Today's Top Supply Chain and Logistics News From WSJ
August 22 2017 - 06:09AM
Dow Jones News
By Paul Page
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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)
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