Flying in the face of the Trump Administration’s isolationist trade policies, US imports are soaring, buoyed by strong consumer spending. Global Port Tracker projects that this summer, containerized imports will surpass last year’s records, topping 1.83 million TEU each month. That’s great news for retailers, but the brisk rate of trade threatens to run headlong […]
Perhaps the most frequently repeated truism in logistics and supply chain management is that it’s all about relationships, and the supplier scorecard may be the best way to judge the health of those relationships. Designing a scorecard that accurately reflects your business’ needs and priorities is the most effective way to clarify your own expectations, […]
In 2018, American business leaders are grappling with several profound shifts in the economic and social landscape: sweeping demographic changes, uneasy international relations that threaten supply chains, the stunning rise of ecommerce, and a serious national discussion on the role of business in fostering social good. Taken together, these issues can seem overwhelming, but the […]
On April 26, the CEO of Maersk Shipping, Sǿren Skou, delivered a stinging indictment of government shipping subsidies, which he criticized as anticompetitive, and which threaten to stifle the carrier industry’s burgeoning recovery. Speaking at a Singapore shipping conference, Skou accused the subsidies of encouraging companies to build ships which are “not needed, for companies […]
Recently, ocean carriers said the three letters most likely to ruin shippers’ day: GRI. A GRI (General Rate Increase) is an ocean carrier’s announcement that it will be increasing its container rates in a specific shipping lane, in amounts that range to a few hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars per container. This most […]
It’s a volatile time for US-China relations, and the effects of the brewing trade war are being felt around the world. Seemingly every week, a new volley of tariffs is announced by the Chinese government or the Trump administration, creating uncertainty for freight forwarders, Wall Street traders, and heartland farmers alike. Despite the fact that […]
In recent months, anyone whose business takes them through US ports has faced an increasingly chaotic and expensive environment. Despite a robust economy and higher-than-expected export volumes, shippers are facing thinner profit margins as they run into a trucking bottleneck. Drayage rates are skyrocketing, fueled by a driver shortage and the demands of the ELD […]
This February, KFC experienced its worst nightmare: being a chicken restaurant with no chicken. Hundreds of KFC restaurants in the UK were forced to close for up to a week following a catastrophic breakdown of operations that saw frustrated customers calling the police, desperate franchise managers furtively buying chicken from supermarkets, and thousands of pounds […]
In recent months, shippers and freight forwarders have noticed a precipitous drop in the reliability of transatlantic carrier schedules. According to JOC, in 2017, reliability on westbound transatlantic routes fell 10.5 percent to 67.4 percent, while eastbound routes fell 10.6 percent, to land at 70.2 percent reliability. The first few months of 2018 have been […]
When it comes to big construction projects (be it a new bridge or Amazon’s new headquarters), transportation issues are one of the major ways budgets skyrocket, frustrations mount, and deadlines sail by. The problem begins with legions of subcontractors, who hire their own subcontractors ad infinitum, leading to chaos and cluttered work sites. Everyone has […]