Avsnitt
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The current global container shipping landscape, viewed through the lens of freight buyers, rivals the complexity seen during the Covid era. Threats of new US tariffs, shipping and geopolitical risks spanning the Middle East and beyond, and substantial shifts in the liner shipping alliance system are casting significant shadows.
In the US market, challenges such as the temporary closure of the port of Baltimore, potential dockworker union actions at Gulf and east coast ports, and low water levels on the Panama Canal add further layers of complexity.
Amidst these dynamics, freight buyers find themselves negotiating transpacific contracts with carriers.
This episode, sponsored by Dimerco Express Group, delves into strategies for effectively categorizing and navigating these turbulent waters, while also pondering the potential container shipping-demand balance under less disruptive circumstances.
Guest
Hua Joo Tan, Founder, LINERLYTICA
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In this episode of The Freight Buyers’ Club, host Mike King delves into the current state of global trade amidst geopolitical tensions and disruptions with renowned economist, historian, and journalist, Marc Levinson. They explore the long-term implications for importers, exporters, carriers, and the entire transport ecosystem.
From the impact of recent events on supply chains to the shifting dynamics of globalization, in this episode, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, Marc shares valuable insights into the future of trade and logistics.
Mike and Marc also discuss the regionalization of supply chains, the delicate balance between efficiency and risk management, and how to best navigate the complex landscape of global trade in an ever-changing world.
Episode in more detail:
A fractured trading environment (02.18)
Deaton and the merits of globalisation (04.45)
Has trade growth peaked? (09.31)
Products<Services (12.59)
Technology implications for trade volumes (16.12)
Do we have the right ships and freighters? (18.37)
Container lines as integrators (21.24)
Competitive advantage and geopolitics (24.54)
Sourcing diversification (26.00)
Trade and security policy (29.13)
A new cold war? (32.41)
SMEs and protectionism (35.05)
Net zero or ground zero (38.12)
About Marc Levinson
Marc is an economist, historian, and journalist with a long track record of writing and speaking about economic and business issues. His book The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, which explains how a seemingly simple innovation made globalization possible, received many awards. The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America, which explores the fascinating history of government efforts to crack down on chain stores to protect mom-and-pop retailers, won praise across the ideological spectrum and was published in a second edition in 2019.
His 2016 book, An Extraordinary Time, is an unusual take on the miserable decade of the 1970s, showing how the sudden end of the postwar boom led voters in many countries to choose leaders who promised to cut government down to size — Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Helmut Kohl, and others. But they couldn’t bring back the good times, because rapid productivity growth, the critical ingredient in higher living standards, is something political leaders can’t deliver.
His most recent project, Outside the Box, presents an unorthodox history of globalization. It shows that the international economic relationships we’ve known since the late 1980s, based on intricate long-distance value chains, are only a stage in the process of globalization — a stage that was waning long before Trump, Brexit, and COVID-19. But he contends that globalization is far from over; rather, it is moving into a stage in which the flow of ideas and services will be much more important than the flow of boxes filled with goods.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Uncertainty and risk haunt supply chains right now, just as they shadow global politics and economics. Indeed, the future of trade and the musical chairs of international relations have possibly not been tethered so tightly since at least the Cold War, and perhaps even the Second World War.
From Guyana to Central Asia, the Middle East to the South China Sea and Black Sea, risk stalks trade and threatens supply chain resilience, while the outbreak of conflict is reshaping the logistics landscape.
And we also have a different type of risk in 2024 in the shape of billions of people heading to the polls, not least in the US where Americans are getting ready to elect a new President and trade policy – and the threat of new tariffs on US imports from China and elsewhere - is a key political battleground.
This episode, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, asks what all this means in practical terms for freight markets, the shippers that rely on international supply chains, and those in the business of making trade happen, both now and in the long-term.
Host Mike King and his guests also discuss whether technology and collaboration offer solutions to current supply chain inefficiencies and examine the pros and cons of China+1 options.
