Union Pacific Equipment Shortage Sends Spot Rates Soaring

Spot rates have jumped more than 40 percent in the last four weeks for shippers using rail-owned boxes out of Los Angeles due to an equipment shortage in Southern California unseen since 2018.

Savannah Tops in Agricultural Exports in 2019

The Port of Savannah was the top U.S. port in terms of containerized agricultural exports in 2019, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) said Thursday. Agricultural products exported totaled more than 843,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in calendar year 2019, GPA said. Those agricultural volumes accounted for 60% of the port’s exports. Forest products such as wood pulp, paper and logs, as well as clay, cotton and poultry are under the agricultural products umbrella.

Southern California Has Become the Hub for the Domestic Freight Market

Southern California has become a key entry point for freight entering the U.S. in the post-COVID-19 market. After a notable shift in shippers moving freight in through the eastern ports in late 2019, they have scrambled to recover lost time and manage inventories in what has become, to use a cliche, “the new normal.” According to the Freightos Baltic Index, Maritime spot rates have grown 84% from China to North America’s West Coast over the previous year as maritime carriers have cut capacity in anticipation of a decline in demand. Truckload volumes have grown 19% out of the Los Angeles market year-over-year (y/y), while domestic intermodal volumes have also increased 10% over the previous year.

Container Alliances Moving Toward More Landside Cooperation

Individual container carrier mergers and acquisitions, as well as a reconfiguring of vessel sharing alliances has created an environment in which members could begin to coordinate intermodal rail and trucking transport.

KCS Isn’t for Sale

If I had a $100,000 for every time the rumor mill shouted out that Kansas City Southern was on the auction block, I’d be a multi-millionaire with a collection of exotic cars rivaling that of Jay Leno, and racing a Corvette C8.R in the IMSA Series, with my son Craig as crew chief.

Fracking Trailblazer Chesapeake Energy Becomes the Biggest Oil and Gas Bankruptcy of the Pandemic

Fracking pioneer Chesapeake Energy Corporation on Sunday became the largest oil-and-gas company to file for bankruptcy protection during the coronavirus pandemic.

International News

Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden Refinances $4.1bn Worth of Debt

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden)’s phosphate subsidiary signed new agreements to reschedule and refinance about $4.1 billion (Dh15bn) in debt as the company looks to strengthen its cash position.

BP Exits Petrochemical Business in $5 Billion Deal

Energy giant BP PLC has agreed to sell its petrochemicals business to British chemicals company Ineos Ltd., in a $5 billion deal that will help reshape its business for the global transition to lower-carbon energy, the company said on Monday.