Ben Ames has spent 20 years as a journalist since starting out as a daily newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania in 1995. From 1999 forward, he has focused on business and technology reporting for a number of trade journals, beginning when he joined Design News and Modern Materials Handling magazines. Ames is author of the trail guide "Hiking Massachusetts" and is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
A White House executive order issued today to push back against monopolistic mergers and consolidations is getting mixed grades from industry voices, earning praise from small business groups but criticism from corporate trade associations.
According to the Biden Administration, the order is intended “to promote competition in the American economy, which will lower prices for families, increase wages for workers, and promote innovation and even faster economic growth.” It would do that by ordering 72 initiatives at more than a dozen federal agencies, including a call for the two top antitrust agencies—the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)—to enforce antitrust laws vigorously and even consider challenging prior mergers.
The order, titled “Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” also calls out to the Department of Transportation (DOT), saying that the air travel, freight rail, and maritime shipping sectors are dominated by a few, large corporations.
In examining airplane operators, the policy focuses mostly on the passenger travel segment, saying that the top four commercial airlines control nearly two-thirds of the domestic market, leading to reduced competition and increased fees for baggage and cancellations. The order could lead to better disclosure or refunding of those charges under some conditions.
For the rail market, the order says the number of “Class I” railroads has shrunk from 33 in 1980 to just seven in 2021, and four major rail companies now dominate their respective geographic regions. Under those conditions, “Freight railroads that own the tracks can privilege their own freight traffic—making it harder for passenger trains to have on-time service—and can overcharge other companies’ freight cars,” the order says. In response, the order encourages the Surface Transportation Board “to require railroad track owners to provide rights of way to passenger rail and to strengthen their obligations to treat other freight companies fairly.”
Finally, in the maritime shipping segment, the largest 10 shipping companies controlled 12% of the market in 2000 but control more than 80% today. Armed with that much leverage, container shippers have been charging exporters exorbitant fees for detention and demurrage time when freight is sitting waiting to be loaded or unloaded, the White House said. To address that, the order encourages the Federal Maritime Commission to ensure vigorous enforcement against shippers charging American exporters inflated charges.
According to the Main Street Alliance, a national coalition of small business owners, the executive order would help tip the scales against “monopolistic market practices” often deployed by huge corporations. “For policymakers interested in a robust, competitive small business economy, passing new anti-monopoly laws must be a key federal priority in 2021. Antitrust regulation is one place where we can look to build a more resilient and fair economy coming out of the pandemic,” Main Street Alliance Executive Co-Directors Chanda Causer and Stephen Michael said in a release.
But change may be slow to come. The “massive consolidation” of ocean and rail providers over the last 20 years has indeed contributed to the historically tight freight capacity and high costs now pinching shippers, according to the supply chain visibility platform provider FourKites. But the regulatory solutions proposed by this executive order face an “uphill train ride with many bumps” before they could provide any relief, Glenn Koepke, senior vice president of Customer Success at FourKites, said in an email.
“Each presidency brings a shift in policies, and with the Trump era a lot of the focus was around a strong push to protect the American economy by implementing tariffs and other duties, which caused immediate challenges for operators to get goods in when needed,” Koepke said. “The Biden era presidency has been placing a strong focus on supporting competition and introducing policies that may make it harder for larger companies to continue to dominate their trade. Major companies all have lobbyists in DC helping to push certain agendas. So on the surface, while this seems like a potential relief valve, shippers will continue to see a volatile market for as long as demand remains high globally.”
Trade groups representing corporate interests were even more skeptical, with the National Association of Manufacturers saying its members were already keeping their promise to invest, hire, and grow wages. “Some of the actions announced today are solutions in search of a problem; they threaten to undo our progress by undermining free markets and are premised on the false notion that our workers are not positioned for success,” National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a release. “We have challenges, to be sure, which is why we are advocating infrastructure investment, competitive tax rates, immigration reform, ensuring availability of lifesaving cures, expanded export opportunities, and more.”
Autonomous forklift maker Cyngn is deploying its DriveMod Tugger model at COATS Company, the largest full-line wheel service equipment manufacturer in North America, the companies said today.
