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)

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