By Paul Page 

Sign up: With one click, get this newsletter delivered to your inbox.

A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S is closer to remaking itself entirely as a shipping and logistics business . The Danish conglomerate's agreement to sell its oil business to French energy giant Total SA for $4.95 billion will shed some of the company's non-shipping business, the WSJ's Sarah Kent and Costas Paris report, allowijng to focus more attention and resources on Maersk Line and the related business that make it a top operator in shipping. Maersk is trying to reshape itself into a global supply-chain player, a strategy that will likely tie the container shipping operation more to APM Terminals unit and its DAMCO logistics business. Maersk Group chief executive Soren Skou says container shipping is the company's core business, leaving Maersk Drilling and the Maersk Tankers operations outside the future plans. With Total taking on some $2.5 billion in debt as part of the deal, Maersk may also be in a better financial position for new deals in shipping and logistics just as the business is bracing for new consolidation.

One of China's biggest auto makers is looking to shift its supply chain deeply into the U.S. just as trade tensions between the U.S. and China are flaring. Great Wall Motor Co. aims to acquire Jeep, the profitable U.S. sport-utility vehicle maker owned by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, the WSJ's Trefor Moss reports, a move that could trigger opposition in Washington amid the Trump administration's focus on American manufacturers. The deal would mark an important strategic step for Great Wall, which hasn't gained much traction in its ambitions to go global in the automotive trade. But there are manufacturing supply-chain complications beyond the trade concerns. Jeep vehicles share components with other several Fiat or Chrysler units and often are produced in the same factories. Still, the U.S. may welcome the investment -- U.S. factory output for motor vehicles and parts fell last month at its steepest rate since 2009.

The fissures over the U.S.-Canada lumber dispute may be felt the deepest in the border town of Madawaska, Maine. The Twin Rivers Paper Co. runs its wood pulp operation on the Canadian side and paper-processing plant on the U.S. side, the WSJ's William Mauldin reports, and managers say the entire business and its 500 U.S. jobs are at risk if the trade fight escalates. It's a vivid example of the divide in the business world over Trump administration plans to slap 27% tariffs on softwood lumber from Canada. American sawmills and timberland owners are eager to benefit from the higher lumber prices that come with tariffs on Canadian competitors. But U.S. home builders say they are hurt by higher prices, and American businesses that rely on raw materials from Canada are caught in the middle. Officials hope to resolve the matter separate from the talks over the North American Free Trade Agreement, but they may be the only path to a solution.

TRANSPORTATION

Trucking companies from Oregon to South Carolina may spend the next day or two recovering from the eclipse. With eclipse-watchers jamming roadways along the so-called path of totality, t ransportation companies rerouted drivers and shifted deliveries for cargo ranging from furniture to construction equipment. Some truckload carriers pulled their trucks from the roads, WSJ Logistics Report's Jennifer Smith writes, YRC Worldwide Inc. closed some terminals in its nationwide network and Estes Express Lines re-routed rigs around towns likely to be crowded with skygazers. Some freight operators say they got word from many stores along the path of the eclipse that they would close or run with only partial staffing. For transportation operators, the eclipse was similar to rough weather that can hit a region, except this time it spread from coast to coast, leaving truckers and their customers to play catch-up for a couple of days.

QUOTABLE

IN OTHER NEWS

The U.S. Navy is investigating the second collision in two months between a destroyer and a commercial ship, an incident near Singapore that left 10 sailors missing. (WSJ)

Chinese internet company Baidu Inc. is selling its food delivery business to a rival backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (WSJ)

Nacco Industries Inc. will spin off its Hamilton Beach appliances brand and kitchen-accessory chain to focus on its coal and mining businesses. (WSJ)

Macy's Inc. poached a senior eBay Inc. executive and streamlined its top management to speed up decision-making at the struggling store chain. (WSJ)

McDonald's Corp. severed ties with its second-largest franchisee in India. (WSJ)

CSX Corp. cut its payrolls by 785 jobs in July and has eliminated 951 management-level jobs so far this year. (Jacksonville Daily Record)

Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. is in talks with private-equity group BlackRock Inc. about an investment of up to $880 million in the South Korean shipping line. (Reuters)

South Korea's antitrust watchdog fined nine global auto shipping companies a combined $37.8 million for bid rigging and price fixing. (Korea Herald)

Seaintel expects Asia-Europe container ship capacity to soar 12% in the fourth quarter and 23.2% over the next two years. (Journal of Commerce)

Singapore's construction of a new port at the city-state's Tuas region is in part a response to new maritime infrastructure initiatives in Malaysia. (Straits Times)

The New York Shipping Exchange set a $13 million funding round that includes investment by carriers CMA CGM SA and Hapag Lloyd AG. (American Shipper)

British industrial property group Warehouse REIT is launching a public stock offering aimed at raising about $190 million. (The Telegraph)

The value of cross-border online shipments through special customs zones in major Chinese cities more than doubled in the first half of 2017. (Internet Retailer)

Chicago O'Hare International Airport launched the second phase of a cargo facilities expansion amid strong growth in freight volumes. (Air Cargo News)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. applied for a patent for an airborne warehouse that could make deliveries via drones. (Bloomberg)

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. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.

Write to Paul Page at paul.page@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 22, 2017 06:54 ET (10:54 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
TotalEnergies (EU:TTE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more TotalEnergies Charts.
TotalEnergies (EU:TTE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more TotalEnergies Charts.