Newsletter – May 16, 2019

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

As China-US trade spat heats up, transpacific container trades will suffer

theloadstar.com
A new level of US tariffs on Chinese exports could lead to an 8% drop in eastbound transpacific container volumes this year, according to new research from Alphaliner. Read more here. 

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Shippers brace for further US-China tariffs

lloydsloadinglist.com
US importers and their logistics providers are preparing for further US-China tariffs and a possible fresh rush to front-load deliveries to beat the next tariff deadline, after the US confirmed its intention to impose 25% duties on further US$300 billion of products imported annually from China. Read more here. 

Why Amazon is giving employees $10,000 to quit

wired.com
The so-called last mile of delivery—getting an order to the customer’s door—has long been an obsession for ecommerce companies. To make the journey as efficient as they can, some have engaged in extreme experiments. Read more here. 

CANADA BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

U.S.-China Trade War Threatens To Shrink Canada’s Economy By Enough To Kill 150,000 Jobs: BMO

huffingtonpost.ca
MONTREAL — The sudden escalation in the U.S.-China trade war could have serious consequences for Canada, according to economists at the Bank of Montreal.
In a client note this week, they predicted that, if all the tariffs the U.S. and China are threatening actually happen (which certainly seemed possible as of Tuesday afternoon), it would shave 0.8 percentage points off Canada’s economy. Read more here.