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Labour talks casting long shadows over ports on US coasts

Following yesterday’s news that negotiations between US west coast terminal operators and dockers had reached agreement on some issues, the International Longshoremen & Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association broke their silence to reassure industry stakeholders that talks were continuing.

They emphasised that the long process (negotiations to renew the labour contract began last May) had not disrupted port operations and expressed hope of “reaching a deal soon”.

However, stakeholders have shown impatience, warning it could result in permanent loss of cargo flowing through the west coast ports, which likely impelled the two sides to speak.

They said a tentative deal had been reached on “certain key issues, including health benefits”, and expressed their commitment to resolve the other points “as expeditiously as possible”.

But observers are not convinced this will happen soon. One industry executive said no progress had been made on the critical issue of automation, nor on the controversy over cold ironing at the port of Seattle that derailed talks for months.

The glacial pace also raises concerns about contract talks on the east coast, where the master contract between union International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents ocean carriers and terminals, is set to expire next year.

On top of familiar issues like automation, pay and benefits, there is the dispute over work allocation at Charleston’s Leatherman terminal, which has affected operations at the South Carolina port. Since the $1bn terminal opened in 2021, the ILA and Ports South Carolina have been in dispute.

The bone of contention is who is eligible to operate cranes and lift equipment. The ILA argues this has to be performed by union members, in line with the master contract for all east and Gulf coast ports. SC Ports maintains it is not party to that agreement and has a long-standing policy under which non-union state employees work cranes and lift equipment, while ILA members perform all other jobs.

“Each side believes its position is right,” commented an industry executive close to the situation, which has escalated into a legal battle.

The port has enjoyed strong growth, which boosted its throughput to 2.8m teu last year, and it has invested a lot of money to accommodate further growth. Last summer, it strengthened the wharf, brought in taller cranes and improved the container yard at the Waldo Welch container terminal, broke ground on an intermodal facility with a capacity of one million rail lifts in phase one and launched a pool of 13,000 chassis. It has also invested in deepening the harbour to 16 metres.

It is expected that the Leatherman dispute will be on the table in the ILA-USMX contract negotiations, and some stakeholders hope the talks will resolve the issue, sparing everybody a lengthy legal battle that could go all the way to the Supreme Court.

On the other hand, there is concern the issue will complicate the contract negotiations and delay any agreement.

But even without an additional stumbling block, the talks should be challenging – although both sides have expressed “mutual respect and willingness to find a compromise”.

“There are big issues on the table,” said one observer, pointing to the thorny issue of automation. “Ports need the ability to handle more cargo without building new facilities.”

The dispute has caused one move at Charleston so far: At the end of last month, Hapag-Lloyd announced it was shifting its calls to the Wando Welch terminal, after, according to some sources, experiencing some fallout from the situation in Charleston at other US ports.

Source:

Putzger, I. (2023, February 24). Labour talks casting long shadows over ports on us coasts. The Loadstar. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://theloadstar.com/labour-talks-casting-long-shadows-over-ports-on-us-coasts/

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MSC Services Expansion

MSC expanding standalone services to grow its network outside 2M

THE Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is focused on expanding its standalone services outside the 2M Alliance, reports London’s Loadstar.

The carrier has tapped into the Indian export market to the US with an expansion of its Sentosa loop, which offers a connection of Indian ports of Mundra and Nhava Sheva to Long Beach and Oakland.

MSC stated the enhanced service will deploy twelve 11,500 to 16,650 TEU vessels, instead of the current seven.

MSC also announced it was relaunching its Dragon service, from Asia to the Mediterranean. It said the Dragon service would connect Asia to Israel, Italy, and the south of France, and “offer the fastest transit times into the Mediterranean”.

The carrier has not nominated vessels that will operate the revised loop, which is to start from Shanghai on March 15 and will include direct calls at Ashdod and Naples.

Vespucci Maritime consultant CEO Lars Jensen stated it appeared to be “the first divergence” between the 2M carriers since the announcement last month of the parting in January 2025.

“I expect to see continued divergence and potentially an earlier formal breakup, but for now the timing is 2025,” said Mr Jensen.