By delivering the self-driving tuggers to COATS’ 150,000+ square foot manufacturing facility in La Vergne, Tennessee, Cyngn said it would enable COATS to enhance efficiency by automating the delivery of wheel service components from its production lines.
“Cyngn’s self-driving tugger was the perfect solution to support our strategy of advancing automation and incorporating scalable technology seamlessly into our operations,” Steve Bergmeyer, Continuous Improvement and Quality Manager at COATS, said in a release. “With its high load capacity, we can concentrate on increasing our ability to manage heavier components and bulk orders, driving greater efficiency, reducing costs, and accelerating delivery timelines.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it follows another deployment of DriveMod Tuggers with electric automaker Rivian earlier this year.
Manufacturing and logistics workers are raising a red flag over workplace quality issues according to industry research released this week.
A comparative study of more than 4,000 workers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia found that manufacturing and logistics workers say they have seen colleagues reduce the quality of their work and not follow processes in the workplace over the past year, with rates exceeding the overall average by 11% and 8%, respectively.
The study—the Resilience Nation report—was commissioned by UK-based regulatory and compliance software company Ideagen, and it polled workers in industries such as energy, aviation, healthcare, and financial services. The results “explore the major threats and macroeconomic factors affecting people today, providing perspectives on resilience across global landscapes,” according to the authors.
According to the study, 41% of manufacturing and logistics workers said they’d witnessed their peers hiding mistakes, and 45% said they’ve observed coworkers cutting corners due to apathy—9% above the average. The results also showed that workers are seeing colleagues take safety risks: More than a third of respondents said they’ve seen people putting themselves in physical danger at work.
The authors said growing pressure inside and outside of the workplace are to blame for the lack of diligence and resiliency on the job. Internally, workers say they are under pressure to deliver more despite reduced capacity. Among the external pressures, respondents cited the rising cost of living as the biggest problem (39%), closely followed by inflation rates, supply chain challenges, and energy prices.
“People are being asked to deliver more at work when their resilience is being challenged by economic and political headwinds,” Ideagen’s CEO Ben Dorks said in a statement announcing the findings. “Ultimately, this is having a determinantal impact on business productivity, workplace health and safety, and the quality of work produced, as well as further reducing the resilience of the nation at large.”
Respondents said they believe technology will eventually alleviate some of the stress occurring in manufacturing and logistics, however.
“People are optimistic that emerging tech and AI will ultimately lighten the load, but they’re not yet feeling the benefits,” Dorks added. “It’s a gap that now, more than ever, business leaders must look to close and support their workforce to ensure their staff remain safe and compliance needs are met across the business.”
The “2024 Year in Review” report lists the various transportation delays, freight volume restrictions, and infrastructure repair costs of a long string of events. Those disruptions include labor strikes at Canadian ports and postal sites, the U.S. East and Gulf coast port strike; hurricanes Helene, Francine, and Milton; the Francis Scott key Bridge collapse in Baltimore Harbor; the CrowdStrike cyber attack; and Red Sea missile attacks on passing cargo ships.
“While 2024 was characterized by frequent and overlapping disruptions that exposed many supply chain vulnerabilities, it was also a year of resilience,” the Project44 report said. “From labor strikes and natural disasters to geopolitical tensions, each event served as a critical learning opportunity, underscoring the necessity for robust contingency planning, effective labor relations, and durable infrastructure. As supply chains continue to evolve, the lessons learned this past year highlight the increased importance of proactive measures and collaborative efforts. These strategies are essential to fostering stability and adaptability in a world where unpredictability is becoming the norm.”
In addition to tallying the supply chain impact of those events, the report also made four broad predictions for trends in 2025 that may affect logistics operations. In Project44’s analysis, they include:
More technology and automation will be introduced into supply chains, particularly ports. This will help make operations more efficient but also increase the risk of cybersecurity attacks and service interruptions due to glitches and bugs. This could also add tensions among the labor pool and unions, who do not want jobs to be replaced with automation.
The new administration in the United States introduces a lot of uncertainty, with talks of major tariffs for numerous countries as well as talks of US freight getting preferential treatment through the Panama Canal. If these things do come to fruition, expect to see shifts in global trade patterns and sourcing.