This episode also includes updates on ocean and air freight markets and rates, insight into the trans-Pacific contracting season, and more analysis of supply chain disruptions including Red Sea diversions, the threat of strikes at US East Coast ports later this year, and the ongoing closure of large swathes of air space to ‘Western’ airlines.
Guests:
Jon Monroe, President, Jon Monroe Consulting
Brandon Fried, Executive Director, Airforwarders Association (AfA)
Episode notes:
‘Rethinking my economics’, Angus Deaton.
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2024/03/Symposium-Rethinking-Economics-Angus-Deaton
Angus Deaton is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Emeritus, at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Economics Department at Princeton University. He is the 2015 recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
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In this deep dive into US logistics and international trade, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King explores whether 2024 could see a major surge of cargo into US West Coast terminals.
Levi Strauss & Co said earlier this year that it had “already shifted some product to go through the West Coast instead of the East Coast". Clearly it is not alone. The share of US seaborne imports of apparel shipped from Asia to US West Coast ports rose to 59.1% in December 2023, up from 56.7% in December 2022, S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows. In the first 25 days of January, the ratio increased to 64.8%, the highest since October 2022.
As this episode explains, a number of factors are pushing cargo westwards, not least the Red Sea crisis and diversions of container ships around the Cape of Good Hope. Low water on the Panama Canal and the threat of dockworker union action at US Gulf and East Coast ports later this year are also considerations for shippers.
How deep and significant this trend is for container shipping and US ports and supply chain stakeholders will become clearer after the latest round of trans-Pacific annual contracts have been signed and sealed. A lot of those conversations will be taking place at Long Beach, California, in the first week of March when the city hosts TPM24.
As this podcast explores, many shippers will not just be looking at the cost/transit equation, they will also be asking whether West Coast terminals are ready to handle a surge in cargo.
Guests:
Noel Hacegaba, Chief Operating Officer, Port of Long Beach
Bjorn Vang Jensen, Executive Director for International Transport, Cummins
Alexander King, Branch Manager for New York and New Jersey, Dimerco Express Group
Jon Gold, VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation
Matt Schrap, CEO, Harbor Trucking Association
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In this news insights episode of The Freight Buyers’ Club, host Mike King is talking U.S. trucking, drayage, domestic freight demand and international trade with Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association.
Among other topics, they delve into:
The readiness of US West Coast truckers to cope with for an influx of import cargo due to disruptions in the Red Sea and Panama Canal.Whether LA and Long Beach ports have the processes, capacity and labour in place to handle a surge of cargo.Actions taken to improve the container return system, which had a significant detrimental impact on chassis supply during the pandemic.The advantages and disadvantages of various appointment systems that drayage operators serving western gateway terminals must navigate.The sluggish investment in non-diesel trucks despite the availability of subsidies and incentives. -
In this news insight episode of The Freight Buyers’ Club, Noel Hacegaba, Chief Operating Officer at the Port of Long Beach, outlines why the de facto closure of the Suez Canal to container shipping, low water levels on the Panama Canal, and the threat of union action at rival ports on the US East and Gulf Coast, are creating a unique window of opportunity for West Coast trade gateways.
But after the congestion and chaos of the Covid years, host Mike King asks if Long Beach’s terminals and supply chain stakeholders are now fully prepared to smoothly process a box volume demand spike.
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In this special News Insight episode of The Freight Buyers’ Club, host Mike King discusses the following with Robert Subbaraman, Head of Global Markets Research at Nomura:
Global economic and trade prospects in 2024Asia exports outlookGeopolitical risk in 2024The slowdown in ChinaFreight rates and inflationTrade and a Trump PresidencyProtectionism vs global growthChina + 1 impact on trade -
In this episode, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King has an in-depth discussion with Bjorn Vang Jensen, Executive Director for International Transport at American multinational Cummins, on all things shipping and supply chain.