Source: Hong Kong Shipping Gazette

MSC TransPacific services update Amberjack & Emerald

Starting in May, the MSC Amberjack service will operate on the following rotation, connecting south and central China and South Korea to the U.S. east coast:

Qingdao – Ningbo – Shanghai – Busan – Panama Canal – Kingston – Charleston – Savannah – Norfolk – Kingston – Panama Canal – Busan – Qingdao

Calls at Jacksonville and Wilmington will be removed and switched to the Emerald service (see below), starting with the vessel MOUNT EVEREST, ETA Qingdao on 6 May.

Also from May, the Emerald service will follow a new rotation, removing Norfolk, but adding Jacksonville and Wilmington to compensate for the removal of these ports on the Amberjack service: Xiamen – Yantian – Shanghai – Busan – Panama – Canal – Cristobal – Savannah – Jacksonville – Wilmington – New York – Suez Canal

Source: AJOT.com

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US CUSTOMS – POSTAL CODE REQUIRED FOR CHINA-ORIGIN GOODS (Effective March 18, 2023)

Effective March 18, 2023, it is anticipated that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will require the input of valid postal codes into the ACE entry process for all China-Origin Goods.

The ACE deployment schedule indicates the following.

The UFLPA Region Alert will add three new validations that will be performed when Country of Origin is China for Entry and for Manufacturer Identification Code (MID) creation for both Trade and CBP users.

  • Postal code will be a required field
  • Users will receive an error message if the postal code provided is not a valid Chinese postal code
  • Users will receive a warning message when a Uyghur region postal code has been provided
  • Ability to update an existing MID with a postal code
  • Includes EDI Impacts

Full information can be found in Trade User Information Notice: Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Region Alert/U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

 

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TS Lines closes Vancouver service and repurposes fleet for intra-Asia

Taiwanese intra-Asia carrier TS Lines has sold three containerships as it refocuses resources on its core intra-Asia services.

Last week, Greek broker Intermodal reported that TS Lines had sold 2019-built 1,096 teu TS Shanghai and TS Yokohama and the 2006-built 962 teu TS Moji to a European buyer for $40m.

A source at TS Lines confirmed the sale and that it would not be chartering the ships back.

The buyer has been identified as German tonnage provider HR Schiffahrt, and brokers said there was talk that TS Lines had also put the 2007-built 2,553 teu TS Manila up for sale.

The Loadstar has reported that TS Lines would be axing its Asia-Europe and Asia-US east coast services, jointly operated with China United Lines and SeaLead Shipping, respectively.

Today, the TS Lines source revealed it had also permanently called time on its North West 1 service that connected China with Vancouver, Canada, which began in October 2021 and ceased in November last year.

The source said: “As we’re taking delivery of a dozen newbuildings this year and considering that asset values have been falling, we decided to sell a few ships to adjust our fleet size.”

The source however, declined to confirm the sale of TS Manila, bought for $6m in August 2020 and valued at around $14m.

Like many other regional carriers, TS Lines entered long-haul tradelanes when freight rates hit historical highs, only to depart these routes after market conditions normalised. Chairman Chen Te-sheng recently said the next two years were expected to be challenging, although TS Lines still hoped to complete its Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing this year.

TS Lines has 1,100, 2,900 and 7,000 teu ships being delivered from Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding this year. The 1,100 teu vessels are designed for China-Japan routes; the 2,900s are intended for East Asia-Australia/New Zealand services, while the 7,000 teu ships are expected to be assigned to services connecting East Asia with India and the Persian Gulf.

A broker suggested TS Lines might be “cashing out of older ships” as asset values plummeted in tandem with weaker market conditions. TS Moji had a valuation of $9m when TS Lines bought the ship in May 2021, but was reportedly sold to HR Schiffahrt for $7m.

TS Shanghai and TS Yokohama were ordered from Kyokuyo for $17m each in 2018, their value peaked at around $51m each in October 2021, but had plummeted to $16.5m at the time of the recent sale.

Source: theloadstar

Taiwan, M. L. in. (2023, February 13). TS lines closes Vancouver Service and repurposes fleet for intra-asia. The Loadstar. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://theloadstar.com/ts-lines-closes-vancouver-service-and-repurposes-fleet-for-intra-asia/

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West coast labour negotiations still stuck over Seattle strife

NEGOTIATIONS between the International Longshore Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association have remained deadlocked due to jurisdictional disputes in Seattle’s terminal 5, Lloyd’s List understands.

