Rise and shine everyone!🐓🌞
It’s that time of the week again: the Freight Forwarding Weekly.
If you’re new to our newsletter, this email is a quick recap of the important news stories that impact the global freight and logistics industry.
This week’s edition is brought to you by our premium member in Mexico, Heir Logistic Group.
Let’s dive into this week’s headlines.
📈 BY THE NUMBERS: Important numbers impacting freight and logistics.
⛽ Diesel $5.313 / gal 🔽
Compared to a year ago, the average per gallon price of diesel is up by $1.579.
✈️ Air Cargo Index: 236.5 (September, FRED)
🚢 Global Container Index: $3,185 (Nov. 11)
📰 THE NEWS
😅 PPI rose by .2% in October, with inflation easing.
Wholesale prices rose less than expected. This is a sign that inflation is easing. According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national Producer Price Index (PPI) for the month of October only rose by 0.2%, falling short of the projected 0.4%. This is encouraging. Producer prices increased less than expected, signaling to markets that inflation is starting to subside and, on the wings of a prayer, the FED will slow its alarming pace on interest rate hikes.
On Nov. 15, U.S. President Joe Biden called the October’s PPI results “more good news for our economy this morning, and more indications that we are starting to see inflation moderate.”
While this PPI result is still historically high – 8% in October from a year prior – this was the smallest increase since July of 2021. Markets jumped amid the PPI results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the trading day on Nov. 15 up 56.22 points or .17%, at 33,592.92.
🔭 Read more at Reuters
Other stories we’re watching…
🤝 Meet the wannabe “Shopify of freight forwarding.”
GoFreight, a tech startup based in Los Angeles and Taipei, raised $23 million in a Series A funding round led by Flex Capital and Headline. Other firms that participated in the funding round were LFX Partners, and Palm Drive Capital, among others. GoFreight wants to disrupt the freight forwarding sector by providing a Shopify-style back-end software suite that helps smaller forwarders run operations more smoothly. They also feature a front-end that allows the forwarder to set up a “storefront” of sorts and provide quotes and service to their customers.
Read more at TechCrunch
📦 Alibaba’s Cainiao parcel services opens in Brazil.
Cainiao just opened up its LatAm headquarters in São Paulo – Brazil’s financial center. Owned by Chinese e-commerce and tech giant Alibaba, Cainiao is a popular parcel delivery service that ships most of the orders from the e-commerce site AliExpress, from manufacturers in China to customers in Brazil. Cainiao also told news media that they are working with local companies in Brazil and expect to make in-roads into other countries across the LatAm market. Cainiao is the source of about 6% of Alibaba Group’s revenue in the second quarter, ending June 30, 2022.
Read up at TechCrunch.com
🎄Inventories are stacking up as the holiday and peak season impacts ocean freight.
Supply Chain Dive asked four ocean freight observers to weigh in on what to expect as the holiday peak shipping season kicks into gear this year. Let us tell you one thing: a “softer” holiday season for the ocean market is very likely in the cards. Or, in the words of the CEVA Logistics senior vice president of ocean freight for North America, one Mr. Joshua Bowen: “The ocean market during this holiday season is definitely going to be softer than in years past…While current import statistics are still showing growth, the majority of the volume can be attributed to the clean-up of congestion on the West Coast, which has improved dramatically over the past 60 days.”
Read the other observations on peak season ocean freight at Supply Chain Dive.
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