Big U.S. retailers are rushing to restock in a strong show of confidence in consumer demand. Merchants including Target and Best Buy are reporting heftier inventories on their balance sheets, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Lydia O’Neal writes, as they make big bets on holiday sales even as the Delta variant and supply-chain disruptions add uncertainty to replenishment efforts. Forecasting has grown more difficult under the pandemic, but the rising merchandise inventory levels suggest that retailers believe the prospect of empty shelves presents a bigger risk than overstocking this year. Turmoil in the shipping sector is only adding urgency to the effort, with retailers including Home Depot and Walmart looking to chartered vessels to keep goods moving. The backup of container ships anchored off the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports stretched to more than 65 vessels on Thursday, suggesting the equivalent of more than 600,000 containers are sitting on the water.

Transportation costs have gone from an afterthought in many global supply chains to a major source of financial pain. Prices for shipping goods are overwhelming some companies already paying more for raw materials and labor, the WSJ’s Tom Gryta reports, and some executives expect the elevated rates hitting international and domestic transport services to stretch into 2023. Dollar Tree, Mondelez International, 3M and Molson Coors are among those saying the high transportation costs are buffeting their businesses. Retailer Jo-Ann Stores says it has spent 10 times more than its historical cost in some cases to move products. Transportation costs as a share of the U.S. economy reached 5.1% in 2020, the highest level recorded over the past decade in the annual State of Logistics report, and have been surging this year. The Cass Freight Index for expenditures reached a record high in August, and was up nearly 35% from August 2019. 

For some U.S. grocers, Thanksgiving is already here. With the holiday still two months away, supermarket operators have already been buying turkeys, spices and cranberry sauce, the WSJ’s Jaewon Kang reports, as they try to avoid the shortages of staples that left some store shelves empty in 2020. The early buying is part of a pull-forward in procurement many companies across the corporate world are undertaking to cope with the upheavals in demand, supply and logistics since the pandemic began. Grocery chains are bracing for a particularly big season in what is typically their busiest time of the year. They say they are preparing for consumers to host bigger gatherings than they did last year. Supermarkets have been ordering more traditional staples from a wider range of brands than usual, and many are trying to receive items faster so they can have them stationed in their warehouses.

U.S. retail sales rose 0.7% in August in a rebound from a decline in July. (WSJ)

U.S. business inventories rose 0.5% in July; and the retail inventories-to-sales ratio rose to the highest level since February. (Dow Jones Newswires)

United States Steel plans to build a steel mill in the U.S. next year that will boost its production capacity by about 20%. (WSJ)

China has formally applied to join an 11-nation Asia-Pacific trade pact made up of American allies. (WSJ)

Soaring natural-gas prices in Britain have prompted U.S. fertilizer maker CF Industries to close two U.K. plants. (WSJ)

General Motors is extending plans to idle some of its North American factories because of the semiconductor shortage. (WSJ)

The White House will host a meeting on the semiconductor supply chain with industry leaders on Sept. 23. (Reuters)

U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer is closing 11 franchise stores in France because of problems in supplying them since Brexit. (BBC)

Bangladesh supplanted Vietnam as the No. 2 apparel exporter after China in the first seven months of the year. (Sourcing Journal)

A New Zealand firm is finding strong business using forensics to uncover counterfeit and mislabeled goods in global supply chains. (The Guardian)

A.P. Moller-Maersk is forecasting record profits after sharply raising its financial outlook for the third time this year. (Financial Times)

Leaders of U.S. Southeast ports say they expect congestion problems at the sites to persist. (Journal of Commerce)

U.S. regulators plan to issue new guidance over conflicts related to the fees carriers charge shippers for delayed goods at ports. (The Loadstar)

France’s CMA CGM is reportedly linked to a $720 million order for six container ships from South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries. (Lloyd’s List)

U.S. safety investigators say human error led the car carrier Golden Ray to capsize off the East Coast two years ago. (TradeWinds)

Airfreight prices out of Asia are surging heading into the peak season. (Lloyd’s Loading List)

Chinese e-commerce retailer JD.com is set to open  a shopping mall in Xi’an. (Nikkei Asia)

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

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @jensmithWSJ, and @pdberger. and @LydsOneal. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.