The ILWU and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers are feuding over who performs certain work in the newly-reopened terminal, and the former is holding up the contract negotiations with the PMA until the situation is resolved, people familiar with the matter told Lloyd’s List.

The ILWU did not respond to a request for comment.

Talks ground to a halt in September when terminal operator and PMA member SSA filed a complaint with the National Labour Relations Board against the ILWU after its dockworkers refused to work a Mediterranean Shipping Company ship that called at the terminal.

The vessel was set to be the first to be plugged into the terminal’s shorepower, and the work of plugging it in — known as cold ironing — had been assigned to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

While talks have resumed since the summer, little progress has been made since negotiations began, Lloyd’s List understands. The sides have not yet began discussing the key issues of wages, benefits, and automation.

The ILWU is trying to get the PMA to help resolve the jurisdictional dispute, one person familiar with the matter said, although the association has no influence on the NLRB, which is an independent federal agency.

The labour board is currently reviewing three different cases tied to the IAM-ILWU terminal 5 spat and will probably make a ruling on all of them around the same time, IAM assistant directing business representative Don Crosatto told Lloyd’s List. He estimated it could take up to six months for the board to decide the cases, but that any decision will likely get appealed by the losing side.

In addition to the cold ironing case, the ILWU has appealed the labour board’s 2020 ruling that assigned maintenance and repair works in the Seattle’s terminal 5 with the machinists’ union, Mr Crosatto said.

He estimated that cold-ironing work in the terminal is worth only about 12 weekly hours, and said that the ILWU’s dispute over it was merely a play to get the whole terminal, which currently employs about 25 mechanics.

Mr Crosatto said the work belongs with the machinists’ union because the terminal’s crane mechanics, who are the only workers suitable to perform it, are represented by them.

“[E]verywhere it’s done, it’s done by the crane mechanics. If they’re ILWU crane mechanics, they do it; if we have the crane mechanics, our guys do it. But its always done by crane mechanics.”

Documents obtained through a freedom of information request by Augusta Saraiva of Bloomberg News show that MSC filed a motion with the NLRB in October to intervene on the ILWU’s behalf in the cold-ironing case.

Mr Crosatto said the filing is an attempt by MSC to placate the ILWU and that several points made in it actually support the IAM’s claims.

“Whoever wrote the letter didn’t think about what they were actually saying,” he said.

According to the filing, MSC is the only carrier whose vessels called at the terminal since it reopened in January 2022.

The labour contract, which covers over 22,000 dockworkers in 29 west coast ports, expired in July, and negotiations on extending it began in May.

The prolonged, fruitless talks have led many shippers to divert their cargo to east and Gulf coast ports amid fears of industrial action. About 85% of the Port of New York and New Jersey’s gains in 2022 are estimated to be cargo diverted from the west coast.

Imports to the west coast declined substantially in the second half of 2022 compared with previous years as a result of the uncertainty.

The largest west coast ports – Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Tacoma, and Seattle, saw imports drop by a combined 7.9% compared with the second half of 2019.

The port of Los Angeles — typically the nation’s largest port — lost the monthly title to the port of New York and New Jersey from August through November, although it has regained it in December.

From August through December, throughput at the port of Los Angeles dropped below its five-year monthly average. The same was true for Long Beach between October and December.

Source:

Raanan, T. (2023, February 1). West coast labour negotiations still stuck over Seattle strife. Lloyd’s List. Retrieved February 6, 2023, from https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1143788/West-coast-labour-negotiations-still-stuck-over-Seattle-strife

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Transit times improve as supply chain congestion fades

THE collapse in demand witnessed since last September has had a positive effect on transit times for cargoes shipped on key trade lanes.

Data from freight visibility provider e2open shows that in the last quarter of 2022 the time between booking a cargo and that cargo being released at the gate of the destination port fell significantly from the previous quarter.

“It takes a company an average of 63 days (down six days) to deliver goods to truck or rail carriers after booking with an ocean carrier and completing the cross-ocean journey,” e2open said.

