “We have completely pulled out of China due to tariffs.” GRIs unlikely to stick While carriers may attempt to impose general rate increases (GRIs) on the first and 15th of each month, forwarders and importers on the trans-Pacific do not expect any further rate hikes this peak season to stick. “There’s no impetus to keep prices high,” Nothdurft said. “I don’t know what the carriers are banking on in August, but it doesn’t appear that those ships are full, either.” A steady stream of frontloading of fall and holiday merchandise has taken the wind out of carrier attempts to sustain price increases. “A lot of cargo for the rest of the year is already here in the US so there is no need for anyone to rush any huge amounts of cargo into the US for the next few months,” said Sanjay Tejwani, chief executive officer at the consulting firm 365 Logistics. Even some carriers agree that the extensive frontloading that has already taken place in the eastbound trans-Pacific means cargo volumes may drop off dramatically in the fourth quarter. “I think it’s going to be a bad Q4,” a carrier executive told the Journal of Commerce. For importers, planning their supply chains while attempting to balance the cost of ocean transportation with the delivery of their product to store shelves on schedule requires the use of several forms of shipping. John Pace, senior manager of global logistics at Revelyst, a manufacturer of outdoor performance gear, said that for merchandise that was ordered months ago and is scheduled to be delivered this summer and fall, he can use the preferred mode of regular ocean shipping. As delivery deadlines approach for products with tighter deadlines, he will shift some shipments to expedited ocean service with guaranteed next-day container availability landside. Pace said he will use air freight as a last resort. Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bill.mongelluzzo@spglobal.com . Contact Laura Robb at laura.robb@spglobal.com .

Maritime

Container Shipping News

Container lines

Forwarding

Trans-Pacific

US tariff volatility no longer driving trans-Pacific trade plans

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">J.B. Hunt Transport and Knight-Swift Transportation — the largest US truckload providers — are shifting assets within their networks as shippers react to supply chain challenges created by higher US tariffs on imports. </div>

J.B. Hunt Transport and Knight-Swift Transportation — the largest US truckload providers — are shifting assets within their networks as shippers react to supply chain challenges created by higher US tariffs on imports.