They discuss what the Gemini Cooperation agreement between Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk means for the remaining THE Alliance container lines – Yang Ming, ONE and HMM – and whether 90% service reliability is a realistic target for the new partnership.
They also analyse the Red Sea crisis and how to plan and adapt to disrupted supply chains. And they discuss what shippers should expect in the lead-in to Chinese New Year factory closures, and what geopolitical conflict and risk means for the future of globalisation, international trade and liner strategy.
More on Bjorn Vang Jensen:
Bjorn has experience of all sides of the freight business. Until just over a year ago, he was one of container shipping’s best analysts as VP Advisory Services for Global Supply Chain at Sea-Intelligence Advisory Services. He’s also been a vessel scheduling manager, a salesperson, a freight forwarder and a 3PL.
On the BCO side of the fence, prior to taking the reins at Cummins, he was global head of logistics at Electrolux for 16 years during which time he was responsible for moving millions of TEU and hundreds of thousands of tons of airfreight.
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In this clip from EP14 of The Freight Buyers' Club podcast, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King hears that the threat of union action at US east and Gulf coast ports later this year is already prompting retailers to route cargo via west coast terminals. Mike is talking to: Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor, Journal of Commerce Jon Gold, VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation
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In this special new insight episode, host Mike King and Brendan Sullivan, Global Head, Cargo, International Air Transport Association (IATA), discuss if air cargo is ready to fill supply chain shortages emerging as a result of the Red Sea shipping crisis.
They also look at the performance of the air freight industry last year, what 2024 has in store for the sector, SAF uptake, and what operators can do better to meet the needs of shippers.
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In this clip from EP14 of The Freight Buyers' Club podcast, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King asks who will foot the bill as a combination of factors including diversions away from the Suez Canal impact global supply chains and trade.
Mike is talking to: Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor, Journal of Commerce Jon Gold, VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation.
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In this episode, host Mike King and guests examine the multiple challenges facing international trade in the early days of 2024 as supply chain disruptions mount and container shipping freight rates soar.
The prime cause of these disruptions is attacks on container shipping services by Houthi rebels based in Yemen. These are prompting carriers to divert vessels away from Bab-el-Mandeb, the strait which acts as the gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, a key global artery for trade.
Instead, ships are now steaming to Europe and the US via the Cape of Good Hope, adding weeks on to journey times, and threatening to soak up the liner industry’s excess capacity.
Already container shipping rates are spiralling, even on trades such as the trans-Atlantic and Asia-US West Coast where services are, in theory at least, not being directly affected.
Economic headwinds, geopolitical turmoil, low water on the Panama Canal, and the threat of union action at US east coast and Gulf coast ports are also casting a chaotic shadow over shipper supply chains in early 2024. As Mike and guests discuss, all of these factors are driving up risk levels for shippers, changing the focus of supply chain procurement professionals from cutting costs to mitigating disruption.
Guests
Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor, Journal of Commerce
Jon Gold, VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation
Episode in more detail:
JOC’s take on the new Suez crisis (2.21)
Freight rates surge contagion (3.39)
The implications of vessel diversion (7.08)
Mitigation strategies for retailers (11.41)
Panama Canal water shortage (13.26)
Are shippers 2024’s biggest losers? (15.13)
China+1 & low-cost vs supply chain resilience (17.35)
Geopolitical risks in 2024 (23.09)
Value chains and democracy vs autocracy (24.44)
The future of globalisation (28.12)
The US elections (30.06)
US east coast dockworker strike threat (34.44)
Retailers shift cargo to West Coast (38.14)
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In this special news insight episode, Mike King is joined by Alvin Fuh, shipping veteran and current Special Assistant to Chief Executive Officer at Dimerco Express Group, for an update on the Red Sea/Suez Canal shipping crisis. They also explore shipper options as transit times increase and Asia-Europe ocean shipping freight rates soar.
