Source: National Retail Federation
With the holiday shopping season officially under way, imports at the nation’s major retail container ports are expected to be up 4.4 percent this month over the same time last year and should see a slightly larger increase next month, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
Paul Fitzpatrick, MIQ Managing Director of Global Trade Management, recently presented on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade agreements.
The TPP is a trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries signed on February 4, 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand after 7 years of negotiations. The TPP will create the world’s largest free-trade zone. The countries within its scope account for 40% of the world’s economic output. The Agreement will not enter into force until ratified by the respective governments.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., November 7, 2016 – MIQ Logistics was recently listed on the Top 100 U.S. Domestic Transportation Management (DTM) and Freight Broker list from Armstrong & Associates. MIQ Logistics ranks 35th on the listing for the second year in a row.
“The U.S. LEI increased in September, reversing its August decline, which together with the pickup in the six-month growth rate suggests that the economy should continue expanding at a moderate pace through early 2017,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Director of Business Cycles and Growth Research at The Conference Board. “Housing permits, unemployment insurance claims, and the interest rate spread were the main components lifting the index in September. Overall, the strengths among the leading indicators are outweighing modest weaknesses in stock prices and the average workweek.” – The Conference Board
Andy Martin, MIQ Vice President & Managing Director of EMEA, was featured in the September 2016 issue of Forwarder Magazine. In the article, Martin talks about how he started at MIQ Logistics, as well as what the future holds for the company.
“In 1993 I joined Ultimex Global Logistics,” Martin says. “By 1998 the owners’ vision was paying off. Ultimex had grown considerably and was attracting a lot of attention from perspective buyers. In 2010 the senior global leadership team partnered with venture capitalists Austin Ventures to buy the business; rebranding as MIQ Logistics and retaining many original colleagues globally.”
The below information is sourced directly from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The 2016 Biennial Renewal Period began Saturday, Oct 1, 2016 and ends on Saturday December 31, 2016 at 11:59 PM.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 161,000 in October, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in health care, professional and business services, and financial activities.
The unemployment rate, at 4.9 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 7.8 million, changed little in October. Both measures have shown little movement, on net, since August 2015.
Institute for Supply Management
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in October, and the overall economy grew for the 89th consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business®.
American Trucking Associations
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index contracted 5.8% in September, following a 5% rise during August (a slight downward revision from our press release last month). In September, the index equaled 132.7 (2000=100), down from 140.8 in August. The all-time high was 144 in February.
Cass Information Systems, Inc.
After offering a glimmer of ‘less bad’ hope in August (only down 1.1% YoY and up 0.4% sequentially), the Cass Freight Index shipments data in September disappointed, providing hindsight that August only gave us ‘false hope.’ September data is once again signaling that overall shipment volumes (and pricing) continued to be weak in most modes, with increased levels of volatility as all levels of the supply chain (manufacturing, wholesale, retail) continue to try and work down inventory levels. That said, there have been a few areas of growth, mostly related to e-commerce, with lower levels of expansion being experienced in transit modes serving the auto and housing/construction industries. All of this added up to lower shipment volume in September on a YoY (Year-over-Year) basis, marking the nineteenth straight month of year-over-year decline. Bottom line, the Industrial Recession in the U.S. that began in March of 2015 continues to weigh on overall volumes.
