1.5
“CN is the first North American railroad to formally commit to having a net-zero [carbon emissions] target by joining the Business Ambition for 1.5 degrees C and the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign.” — CN press release issued Nov. 12
3.8 and 7.9
Total U.S. carloads rose 3.8% in October compared with the same 2020 month as “year-over-year gains in coal, chemicals and crushed stone and sand, among others, exceeded declines in motor vehicles, grain and petroleum products. … Supply chain problems (especially shortages of dray trucks, drivers and warehouse space) kept U.S. intermodal volume down in October — it fell 7.9% from October 2020, its third straight year-over-year decline.” — Association of American Railroads’ Rail Time Indicators, issued Nov. 5
4
“CN v TCI — With CN’s ‘letter’ today is the answer to my “Fight or Flight” Q — it’s Round 4, CN chooses combat — & defends growth over OR, the nature & need for Intermodal (& investment — be still my heart!). THIS was the response I expected before — let the battle begin!” — Nov. 2 Tweet from independent transportation analyst Tony Hatch
8.7
The Panama Canal closed its fiscal-year 2021 with “a record-breaking annual tonnage of 516.7 million Panama Canal tons,” an 8.7% increase compared with the FY20’s total and 10% above tonnage registered in FY19, canal officials said on Oct. 28.
29-40
On Nov. 2, Ryder System Inc. unveiled what it called “the industry’s first data-driven study on the impact of autonomous trucking.” Ryder worked with transportation and mobility researchers at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech. The result: “a roadmap to commercialization based on real-world data—and a significant cost-savings,” Ryder officials said. “I’ve worked on a lot of different transportation problems in the past, and if you have 1% improvement, that’s magic,” said Pascal Van Hentenryck, A. Russell Chandler III Chair and professor and associate chair for innovation and entrepreneurship at ISyE. “Here we’re talking about 29-40%, so it’s massive. It’s really massive.” Here’s a video illustrating the project/its findings.
76
“Labor shortages are directly impacting supply chains. For example, as of August 2021 there were 540,000 job openings in ‘transportation, warehousing and utilities’ [according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics]. That’s up 76% from just before the pandemic.” — Association of American Railroads’ Rail Time Indicators, issued Nov. 5
16,800
Final trailer orders dipped in October to 16,800 units “amid continuing caution by OEMs about overbooking the first half of 2022,” FTR reported on Nov. 11. “Orders have been tepid all year,” said Don Ake, FTR vice president of commercial vehicles. “The challenge for many OEMs is not to acquire more backlog, but to manage the backlog they have. Fleets need lots of new trailers, however, the manufacturers are being careful about how and when to slot these commitments into the build schedule.”
24,500
Preliminary North American Class 8 net orders for October were 24,500 units, down 12% from September and down 39% year over year, FTR officials reported on Nov. 3. Class 8 orders have “stayed within the 23,000-28,000-unit range for five of the last six months as OEMs deal with production issues,” they said. “The OEMs are having tremendous difficulty planning production for Q1,” said Don Ake, FTR’s vice president of commercial vehicles. “Unfinished orders are rolling over from 2021 and there are fleets placing new orders for 2022 delivery. All these fleets are desperate for new trucks and the challenge for the OEMs is to book the maximum production possible without excessive overbooking.”
334,031
As of Nov. 1, 334,031 freight cars — “20.4% of the 1.6 million North American rail car fleet” — had not moved while loaded in the previous 60 days and have moved empty since their last loaded move. These cars are ‘in storage’ since they have been available, but loads for them have not.” — Association of American Railroads’ Rail Time Indicators, issued Nov. 5
716 million
“Within three years, CPKC sees $716mm in revenue synergies (presumably the remaining $104mm comes in Year Four?) and $173mm in economies/productivity (ditto). … The benefits are coming from other rails! 80K carloads, 137K containers form other railroads — “only” 64K from “trucks off the highway.” … They will compete with the UP from Chicago to Laredo, in auto parts. … They will compete with BNSF — albeit not as well — from Chicago to Dallas. … They will compete with everyone and attempt to fulfill the Mike Haverty dream of linking Lazaro Cardenas port to the US/Canadian east & Midwest in single line service (which would then serve as a competitor, at long last, with LA/LB).” — independent analyst Tony Hatch in a Nov. 3 email to clients.
2.3 billion
The CMA CGM Group signed an agreement to acquire a 90% stake in the Fenix Marine Services (FMS) terminal in Los Angeles, currently held by EQT Infrastructure III, “based on an enterprise value of $2.3 billion,” CMA CGM announced on Nov. 3. Currently holding a 10% stake in the terminal, CMA CGM will become sole owner of the FMS facility post transaction closing. FMS is the third-largest terminal in the Los Angeles/Long Beach port area in terms of capacity (around 2.5 million TEU) and one of the largest in North America.
3.27 billion
XPO Logistics Inc. reported Q3 revenue of $3.27 billion, the “highest revenue of any quarter in company history,” the company announced on Nov. 2. “In North American truck brokerage, every major metric was up year-over-year by large double-digits, said XPO Logistics Chairman and CEO Brad Jacobs. “We grew third quarter gross and net revenue in truck brokerage by 62%, on a 37% increase in load count per day. Our top 20 customers increased their total volume with us by 45%, and our share of wallet is trending up with key customers.”
