Welcome to the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? Newsletter presented by Unisys. In this issue, steamship lines react to potential port strike; tariffs targeted; exploding pager supply chains.
Work Disruption Surcharge
Strike fees — Starting in October, some steamship lines will issue surcharges in anticipation of the potential port strike on the East Coast. Lars Jensen, CEO at Vespucci Maritime, advises, “Any shipper with inbound cargo on vessels therefore should by now also have a contingency plan for dealing with this.”
CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd and MSC have all announced work disruption surcharge fees that range from $800-$1,500 per twenty-foot equivalent unit.
“When there’s a capacity shortage, you can raise rates higher and faster than before – they learned this during the pandemic and applied it during the Red Sea crisis; rest assured, if we get a strike on the East Coast they will apply it again.” – Lars Jensen
Analysts now warn that each day of the strike could take six days to recover from. This is especially precarious as holiday freight hits our shores for Black Friday and the Christmas shopping season.
Strike and the election — The Biden administration and Kamala Harris are in a precarious situation as the strike looms. Democrats typically cater to unions and rely on their support. However, a prolonged port strike in the month leading up to the election would be horrible for Harris.
There are already enough issues with the economy; being labeled the candidate who ruined Christmas isn’t going to gain votes.
“We’ve never invoked Taft-Hartley to break a strike and are not considering doing so now,” a Biden administration official told Reuters.
According to FreightWaves, “The ILA, representing 45,000 employees at three dozen ports from Texas to Maine, has said its members will walk off the job if a new contract is not in place by Oct. 1.” Now, the Biden administration says it won’t step in if there is a strike.
Brace for impact — With less than two weeks to go before the strike and negotiations stalled, the first East Coast port strike in nearly 50 years is headed straight for the holiday season. What do you think? Will the strike happen and how are you planning around it? Email me.
321 and done
Loophole – Chinese e-commerce retailers have been leveraging the hell out a loophole that allows them to import goods under $800 duty-free. Unlike U.S. retailers, who import containers of goods and pay duties, many Chinese firms sell directly to consumers, allowing them to skirt tariffs via Section 321’s de minimis exemption. Think Shein, Temu and even Amazon e-tailers.
1 Million a day – ShipHero’s Aaron Rubin estimates that the ruling would impact “1 million packages a day, it is a big deal.”
When will this big deal happen? It could come as soon as Q4.
This is going through regardless of whether Trump or Harris wins the election. However, a Trump administration could mean even more tariffs for China … but that’s a topic for another newsletter.
Happy Truck Driver Appreciation Week
Just the other day I saw an influencer on LinkedIn suggest that we should all go to Buc-ee’s to show truck drivers our support. That’s a horrible and tone-deaf idea as Buc-ee’s doesn’t even allow semitrucks at its locations.
So, how can you give back to drivers? Appreciate their time and stop causing them to lose money at your slow a** docks.
Exploding pagers: Supply chain story of the year?
Sourcing – When beepers started blowing up across Lebanon this week, it became almost immediately clear that they had been tampered with at some point in the supply chain.
MSNBC reports, “An electronics manufacturer in Taiwan said Wednesday that a company based in Hungary made the pagers bearing its brand that were used by members of the militant group Hezbollah and exploded simultaneously across Lebanon on Tuesday.”
U.S. officials say Israel was behind the attack, but it isn’t entirely clear at what point during the manufacturing and delivery process that explosives were added to the targeted devices.
Good to know
Forget ‘Founder Mode’
FBM – Founder Mode has nothing on Freight Broker Mode. Wear the shirt that lets them know you grind. Head on over to WTTGear.com to get our latest merch! Use code WTTFans for 10% off.
WTT Friday
Trucker honored for 3M accident-free miles; NTDAW roundup; OOIDA teams with TAT – Friday live on WHAT THE TRUCK?!? we’re joined by Covenant driver Don Lord and his son. Combined, they’ve driven for over 5 million accident-free miles! Don was just honored by Covenant with a check for $7,500 and a customized truck. We’ll find out how he’s managed to stay safe while running enough miles to circle the globe 120 times.
Plus, a National Truck Driver Appreciation Week roundup featuring Noritta Taylor at OOIDA, Kylla Lanier at Trucker Against Trafficking, Nick LaFalce at RaceTrac and Jamie Hagen at Hell Bent Xpress.
Catch new shows live at noon EDT Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on FreightWaves LinkedIn, Facebook, X or YouTube, or on demand by looking up WHAT THE TRUCK?!? on your favorite podcast player and at 5 p.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Road Dog Trucking Channel 146.
Now on demand
Cost parity with diesel is a must for semitruck electrification to get in gear
National Truck Driver Appreciation Week cynicism; spot market sputters
The rest of the noise
- Intermodal powers to record volume
- In another first, Teamsters make no endorsement for president
- LTL earnings estimates cut following weak August updates
Thanks for reading, and feel free to forward this to a friend.
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Don’t be a stranger,
Dooner