News
Logistics Recap March 19th – March 25th
Logistics Recap
March 19th – March 25th
Logistics companies ordered to pay warehouse workers $1M in back pay
In an effort to combat wage theft affecting foreign workers, the Department of Labor has recovered $1.1 million in back wages from two separate companies operating in the San Diego area.
The wages were recovered from Freig Carrillo Forwarding Inc. and ACV Logistics Inc. for 50 Mexican nationals, some paid as little as $2.43 an hour, according to a news release.
China tariffs lifted US production but hurt downstream industries
Tariffs on products from China in many cases reduced imports, raised prices and increased domestic production, according to a recent 315-page report from the U.S. International Trade Commission.
The USITC studied the effects of Section 232 on steel and aluminum from China as well as Section 301 tariffs on scores of other imports from the country. The added duties date back to 2018, when they were introduced by the Trump Administration as it took an aggressive stance against China’s industrial and trade policies.
Read More Here Supply Chain Dive
Dock workers’ strike hits cargo handling at German ports
Dock workers at Germany’s North Sea ports went on strike March 23 in the latest of several walkouts that have added pressures on shipping as their union demands a hefty pay rise to counter high inflation.
Associated Press reports that the 48-hour strike, which is to end on the morning of March 25, has largely paralyzed cargo handling at major ports including Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven, first reported by news agency dpa. It follows a 24-hour walkout in June 2022, and a previous one-shift warning strike.
Logistics Recap March 12th – March 18th
Logistics Recap
March 12th – March 18th
Los Angeles, Long Beach imports still sinking
Los Angeles had expected its numbers to be ugly in February — and they were.
“The decline was indeed steep,” acknowledged Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka during a press conference Friday.
Total throughput fell to only 487,846 twenty-foot equivalent units in February, plunging 43% year on year. Last month’s throughput was down 33% from January and 31% from February 2019, pre-COVID.
Zipline to launch home deliveryy service using drone-droid combo
Zipline is launching a home delivery service that leverages a drone-droid delivery team, according to an announcement Wednesday.
When the drone arrives at its location, it hovers while an autonomous droid it carries maneuvers down a tether before dropping off the package. This allows deliveries to be made in areas as small as a patio table or the front steps of a home, versus a spacious yard that drone services often require.
Read More Here Supply Chain Dive
Traders marshal a fleet of supertankers to haul U.S. oil to Europe
Europe is set to import a record amount of American crude in March, relying increasingly on larger tankers as sanctions on Russian oil upend global trade routes.
Ships hauling as much as 1.84 million barrels a day are set to arrive from the U.S. Gulf in March, tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. Meanwhile, smaller vessels are getting costly with more being booked to transport Russian oil for journeys to Asia.
Logistics Recap March 5th – March 11th
Logistics Recap
March 5th – March 11th
Crude shipping revs up; supertanker rates top $100,000 a day
Spot rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) — tankers that carry 2 million barrels of oil — just breached the $100,000-per-day threshold. It could be a taste of things to come. Analysts and investors are increasingly confident that the tanker business is headed into a long, sustained upcycle.
“VLCC rates have surged at the end of the week,” said Clarksons Securities analyst Frode Mørkedal on Friday. Brokerage Fearnleys reported “frenzied activity” in VLCC charter market.
Air cargo capacity surpasses pre-pandemic levels
Available cargo capacity increased for the 11th consecutive month in February, surpassing 2019 levels for the first time, according to a March 2 update from Xeneta’s Clive Data Services.
Increased capacity comes as demand for air cargo declines. Volumes dropped 4% YoY in February with shippers continuing to rely on cheaper modes of transport in addition to grappling with labor challenges and inflationary pressures.
Read More Here Supply Chain Dive
Elevated freight and labor costs remain issues for stressed supply chains
Despite the instability that first reared its head during COVID-19 and continued with the disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the greatest pressures on the supply chain are not the headline grabbing news events, but rather more common problems: labor and freight costs.
That is the finding of the second Supply Chain Stability Index, a joint venture between the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) and KPMG, the U.S. firm of the KPMG global organization of independent professional services firm.