News

Private equity firm buys Michigan construction company

Eberhart Capital, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based private equity firm, continued a rollup of construction companies, acquiring Michigan’s M.J. Van Damme Inc. for $20 million to $50 million, according to an Eberhart press release.

Eberhart’s portfolio includes U.S. companies in the construction, logistics, manufacturing and energy industries. Van Damme, founded in 2000, is located in Gwinn in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It is Eberhart’s third construction acquisition in 2020.

Adding Van Damme, a...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/private-equity-firm-buys-michigan-construction-company

USPS to levy temporary parcel hikes on high-volume shippers

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) said Friday it plans to impose temporary rate increases on a broad range of domestic parcel delivery products as it copes with higher volumes and costs due to the coronavirus pandemic and seeks to generate additional revenue to help it stay afloat.

The increases, which would begin Oct. 18 and are slated to run through Dec. 27, will be directed at high-volume commercial shippers using USPS’ “competitive” parcel products subject to market competition and not...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/usps-to-levy-temporary-parcel-hikes-on-high-volume-shippers

Yang Ming’s Q2 strong but not strong enough

Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. reported Friday it had shaved its loss from more than $27 million in the first quarter to $2.25 million in the second.

Still, that means the Taiwanese carrier had a net loss for the first half of the year of nearly $29.5 million. During the first six months of 2020, consolidated revenue was down 12% compared to the same period in 2019, to $2.2 billion. Volume was down 9.86% to 2.38 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). And the first-half net figure...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/yang-mings-q2-strong-but-not-strong-enough

Hormuz tanker risk rises after US seizes Iranian cargoes

product tanker

Tanker rates spiked last year after attacks on tankers in the Middle East. Could history repeat itself? The U.S. has just seized four Iranian petroleum cargoes, adding more fuel to rising tensions at the Strait of Hormuz, where a quarter of the world’s oil transits.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed Friday that “with the assistance of foreign partners,” it seized the gasoline cargoes aboard four Liberian-flagged, Greek-managed product tankers: the Bella, Bering, Pandi and Luna.

The...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/hormuz-tanker-risk-rises-after-us-seizes-iranian-cargoes

Do warehouse robots dream of electric sheep? – WHAT THE TRUCK?!? (with video)

On today’s episode, Dooner and The Dude talk about SVT Robotics’ warehouse integration, the good and bad of e-commerce for Amazon and USPS, TK7 Products’ push toward green initiatives, how to talk to millennials in trucking, FreightWaves’ new swag store. and what’s On The Radar in SONAR.

Plus, Bad News/Good News concerning your next HQ, trucker sentiment and one woman’s drivers license.

They’re joined by special guests TJ Fanning, VP of growth at SVT Robotics; Andy Hedrick, co-founder, TK7...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/do-warehouse-robots-dream-of-electric-sheep-what-the-truck-with-video

Delta Air Lines cabins to go naked

A big white Delta jet with blue tail early in takeoff. Delta wants to take out some seats in planes to make way for cargo.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is the only major U.S. airline that currently plans to take advantage of federal authorization to strip passenger aircraft of their seats and substitute boxes of cargo.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) a month ago issued an exemption for domestic airlines to operate aircraft with floor-loaded cargo in the cabin, but the determination came after an airfreight bubble. Industry watchers wondered whether rates were still high enough to justify the conversion...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/exclusive-delta-air-lines-cabins-to-go-naked

FreightWaves named “Soonicorn” by Tracxn and to global “Emerging Startups of Data as a Service” list

Tracxn, a noted research firm that provides data on startups for venture capitalists and corporate development offices, has named FreightWaves to its Emerging Startups of Data-as-a-Service (DaaS), the latest in the Emerging Award series that recognizes the top companies in DaaS from across the globe. 

Tracxn named FreightWaves and 10 other companies from around the world as a “Soonicorn” (Soon to be a Unicorn). In business, being termed a unicorn indicates a privately held startup company is...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/freightwaves-named-to-tracxns-emerging-startups-of-data-as-a-service

Hapag-Lloyd profit swells despite shrinking volumes

Hapag-Lloyd maintains that despite doused volumes in the second quarter, it has the liquidity and strong earnings to stay well above water.

“After the year got off to a decent start, transport volumes significantly declined in the second quarter as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We benefited from the sudden drop in bunker prices, adjusted capacity to lower demand and took additional cost-cutting measures as part of our performance safeguarding program,” CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said in...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/hapag-lloyd-profit-swells-despite-shrinking-volumes

Demand driving transpacific prices sky high, with Asia-Europe benefiting too

Container spot freight rates on the transpacific trades leapt this week, with prices from Asia to US west coast ports sailing way above $3,000 per feu – and looking set to jump higher.
Today’s Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) reading – prices quoted for next week – was $3,406 per feu, an increase of 8.3% over last week’s reading of $3,144.
It showed a slight variation with the midweek Freightos Baltic Index …

The post Demand driving transpacific prices sky high, with Asia-Europe...

https://theloadstar.com/demand-driving-transpacific-prices-sky-high-with-asia-europe-benefiting-too/

Solid half-year result, ‘but don’t let’s get carried away’, says Hapag-Lloyd chief

Despite the pandemic, Hapag-Lloyd recorded a net profit of $287m in the second quarter of the year. This compares with a $56m profit for the same period of 2019.
And for the half-year, the carrier reported a net profit of $314m, versus $165m last year, a 90% jump in profitability.
At ebit level for the first half, there was an improvement of 28%, to $563m.
Chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen said the group …

The post Solid half-year result, ‘but don’t let’s get carried away’, says Hapag-Lloyd...

https://theloadstar.com/solid-half-year-result-but-dont-lets-get-carried-away-says-hapag-lloyd-chief/

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