Reports of severe port congestion at Shanghai’s Yangshan deepwater port have been coming in with more frequency over the last few days. Operations at MIQ Logistics in Shanghai have reported sailing schedule delays for a variety of reasons:
News
Source: Cass Information Systems
Both the Shipments and Expenditures Indexes have now been positive for three months in a row. Throughout the U.S. economy, there are a growing number of data points suggesting that the economy is getting better. Some data points are simply less bad, but an increasing number of them are better, and even a few are becoming outright strong. The 0.9% YoY increase in the March Cass Shipments Index is yet another data point which suggests that the first positive indication in October may have indeed been a change in trend. In fact, it now looks as if the October Cass Shipments Index, which broke a string of 20 months in negative territory, was one of the first indications that a recovery in freight had begun in earnest.
Source: American Trucking Associations
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index slipped 1% in March, following a 0.1% decline during February. (February’s percentage decrease was unchanged from our press release on March 21, 2017.) In March, the index equaled 137.5 (2000=100), down from 138.8 in February. The all-time high was 142.7 in February 2016.
Sales
The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for February, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,360.7 billion, up 0.2 percent (±0.2 percent)* from January 2017 and was up 7.1 percent (±0.4 percent) from February 2016.
Forbes Insights interviewed MIQ Logistics CFO, Brenda Stasiulis, and other CFOs and CEOs to gain insight on the future of auditing quality, overall value, and how the “explosion” of data and new technologies were changing the profession. The report analyzes areas in which audit needs to evolve and what auditors need to do to keep pace with the changing expectations of clients. To download a pdf of the full study, go to Forbesinsights.com.
Source: National Retail Federation
Imports at the nation’s major retail container ports should continue to see strong increases throughout the spring and summer as the nation’s economy improves, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
The unemployment rate declined to 4.5 percent in March, and total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 98,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services and in mining, while retail trade lost jobs.
During March 2017, a lot has happened in the global logistics industry and with MIQ Logistics. The March 2017 Logistics Link from MIQ Logistics gives insights into MIQ in the News, industry updates, services provided by MIQ, and events that will be occurring in the near future.
Source: Institute for Supply Management.
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in March, and the overall economy grew for the 94th consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business®.
A TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (TPP) WITHOUT THE U.S.?
The President signed an order on January 23, 2017 withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Because the original TPP deal required the ratification of TPP members comprising at least 85 percent of the GDP of the entire TPP grouping, without the U.S., a new version of the TPP agreement would be needed for it to take effect. However, a TPP agreement without the U.S. is still relevant and would have significant economic value. The remaining Parties include four of the world’s 20 largest economies — Japan, Canada, Australia, and Mexico — alongside significant emerging economies like Vietnam and Malaysia. With that economic value in mind, the 11 existing TPP members, joined by China and South Korea, met in Chile on March 14-15 to discuss: (a) the possibility of a TPP agreement without the U.S., (b) the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as the TPP alternative and, (c) the Free Trade Area for the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).