Logistic News
Good news for the retail industry, importers, and the U.S. economy overall: the clerical union has agreed to the employers’ final offer: “The
employers are pleased that the union recognized the substantial investment that (employers) have made and agreed to their last wage proposal,”
said Steve Berry, a negotiator for the shippers. The deal with the Office Clerical Unit, Local 63, of the International Longshore and Warehouse
Union came after an impasse in the talks was declared late Tuesday.
While some countries are enjoying the increased purchasing power of U.S. made goods thanks to the weaker dollar, export oriented economies
with simultaneously weak import growth are suffering as the cost of their goods rises. Thailand is being especially hard hit, as the Baht has
strengthened significantly against the dollar. Excerpt: Thai Silp South East Asia, a Thai garment exporter with 5,000 workers, had been struggling
financially ever since it lost one of its biggest customers last year.
It certainly makes sense, exports have been rising thanks to stronger foreign currencies: David Shepherd, BA World Cargo’s VP of commercial
activities for the Americas, told IFW: “We are certainly experiencing better demand [from the Americas] than we were seeing last year, especially
on some commodities. “We have seen much stronger demand for perishables traffic, partly due to better growing conditions, but unquestionably
it is also partly because of the weakness of the dollar.” But he said the bigger change had been a reduction in traffic in the reverse direction.
If congested Shanghai Ports were not enough for you to call your freight forwarder, perhaps Cargo News Asia’a article Crime on the rise at
Shanghai ports may be (h/t/ 3plwire). According to the article, many of the recent crimes are being committed by people from outside of
Shanghai (of course) carrying fake licenses (cost 50USD) who dupe manufacturers. In the first six months of this year, 103 people were arrested .