Even more dramatic is the eight-day decline from the same quarter last year.

“The major drop in demand for goods shipping out of Asia has continued to reduce port congestion and resulted in shorter actual transit times,” it said. “There was also a notable reduction in the booking to gate-in time for shipments out of Asia.”

The continued improvement of the overall duration could be attributed to the “Booking to Gate-In” and “Actual Transit” components of the overall workflow, e2open said.

“This is the shortest overall duration in the past eight quarters, with total days from initial booking to clearing the gate, which will hopefully continue throughout 2023.”

On the Asia-North America trades, average shipment times fell nine days over the quarter to 67 days, and were 12 days shorter than in the corresponding period in 2021.

“The largest contributor to this decrease is the drop in ocean transit time,” e2open said. “The major contributor to the reduction in overall duration are time from booking to loading at the origin port, which was down three days.”

Asia-Europe cargoes took an average of 69 days from initial booking to clearing the gate at the final port during the fourth quarter.

This is down eight days since the previous quarter and 12 days from the same quarter in 2021.

The time from booking to gate-in at the port was down six days, while ocean transit time had decreased by three days. But some of this improvement was lost with the time from unloading to clearing the gate increasing by two days.

While the changes will be welcomed by shippers, e2open warned that there were still hurdles ahead.

“As we head into the new year with a backdrop of an unpredictable global economy, the resurgence of Covid-19, escalating political tensions, and an ongoing war, supply chain leaders are wondering what the next supply chain challenge might be,” it said.

There was a risk that with demand falling, more services would be blanked, making it harder for shippers to find ocean capacity.

“Economic conditions are still uncertain. Last quarter consumers were buying cautiously, but they were buying inventory that arrived well ahead of the holiday season. Key economic indicators such as economic growth, job creation, inflation, interest rates, and fuel costs remain top of mind and make forecasts about what we’ll see in the next year unreliable.”

Source:

Baker, J. (2023, January 17). Transit times improve as supply chain congestion fades. Lloyd’s List. Retrieved January 18, 2023, from https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1143615/Transit-times-improve-as-supply-chain-congestion-fades

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Doomsday clock’ ticking down as shipping lines lose control of the market

Ocean carrier voyage results could soon start appearing in red ink as freight rates flirt with breakeven levels on major east-west tradelanes.

Although the container spot rate crash appears to have bottomed-out in the past few weeks, annual contract rates are also now in sharp decline.

According to Drewry’s latest Container Insight report, carriers have “lost control of the container market” by failing to manage capacity and will “act on capacity only when they are forced to do so by heavy losses”.

The maritime research consultant claimed “a deep-seated instinct to preserve volumes has kicked in”, with carriers discounting rates heavily to secure short-term bookings.

It said that, until a few months ago it was fairly confident the lines would take “the necessary steps” to reduce capacity before the market got out of control, but now admits it was wrong and that it gave carriers “too much credit by thinking they would proactively manage capacity”.

Drewry said that, after talking to various stakeholders, it had been convinced a structural change had occurred in the liner industry and that “consolidation and more efficient carrier alliances would help change old habits”.

“That was wrong too,” said Drewry.

“The price paid for reverting to type is that contract quotations are now being set at a fraction of the levels of a year ago,” it said, adding it had “vastly downgraded freight rates and profitability forecasts” showing that, from Asia to North Europe and Asia to the US west coast, revenues were running at close to round-voyage slot costs.

Drewry described the scenario on the key tradelanes as “akin to a doomsday clock, counting down the time before carriers incur losses”.

Meanwhile, anecdotal reports to The Loadstar suggest carriers are “waiting for more visibility” after the Chinese New Year on 22 January before taking more radical action, such as suspending more network loops, but that they remain optimistic there will be an inventory restocking rebound in demand post CNY.

Indeed, an investor note from HSBC Global Research say post-CNY it expects “capacity discipline to keep contract and spot rates above breakeven”.

It adds: “China’s removal of Covid-19 restrictions and potential restocking demand could drive a recovery in shipments post-CNY and lift rates in the near term.”

Nevertheless, it believes there are downside risks, from inflation, on consumer spending that could dampen demand and “likely trigger another round of price competition”.

