Last year saw an extraordinary rate of growth for air cargo. No one expected 2019 to replicate that level of demand. Still, even with mild expectations, the global air freight market has been strikingly weak in the first half of 2019. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) previously forecast an average annual growth rate of […]
The European Union represents a unique project in economic integration. Likewise, Brexit represents a unique problem in trade relations. The single market created by the EU has meant an absence of duties and quotas for Member States, along with free movement for workers and a reduced administrative burden. While most hoped that a new FTA […]
Peak season is always a hectic time for shippers, carriers, and logistics professionals. While its arrival (from about mid-August through mid-October) is fairly predictable, it’s a season characterized by abrupt changes in the shipping landscape. However, even by peak season standards, 2019’s pre-Christmas rush may be in a class by itself for sheer unpredictability. There […]
Since the White House imposed its first round of tariffs against China in February 2018, each new escalation of the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies has been greeted with disbelief. Yet this month, with the tariff rate on $200 billion of Chinese imports rising from 10 to 25 percent, business leaders, economists, […]
In the famous nursery rhyme, “for want of a nail, the kingdom was lost.” At the US-Mexico border, a similar story is playing out: for want of a mere 750 customs officers, supply chains are in crisis, in industries ranging from agriculture to automotives. When the Trump administration reassigned 750 border agents to process the […]
In 2018, the United States’ trade deficit in goods climbed to an historic high of $891.3 billion, up from $807.5 billion in 2017. During this time, the merchandise deficits with China, Mexico, and the EU all hit record highs, and total containerized exports dropped 0.2 percent. (The overall deficit is $621 billion, offset by the […]
In 2013, when China announced the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive program of international infrastructure projects, Western critics reacted with suspicion as to China’s motives and skepticism that Beijing could realize its dreams of connecting its mainland to far-flung corners of Africa and Asia. Recently, several countries targeted for development have begun to express […]
In recent months, while most Americans have been distracted by an exhausting and embittered news cycle, the Chinese government has been extending its reach throughout the globe in an unprecedented bid to reshape the world economy according to its own values and ambitions. In launching its “One Belt, One Road” initiative, China is pouring over […]
Any business contemplating a partnership with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider faces an immediate choice: asset based or non-asset based? The difference, broadly, is that asset based 3PL providers own their own trucks, warehouses, etc., while non-asset based providers contract those services out to other companies. (Red Arrow Logistics, for the record, is a non-asset […]
A truck skids on a patch of ice. A container ship jettisons cargo during a storm. Dock workers in a far-distant port go on strike. Even in the most well-managed supply chain, events like these are sometimes unavoidable, but cargo insurance is what determines whether they are minor setbacks or major catastrophes. Unfortunately, misconceptions and […]