Natural disasters will continue to become more frequent and more severe, as exhibited by the wildfires in Los Angeles and the winter storms throughout the southern states in the U.S. As a result, expect companies to invest more heavily in sustainability to mitigate climate change.
The peace treaty announced on Wednesday between Isael and Hamas in the Middle East could support increased freight volumes returning to the Suez Canal as political crisis in the area are resolved.
The French transportation visibility provider Shippeo today said it has raised $30 million in financial backing, saying the money will support its accelerated expansion across North America and APAC, while driving enhancements to its “Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platform” product.
The funding round was led by Woven Capital, Toyota’s growth fund, with participation from existing investors: Battery Ventures, Partech, NGP Capital, Bpifrance Digital Venture, LFX Venture Partners, Shift4Good and Yamaha Motor Ventures. With this round, Shippeo’s total funding exceeds $140 million.
Shippeo says it offers real-time shipment tracking across all transport modes, helping companies create sustainable, resilient supply chains. Its platform enables users to reduce logistics-related carbon emissions by making informed trade-offs between modes and carriers based on carbon footprint data.
"Global supply chains are facing unprecedented complexity, and real-time transport visibility is essential for building resilience” Prashant Bothra, Principal at Woven Capital, who is joining the Shippeo board, said in a release. “Shippeo’s platform empowers businesses to proactively address disruptions by transforming fragmented operations into streamlined, data-driven processes across all transport modes, offering precise tracking and predictive ETAs at scale—capabilities that would be resource-intensive to develop in-house. We are excited to support Shippeo’s journey to accelerate digitization while enhancing cost efficiency, planning accuracy, and customer experience across the supply chain.”
Donald Trump has been clear that he plans to hit the ground running after his inauguration on January 20, launching ambitious plans that could have significant repercussions for global supply chains.
As Mark Baxa, CSCMP president and CEO, says in the executive forward to the white paper, the incoming Trump Administration and a majority Republican congress are “poised to reshape trade policies, regulatory frameworks, and the very fabric of how we approach global commerce.”
The paper is written by import/export expert Thomas Cook, managing director for Blue Tiger International, a U.S.-based supply chain management consulting company that focuses on international trade. Cook is the former CEO of American River International in New York and Apex Global Logistics Supply Chain Operation in Los Angeles and has written 19 books on global trade.
In the paper, Cook, of course, takes a close look at tariff implications and new trade deals, emphasizing that Trump will seek revisions that will favor U.S. businesses and encourage manufacturing to return to the U.S. The paper, however, also looks beyond global trade to addresses topics such as Trump’s tougher stance on immigration and the possibility of mass deportations, greater support of Israel in the Middle East, proposals for increased energy production and mining, and intent to end the war in the Ukraine.
In general, Cook believes that many of the administration’s new policies will be beneficial to the overall economy. He does warn, however, that some policies will be disruptive and add risk and cost to global supply chains.
In light of those risks and possible disruptions, Cook’s paper offers 14 recommendations. Some of which include:
Create a team responsible for studying the changes Trump will introduce when he takes office;
Attend trade shows and make connections with vendors, suppliers, and service providers who can help you navigate those changes;
Consider becoming C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) certified to help mitigate potential import/export issues;
Adopt a risk management mindset and shift from focusing on lowest cost to best value for your spend;
Increase collaboration with internal and external partners;
Expect warehousing costs to rise in the short term as companies look to bring in foreign-made goods ahead of tariffs;
Expect greater scrutiny from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol of origin statements for imports in recognition of attempts by some Chinese manufacturers to evade U.S. import policies;
Reduce dependency on China for sourcing; and
Consider manufacturing and/or sourcing in the United States.
Cook advises readers to expect a loosening up of regulations and a reduction in government under Trump. He warns that while some world leaders will look to work with Trump, others will take more of a defiant stance. As a result, companies should expect to see retaliatory tariffs and duties on exports.
Cook concludes by offering advice to the incoming administration, including being sensitive to the effect retaliatory tariffs can have on American exports, working on federal debt reduction, and considering promoting free trade zones. He also proposes an ambitious water works program through the Army Corps of Engineers.