Drewry said it still thought there would be a “major capacity reconstruction” in the liner industry, “but it will be carried out to prevent freight rates from falling below breakeven, not to gently ease profit margins above historical averages”.

It concluded: “While cargo demand has contracted at a faster pace than many anticipated, and some action has been taken to address overcapacity, it has been largely too little, too late. Instead, carriers have lost control of capacity and reverted to price competition to retain volumes.”

Source:

Wackett, M. (2023, January 5). ‘Doomsday clock’ ticking down as shipping lines lose control of the market. The Loadstar. Retrieved January 10, 2023, from https://theloadstar.com/doomsday-clock-ticking-down-as-shipping-lines-lose-control-of-the-market/

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POLB SEAFARER COVID-19 VACCINE PROGRAM DRAWS TO A CLOSE

NEARLY 12,000 MARINERS AT SAN PEDRO BAY PORTS VACCINATED

A Port of Long Beach COVID-19 vaccination program for mariners aboard cargo vessels calling in the San Pedro Bay will wind down by year’s end after delivering nearly 12,000 shots to sailors.

The successful program operated by the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the Port and the National Guard offered free, onboard COVID-19 vaccinations beginning in the spring of 2021 for any cargo ships’ crews berthing in San Pedro Bay.

During the program’s 1½-year run, 11,766 crew members on 1,275 ships voluntarily received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at no charge. In the Port of Long Beach alone, 5,971 crew members on 684 ships received vaccines. The program will come to an end on Dec. 31.

The innovative program helped protect the health of workers throughout the supply chain, helping to ensure the delivery of essential goods during the pandemic. Long Beach Health and Human Services dispatched mobile COVID-19 vaccination units to visit ships’ crews aboard docked vessels at both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. The Long Beach Fire Department also helped administer vaccinations when health officials were needed elsewhere.

“We are proud to have sponsored free vaccines for sailors visiting the port. The Port is about more than just moving cargo, it’s about the people who move the cargo and keeping them healthy and safe,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero. “We’d also like to thank our Port of Long Beach staff, the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, the Long Beach Fire Department and former Mayor and Congressman-elect Robert Garcia for the collaboration and leadership on the ship vaccination program.”

“We are so pleased to have vaccinated so many international seafarers, many of whom had no opportunity to be vaccinated in their home countries,” said Long Beach Harbor Commission President Sharon L. Weissman. “The Long Beach community – the Port, the City, terminal operators and dockworkers – were able to help mariners coming to both our Port and the Port of Los Angeles. Together, we had a global impact in fighting the spread of COVID.”

Source: Port of Long Beach

POLB seafarer COVID-19 vaccine program draws to a close. polb.com. (2022, December 27). Retrieved January 3, 2023, from https://polb.com/port-info/news-and-press/seafarer-covid-19-vaccine-program-draws-to-a-close-12-27-2022/

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Port of NY & NJ retains top spot amid nationwide import slowdown

THE PORT of New York and New Jersey has remained the US’ busiest seaport in November, recent figures from the port show.

Despite throughput falling 4.8% year on year, the east coast gateway handled 20.6% more cargo than in in November 2019, and 13.1% more than the port of Los Angeles, which ranked second nationwide.

Moreover, with one month left in 2022, the port handled almost 19% more cargo than it did in all of 2019, highlighting its extraordinary growth since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

From August to November, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach saw imports drop 23.8% and 16% respectively from the year-earlier period. Year to date, imports to the ports declined 9.8% and 2.5% respectively.

In contrast, despite two consecutive months of declining volumes, the port of NY & NJ handled 4.6% more cargo between August and November than the same period last year, and volumes have increased by 8.1% so far this year.

US import volumes have been declining from their 2021 highs in the last few months, and November’s figures came within 2.8% of 2019 levels, according to the latest report by supply chain and logistics software provider Descartes.

However, the declines haven’t been distributed evenly across US ports, and those on the west coast – where dockworkers have been working without a contract since July – have borne most of the brunt.

The unresolved labour situation led many shippers to divert cargo eastwards, but an early peak season that led inventories to fill up well ahead of the holidays also took a toll on cargo volumes in the San Pedro Bay.