<div class="phx-topic">Trucking companies convinced that the soft US freight market will extend into 2026 are doubling down on cost-cutting initiatives, with large truckload carriers looking to shed even more underutilized assets while seeking other budget areas to trim. They’re also shifting assets within their networks as shippers react to supply chain challenges created by higher US tariffs on imports. Excess capacity, however, remains a drag on truckload revenue and pricing. Despite low single-digit gains in contract rates, shippers still dominate the truckload market. Freight flows at Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings “shifted meaningfully from normal patterns” in the second quarter, CEO Adam Miller said during an earnings call last week. “While the import cliff that many anticipated did not prove to be as stark, there was a general softness in freight demand for most of the quarter, especially on the West Coast,” Miller said. That pushed Knight-Swift’s truckload subsidiaries to seek freight in other lanes as imports dropped and freight moving inland from California ebbed. “We are staying close with our customers as the situation unfolds,” Miller said, with the company shifting capacity across the map as shippers react quickly to changing import flows to manage inventory levels. Imports at US ports dropped 11.8% from April to May and were down 6.4% year over year in May, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/us-retailers-upgrade-import-forecast-after-tariff-deadline-extended-to-aug-1-6040890">according to the Global Port Tracker (GPT) released by Hackett Associates and the National Retail Federation in early July</a>. The GPT forecast called for a 14.6% increase in containerized US imports this month from June, as shippers pushed to get freight to the US before higher tariffs on many trading partners take effect Aug. 1. <h3>Added complexity </h3>Changes in trade policy affected the timing and direction of freight flows at J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the second quarter, according to Spencer Frazier, the company’s executive vice president of sales and marketing. “Some customers have pulled freight forward, some continue to execute demand-driven strategies and others are making changes to their country of origin and manufacturing plans,” Frazier said during a recent second-quarter earnings call. “This added complexity, lack of accurate forecasts and potential for volatility is why our <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/jb-hunt-says-surcharges-necessary-to-maintain-peak-season-service-6044880">peak season surcharge programs</a> [for intermodal rail] are starting earlier this year,” he added. But neither J.B. Hunt nor Knight-Swift — the largest and second-largest US truckload providers, respectively — reported enough tightening in truck capacity to turn the market away from shippers. “We think it’s going to be a slow process for capacity to exit the market,” Miller told analysts. “The question would be what’s going to happen with demand.” <h3>Reshuffling capacity </h3>Since 2022, large truckload carriers have cut capacity, sometimes steeply, as freight demand and truckload spot and contract rates declined. Significant cuts in actual truck counts brought the Journal of Commerce Truckload Capacity Index down from 93.2 in the second quarter of 2022 to 74.9 in the first quarter of this year. The second-quarter 2025 reading for the index, which tracks actual truck counts at large publicly owned truckload companies, will be released in August. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="b78888c4-1c6e-40c4-a3f6-ec06b7a7b511"></dynamic-object></div>Knight-Swift cut its average truckload tractor count by 6.6% year over year in the second quarter and by 6.3% in the first half of 2025. But the holding company is adding less-than-truckload (LTL) capacity. “We’ve gotten pretty smart in a way we haven’t been in the past about how to move assets between our divisions,” CFO Andrew Hess said during the earnings call. “We can take dedicated trucks out of our truckload businesses and use them in LTL day cabs,” Hess said. “We’re moving trailers out of our Swift business to U.S. Xpress and replacing more expensive lease trailers. So we are figuring out how to take advantage of all of our brands to drive efficiencies and get smarter about that.” J.B. Hunt plans $100 million in cost cuts this year, but it expanded its over-the-road truckload fleet in the second quarter in response to higher load volumes. The carrier increased its over-the-road division’s truck count 7.6% year over year to 2,041 in the last quarter as loads hauled rose nearly 13% to more than 104,000. “We are working to methodically grow [truckload] while remaining disciplined on network balance,” said Nicholas Hobbs, J.B. Hunt’s COO and president of highway and final-mile. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Trucking companies convinced that the soft US freight market will extend into 2026 are doubling down on cost-cutting initiatives, with large truckload carriers looking to shed even more underutilized assets while seeking other budget areas to trim. They’re also shifting assets within their networks as shippers react to supply chain challenges created by higher US tariffs on imports. Excess capacity, however, remains a drag on truckload revenue and pricing. Despite low single-digit gains in contract rates, shippers still dominate the truckload market. Freight flows at Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings “shifted meaningfully from normal patterns” in the second quarter, CEO Adam Miller said during an earnings call last week. “While the import cliff that many anticipated did not prove to be as stark, there was a general softness in freight demand for most of the quarter, especially on the West Coast,” Miller said. That pushed Knight-Swift’s truckload subsidiaries to seek freight in other lanes as imports dropped and freight moving inland from California ebbed. “We are staying close with our customers as the situation unfolds,” Miller said, with the company shifting capacity across the map as shippers react quickly to changing import flows to manage inventory levels. Imports at US ports dropped 11.8% from April to May and were down 6.4% year over year in May, according to the Global Port Tracker (GPT) released by Hackett Associates and the National Retail Federation in early July . The GPT forecast called for a 14.6% increase in containerized US imports this month from June, as shippers pushed to get freight to the US before higher tariffs on many trading partners take effect Aug. 1. Added complexity Changes in trade policy affected the timing and direction of freight flows at J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the second quarter, according to Spencer Frazier, the company’s executive vice president of sales and marketing. “Some customers have pulled freight forward, some continue to execute demand-driven strategies and others are making changes to their country of origin and manufacturing plans,” Frazier said during a recent second-quarter earnings call. “This added complexity, lack of accurate forecasts and potential for volatility is why our peak season surcharge programs [for intermodal rail] are starting earlier this year,” he added. But neither J.B. Hunt nor Knight-Swift — the largest and second-largest US truckload providers, respectively — reported enough tightening in truck capacity to turn the market away from shippers. “We think it’s going to be a slow process for capacity to exit the market,” Miller told analysts. “The question would be what’s going to happen with demand.” Reshuffling capacity Since 2022, large truckload carriers have cut capacity, sometimes steeply, as freight demand and truckload spot and contract rates declined. Significant cuts in actual truck counts brought the Journal of Commerce Truckload Capacity Index down from 93.2 in the second quarter of 2022 to 74.9 in the first quarter of this year. The second-quarter 2025 reading for the index, which tracks actual truck counts at large publicly owned truckload companies, will be released in August. Knight-Swift cut its average truckload tractor count by 6.6% year over year in the second quarter and by 6.3% in the first half of 2025. But the holding company is adding less-than-truckload (LTL) capacity. “We’ve gotten pretty smart in a way we haven’t been in the past about how to move assets between our divisions,” CFO Andrew Hess said during the earnings call. “We can take dedicated trucks out of our truckload businesses and use them in LTL day cabs,” Hess said. “We’re moving trailers out of our Swift business to U.S. Xpress and replacing more expensive lease trailers. So we are figuring out how to take advantage of all of our brands to drive efficiencies and get smarter about that.” J.B. Hunt plans $100 million in cost cuts this year, but it expanded its over-the-road truckload fleet in the second quarter in response to higher load volumes. The carrier increased its over-the-road division’s truck count 7.6% year over year to 2,041 in the last quarter as loads hauled rose nearly 13% to more than 104,000. “We are working to methodically grow [truckload] while remaining disciplined on network balance,” said Nicholas Hobbs, J.B. Hunt’s COO and president of highway and final-mile. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

