May brought some respite for China’s export volumes after a long and strict lockdown that crippled the nation's economy in the past months. The export volumes in May saw an increase however, the looming question is whether the boom will last long. Manufacturers and economists are of the view that consumers are shifting their spending to services, travel, and tourism as the world is adapting to the new normal. This could mean that less money will be spent on merchandise and a fall in online shopping as people return to stores.
Customs data showed that exports in dollars increased 16.9 percent year on year in May, up from 3.9 percent in April, exceeding the 8 percent increase predicted by economists. Meanwhile, imports increased by 4.1 percent after remaining unchanged the previous month while economists had predicted a 2.8 percent raise.
In terms of the Yuan, exports to the US increased 12.9 percent year on year in the first five months, while imports increased 2.1 percent. The trade surplus with the US increased to 1.02 trillion yuan ($153 billion) during the period. Read More.
The West Coast labor talks are centered around port automation. The contract negotiations between union dockworkers and employers at the west coast ports have garnered a lot of attention. While ocean carriers and terminal operators are pushing for greater use of robotic equipment to efficiently handle rising cargo volumes entering the US shores, dockworkers are worried that port automation may lead to a lot of workers losing jobs. The International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union (ILWU) representing 14,000 port workers in California, Oregon, and Washington State, and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) on behalf of shipping lines and terminal operators at 29 west coast ports, have been discussing terms of a new contract to replace the agreement that expires on 1st July. But with the union calling for a 10-day suspension of the negotiations after a few days, citing lack of progress has left the stakeholders in a frenzy. Meanwhile, several US Importers have reached out to the White House seeking help to intervene in the ongoing talks to ensure a productive outcome before 1st July. Read More.
The Port of Los Angeles is expecting inbound container volumes to exceed year-ago levels for the first time in two months. According to Wabtec Port Optimizer estimates, 26 vessels with approximately 127,000 20-foot containers were scheduled to be offloaded this week, a 0.4 percent increase from the same time in 2021. Next week, the number will rise to 27 ships carrying 137,000 TEUs, a 15.1% increase over the previous year.
However, the busiest trade gateway in the United States approaches crunch time, with peak shipping season expected to begin earlier than usual this summer and contract talks between West Coast dockworkers and their employers heating up which could impact the rising volume of cargo in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, The Port of Long Beach has reported its second busiest month on record in May as China’s reopening propels the cargo surge. Dockworkers and terminal operators at the port processed 890,989 TEU in May, a 1.8% decline from May 2021—the port’s all-time busiest month. Imports decreased 1.7% to 436,977 TEUs and exports were down 12.6% to 118,234 TEUs. Empty containers moved through Long Beach increased 2.6% to 335,778 TEUs. Read More.
Cargo Surge or Blip?
Weekly container imports in L.A.’s port lagged from 2021 levels until this week
Source: Signal/Wabtec Port Optimizer
*TEUs = 20-foot containers **Week 23 is June 5-11; week 24 is a forecast
Dave Clark, Amazon’s Consumer Chief, will begin his new role as the CEO of freight forwarding and customs brokerage startup, Flexport on September 1, 2022. Clark resigned from his role as CEO of Amazon's Worldwide Consumer division and will be finishing on July 1. From September 1, he will start as co-CEO of Flexport with founder Ryan Petersen. Flexport was founded by Ryan Petersen in 2013 and is valued at $ 8 Billion. After six months of Clark as a co-CEO, Ryan will be assuming his role as an executive chairman.
This change of roles is expected to propel Flexport’s growth from solving cross-border shipping to a broader and more holistic solution. Referring to Clark’s joining the Flexport bandwagon, Petersen stated in a tweet, “Flexport is on its way to becoming one of the world’s most important technology platforms for supply chain and logistics. Given the scale of the opportunity ahead of us, Flexport doesn’t need another executive. We need another entrepreneur.” Read More.
Gartner has identified the top supply chain technology themes that have the potential to deliver automation, intelligence, and resiliency within organizations. The 2022 top technology themes are hyper-automation 2.0, next-generation robots, autonomous things, digital supply chain twin, analytics everywhere, security mesh, ecosystem collaboration, and sustainability tools.
Know more about the supply chain technology themes in 2022 here.
Sven Mulder, Managing Director of SAP Germany, gave the opening address and congratulated the 14 finalists on their outstanding initiatives. In each category, a "Grand Winner" was recognized alongside the other category finalists to best recognize the quality of nominees.
The SAP Quality Management team in Germany evaluated roughly 100 qualifying projects and requested SAP partners to nominate their SAP implementations to their clients to decide the winners. Know More.
SAP was given the Top-Rated award in the categories of Master Data Management, Data Fabric, and an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaas) by TrustRadius. TrustRadius is an independent source for software reviews that are provided by experts across many industries who have hands-on experience with the solutions. The reviewers rank software capabilities and provide details on their use cases and how the product works for them.
Megan Headley, VP, Research at TrustRadius, stated, “SAP Data Intelligence and SAP Master Data Governance earned the Top-Rated awards as a direct result of user feedback. Reviewers value the flexibility of many data sources, modular architecture, and high-quality support team of SAP Data Intelligence. 
For More Information on the Awards, click here.
Project44 moved to its new Paris Office to best serve customers, attract talent, and strengthen global supply chain visibility. project44's rapidly expanding European footprint and sustained growth as a leading logistics service provider have resulted in its expansion to this new office. Renaud Houri, Executive Vice President of international at project44, stated
“The location of our new office will provide our Parisian teams the space to host customers, prospects, and partners in the world’s most beautiful avenue, the Champs Elysees, and better support them across the European region.” Read More.
HERE Technologies won the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) & Autonomous Product/Service of the Year Award at the Informa Tech Awards on Tuesday, June 7. HERE's Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) solution delivers location and speed limit information directly to driver assistance systems, which improves driving efficiency and safety.
The ISA Map notifies drivers about speed limits on the roads they are traveling, warns them if they are over the speed limit, and can even prevent them from breaching the speed limit.
HERE is currently working with 9 of the top 10 car companies in the EU to make sure their new cars are compliant with safety regulations. By July 2022, all new passenger cars will have features that meet safety regulations, and by July 2024, all newly registered vehicles will meet these requirements. Read More.