Defying the nationwide trend, import volumes to east coast ports had maintained year on year growth until recently. But as overall import demand fell, so did the rate of import growth, and aggregated import volumes across the four largest east coast ports declined by 0.2% in October, the first such year on year contraction in 2022.

Imports across the major east coast ports that have reported November totals – Savannah, Virginia, and Charleston – are down 12.7% year on year. November import figures for the port of NY & NJ are not yet available, but they are expected to come in lower than the year-earlier period.

On the Gulf coast, the port of Houston maintained its remarkable growth streak in November, the only major US port where imports increased year on year, although the rate of growth dipped below double digits for the first time since February 2021.

As imports slow down, port congestion and vessel backlogs continue unwinding. Lloyd’s List Intelligence data shows about 32 boxships anchored outside the ports of NY & NJ, Savannah, Houston, Virginia, and Charleston as of mid-day December 29; that figure stood at almost 100 in September.

Source:

Raanan, T. (2022, December 30). Port of NY & NJ retains top spot amid nationwide import slowdown. Lloyd’s List. Retrieved January 3, 2023, from https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1143446/Port-of-NY–NJ-retains-top-spot-amid-nationwide-import-slowdown

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Carriers are facing the ‘quiet before the storm’ for contract rates

A year ago, shippers were desperate to agree annual contract deals with ocean carriers  to secure their supply chains, and were prepared to do, and pay, ‘whatever it took’.

And carriers were holding ‘beauty contests’ to determine the most attractive large-volume BCOs to be included in their exclusive customer portfolios.

But 12 months on, the container liner shipping market has seen an 180-degree turn – world economies are being racked by huge hikes in energy costs, high inflation and spiralling interest rates, causing a pause in discretionary spending by consumers and a sharp downturn in demand.

Since the ‘non-event’ peak season in July and August this year – traditionally when carriers garner the most revenue from pre-holiday season orders – container spot rates from Asia have collapsed, along with demand, as carriers have been obliged to heavily discount their short-term rates.

Moreover, the margin between the weekly decreasing spot rates and the elevated annual contract rates became so great that one by one carriers buckled and granted their core contract customers dispensation to book cargo via their spot platforms.

Meanwhile, despite an aggressive blanking strategy by the shipping lines, including ‘slidings’ and sending vessels on the backhaul from North Europe back to Asia via the longer Cape of Good Hope route, carriers were unable to turn the fall in spot rates back to pre-pandemic levels, or below on some tradelanes.

Nevertheless, there is evidence over the past couple of weeks that the spot rate bottom may have been reached on the key Asia-North Europe and Asia to US west coast routes.

For instance, this week’s Asia-North Europe component of Drewry’s WCI index actually recorded a slight uptick, to $1,706 per 40ft.

And there was another sign this week that the rot had stopped on the route, with The Loadstar’s inbox receiving very few ‘spam’ e-mail quotes from China-based forwarding agents offering “prompt space with all carriers at $1,000 a box”.

And on the transpacific Asia to US west coast route, spot rates also seem to have plateaued, with the week’s Xeneta XSI reading ticking up 1.3%, to $1,529 per 40ft.

By Christmas on the Asia to Europe tradelane, the contract season is normally well under way, but judging by the feedback from some of The Loadstar’s forwarding and NVOCC contacts, there is an understandable reluctance by both shippers and carriers to start negotiations until they see how the market plays out after the Chinese New Year, which commences on 22 January.

Xeneta’s long-term contract market report for December saw its index of crowd-sourced contract rates flat on the month, albeit that few deals were completed.

But Xeneta’s CEO Patrik Berglund believes we are really just seeing “the quiet before the storm”, in terms of contract rate reductions. He said: “The narrative for the beginning of 2023 looks to be very different.

“All indicators point towards considerable rate drops from today’s levels, with several of the major Far East trades pointing towards new long-term contracts that are much closer to the current far lower spot rate benchmarks.”

Source:

Wackett, M. (2022, December 23). Carriers are facing the ‘quiet before the storm’ for contract rates. The Loadstar. Retrieved December 28, 2022, from https://theloadstar.com/carriers-are-facing-the-quiet-before-the-storm-for-contract-rates/