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Hasbro Stocking Up; Tesla Supply Chain in Overdrive; Airing Out Hydrogen
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PHOTO: DANIEL ACKER/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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It’s Christmas in July as far as Hasbro is concerned. The toy maker is executing a multipronged effort across its global supply chain taking in suppliers, ports and ocean carriers, the WSJ’s Dave Sebastian reports, as it tries to ensure that its goods reach consumers in time for the holidays. The maker of Transformers, My Little Pony and Play-Doh is looking to get around bottlenecks in shipping operations that have undercut retailer efforts to bulk up inventories. The stakes are especially high for seasonal sellers, and particularly for toy companies that are hoping the holidays come wrapped in hefty sales and profits. Hasbro is raising prices to make up for higher costs, including shipping rates it says have
quadrupled in the past year. Sales have been surging, suggesting Hasbro’s biggest concern this season won't be demand but simply ensuring its products are on store shelves.
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“The team secured more ports, and we’ve got more shipping lanes than we’ve had in the past.”
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— Hasbro Chief Executive Brian Goldner
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A Tesla Model 3 vehicle on an auto carrier in Rocklin, Calif., this week. PHOTO: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Tesla has turned its once-troubled supply chain into a strength. The Silicon Valley electric-car company more than doubled its vehicle output in the second quarter and produced record profits, the WSJ’s Rebecca Elliott reports, even as the global automotive industry has struggled with a semiconductor shortage that has crimped production. Tesla says it has navigated the shortage by pivoting to new chips and developing software for devices made by new suppliers. That helped the company produce 206,000 vehicles in the second quarter, as well as revenue of $12 billion and a net profit of $1.1 billion. The company still faces logistics challenges. Tesla only has assembly factories in the U.S. and China and ships
vehicles to other markets, leaving it heavily exposed to high shipping prices. The company also faces continuing delays in the delivery of its semitrailer truck, which it expects to start delivering next year.
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A Hyundai-built hydrogen fuel-cell truck at the Swiss Museum of Transport last fall. PHOTO: DENIS BALIBOUSE/REUTERS
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Several big oil companies see their futures increasingly built on hydrogen energy. BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total Energies are all pursuing multimillion-dollar hydrogen projects, the WSJ’s Sarah McFarlane reports, as they grapple to turn research into commercial reality. Historically used to help make fertilizer and chemicals, hydrogen is being pushed for a broader range of uses, including for trucks, planes, and ships. Experts say there are hurdles to broader use of the light, colorless gas as an alternative power source, including that most hydrogen is made from fossil fuels. The switch to hydrogen is under debate in trucking.
Volkswagen’s Scania has reduced its hydrogen research to focus on batteries, while Daimler Truck and Shell agreed to jointly advance hydrogen fuel-cell trucks in Europe. This week, industrial gases group Air Products said it would work with truck engine maker Cummins to convert its truck fleet to hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
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2,834,616
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Total containerized imports into the U.S. in June, in 20-foot-equivalent units, a 30.6% increase over June 2020, according to Panjiva.
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Sales of new homes in the U.S. fell in June to a pandemic low amid high prices and limited inventory. (MarketWatch)
Coffee futures are trading at their highest prices in nearly seven years. (Dow Jones Newswires)
Electric-vehicle startup Lucid Group completed a blank-check merger ahead of plans to launch production later this year. (WSJ)
Intel says its factories will start building Qualcomm chips as it sets plans to expand its new foundry business. (WSJ)
Shanghai’s container port and airport were closed as a typhoon disrupted freight operations along China’s coast. (The Loadstar)
Export container volume at major Chinese ports rose 6.2% in the first part of July, a sharp slowdown from growth in June. (Seatrade Maritime)
A private-equity fund sold two 16-year-old mid-size container ships to Mediterranean Shipping Co. for a total of $170 million, five times the price paid in 2018. (TradeWinds)
John Fredriksen’s Seadrill reached an agreement with a majority of creditors on a plan to reduce the company’s debt by nearly $5 billion. (ShippingWatch)
Russia's United Shipbuilding is designing feeder container ships to carry freight on the Volga River from the Caspian Sea to the Baltic states. (Maritime Executive)
London-listed Taylor Maritime Investments raised $75 million through a secondary share listing aimed at funding the purchase of new bulk ships. (Splash 247)
Federal rail regulators are asking freight railroads to explain their demurrage charges amid reports of “sizable storage fees.” (Supply Chain Dive)
U.K. truck drivers plan a strike Aug. 23 over working conditions. (The Guardian)
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