Freight Forward: Short-Lived Strike, For Now

Welcome to Freight Forward, where each Monday, I’ll recap what happened in supply chains the previous week through JOC.com articles and additional sources and also what to expect for the week ahead.

I’m Cathy Roberson, a supply chain writer and researcher. For this weekly series, I serve as a research analyst for the Journal of Commerce (JOC), for whom I identify trends, provide thoughts and input into stories, and assist with express and parcel last-mile queries.

Inland Distribution Conference

• Paul Bingham, Lee Klaskow and Larry Gross opened the conference with their views on the economy and outlook for freight demand. Rising unemployment and consumer debt may dampen spending, but the speakers said they expect a better market in 2025 for carriers, with rates rising in the truckload, intermodal and less-than-truckload (LTL) markets writes Bill Cassidy and me ??.
• Hurricane Helene was a hot topic at the conference - Shippers and other attendees at the Journal of Commerce Inland Distribution Conference 2024 expect demand for freight to support reconstruction efforts from Florida to Tennessee and North Carolina to tap into spot market truckload capacity for weeks, if not months writes Bill Cassidy.
• There’s no quick recovery ahead for the US truckload sector, either in terms of pricing or demand, executives from several logistics companies said at the conference writes Bill Cassidy. Still, truckload carriers are expecting rates to rise in 2025. Executives at the Inland24 conference forecast annualized contract rate increases in the mid-single-digit percentage range.

• Intermodal executives warned domestic rail shippers to anticipate paying more in 2025 contracts writes Ari Ashe. However, rates should only rise by low-single-digit percentages across the US, executives said during the Journal of Commerce Inland Distribution Conference 2024.

• Domestic intermodal service has improved over the past two years, but many shippers remain cautious and unwilling to entrust time-sensitive freight to the rails, according to intermodal executives writes Ari Ashe.

“We must come out and explain how this [cargo theft] is a $50 billion problem to the US economy and back it up in a court of law, rather than dealing with each case on a per-incident or per-container basis,” Will Johnson, a chief special agent with BNSF Railway Police.

• In the first half of this year, cargo thefts on trucks and rail jumped 49% to 787 incidents, likely an undercount due to unreported crimes handled without local or federal authorities, according to cargo security firm Overhaul writes Ari Ashe.
• In my weekly Cargo Facts column, I wrote about a session I moderated – Improving ruck flows at Airports – The ILA strike, e-commerce and the Red Sea crisis impacting air cargo demand while US airports desperately needing cargo infrastructure investments and better communications with stakeholders such as trucking firms, freight forwarders and warehouses to support such demand.

Commentary from participants:

• Samantha Jones brought her popular podcast, Meet Me for Coffee, to the conference and found time to moderate a session.

• Sarah Barnes-Humphrey was also in attendance recording interviews throughout the conference and more

• Great insights from Scooter Sayers from the economic and freight outlook session

DAT’s Dean Croke participated in a great panel, Why small shippers matter

Inland News

• Union Pacific Railroad (UP) is increasing its fees for low-volume customers that exceed their contractual peak season allotment on outbound lanes from California, as import volumes throughout the US West Coast drive a rare spot of growth nationally writes Ari Ashe.

Strike

• US East and Gulf ports expect a generally smooth resumption of cargo flow after reopening early Friday morning writes Laura Robb. Port leaders say they have spare capacity and expect minimal disruptions in processing a backlog of more than 60 ships.
• Maritime employers and the ILA reached a tentative deal to reopen container terminals at East and Gulf coast ports writes Michael Angell and Mark Szakonyi. Most ports reopened on Friday.
• Column - Political winds turn against ocean carriers amid ILA strike, Mark Szakonyi
• Conflicting post-pandemic worldviews bring ILA, employers to historic strike, Peter Tirschwell
• Oct 1 - ILA workers strike with? the head of the union pledging he would secure a “great contract” that he would like to complete by the end of the month writes Michael Angell.

Ocean Freight

• Column - Montreal port users not expecting quick intervention if strikes continue, Mark Szakonyi
• Column - Carrier order books, alliance changes signal continued reliance on scale, Jeremy Masters
• Keith Wallis writes about an evolution that’s underway away on how perishables brokers and toward smaller-volume, direct buyer-seller relationships are increasing share of produce traveling by reefer container, and how the aging breakbulk reefer fleet will struggle to meet modern emissions regulations.
• India’s Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping) has released provisional guidelines intended to grant VSAs an extended exemption from antitrust regulations in exchange for Indian companies gaining consortium participation rights. The previous exemption order expired in July writes Bency Matthew.
• Reduced vessel arrivals and container volumes, coupled with cleaner cargo-handling equipment from rail to drayage, helped the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach significantly reduced emissions last year writes Bill Mongelluzzo but environmental challenges are mounting.

3PL/Forwarding

• Forwarder DSV’s acquisition of rival DB Schenker received the green light from both the German federal government and Deutsche Bahn’s (DB’s) supervisory board writes Greg Knowler.

That's it for now. Thank you for reading! For readers interested in reading more Journal of Commerce stories, click here to subscribe. Enter code FFNL20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any subscription option. (Note that this is only for first-time subscribers or for upgrading a current subscription). What did I miss? Have a question? Let me know in the comments. I’ll be checking back throughout the week to answer questions, address comments, and share additional insights. In the meantime, here’s wishing everyone a good freight week ahead.

-Cathy