American Shipper

FMC urges Congress to aid distressed US box terminals

Steep reductions in containership sailings over the next several months due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have many U.S. marine terminal operators wondering how they are going to afford their annual lease payments to port authorities.

The country’s nearly 100 large and small container terminals are on some of the priciest industrial property. According to industry experts, terminal operators in the Port of New York and New Jersey annually spend about $90,000 per acre as port authority...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/fmc-urges-congress-to-aid-distressed-us-box-terminals

How canceled sailings will impact US ports – and when

container ship

Container lines have “blanked” (canceled) an unprecedented number of sailings to bring capacity in line with coronavirus-stricken cargo demand.

Blank-sailings data is a key leading indicator for U.S. ports, cargo shippers, truckers and railways. A container ship that doesn’t depart from Asia equates to a container ship that doesn’t arrive on the U.S. West Coast two to three weeks later, or on the East Coast four to five weeks later.

What matters to American businesses is U.S. port arrivals, not...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-canceled-sailings-will-impact-us-ports-and-when

Air Canada sees long-road to recovery after big Q1 loss

Big white plane flies high over snow-capped mountains.

Air Canada (TO. AC) said it will take three years to get back to 2019 revenue and capacity levels, and that it is accelerating the retirement of 79 older planes to make ends meet while it rides out the coronavirus crisis.

That recovery timeline was echoed last week by executives at U.S. carriers. 

Canada’s biggest airline reported Monday that first-quarter revenue fell 16% to CA$3.7 billion ($2.6 billion), the first time in 27 consecutive quarters it has not had revenue growth. 

Airlines began to...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/air-canada-sees-long-road-to-recovery-after-big-q1-loss

Career Tracks: Truckstop.com, Southeastern Freight and Eimskip

Freight-matching marketplace Truckstop.com announced that Brad Bedoe has joined the company as chief marketing officer.

The newly created position will direct marketing functions across various disciplines, including demand generation, go-to-market strategy, industry/segment marketing, and brand and product marketing.

Bedoe previously was the CMO for Verizon Connect. Prior to that, he was the vice president of segment marketing for Fleetmatics. While at Fleetmatics, Bedoe helped scale the company...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/career-tracks:-truckstopcom,-southeastern-freight-and-eimskip

United Deep Dive: Earnings call underscores airlines’ disciplined survival plan

White jet on appoach for landing.

No one knows when the economic depression will end. It’s no surprise that many companies lost money in the first quarter and will have worse results during the second quarter. Instead, investors are trying to figure out who is able to recover fastest and win market share in a post-pandemic reopening.

That’s why no one cares that United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) lost $1.7 billion in the first three months of the year. For the airline industry the metrics that count now are liquidity and cash burn....

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/united-deep-dive-earnings-call-underscores-airlines-disciplined-survival-plan

United Airlines plans for worst, hopes for best

White regional jets parked at airport.

United Airlines’ President Scott Kirby on Friday laid out a stark future for the airline industry, saying  the carrier is preparing for a scenario in which there is no passenger revenue into next year and it will have to dismiss thousands of workers if travel doesn’t rebound from the coronavirus crisis.

In a matter of weeks, the pandemic has vaporized an industry that was seeing record growth, turning airports into ghost towns and airplanes nearly empty. United appears to be the most pessimistic...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/united-airlines-plans-for-worst-hopes-for-best

FreightWaves Flashback 1961 – Orange juice cold chain flows from Port Canaveral to NY

The many industries that make up the world of freight have undergone tremendous change over the past several decades. Each Friday, FreightWaves explores the archives of American Shipper’s nearly 70-year-old collection of shipping and maritime publications to showcase interesting freight stories of long ago.

The following is an excerpt from the May 1961 edition of The Florida Journal of Commerce.

SS Tropicana is pipe-line from Canaveral to Gotham

When first conceived in the late 1800s, Port...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-flashback-1961-orange-juice-cold-chain-flows-from-port-canaveral-to-ny

Navigating service contract negotiations during COVID-19

This is no ordinary year for American shippers and freight forwarders that are attempting to finalize their annual ocean service contracts with the container carriers.

The uncertainty of how much cargo will be available from the shippers and the amount of capacity offered by the carriers for the next contract season, which generally starts in May, remains anyone’s guess in the face of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“The biggest obstacle we face in service contract negotiations this year is the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/navigating-service-contract-negotiations-during-covid-19

A new digital network for freight forwarders booms during COVID-19

Instead of attending international conferences to engage their complex networks and logistical needs, freight forwarders have had to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many forwarders are leveraging technology to navigate the buying and selling terms between manufacturers and importers, as well as provide trusted recommendations. Needless to say, those online platforms are experiencing success. 

The Israel-based software company All Forward, launched in 2020, is one such platform, calling itself...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/a-new-digital-network-for-freight-forwarders-booms-during-covid-19

Second-half container relief after second-quarter disaster?

container port

The coronavirus is a tough nut to crack for economic forecasters, and by extension, container-shipping forecasters. The rebound hinges on at least two colossal unknowns: the future rate of infections and how consumer behavior evolves.

The consensus, which may turn out to be wishful thinking, is that infections will slow and consumers will tentatively get back to their consumption in the second half. If so, container volumes would climb off their lows.

The new container-shipping forecast of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/second-half-container-relief-after-second-quarter-disaster

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