Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. is getting more profit from its biggest trucking unit by making it smaller. The largest truckload business in North America showed strong earnings to close out 2018, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Jennifer Smith writes, largely because a streamlined Swift Truckload ran more efficiently even as other carriers rushed to add capacity in a booming freight market. Swift’s fourth-quarter earnings extended gains the company made in the third quarter and showed the leadership at the former Knight Transportation was imprinting its fiscal discipline on the operation, bolstering the U.S. trucking sector’s biggest merger in recent years. The Swift truckload fleet had some 1,500 fewer trucks in the fourth quarter than it did the year before, and the operating profit jumped 35.8% to $90.8 million even as revenue fell 13.2%. Knight-Swift is benefiting from strong demand, while getting lean may help the business if the market turns.

Years of seemingly unrelenting expansion in electronics supply chains may be dimming. Apple Inc.’s first decline in both revenue and profit in the December quarter in more than a decade underlines the challenges the tech giant faces, the WSJ”s Tripp Mickle reports, as it seeks to reignite slowing iPhone sales while turning to services for more growth. The combination of weak smartphone sales and weaker demand in China reduced revenue 4.5% to $84.31 billion in the quarter, and iPhone sales fell 15% from the year before. That led one analyst to note the iPhone “has matured” leaving the company “in a bit of a midlife crisis.” The airfreight sector may already be feeling the impact of tech-sector doldrums. Global airfreight demand was flat in November, according to the International Air Transport Association, and declined 2.3% in the Asia-Pacific markets where Apple’s suppliers are based.

Several major shippers have tens of millions of dollars on the hook in the bankruptcy of a big freight-payment provider. IPS Worldwide LLC’s chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing comes as the company faces debts of more than $100 million and holds assets of no more than $50,000, the WSJ’s Becky Yerak reports, a wide gap that’s developed despite last year’s red-hot U.S. domestic freight market. Among the creditors are tool maker Stanley Black & Decker Inc., with $41.6 million in unsecured claims and metals giant Alcoa Corp, with a $28.8 million claim. The IPS filing appears to be the first in several years in freight payment, the system of handling bills and auditing for shippers. Big operators like Cass Information Systems Inc., CT Logistics and Data2Logistics LLC dominate the field, but IPS has significant trade with some 35 million annual invoices worth more than $8 billion.

Talk of an economic slowdown in China isn’t slowing the country’s big express-delivery companies. Businesses including ZTO Express Inc., Best Inc. and YTO Express Group Co. are drawing new interest from investors, the WSJ’s Shen Hong reports, boosted by figures that suggest China’s parcel industry is resisting the broader economic weakness. The one operator that is lagging is S.F. Holding Co., China’s largest listed courier company by market value, whose stock is down 5.5% this year. The business is more focused on premium delivery services that are more exposed to the general economy while companies like ZTO and YTO pitch lower prices and are strongly aligned with e-commerce providers seen as having more long-term staying power. The bigger investor attraction may be the highly fragmented nature of China’s express market, which some analysts believe is ripe for consolidation.

U.S. consumer confidence dropped in January for the third straight month. (WSJ)

The French economy slowed sharply to 1.5% growth last year. (WSJ) 

3M Co. lowered its profit outlook for this year on weaker demand in China. (WSJ)

France, Britain and Germany are setting up a special-payments company to secure some trade with Iran and blunt the impact of U.S. sanctions. (WSJ)

Harley-Davidson Inc. will cut motorcycle shipments this year after a 10% decline in U.S. sales in 2018. (WSJ)

Foxconn Technology Co. Ltd. is reconsidering plans to make advanced electronics parts in Wisconsin, and would hire engineers and researchers rather than factory workers. (Reuters)

AK Steel Holding Corp. will shutter its  mostly idled plant in Ashland, Ky. (Herald-Dispatch)

A report says a quarter of U.S. jobs will be severely disrupted as artificial intelligence accelerates automation. (Associated Press)

Huawei Technologies wants suppliers to move some production to China as it braces for possible new U.S. restrictions. (Nikkei Asian Review)

Levi Strauss & Co. will use blockchain technology to track worker well-being in its supply chain. (Sourcing Journal)

Sales of toys in the U.S. declined 2% last year. (CNBC)

Giant Food Stores is turning a former store in Lancaster, Pa., into an e-commerce delivery hub. (Progressive Grocer)

XPO Logistics Inc. is closing a 571,000 square-foot Maryland warehouse after its shipper-customer ceased nearby operations. (Baltimore Sun)

IKEA will build a 1 million-square-foot distribution center near Indonesia’s Port Klang. (Malay Mail)

Walmart Inc. withdrew from the Google Express online shopping marketplace. (Digiday)

Alphaliner projects container shipping weekly capacity on Asia-Europe lanes to grow 10% starting in April. (Lloyd’s List)

Qatar is talking to South Korean shipyards about a potential order for 60 large liquefied natural gas tankers. (TradeWinds)

China State Shipbuilding Corp. signed agreements to build 36 vessels, including several LNG tankers. (MarineLink)

Truck drivers say a labor dispute at the Port of Baltimore’s Seagirt Terminal is triggering hours-long delays in container movements. (WBAL)

Mediterranean Shipping Co. is building an inland container freight station in Northern Portugal. (The Loadstar)

Truck maker Paccar Inc.’s fourth-quarter profit excluding special items rose 39% to $578 million on record sales and supply chain improvements. (Trucks.com)

The Express Delivery and Logistics Association and the Customized Logistics & Delivery Association are merging. (DC Velocity)

Royal Mail PLC cut its profit outlook after letter volumes fell by 8% in the past nine months. (The Guardian)

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is stockpiling champagne and cognac in case of post-Brexit shortages. (Bloomberg)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Write to him at paul.page@wsj.com.

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