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Trucking News

Truckload carriers balance networks as tariff uncertainty shifts demand

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Marseilles-based carrier said the unstable operating environment was disrupting trade flows and leading to growing uncertainty about demand in the major markets.</div>

The Marseilles-based carrier said the unstable operating environment was disrupting trade flows and leading to growing uncertainty about demand in the major markets.

<div class="phx-topic">CMA CGM on Tuesday posted a sharp drop in second-quarter net profit, with the carrier saying its performance was rattled by trade disruption following the implementation of US tariffs in early April. CFO Ramon Fernandez, during an earnings call, described the container shipping outlook as “extremely uncertain” as geopolitics and US tariffs continue to hit global trade lanes. The Marseilles-based carrier unveiled a mixed second-quarter result, with flat revenue and volume accompanied by a sharp drop in pre-tax earnings. “Many forecasters have been revising downwards [the] growth perspectives and demand for goods, so we need to see where this goes,” Fernandez said. “We have significant uncertainty on the demand side,” he added. “For the time being, we are not seeing too much impact from the latest discussions on trade issues, but one cannot prejudge that this will last forever.” The Aug. 1 extension to the 90-day pause on tariffs on countries that have yet to sign trade deals with the US expires Friday, while a separate pause on higher tariffs on Chinese goods is due to expire Aug. 14. However, reports are emerging that the pause on higher China tariffs will be extended as officials from Washington and Beijing hold trade talks this week in Sweden. In a period marked by geopolitical conflicts and tariffs, CMA CGM posted second-quarter revenue of $13.1 billion, up 0.3% year over year. But the revenue was accompanied by a 7.9% drop in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and net profit that fell 21% to $521 million. CMA CGM’s shipping division reported volume of 5.97 million TEUs in the second quarter, virtually unchanged compared with the same period last year. Average revenue per TEU of $1,367 was a decrease of 1.2%, leading to a similar drop in total shipping revenue that came in at $8.1 billion. But it was the shipping division’s EBITDA where the disrupted markets in the second quarter were especially felt, declining 19.9% to $1.58 billion, with the EBITDA margin falling 4.5% to 19.4%. “The decline in rates, particularly on outbound trades from Asia, had a negative impact,” Fernandez said. “We continue to face operational changes such as port congestion and rerouting due to persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.” <h3>Market growth offsets US volume loss </h3>Fernandez said the loss of volume from China to the US after President Donald Trump imposed 145% tariffs on April 9, then subsequently reduced them to 55%, was offset by increases in overall market volume on other trade lanes in the second quarter. “China remains the factory of the world and the export platform and is just reorganizing its export trades towards different regions of the world,” Fernandez said. Meanwhile, CMA CGM subsidiary CEVA Logistics reported second-quarter revenue of $4.6 billion, down 3.7% year over year, with EBITDA up 2% at $459 million. Challenges in the automotive market weighed on the performance of finished vehicle logistics and road transport activities, particularly in Europe. During the call with reporters, Fernandez also said CMA CGM was closely following CK Hutchison’s planned $23 billion sale of its non-China terminals. CK Hutchison is <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/hutchison-confirms-chinese-investor-interest-in-blackrock-til-ports-sale-6051201">in talks with a “major strategic investor from China”</a> to join the BlackRock-Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) consortium. “We are monitoring this operation very closely, and we are naturally interested in contributing to finding a solution which has not been found yet as we speak,” he said. “This transaction, which includes 43 terminals in 23 countries, is very important for the industry. It’s important for us.” Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

