There’s a great graphic in this article showing the container and carload bookings on rail by month over the last year.
I also was interested by the statement that ag and bulk products, which often go in hopper cars, are down considerably. The data come from the AAR (American Association of Railroads), an industry group that provides many statistics about railroad operations.
via Rail volume down for 9th straight month in November | Supply Chain Dive
This story is a follow up to one I did a couple of weeks ago. Fuel surcharges are varying wildly. A consultant found that there’s a wide disparity, the rate rationale is not very transparent, and rates vary even within alliances. Conditions like this lead to confusion and annoyance among customers, especially smaller shippers. I expect 3PLs will also be annoyed, but they will be figuring out how to explain the surcharges or where to hide them in their reselling agreements. It doesn’t make for great credibility among the ocean carriers.
Mike Wackett
via Are carriers boosting low-sulphur fuel surcharges to make up for low rates? – The Loadstar
The hard but accurate way to figure out the effect of tariffs on your product line draws a page from ABC accounting. Examine each and every SKU. Apparently Home Depot has done this. The results should be a finer-grained snapshot of tariffs’ effect.
It should also supply information for decisions as the tariff situation changes in the short term, as it most certainly will. The article states that at a similar company, Lowe’s, tariffs cost it 40 basis points of gross margin. That’s a lot in a business where markups are not that large.
via Home Depot assesses tariff impact SKU-by-SKU | Supply Chain Dive
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