Trouble viewing this email? View in web browser ›

Forecasting Shipping Delays; Cargo Swamps Airports; Alibaba’s Challenge By Paul Page A truck navigates container stacks at the Port of Los Angeles last Friday. Photo: MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES A growing number of logistics operators and industry observers see the snarls bottling up supply chains this year extending deep into 2022. Freight heavyweight J.B. Hunt Transport issued a sobering outlook that extends beyond the current chaotic peak season, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Jennifer Smith writes, with seaport congestion growing heading toward the holidays and retailers looking to maintain restocking efforts into the first quarter. The assessment follows J.B. Hunt’s checks with its retail customers, and it fits with new projections from economists that see logjams jarring the U.S. economy at least into next year’s second quarter. The supply-chain problems are helping drive stronger inflation, the WSJ’s Gwynn Guilford and Anthony DeBarros report, as rising transport and other logistics costs flow through to the cost of consumer goods. J.B. Hunt’s third-quarter earnings signal a strong market for freight operators, but increasingly restrained economic forecasts suggest clouds on the horizon. Advertisement LEAVE THIS BOX EMPTY Transportation Emirates Airlines’ cargo operations at Dubai International Airport in February. PHOTO: KARIM SAHIB/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES Airfreight operations aren’t providing shippers much relief from global supply-chain hardships. Dubai’s main air cargo handler has stopped accepting most imports at the emirate’s main airport, the WSJ’s Benjamin Katz and Rory Jones report, as the business tries to reduce a backlog that has delayed delivery of goods across the United Arab Emirates. The halt at a key regional trading point is the latest hit to expedited shipping operations that have been buffeted during the pandemic. Passenger-plane belly capacity has been displaced and airfreight rates are rising on high demand as companies try to fly over severe backups at seaports. Dubai’s airport has seen a recent rush in cargo volume as freight forwarders switch from sea freight. Airports from Hong Kong to Los Angeles are reporting double-digit gains in freight tonnage heading into the sector’s peak season, suggesting Dubai won’t be alone in coping with a flood of cargo. Share this email with a friend. Forward › Forwarded this email by a friend? Sign Up Here › Quotable “The shipping bottlenecks will become more of an issue in November and December when you have that spike in holiday-related sales.” — Aneta Markowska, chief economist at Jefferies E-Commerce PHOTO: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG NEWS Alibaba Group Holding is facing a new challenge to its e-commerce dominance in China from a seemingly surprising source. Chinese consumers themselves are changing the way they shop, the WSJ’s Stephanie Yang reports, bringing new kinds of competition to the online sales sector and signaling potentially bigger changes in digital retail business. Consumers have started to embrace new ways of shopping that favor browsing and interaction over targeted product searches. Tencent Holdings is placing online stores in its WeChat social-messaging service and other new services are cutting into Alibaba’s core business built on its online marketplaces. Alibaba is still China’s biggest platform, but its market share has fallen to 51% from 78% just six years ago. Alibaba is now investing more in areas such as content creation, live-streaming and discount goods. The company wants to expand internationally, but right now it’s fighting to maintain its home market. Advertisement LEAVE THIS BOX EMPTY Number of the Day 1.10 U.S. retailers’ inventory-to-sales ratio in August, down from 1.11 the month before in a sign of tighter stocks held by merchants, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In Other News Chi­na’s econ­omic expansion slowed sharply to 4.9% in the third quar­ter. (WSJ) U.S. retail sales rose a robust 0.7% from August to September. (WSJ) A measure of U.S. consumer confidence fell to a near-decade low. (MarketWatch) Mem­bers of a con­gres­sional com­mit­tee are questioning whether top Ama­zon officials misled them dur­ing an in­ves­ti­ga­tion into the company’s practices involving third-party sellers. (WSJ) Rising inflation is triggering concerns in countries around the world and leading to varying responses from central banks. (WSJ) Oat futures have climbed to all-time highs on severe dry weather in big growing regions. (WSJ) Saks Fifth Avenue is taking its e-commerce business public soon at a valuation roughly triple what it was pegged at earlier this year. (WSJ) Alcoa’s third-quarter sales jumped 31% as rising aluminum prices offset a 6% decline in shipments. (WSJ) Vietnamese workers appear to be abandoning factory jobs and returning to rural villages as the country loosens pandemic restrictions. (Sourcing Journal) CNH Industrial is suspending production at several of its European agricultural, commercial vehicle and powertrain plants because of components shortages. (Reuters) Some 100 container ships are anchored off the Hong Kong and Shenzhen ports waiting for berth space. (Financial Times) Congestion at European ports has been growing but remains less severe than backups at U.S. gateways. (Lloyd’s Loading List) A.P. Moller-Maersk is in the market for a major third-party logistics acquisition. (Lloyd’s List) Ship insurers are signaling hefty increases in rates heading into next year. (Splash 247) Amazon has started shipping its containers on a chartered bulk ship. (TradeWinds) Miner Rio Tinto downgraded its shipment forecast for Australian iron ore. (Nikkei Asia) Spot trucking rates out of the Pacific Northwest are surging on a flood of container imports. (Journal of Commerce) Container throughput in the six months ending Sept. 30 at India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port rose 40.4% over the pandemic-hit period last year. (Port Technology) Le Monde reports France’s Bolloré Logistics may sell its African division and that Maersk and CMA CGM are expressing interest. (ShippingWatch) Amazon is in the market for used long-range jet freighters. (Cargo Facts) Ocado plans to open a large robotic grocery fulfillment center near Glasgow. (Logistics Manager) Canada’s Purolator projects a 10% gain in parcel volume this holiday season. (DC Velocity) About Us Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Write to him at paul.page. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @jensmithWSJ, and @pdberger. and @LydsOneal. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics. Access WSJ‌.com and our mobile apps. Subscribe

Unsubscribe | Newsletters & Alerts | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy Dow Jones & Company, Inc. 4300 U.S. Ro‌ute 1 No‌rth Monm‌outh Junc‌tion, N‌J 088‌52 You are currently subscribed as frjacobs@gmail.com. For further assistance, please contact Customer Service at sup‌port or 1-80‌0-JOURNAL. Copyright 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Unsubscribe