CMA CGM on Tuesday posted a sharp drop in second-quarter net profit, with the carrier saying its performance was rattled by trade disruption following the implementation of US tariffs in early April. CFO Ramon Fernandez, during an earnings call, described the container shipping outlook as “extremely uncertain” as geopolitics and US tariffs continue to hit global trade lanes. The Marseilles-based carrier unveiled a mixed second-quarter result, with flat revenue and volume accompanied by a sharp drop in pre-tax earnings. “Many forecasters have been revising downwards [the] growth perspectives and demand for goods, so we need to see where this goes,” Fernandez said. “We have significant uncertainty on the demand side,” he added. “For the time being, we are not seeing too much impact from the latest discussions on trade issues, but one cannot prejudge that this will last forever.” The Aug. 1 extension to the 90-day pause on tariffs on countries that have yet to sign trade deals with the US expires Friday, while a separate pause on higher tariffs on Chinese goods is due to expire Aug. 14. However, reports are emerging that the pause on higher China tariffs will be extended as officials from Washington and Beijing hold trade talks this week in Sweden. In a period marked by geopolitical conflicts and tariffs, CMA CGM posted second-quarter revenue of $13.1 billion, up 0.3% year over year. But the revenue was accompanied by a 7.9% drop in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and net profit that fell 21% to $521 million. CMA CGM’s shipping division reported volume of 5.97 million TEUs in the second quarter, virtually unchanged compared with the same period last year. Average revenue per TEU of $1,367 was a decrease of 1.2%, leading to a similar drop in total shipping revenue that came in at $8.1 billion. But it was the shipping division’s EBITDA where the disrupted markets in the second quarter were especially felt, declining 19.9% to $1.58 billion, with the EBITDA margin falling 4.5% to 19.4%. “The decline in rates, particularly on outbound trades from Asia, had a negative impact,” Fernandez said. “We continue to face operational changes such as port congestion and rerouting due to persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.” Market growth offsets US volume loss Fernandez said the loss of volume from China to the US after President Donald Trump imposed 145% tariffs on April 9, then subsequently reduced them to 55%, was offset by increases in overall market volume on other trade lanes in the second quarter. “China remains the factory of the world and the export platform and is just reorganizing its export trades towards different regions of the world,” Fernandez said. Meanwhile, CMA CGM subsidiary CEVA Logistics reported second-quarter revenue of $4.6 billion, down 3.7% year over year, with EBITDA up 2% at $459 million. Challenges in the automotive market weighed on the performance of finished vehicle logistics and road transport activities, particularly in Europe. During the call with reporters, Fernandez also said CMA CGM was closely following CK Hutchison’s planned $23 billion sale of its non-China terminals. CK Hutchison is in talks with a “major strategic investor from China” to join the BlackRock-Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) consortium. “We are monitoring this operation very closely, and we are naturally interested in contributing to finding a solution which has not been found yet as we speak,” he said. “This transaction, which includes 43 terminals in 23 countries, is very important for the industry. It’s important for us.” Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

CMA CGM’s Q2 earnings slide as geopolitics, tariffs hit shipping business

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Having tentatively returned to Red Sea transits, multipurpose and heavy-lift vessels are again shunning the route in favor of the safer but longer passage around southern Africa.</div>

Having tentatively returned to Red Sea transits, multipurpose and heavy-lift vessels are again shunning the route in favor of the safer but longer passage around southern Africa.

