Extra-loaders, new services slow LA-LB decongestion efforts
New container services and extra-loaders are adding to congestion at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, further complicating the efforts of marine terminal operators to dig out of a backlog of containers sparked by chassis shortages, warehouse congestion, and a wave of imports.
Grocers, CPG Manufacturers willing to Add a Little Supply Chain Fat in Order to Prepare for Potential Fall and Winter Demand Surge
Early in the virus pandemic that started in March, retail stores shelves soon emptied of a wide range of items, notably of course toilet paper and other paper products, but many other categories as well, from pasta and rice to cleaning wipes.
Read more at – Supply Chain Digest
Global Supply Chain News: Feeling Pricing Power, Container Carriers Likely Looking for Big Rate Increases in Looming Contract Negotiations
After many years being on the wrong side of the supply-demand balance, ocean container carriers are in the recently unusual position of feeling some pricing power.
Read more at – Supply Chain Digest
Accepted freight tender volumes up 16.5% year-over-year
After declining slightly last week, the Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI) bounced back this week. Last week’s decline was marginal, only -1.3%, but it was the first weekly decline since the freight market began heating up in May. There is still an extremely high number of rejected tenders being counted in OTVI. To account for this, we can calculate the accepted tender volume index (using the inverse of OTRI). This metric fell more than 3% last week but has also bounced back up 1.5% week-over-week.
Long Beach bridge, decade in the making, opens Monday
The Port of Long Beach hosted a virtual opening ceremony for its massive new bridge Friday. The $1.47 billion project raised the bridge’s clearance 55 feet to more than 200 feet to allow increasingly bigger container ships to reach the Port of Long Beach’s inner harbor terminals. The new nearly 2-mile-long cable-stayed bridge has six vehicle lanes and four emergency shoulders. New transition ramps and connectors are designed to improve traffic flow.