American Trucking Associations
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 5.7% in August, following a 2.1% decline during July. In August, the index equaled 141.8 (2000=100), up from 134.2 in July. The all-time high was 144 in February.
The National Retail Federation and the Hardwood Federation today led a coalition of 120 organizations representing retailers, manufacturers, agribusinesses and other sectors affected by the Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy in sending a letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker outlining specific concerns and urging her continued leadership in bringing about a resolution.
August’s Cass Freight Index continued to signal that overall shipment volumes (and pricing) are persistently weak, with increased levels of volatility as all levels of the supply chain (manufacturing, wholesale, retail) continue to try and work down inventory levels. That said, there have been a few areas of growth, mostly related to e-commerce, with lower levels of expansion being experienced in transit modes serving the auto and housing/construction industries. All of this added up to slightly lower shipment volumes in August on a YoY (year-over-year) basis, marking the eighteenth straight month of year-over-year decline. That said, at least on a seasonally adjusted basis, August volume was up sequentially, offering a glimmer of hope that the contraction in volumes may be getting closer to an end.
As previously detailed in our Supply Chain Alert, Hanjin Shipping, the world’s seventh-largest container shipper, filed for bankruptcy protection on August 31. Hanjin’s collapse is by far the largest container shipping bankruptcy in history and the consequences continue to reverberate throughout international supply chains and the transportation sector.
Although Hanjin is not among MIQ’s core carriers, we do have cargo caught up in this situation because of vessel share agreements by our core-carriers and shipper-specific arrangements. Our immediate task, therefore, is to obtain cargo release; mitigate any extra costs and expenses; and, deliver our clients’ cargo.
Creditors of Hanjin Shipping Co. 117930 0.78 % , fearful of having their collateral disappear over the horizon, have asked a U.S. bankruptcy judge to reconsider a ruling preventing them from seizing several of the South Korean carrier’s ships.
A group of creditors who have gone unpaid for services such as towing and fueling say that the judge’s order shouldn’t apply to vessels chartered by Hanjin because they aren’t legally its property. The creditors have liens against Hanjin ships that would ordinarily allow them to foreclose on the vessels.
U.S. Energy Information Administration
Key details from the latest Short-Term Energy Outlook released from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Some of the highlights included the following:
A portion of the $14 billion in cargo trapped at sea by the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd (117930.KS) began moving out of one California port on Monday, and a second ship received orders to head to dock, after the turmoil created by the South Korean company’s collapse. Truckers began moving freight from the Hanjin Greece, one of roughly a dozen of the company’s ships destined for the U.S. West Coast, out of the port of Long Beach on Monday, following a U.S. bankruptcy court’s grant of protection.
Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports should be at near-peak levels this month even as retailers work to cope with the Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
“The U.S. LEI picked up again in July, suggesting moderate economic growth should continue through the end of 2016,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Director of Business Cycles and Growth Research at The Conference Board. “There may even be some moderate upside growth potential if recent improvements in manufacturing and construction are sustained, and average consumer expectations don’t deteriorate further.” – The Conference Board
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 151,000 in August, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in several service-providing industries.
