Industry Insights – July 2023

Supply Chain Industry Insights

July 2023

Welcome to the PGL Industry Insights report for July 2023.

Labor disputes continue to lead the news this month, with wide-ranging effects across the industry.

The on-again/off-again LWU Canada strike at Western Canadian ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert seems to have calmed, as the two parties – ILWU and BCMEA – now have a new tentative agreement in place. 

Prince Rupert had cleared its vessel backlog during the tentative agreement and work continuation. Vancouver vessel line-up was showing multiple vessels at berth, but with the news of this agreement, work is underway to clear the congestion.

It appears that UPS has narrowly avoided an August 1st work stoppage with what has been described as a “historic” agreement in place with details that include $30 million added to wages among other terms, and was called by UPS CEO Carol Tomé, a “win-win-win agreement”. Not only is this good news for UPS and their employees, but for the economy as well, as a strike of this size could have had far-reaching consequences across multiple industries.

Many shippers are scrambling to find alternate partnerships in the midst of the turmoil surrounding Yellow and their pending labor dispute. The latest news as of Wednesday is an announcement from their Seniour Vice President of Sales to her staff, indicating that Yellow intends to file for bankruptcy on Monday. Yellow is the third-largest LTL company and employs about 30,000 people.

In other news, DHL Express has been making waves with not only the opening of it’s new $84.5 million dollar hub in Atlanta, it has also made an important step in opening a West Coast air hub in California after the Ontario International Airport Authority approved plans to develop the South Airport Cargo Center. The Ontario airport is located in Inland Empire, just east of Los Angeles, and will allow for over 850,000 square feet of expansion that there just isn’t room for at LAX. DHL Express has long been the international leader in freight and their plans to increase their presence in the US are shaping up.

With the latest in supply chain news, labor contracts continue to make headlines. In the meantime, PGL will continue to keep you moving, 24/7/365.

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