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Heavy investment at the height of the pandemic has created excess capacity across freight markets and modes of transport, both in the US and globally, according to Paul Bingham, Director of Supply Chain Transportation Consulting, S&P Global Market Intelligence. Now demand is softening, this is exposing the financial vulnerability of the weakest operators and will…

Logistics investments have locked in some trade to eastern terminals, says RILA’s Jessica Dankert The expansion of the Panama Canal locks and ambitious port investments have helped shift the logistics watershed of the US eastwards, claims Alphaliner’s Jan Tiedemann   The “tentative” end of the impasse between US West Coast dockers and liner and port…

Jan Tiedemann, Head Analyst at Alphaliner, says “for the first time in history” the latest fleet additions are replacement vessels rather than designed to boost global capacity and increase the penetration of containerisation.   With record deliveries of container ships expected this year and next, most analysts have predicted further heavy downside pressure on container…

Analyst: Looming US economic recession might not kill the peak season  Freight markets and economic growth have decoupled in the past and may do so again, according to Lee Klaskow, Senior Freight and Transportation Logistics Analyst, Bloomberg Intelligence.  “Even if we do go into a recession, I don’t necessarily think it means doom and gloom,”…

Flexport’s acquisition of the assets of Shopify’s logistics fulfilment business, including Deliverr, will eventually result in the digital freight forwarder rolling out last-mile e-commerce solutions to shippers globally, according to Parisa Sadrzadeh, Senior Vice President, SMB Product & Technology at Flexport. Appearing on the next episode of The Freight Buyers’ Club podcast, produced with the support of…

Shifting geopolitical and demographic landscapes, not least uncertainty about China’s role as a reliable long-term manufacturer as tensions with the US escalate, will reshape trade and shipping flows over the rest of this decade. This will create new opportunities for countries and companies in Asia, according to Neil Johnson, Co-Founder of customs firm TNETS which…

The post-Covid US trade slowdown is impacting household goods demand far more seriously than industrial freight demand, according to analysts appearing on the latest episode of The Freight Buyers’ Club podcast, produced with the support of the Dimerco Express Group. This explains why since the second half of 2022, the trans-Pacific container trade has seen freight rates and demand…

Bronson Hsieh, former chairman of both Evergreen and Yang Ming container lines, believes a multi-pronged capacity reduction effort will help carriers avoid a freight rate war as demand growth stalls. Container lines will counter excess capacity and slow demand growth by deploying multi-faceted strategies to reduce slot supply, according to the former chairman of two…

Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and India amongst the ‘winners’ of post-Covid sourcing changes. Non-China supply chains will force carriers to reorganise shipping services. Largest container ships may suffer a loss of utility. The diversification of product sourcing away from China in the post-Covid era as manufacturer sand retailers seek more supply chain resilience will have a…

The relationships between ‘arrogant’ container lines and their retailer, manufacturer and other shipper customers must be repaired if supply chain efficiency is to be restored after the chaos of the Covid years, according to leading freight and shipping experts. Bjorn Vang Jensen, Executive Director, International Transport at Cummins, and formerly Global Head of Logistics at…