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In this episode of the Freight Buyers’ Club, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, the big freight, economic and shipping stories of 2023 are put under the microscope when host Mike King speaks to Paul Berger, The Wall Street Journal’s Logistics & Supply Chain Reporter. The implications of the Yellow and Convoy bankruptcies are examined. Mike and Paul also discuss shipper risk and the economic outlook in 2024, and why labour disputes might further disrupt supply chains in the months ahead.
In part 2, Mike interviews Philip Damas, Managing Director of Drewry Shipping Consultants and Head of Drewry’s Supply Chain Advisors practice. They discuss how to plan ocean freight tenders, budgeting for new EC ETS surcharges, how carriers will use blanks to manage supply, and what China+1 means for the global container trade.
Guests
Paul Berger, Logistics & Supply Chain Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Philip Damas, Managing Director of Drewry Shipping Consultants and Head of Drewry’s Supply Chain Advisors practice
Episode in more detail:
2023 in review (1.56)
ILWU settlement implications (4.47)
Union risk on the eastern seaboard (7.44)
Labour unrest in 2024? (10.25)
Why freight failed to rebound (12.20)
Casualties: Yellow and Convoy (13.48)
Economic outlook and risk (15.32)
‘De-risking’ supply chains (16.58)
2024 trends and stories (20.49)
Drewry: ocean freight tender advice (22.59)
ETS – the new emissions surcharge (25.58)
Container shipping oversupply (30.34)
Shipper risk in 2024 (34.21)
Trans-Pacific outlook (38.26)
What China+1 means for container volumes (41.44)
2024 shipper risks and carrier losses (44.43)
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In this episode of The Freight Buyers’ Club, produced in partnership with Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King has an exclusive interview with Bronson Hsieh, former chairman of both Evergreen and Yang Ming container lines.
They discuss future container shipping demand and supply, what this means for freight buyers and why everyone in the business of ocean supply chains should understand how new European Commission emissions and competition regulations will impact them.
Kathy Liu, Senior Director, Dimerco Global Sales & Marketing, discusses the view of China + 1 and nearshoring strategies from China’s perspective. And Bronson talks about why the diversification of sourcing strategies globally will transform container shipping and the type of vessels built to meet the needs of what he calls “globalisation with regionalisation”.
Guests:
Bronson Hsieh, former chairman of Evergreen and Yang Ming container shipping lines
Kathy Liu, Senior Director, Dimerco Global Sales & Marketing
Episode in more detail:
Introducing Bronson Hsieh – container shipping legend (1.29)
US demand upswing (2.41)
Global economic forecast (4.35)
Did container lines over-order (5.45)
Will liner vertical consolidation strategies succeed (9.10)
Geopolitics, globalisation and liner implications (12.03)
Globalisation and regionalisation (13.41)
Did carriers buy the right sized ships? (14.55)
Dimerco positive on China (22.16)
Europe’s Emissions Trading System (25.06)
Will shippers pay? (29.40)
Will China and the FMC follow the EC (36.02)
Implications of exposing to carriers to competition laws (33.07)
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In this episode of The Freight Buyer’s Club, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King looks at global and US air cargo markets.
What has happened to peak season is the key question examined, but Mike and his guests also discuss inventory levels, global demand and economics, what the decarbonisation of supply chains means for air freight, SAF availability forecasts, and the market for freighters.
Guests
Niall van de Wouw, Chief Airfreight Officer, Xeneta
Eric Kulisch, Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor, FreightWaves
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In this pilot episode of Freight Expectations, a Freight Buyers' Club podcast which will be launched in 2024, host Mike King speaks to one of the world’s foremost authors and thought leaders on logistics technology and the future of supply chains.
Professor Yossi Sheffi is the current Director of the Center for Transportation & Logistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the author of a new book, “The Magic Conveyor Belt: Supply Chains, AI, and the Future of Work”.
