The Joe Rinehart Agency
This Flippin' Ocean Shippin'
Joe Rinehart Agency • Apr 05, 2022
- As of Tuesday, there were 25 vessels, holding nearly 100,000 TEUs of cargo, anchored in Charleston’s harbor. The average berth wait time has eclipsed 10 days.
- Transpacific operational blank sailings remained near 20% for exports to the US, though LA/Long Beach destined services were blanked at an increasing clip.
- The short-term lockdowns in Shenzhen and Shanghai greatly diminished short-term demand from those ports, however, Covid-testing and quarantines have greatly reduced trucking capacity and terminal efficiency. A near-term cargo surge and severe congestion are expected for both ports.
- As shippers experience very long transits to the West Coast, less holiday time sensitivity and anxiety about ILWU negotiations, a record percentage of US Transpacific cargo is headed to East Coast ports.
- The average ocean rate globally has risen 135% over the last year. Never to be outdone, however, American shippers are paying 203% more to reach the East Coast from Asia and 185% more to reach the West Coast from Asia. Woot!
Cargo theft recording firm CargoNet recorded 1,778 supply chain risk events across the United States and Canada in 2022, a 15% increase over 2021.
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Truckload spot rates experienced their first significant upswing in the past year from late November into early January, and the spread between spot and contract rates has started to tighten, according to the December 2022 installment of the ACT Freight Forecast, U.S. Rate, and Volume OUTLOOK report.
Produced using renewable energy, green hydrogen could help make transportation a carbon-neutral reality—if the cost can match the price of diesel. That is what Plug Power is trying to accomplish by 2030. Go behind the scenes at its operations in New York.
Contract rates have spent the second half of 2022 on a slide, following a downward trendline that spot rates have seen for almost the entire calendar year. Both spot and contract rates are likely to ring in the New Year on the same slope, with the spread between the two narrowing.
All players in the global supply chain can agree on one thing: 2022 has been quite the ride! The looming impact of the pandemic, fluctuating economy and wavering political instability are likely to leave lasting effects for many into the new year.
Just because truckers are on the road most of the year — including during the holidays — doesn’t mean that they can’t bring a little Christmas cheer along for the ride.
The situation remains far from normal at some U.S. ports. There were still 18 container ships at anchor waiting for a berth in Savannah, Georgia, on Monday. But for the country overall, weakening inbound cargo volumes are bringing imports close to where they were before the pandemic-induced spending splurge.
Most labor disputes never end up being debated in Congress. But thanks to a nearly century-old law that regulates labor relations only when it comes to railroads and airlines, what otherwise would be strictly an economic issue became a political one.
A looming rail strike next month would send an aftershock through the trucking industry as the flow of goods via rail would need to be rerouted by truck – the capacity for which doesn't exist in large quantities.
One of rail's largest labor unions voted against a tentative agreement with employers, setting the stage for a strike in two weeks. Other freight railroad unions have pledged to join the possible strike.