<div class="phx-topic">The number of multipurpose and heavy-lift (MPV/HL) vessels transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has slumped of late after a spring rally — a direct consequence of the renewed attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. Exclusive research of S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence data undertaken by the Journal of Commerce revealed a 21% drop in transits from mid-June to mid-July. S&amp;P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce. <div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/6052287_0.1.jpg"></img></div>The Houthi attacks on the bulk carriers MV Magic Seas and MV Eternity C on July 6–7 were the first significant attacks since November 2024 and marked the first sinking of a vessel since June 2024. The escalation occurs against the backdrop of ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, prompting shipowners to increasingly reroute vessels toward the Cape of Good Hope route around southern Africa. Transits through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait started to pick up from a low of 48 in March 2025 to June’s high of 71 MPV/HLs, according to S&amp;P Global data. The ongoing issues in the region have impacted trade flows for the breakbulk and project cargo sector; indeed, over the last 10 months, the type of MPV transiting the Red Sea has fundamentally changed. In the 2024 fourth quarter, 32% of these vessels were heavy-lift capable. That rose to 36% in the first quarter and 42% in the second quarter, according to the data. This suggests that some project carriers had returned to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait route before the most recent attacks. The Journal of Commerce defines heavy-lift as vessels capable of a lift in excess of a 240-metric-ton safe working load. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="50d2af41-b7bf-4444-ae65-2d9ac8f50290"></dynamic-object></div>Between Sept. 17 and Nov. 16, 2024, 173 vessels transited the strait, according to S&amp;P Global’s Maritime Intelligence Network data. Of those, 33% were operated by Chinese concerns, 19% Ethiopian, 6% French and 4% Turkish operators. From May 17–July 17, the number of transits dropped to 129, of which 44% were Chinese operators, 11% Ethiopian and 9% Turkish. <h3>Double-paying Suez transit fees </h3>Speaking to the Journal of Commerce, a shipper said that they were still chartering vessels to discharge in the Red Sea but via entry through the Suez Canal at the Mediterranean end of the Red Sea. These northern Red Sea transits by the MPV/HL fleet increased after the November 2024 attacks and had started to fall away again prior to June 2025. Reaching the Red Sea via the Mediterranean increases costs for shippers as the carrier enters the canal southbound laden but exits northbound in ballast, paying Suez Canal transit fees twice. The shipper said that double canal fees were more preferable than not being able to secure tonnage for projects in the region. Rerouting vessels around southern Africa adds an additional 10 to 14 days to Asia-Europe transits and takes capacity out of the market. Over 2025, the MPV/HL charter market responded to the lull in the Houthi attacks with freight rates dropping 5% from January’s high, according to Toepfer’s Multipurpose Index (TMI). However, the escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict in early June pushed rates up again as the market faced renewed concerns. Contact Susan Oatway on <a href="mailto:susan.oatway@spglobal.com">susan.oatway@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The number of multipurpose and heavy-lift (MPV/HL) vessels transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has slumped of late after a spring rally — a direct consequence of the renewed attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. Exclusive research of S&P Global Market Intelligence data undertaken by the Journal of Commerce revealed a 21% drop in transits from mid-June to mid-July. S&P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce. The Houthi attacks on the bulk carriers MV Magic Seas and MV Eternity C on July 6–7 were the first significant attacks since November 2024 and marked the first sinking of a vessel since June 2024. The escalation occurs against the backdrop of ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, prompting shipowners to increasingly reroute vessels toward the Cape of Good Hope route around southern Africa. Transits through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait started to pick up from a low of 48 in March 2025 to June’s high of 71 MPV/HLs, according to S&P Global data. The ongoing issues in the region have impacted trade flows for the breakbulk and project cargo sector; indeed, over the last 10 months, the type of MPV transiting the Red Sea has fundamentally changed. In the 2024 fourth quarter, 32% of these vessels were heavy-lift capable. That rose to 36% in the first quarter and 42% in the second quarter, according to the data. This suggests that some project carriers had returned to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait route before the most recent attacks. The Journal of Commerce defines heavy-lift as vessels capable of a lift in excess of a 240-metric-ton safe working load. Between Sept. 17 and Nov. 16, 2024, 173 vessels transited the strait, according to S&P Global’s Maritime Intelligence Network data. Of those, 33% were operated by Chinese concerns, 19% Ethiopian, 6% French and 4% Turkish operators. From May 17–July 17, the number of transits dropped to 129, of which 44% were Chinese operators, 11% Ethiopian and 9% Turkish. Double-paying Suez transit fees Speaking to the Journal of Commerce, a shipper said that they were still chartering vessels to discharge in the Red Sea but via entry through the Suez Canal at the Mediterranean end of the Red Sea. These northern Red Sea transits by the MPV/HL fleet increased after the November 2024 attacks and had started to fall away again prior to June 2025. Reaching the Red Sea via the Mediterranean increases costs for shippers as the carrier enters the canal southbound laden but exits northbound in ballast, paying Suez Canal transit fees twice. The shipper said that double canal fees were more preferable than not being able to secure tonnage for projects in the region. Rerouting vessels around southern Africa adds an additional 10 to 14 days to Asia-Europe transits and takes capacity out of the market. Over 2025, the MPV/HL charter market responded to the lull in the Houthi attacks with freight rates dropping 5% from January’s high, according to Toepfer’s Multipurpose Index (TMI). However, the escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict in early June pushed rates up again as the market faced renewed concerns. Contact Susan Oatway on susan.oatway@spglobal.com .

