Today's Top Logistics & Supply Chain News

Today's Top Supply Chain and Logistics News From WSJ

By Paul Page

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A new court ruling may end a three-year legal battle that has brought hiring at the East Coast’s busiest port to a near-standstill. A federal appeals court sided with regulators in their long-running fight to increase racial diversity among dockworkers at the shipping terminals around New York Harbor, WSJ Logistics Report’s Robbie Whelan writes. The ruling marks a new victory for the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor in its ongoing showdowns with unions over hiring and corruption at the Port of New York and New Jersey that stretch back decades. In this case, a judge upheld a lower court’s decision to throw out a 2013 suit by the International Longshoremen’s Association, a second union and a group representing port terminal operators against the commission’s attempt to impose non-discriminatory hiring at the terminals. The Waterfront Commission says the ruling will have a “major impact” on the port, and it could open the gates for up to 200 new hires this fall.

The automation revolution may be coming to the high seas. Ship designers, operators and regulators are considering a future in which cargo vessels sail the oceans with minimal or even no crew, the WSJ’s Robert Wall and Costas Paris report. It’s part of the broader move in the logistics world toward drones, self-driving vehicles and cargo- handling robots, a drive that ocean carriers with their expansive industrial operations want to get in on. Carriers believe the automation can help them optimize ship use, including cutting fuel consumption—and reduce labor costs. Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC is overseeing the research through an initiative involving other companies and universities. Steps already are underway at ferries in Europe. Rolling the robotics out on the high seas will be tougher, officials say, because of the need to pass massive amounts of data from ship to shore to ensure safe operations.

South Korea’s foundering Hanjin Shipping Co. and the container line’s parent Hanjin Group will have to find a rescue path on their own. The business has filed for South Korea’s version of bankruptcy protection after a decision this week by the state-run Korea Development Bank, Hanjin’s main creditor, and other local lenders to reject Hanjin’s funding plans, the WSJ’s In-Soo Nam reports. Hanjin and domestic rival Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. have been unprofitable for several years, amassing debts in a global shipping market awash in excess capacity and plummeting prices. The Korean government wants Hanjin to sell healthy assets to Hyundai while rejecting the idea of a merger. That may not be enough, as Hanjin’s bankruptcy filing could mean exclusion from the global shipping alliance it recently joined.

Preparing for the Unexpected

How insurance can help you handle unforeseen events that disrupt supply chains.

SUPPLY CHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Maher Terminals in Elizabeth, N.J. Steve Remich for The Wall Street Journal

The field of technology-driven shipping startups is getting a little less crowded. Cargo marketplace business Freightos is buying Spanish startup WebCargoNet, adding the company’s global database of air-freight rates to the web platform that Freightos recently launched allowing companies to shop and book cargo transportation. Before the launch, the four-year-old company had focused its resources on ocean shipping, WSJ Logistics Report’s Erica E. Phillips writes, but offered fewer options for faster transport. It’s a relatively rare move toward consolidation among the latest generation of startups that are trying to push into the shipping business with platforms aimed at helping shippers cut their costs on freight transactions. With customers that include both freight forwarders and shippers, Freightos is betting that bigger reach into all forms of international shipping will give the company important scale in a very competitive business.

QUOTABLE

Port employers and the union…can’t keep doing what they’ve been doing.

Phoebe Sorial, general counsel of the Waterfront Commission of New York.

Number of the Day

$5.9 billion

Hanjin Shipping’s debt as it considered going into court receivership.

IN OTHER NEWS

A European Commission ruling that Apple Inc. must repay $14.5 billion in taxes to Ireland creates a major hurdle to a U.S. tax overhaul that some lawmakers want to use to send revenues to infrastructure spending. (WSJ)

A gauge of U.S. consumer confidence rose to the highest level in nearly a year this month. (WSJ)

Office Depot Inc. is expanding its relationship with FedEx Corp., adding shipping services at all the retailer’s U.S. locations starting next month. (WSJ)

France’s trade minister called for an end to trade negotiations between the European Union and the U.S.

Canadian fertilizer giants Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. are in preliminary merger talks amid slumping earnings and persistently low prices. (WSJ)

Google is moving onto Uber Technologies Inc.’s turf with a ride-sharing service in San Francisco to help commuters carpool. (WSJ)

Southwest Airlines Co. and its pilots union reached an agreement in principle on a four-year contract. (WSJ)

Uber is hiring Jeffrey Jones, Target Corp.’s top marketing executive, to oversee its operations and marketing. (WSJ)

Canadian autoworkers voted unanimously to strike if contract talks with the big three U.S. automakers do not lead to new investments. (Agence France-Presse)

Under Armour Inc. will open a distribution center at Baltimore’s Sparrows Point industrial site for national online sales fulfillment. (Baltimore Sun)

Target expects to have online order fulfillment operations at more than 900 of its U.S. stores by the end of the year. (Retail Info Systems)

Dutch shipping company Samskip completed the acquisition of Norway’s Euro Container Lines AS. (Splash 24/7)

The U.S. granted Azerbaijan-based Silk Way Airlines rights to fly 747 freighters to the U.S., rejecting National Air Cargo opposition arguments. (The Loadstar)

Hillwood Development plans a pair of distribution centers totaling nearly 1 million square feet outside Nashville, Tenn. (The Tennessean)

The Carlyle Group set the sale of its remaining 9.5% stake in Australian ports operator Qube Holdings Ltd. (Australian Financial Review)

Shanghai International Port Group’s first half profit fell almost 6% to $437 million. (IHS Fairplay)

ABOUT US

Paul Page is deputy editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Follow him at @PaulPage, and follow the entire WSJ Logistics Report team: @brianjbaskin, @lorettachao, @RWhelanWSJ and @EEPhillips_WSJ, and follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.

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