14 DC VELOCITY SEPTEMBER 2019 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
Demand for Class 8 trucks on the
brink of “significant correction”
Abundant capacity in the truckload market means that demand
for new commercial vehicles is faltering fast, leading one industry
report to warn that the market for Class 8 trucks is “on the cusp
of a significant correction.” In addition to weakening demand for
heavy-duty tractors, ACT Research Co.’s “Transportation Digest”
reported, demand in the medium-duty truck market also was slow-
ing, “with forward-looking indicators deteriorating and concurrent
data suggesting moderate growth.”
These trends impacting the transportation and commercial vehi-
cle markets may reflect a more widespread slump in the nation’s
gross domestic product (GDP), according to ACT, a Columbus,
Ind.-based analyst and forecasting firm. The U.S. economy is on
track to decelerate from the vigorous tax-cut-related growth of 2. 9
percent in 2018 to average real GDP growth of 2. 4 percent this year
and slightly below 2 percent in 2020, the report said.
“There is a gap between the perception that things remain A-OK
in the heavy truck business on one hand and the rapid erosion of
transportation fundamentals on the other,” Kenny Vieth, ACT’s
president and senior analyst, said in a release. “This is why ACT
has been warning subscribers for months about the possibility of a
slowdown into the end of 2019.”
While weaker demand for trucking services is bad news for truck
manufacturers, it’s quite the opposite from a shipper’s point of view.
As the truck market continues to soften, conditions are the most
favorable for shippers in years, according to the Bloomington, Ind.-
based transportation consulting firm FTR’s Shippers Conditions
Index (SCI). SCI combines variables such as freight demand and
fuel prices to create an index in which positive scores represent
conditions shippers view with optimism. Following that pattern,
the SCI for May improved sharply, to a reading of 5. 6—nearly four
points higher than its April reading. This upswing was principally
based on continued softening of truckload and intermodal rates
while rail rates are stabilizing, FTR said. The consulting firm expects
conditions measured by the index to continue in their current range
for the remainder of 2019.
The Port of Los Angeles plans to create what
it says is a first-of-its-kind “cyber resilience
center” to guard against risks that could
impact the maritime supply chain, port officials said.
The unit will serve as a focal point for
sharing cyber-threat information across
port users and stakeholders, according to
a request for proposal (RFP) seeking businesses interested in designing, installing,
operating, and maintaining the center. The
idea for the collaborative center came out of
a maritime industry working-group meeting
hosted by the port earlier this year, port
officials said.
The center will help to improve security
at several levels. “Collaborative cyber-threat
information sharing is critical to the safety
and security of our port,” Chief Thomas
Gazsi, the port’s deputy executive director of
public safety and emergency management,
said in a press release. “This Cyber Resilience
Center will allow us to more quickly identify
and mitigate cyber incidents that pose a
threat to the maritime supply chain.”
Awareness of cyber threats to supply chain
assets has been growing, especially since
the “NotPetya” ransomware attack crippled
operations at shipping giant Maersk Line in
2017. More broadly, a report issued in May
by telecom technology provider Verizon
warned that corporate computer attacks
are on the rise as hackers target the C-level
executives who have easy access to sensitive
information in an increasingly digitalized
supply chain.
Port of Los Angeles plans
“cyber resilience center”
Gorilla Safety, a provider of fleet and safety manage-
ment solutions, has aligned with project44, a technolo-
gy platform for shippers and logistics service providers
(LSPs), to allow Gorilla Safety’s customers to meet the
increasing demand for shipment visibility. The deal will
give truckload carriers a quick, easy, and secure way to
share real-time freight-location information with ship-
pers and LSPs. … CME Corp., a healthcare equipment
provider and logistics specialist, has reached an agree-
ment with healthcare improvement company Premier
Inc. to provide direct-to-site logistics services to its mem-
bers. … Virgin Atlantic Cargo has announced plans to
adopt Accenture’s newest cargo-booking platform, AFLS
(Accenture Freight & Logistics Software) 8.0. The new
cloud-enabled end-to-end platform will replace Virgin’s
10-year-old Voyager operating system. … Online retailer
iHerb has selected Ceva Logistics to provide air-export
services to Japan and Singapore from its newly opened
logistics and distribution center near South Korea’s
Incheon International Airport.
alliances
