We do this by having an extremely high give a dang level, proactive communication, and shooting straight – even if the news isn’t great
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Noteworthy news bullets we thought you’d enjoy
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- Manufacturing remains on a growth track in May, reports ISM (source: Logistics Management)
- May’s PMI reading saw a 0.5% increase from April, landing at 61.2 (a reading of 50 or higher indicates growth). May also represented the twelfth consecutive monthly PMI reading over 50
- FedEx piles on peak surcharges with increases set for June (source: Supply Chain Dive)
- FedEx will increase three peak surcharges on Express and Ground shipments beginning June 21. FedEx cited high volumes and tight capacity as reasons for the increases. Affected surcharges are:
- Additional handling surcharge
- Residential delivery surcharge
- Peak surcharge on Ground Economy
- Spot volume settles from Roadcheck while rates set a record (source: FTR Transportation Intelligence)
- Total spot rates excluding fuel rose nearly 3 cents for the second record in three weeks.
- Load volume was volume in week 20 was 195% above the five year average (2015-19)
- Diesel Bumps Up 1.9 cents to $3.274 a Gallon (source: Transport Topics)
- Trucking’s main fuel is now $0.878 more per gallon that this time in 2020.
- Deposits keep TuSimple on pace for driverless trucks by 2024 (source: Fleet Owner)
- Self-driving truck tech company TuSimple has nearly 7,000 reservations for its new line of SAE Level 4 trucks. Fleet customers such as Penske, Schneider, and US Express have put down $500 deposits for the Navistar-built International LT Series that are expected to be running in the South come 2024.
- May Class 8 Orders Fall to 22,900 (source: Transport Topics)
- “I didn’t expect the May number would be that impressive,” said Don Ake, VP of commercial vehicles at FTR. “My information is the truck makers are not taking 2022 orders yet, so they are just filling up 2021.”
- Yellow Corp. is Pushing Ahead with a Sweeping Overhaul in a Resurgent Freight Market (The Wall Street Journal)
- The second largest LTL trucking company in the US, Yellow (formerly YRC) is combining its regional and national trucking operations into one unified network.
- This move should modernize operations, eliminate waste, and make it easier for customers such as Walmart Inc. to book shipments.
- The company’s Holland, New Penn and Reddaway brands provide LTL service in the Midwest, the Northeast, and the West respectively.
- If Yellow can pull it off, this effort to create a unified network should create a much more efficient operation which should lead to quicker transit times, fewer lost freight items, fewer damages, and higher customer satisfaction.
- April intermodal volumes see strong gains, reports IANA (source: Logistics Management)
- Total April shipments – 1,636,391 – increased 27.8% annually.
- Year to date shipments – 6,252,653 – are up 14.6%.
- California’s massive container-ship traffic jam is still really jammed (source: Freight Waves)
- Peak shipping season is coming soon, and the “parking lot” of container ships stuck at anchor off the coast of California is still there.
- Oakland has become the new congestion leader, with vessel wait times extend up to three weeks. The ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach average between one to two weeks.
- Choked US air hubs spur cargo shift to secondary gateways (source: The Journal of Commerce)
- Forwarders are shifting greater volumes of US inbound airborne shipments to secondary airports to avoid ground handling bottlenecks a main air cargo gateways.
- For example, the airport at Chicago-Rockford International (85 miles NW of Chicago-O’Hare) has seen a large increase in traffic.
- Supply chains stick with lean methods despite inventory woes (source: Supply Chain Dive)
- Growing sales in March were met with flat inventory growth, according to the Census Bureau. The inventory to sales ratio dropped to 1.23 in March, the lowest ever recorded.
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