Prof. Sheffi has also advised governments, retailers and manufacturers, and co-founded a string of successful supply chain companies which he successfully sold to companies including Oracle, Manhattan Associates and Ryder.
Mike and Yossi discuss, amongst other things, AI applications in the businesses of freight and logistics, and whether the supply chain industry and its workers should feel threatened by tools such as ChatGPT.
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In this episode of The Freight Buyers’ Club, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King looks at the current global freight market, the US demand outlook, and examines why the container peak season failed to materialise.
Mike and his guests then deep dive into India’s growing attraction as a global manufacturing hub as OEMs diversify away from China. His guests explain that while India still faces many challenges, it has already succeeded in attracting top-end manufacturers including Tesla, Apple, Asus, Lenovo, and Dell.
India’s young population and sizeable land bank, alongside government investment in logistics infrastructure and programmes to boost manufacturing, will see its share of global manufacturing and exports rise in the future, trends that have major repercussions for global trade flows and freight demand in the years ahead.
Guests
Rajesh Srinivasan, India Country Manager, Dimerco Express Group
Rahul Kapoor, Global Head of Shipping Analytics & Research, S&P Global Commodity Insights
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In part 1 of this episode, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King interviews one of the world’s leading economic and transport analysts: Paul Bingham, Director of Supply Chain Transportation Consulting, S&P Global Market Intelligence. They swing between freight markets and economic forecasts as they discuss Paul’s view that transport markets across modes are suffering from a pandemic ‘whipsaw effect’ which will result in consolidation and bankruptcies. Paul also believes that 2023 will be a “trough” for global growth and trade, and recovery will start in 2024, even as some key economies teeter on recession.
In part 2, Mike speaks to Alberto Villareal, Founder & MD of Nepanoa, about the options available to manufacturers and retailers looking to diversify sourcing risk, particularly if they’re looking at options in Mexico.
Guests: Alberto Villareal, Founder & MD, Nepanoa
Paul Bingham, Director of Supply Chain Transportation Consulting, S&P Global Market Intelligence
Episode in more detail
Part 1 - Paul Bingham, Director of Supply Chain Transportation Consulting, S&P Global Market Intelligence
Global economic and trade forecasts (1.35)
US economy, inflation and a freight recession (5.41)
Exporter outlook (8.14)
Trade and geopolitical risk (12.12)
China: decouple or de-risk? (15.22)
US domestic freight outlook (19.37)
Container lines in focus (22.39)
Part 2 Alberto Villareal, Founder & MD, Nepanoa
Global supply chain risk (30.41)
China+1 options in Asia (33.35)
Impact on Mexican exports and economy (35.37)
Key Mexico regions for FDI (40.19)
Mexican infrastructure (42.39)
Crime: the elephant in the room (47.25)
Labour costs (52.45)
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In this episode host and producer Mike King explores the implications of the tentative west coast docker contract deal, the likely impact of lower water levels on the Panama Canal, retailer inventory stocks, whether there will be a shipping peak season in 2023, and just what container lines will do with the huge number of newbuilding vessels due for delivery over the next 18 months.
Guests
Jessica Dankert, Vice President Supply Chain, Retail Industry Leaders Association, (RILA)
Jan Tiedemann, Head Analyst, Alphaliner
Episode in more detail
‘Tentative’ agreement reached with US West Coast dockers (2.29)
Retailers rejoice (5.01)
Why west coast has lost some traffic for good (6.36)
Strike on US East Coast? (8.51)
More shipping disruptions looming (10.26)
Non-China sourcing options (12.30)
Crime holds back Mexican sourcing (15.33)
US retailer inventory levels (17.11)
The influence of the expanded Panama Canal locks on West to East drift in US logistics (20.51)
Liner strategy for low water levels in Panama (23.32)
The demise of the trans-Atlantic trade (29.06)
Where will lines deploy all the new ships?
How carriers are cutting out carbon (35.39)
Slow steaming to improve service levels (38.22)
- Visa fler
