Tag Archives: trade

Quote

Are carriers boosting low-sulphur fuel surcharges to make up for low rates?

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.

 

logovia Are carriers boosting low-sulphur fuel surcharges to make up for low rates? – The Loadstar

Quote

ITF Study on shipping alliances makes EC exemption decision ‘puzzling’

Why did the EU decide to extend shipping alliances’ rights?  This article in the Loadstar points to a short piece on Linked in calling attention to a study by Olaf Merk (and others) critiquing alliances and what they have done to the ocean shipping and port industries.

The study points out alliances were useful in the distant past, but today they are serving to consolidate ocean shipping, reduce offers and most every service, and they also put great pressure on ports to engage in competition on facilities, a costly endeavor that results in over-allocation of capital for the use of few lines.

I’ve attached the Merk etal. article below. He’s an eminent port and maritime economist, and what he writes should be taken seriously.

logo

By Alex Lennane 22/11/2019

 

via Study on shipping alliances makes EC exemption decision ‘puzzling’ – The Loadstar

The Impact of Alliances on Container Shipping

Quote

Assessing tariff impact SKU-by-SKU

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.

supply chain dive logo  by

via Home Depot assesses tariff impact SKU-by-SKU | Supply Chain Dive