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New Houthi attacks slash MPV northbound transits via Red Sea

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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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Monthly publication providing an editorial deep dive into global supply chain news

Journal of Commerce Magazine - Rectangle Box

Journal of Commerce Magazine

An in-depth analysis of transport trends in the multipurpose and heavy-lift fleet segment

Breakbulk Report - Rectangle Box

Breakbulk Quarterly

Customers scoring their intermodal partners to identify the best service providers

Intermodal Service Scorecard - Rectangle Box

Intermodal Service Scorecard

A must-attend conference for shippers & logistics providers moving goods inland

Inland Conference - Rectangle Box

Attend Inland25

A premium access index of savings using domestic intermodal vs. OTR 

ISI Report - Rectangle Box

Intermodal Savings Index

An extensive dashboard of charts organized by trade lane, mode, and topic

Gateway - Rectangle Box

Gateway

A premium access outlook critical to shippers and transportation providers

QI Report - Rectangle Box

Quarterly Intelligence

Discover the news and analysis of supply chain strategies, sourcing and trends covered by the Journal of Commerce. Comprehensive coverage includes customs, trade news, transport news and the latest information about trade regulations.

Stay informed with the latest regulation news and trade updates. Explore comprehensive transportation news and trade regulations today.

Transport, Trade and Regulation News | Journal of Commerce

The Journal of Commerce’s supply chain news and analysis impacting the management of end-to-end supply chains reports on supply chain strategies, cargo visibility, inventory trends, sourcing, customs certification and contract logistics. Supply chain news coverage also delves into refrigerated shipping advancements and management of inventory status, regulatory updates and government funding projects.

Our logistics technology news include logistics technology startups, solutions, and the impact of technology on logistics and supply chain management.

Logistics Technology News | Journal of Commerce

A thorough cool cargoes news by Journal of Commerce. Learn about the latest trends in refrigerated cargo transportation, weight capacity, technology, and more.

Cool Cargo News | Journal of Commerce

Cool Cargo News

Journal of Commerce keeps you informed on the latest last mile news with comprehensive coverage of carriers, logistics, and last mile transportation solutions.

Last Mile News | Journal of Commerce

Last Mile News

Discover the latest industrial real estate news and trends. Covering projects, real estate supply chain, logistics, pricing, cross dock facilities, and more.

Industrial Real Estate News | Journal of Commerce

Industrial Real Estate News

Stay updated on supply chain strategies, cargo visibility, inventory trends and more with our comprehensive supply chain news and analysis.

Latest News

Breakbulk Quarterly

Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

More News & Analysis

Code generation tools altering efficiency, capacity for logistics technology providers

US tariff volatility no longer driving trans-Pacific trade plans

Truckload carriers balance networks as tariff uncertainty shifts demand