Competitive Edge

August 9th, 2023

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Webinar next Wednesday at 10am CST, feat. a SPECIAL GUEST — sign up here

IMPORT: Asia to North America (TPEB)

Recent Developments:

  • Nearly 75 percent of Western Canada rank-and-file dockworkers have agreed to a four-year contract at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, spelling an end to the labor uncertainty that has riddled disruptions to freight movement over the summer.
  • Heavy rainfall in Bangladesh is impacting freight movement. The country’s port city of Chittagong is highly affected by flooding which has led to delays in unloading and loading of cargo.

Rates: Demand remains strong as carriers have plans to implement another wave of general rate increases August 15.  
Space: Space is generally open, but amid aggressive capacity management and steady rises in demand, is seeing some tightening on select services.
Capacity: Capacity remains generally loose, but carriers remain pulling strings and strategizing around it.
Equipment: Available at virtually all inland and coastal points. 
TIPS:

  • Keep a pulse on inventory and establish concrete timelines with ordering. Will you be importing before the holidays and peak season? Are you holding off until 2024?
  • Don’t get complacent with the favorable market conditions the past several months. Tightening capacity and higher rates could pose booking challenges through peak season. Plan ahead!
  • Hold your logistics partners accountable for frequent updates regarding blank sailings, rate increases, or any other forms of market maintenance.

IMPORT: Europe to North America (TAWB)

Recent Developments:

  • August is a vacation month for Italy. Typically, citizens will take extended amounts of time off leading to possible lapses in productivity.
  • Many importers work around this holiday and place bookings before or after August, tightening space and raising demand as a result.

Rates: Rates continue to steadily fall and are reminiscent of pre-pandemic times.
Space: Space is open, except for a few pockets.
Capacity: Capacity is loose, but major carriers have plans to reallocate vessels to the Asia-Europe trade.
Equipment: Availability on both origin and destination sides, unless advised otherwise.
TIPS:

  • Book at least three weeks prior to the ready date.
  • Premium add-ons (i.e., no-roll options and improved cargo reliability) remain assurances shippers should consider with transatlantic service.

EXPORT: North America to Asia

Rates: Rates are low and level. 
Space: Space is open but tighter on the Gulf Coast. 
Capacity: Capacity is widely available for all services.
Equipment: Availability at virtually all inland points and seaports. However, chassis access remains a wildcard against fluid intermodal movement.
TIPS:

  • Book at least two weeks prior to the time of departure.
  • Shippers with high volume projects should take advantage of the carriers’ receptiveness to take on these opportunities. Space is wide open with a high acceptance rate.

Watch Last Month's Webinar!

Topics: July/August GRIs, peak season, update on blank sailings. What’s the latest on the Canadian Labor Strike? Plus, current events!

Sign Up For Our August Webinar!

Our next webinar is on Wednesday, August 16th, at 10am CST!

We will be joined by a SPECIAL GUEST, our Argentinian partner, Gaston Ansaloni at Italog, International Transport Argentina.

We will be touching on the Argentina market, current economic conditions and its impact, upcoming election, the exchange rate, what is SIRA and SIRASE, inflation, and more!

Secure Your Spot Today! 

What is Coffee & Cargo? Every month, our experts sit down to discuss what’s currently happening in the shipping industry. Every so often we are joined by special guests, who share their specific expertise and experiences.

Check Out Past Webinars Here!


Freight News

What is Schedule Reliability Looking Like?

All throughout this year, global schedule reliability has continued at a positive trend. Recently, it has seen its first month-over-month drop back in June 2023 of -2.5 percentage points to 64.3%.

Global schedule reliability has been much improved this year in comparison to all of 2021 and 2022.

You can also notice in that image that it continued to post an upward trend, until its first drop in June. However, it’s not that gloomy as schedule reliability still posts a massive 24.4 percentage points higher year-over-year.

Global Air Capacity Surplus Continues Amidst a Downward Pricing Pressure

A surplus of global air capacity has continued in the struggle of downward pricing pressure on all trade lanes.

As rates continue to fall, some industry experts tell the JOC that this has given air cargo shippers the “upper hand” as they head into the negotiation period for winter rates.

Niall Van De Wouw, Xeneta’s Chief Air Freight Officer said typically the month of July usually does not provide any kind of surprise in regards to unexpected performance levels in the global air cargo market.

He continued, “what will be concerning airlines and forwarders is the constant month-on-month decline in average rates and the quickening pace of this fall since the turn of the year.”

“We think that one of the key swing factors this year will be the level of confidence that retailers have in consumer demand and whether they err towards caution in rebuilding stocks,” Bruce Chen, a Senior Research Analyst at Stifel had to say in regards to the level of confidence in the air cargo market this year.

The Baltic Air Index has shown global air freight rates have improved slightly in the last week of July, but remain flat on the China to North America and North Europe routes, the JOC notes. 

Did You Know: ILWU Canada Members Vote YES to Ratify a Tentative Agreement

On August 4th, the ILWU Canada Union announced their members had voted to ratify the tentative agreement.

This brings some much needed stability back to Canada’s West Coast ports after five months of negotiations/mediations, as well as five weeks of labor instability to the ports.

Source: Supply Chain Dive

Blogs of the Week

Check Out Our LinkedIn Poll!

Every other week we post a poll on our LinkedIn page (give us a follow if you feel so inclined 😊), where you can vote on which port you would like to see featured on our deep-dive this Friday!

Also, consider subscribing to our biweekly “Port of the Week!” newsletter to continuing getting a closer look at various ports (and inland ports), globally and domestically!

Past “Port of the Week” newsletters have included the Port of Nagoya (Japan), Port of Oakland (California), Port of Vancouver (Canada), and more.

Interlog Insights

This month we celebrate our ONE YEAR anniversary of Interlog Insights!

We also introduced our first week of our August insights, discussing the TransPacific outlook and several weather events impacting or have impacted the supply chain.

FreightFM - EP10 - YT Thumbnail

A Podcast by InterlogUSA: FreightFM Episode 10

Check out our latest episode on all things U.S. and Canadian West Coast! — UPDATE: As of 7/26/23: members of the union are expected to vote on the tentative agreement later this week.

Listen Today!

FreightFM features short-form video interviews with InterlogUSA’s industry experts offering insights into breaking news, market trends, our company’s history, and more!

Browse Past Episodes

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