Supply Chain Research

Container handling through the Port of Virginia had a poor start to 2017 after volumes fell 4% on a year earlier in January, the first substantive decline in 18 months. The main culprit was a 15% slump in exports – the worst performance since July 2009. Further disruptions are possible as new capacity is installed.  Import growth also slowed, and became more reliant on China (6% higher) and the EU (up 5%) after shipments from Singapore and Brazil dropped. There’s also been a marked rebalancing between the logistics firms servicing the ports. Hapag-Lloyd and CMA-CGM (up 24%) pulled ahead ...