UPS agreed to acquire Mexican express delivery company Estafeta, in a deal aimed at expanding the U.S.-based carrier’s role in Mexico as nearshoring manufacturing trends drive more cross-border trade. Based in Mexico City, Estafeta handles both packages and larger freight shipments and delivers domestically in Mexico and across the border with the U.S. “Global supply chains are shifting, Mexico’s role in global trade is growing, and Mexican small and medium enterprises and manufacturing sectors are looking for reliable access to the U.S. market,” UPS Chief Executive Carol Tomé said in announcing the agreement Monday. The price of the acquisition, which is expected to close by the end of the year, was not disclosed.
About 200 fully or mostly finished Boeing jets are idled while they await interiors, engines and other attention. Parts shortages and other issues have left the jet maker with about 200 fully or mostly finished airplanes sitting in airfields, outside plants and—in one location—an employee parking lot. Some of the planes are awaiting interiors; others need engines. Dozens more are awaiting delivery to China. Unable to fly, the planes aren’t delivering much-needed cash as the jet maker burns through more than $1 billion a month. And they present a host of logistical challenges. Planes sitting around too long may need software or other updates. Moving unfinished jets is tricky, especially if the part they are missing is the engine, as is the case with a handful of 777 freighters.
The trucking industry is turning a corner after a prolonged freight recession that succeeded the Covid boom in transportation rate and services, according to logistics executives. Data from Motive, which tracks trucking visits to North American distribution facilities for the top five retailers, shows volume up 30% year-over-year in June. Peak season, the time of year when suppliers bring in their back-to-school and holiday items, started a month early in June versus July due to the Red Sea diversions and the threat of a longshoreman strike at the East Coast and Gulf ports on October 1. Data across the retail sector shows year-over-year order increases through June, including at department stores, electronics, and apparel retailers with bricks-and-mortar locations (32.9%), home improvement (24.4%), grocery & superstores (22.1%), and discount retailers & wholesalers (13%). The latest retail sales report for June came in better than expected. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.4%, a larger gain than the 0.1% consensus forecast.
The proportion of work-related injuries among newly hired workers increased from 2017 to 2022, with workers under 25 reporting more frequent injuries than those 55 and older, according to a report released by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. The report, which analyzed 8.4 million non-COVID-19 claims across 31 states, found that work injuries among workers with shorter tenure increased from 18% to 23% during the study period, the report states. Five industries accounted for nearly three out of every four work injuries between 2017 and 2022, and 21% of all workplace injuries were for workers at or nearing retirement age, according to a report released Thursday by the Workers Compensation Researcher Institute. Those five industries are wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, services, health care and social assistance, and transportation, warehousing and utilities.
With a turn of ceremonial dirt, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, Congressman Robert Garcia and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg broke ground on a $1.6 billion project that has been years in the making: a massive expansion of the Port of Long Beach’s railyard. The project will double the yard’s acreage and triple its annual cargo volume to five million shipping containers a year, all while reducing the need for smog-spewing cargo trucks that inundate the local freeways with pollution and traffic. Construction will be broken up into 10 individual projects, with the first to be completed by 2027 and the last by 2032. Once finished, the port’s new railyard site — dubbed by engineers as the Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility, by politicians as the “Green Gateway” — will handle up to 17 trains a day, with room to assemble and strip down a chain of rail cars up to 10,000 feet long.
That’s all for this week. Enjoy the weekend and the song of the week Winner Takes It All by Sammy Hagar.
The post This Week in Logistics News (July 20 – 26) appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.