By Paul Page
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Hunter Harrison is already redrawing CSX Corp. freight rail
operations to cut costs, but the bigger goal for the railroad's new
chief may be to win new business. Mr. Harrison is eliminating
several so-called hump yards, where railcars are shuttled and
re-arranged, as he implements his tested precision railroading
tactics aimed at boosting efficiency and profits. The WSJ's Paul
Ziobro reports Mr. Harrison will detail the early efforts this week
in CSX's first earnings report since the former head of Canadian
Pacific Railway Ltd .took the leadership post at the U.S. carrier
in an unusual boardroom battle. Mr. Harrison's first goal is to
bring CSX improvements in operating ratio he's gained at other
carriers. The streamlining railcar flows also should boost CSX's
service, giving the railroad a stronger case for winning cargo
volume from trucks in its dense and highly competitive eastern
markets.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. seems to be trying to single-handedly
consolidate the e-commerce market. The retail giant's proposed
buyout of men's clothing retailer Bonobos for about $300 million
would be the latest in a string of deals aimed at remaking
Wal-Mart's online presence, the WSJ's Sarah Nassauer and Patience
Haggin report. The retailer is trying to attract wealthier shoppers
and more fashion-forward brands than its own website, and compete
with Amazon.com Inc. with edgier offerings. The Bonobos buy would
be Wal-Mart's fourth since it acquired Jet.com Inc. last year and
put its founder, Marc Lore, at the head of its sluggish e-commerce
operation. The acquisitions of niche retailers including Modcloth
and Moosejaw give Wal-Mart greater scale and variety online but
it's unclear whether the big retailer will try to bring those
separate supply chains into Wal-Mart's own changing channels for
online goods distribution.
The lines between digital and physical stores are blurring even
more. PayPal Holdings Inc. will make its transaction service
available on Alphabet Inc.'s Android Pay, the WSJ's Peter Rudegeair
reports, in the payment company's biggest step yet to bring its
digital wallet into the brick-and-mortar world. The agreement,
which follows deals PayPal made last year with Visa Inc. and
Mastercard Inc., comes as retailers are seeking ways to blend their
online strategies with physical stores. Traditional retailers are
testing so-called omni-channel strategies that mesh inventories and
distribution for stores and websites, while many e-commerce
specialists are adding storefronts that advance their brands.
Adding PayPal, with its $102 billion in mobile payments last year,
to the mix may bring more financial flexibility to retailer supply
chains and help them bridge the gap between their stores and their
internet sites.
ECONOMY & TRADE
The global economy is looking up, as long as those trade and
geopolitical tensions stay tamped down. The International Monetary
Fund is forecasting the kind of world-wide expansion that hasn't
seen in some time, the WSJ's Ian Talley and Harriet Torry report,
nudging up its outlook to the highest level in five years in a
broad based rebound. The IMF points to growing global investment,
manufacturing and consumer confidence in advanced and emerging
markets in projecting global growth of 3.5% this year. And growth
in cross-border trade of goods and services is projected to nearly
double to 3.8%. The outlook is more restrained in the U.S., where
growth has remained tepid this year, with manufacturing output
falling 0.4% in March for the first time in eight months. But the
IMF report suggests businesses generally are shrugging off unease
over politics and trade and instead priming supply chains for
expansion.
Foxconn Technology Group is trying to sidestep major potential
conflicts in its supply chain as the company tries to expand beyond
its contract manufacturing base. The Taiwanese company is moving
rapidly at an operations base in Shenzhen, China, to build up a
television business following its acquisition last year of Japan's
Sharp Corp. The WSJ's Eva Dou reports the expansion plan could
accelerate if it wins the bidding for Toshiba Corp.'s memory-chip
business. The strategic push may open rifts with its longtime
customers, including Apple Inc. That's a major concern for
outsourced manufacturing specialists as they try to take control of
their supply chains, and it led Taiwan's Acer Inc. and Asustek
Computer Inc. to split their businesses to avoid client conflicts.
Foxconn so far has carefully avoided conflicts with Apple, but it
will be harder to avoid the iPhone maker as Foxconn's own
manufacturing efforts grow.
QUOTABLE
IN OTHER NEWS
The British pound soared more than 2% after Prime Minister
Theresa May called a snap general election for June. (WSJ)
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.'s creditors
agreed to a massive debt-to-equity swap as part of a bailout plan
of the South Korean shipyard. (WSJ)
U.S. housing starts rose 8.1% in the first quarter. (WSJ)
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda says the country's consumer
spending is picking up. (WSJ)
Harley-Davidson Inc. has been reducing motorcycle shipments as
it copes with excess inventory and sluggish first-quarter sales.
(WSJ)
Johnson & Johnson raised its outlook after reporting slim
growth in world-wide sales in the first quarter. (WSJ)
Mexico's Cemex SAB will sell its building materials business in
the U.S. Pacific Northwest to a unit of HeidelbergCement. (WSJ)
Petsmart will acquire top online pet food retailer Chewy Inc.
(WSJ)
United Airlines's lucrative corporate clients are pushing the
airline to fix its customer service. (WSJ)
Apple may delay delivery of its new iPhone because of
constraints in getting components from suppliers. (Bloomberg)
Amazon is looking for some 1,300 smaller warehouses around
Europe to fill its Prime delivery commitments. (The Telegraph)
U.S. meat producers want new trade deals in Asia that bring them
the gains they would have had in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
(CNBC)
New ship orders at Chinese shipyards fell 25.4% in the first
quarter from a year ago. (Lloyd's List)
China's Tianjin Port Co Ltd. barred delivery of coal by truck
and will halt coal storage at port warehouses by the end of this
month. (Reuters)
Russian state-owned tanker operator Sovcomflot is holding a $20
million consignment of Venezuelan oil for non-payment of shipping
charges. (Christian Science Monitor)
Renault will start exporting Russian-made vehicles to six Gulf
countries this year. (Automotive Logistics)
U.S. truck tonnage dipped for the second straight month in
March. (Commercial Carrier Journal)
US Foods Holding Corp. named former PepsiCo executive Ty Gent as
its chief supply chain officer. (Produce News)
Washington state's Port of Everett is expanding its rail
capacity for handling international cargo. (Railway Age)
Singapore Post will test drone delivery with the helicopter
division of Airbus SE. (Straits Times)
German owners of a refurbished cargo sail-ship are hauling
coffee on a trans-Atlantic voyage to highlight the environmental
impact of shipping. (Mashable)
ABOUT US
Paul Page is deputy editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Follow him
at @PaulPage, and follow the entire WSJ Logistics Report team:
@brianjbaskin, @jensmithWSJ and @EEPhillips_WSJ and follow the WSJ
Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.
Subscribe to this email newsletter by clicking here:
http://on.wsj.com/Logisticsnewsletter .
Write to Paul Page at paul.page@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 19, 2017 06:42 ET (10:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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