The bottlenecks at big U.S. seaports are reaching into the warehousing market. Space at storage centers near maritime gateways is drying up, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes, as the flood of container imports makes warehousing harder to find and more expensive. The logistics-center logjam is hitting an industrial property sector that has long been a seller’s market as growing e-commerce demand has put a premium on distribution centers, particularly those closer to population centers. The retailer effort to restock depleted inventories this year has exacerbated the warehouse capacity constraints as shippers and logistics providers look to pull goods away from bogged-down transportation networks. Vacancy rates in Southern California’s warehouse-heavy Inland Empire region are down below 2%. Industry executives say lessors are looking for longer, multiyear commitments for their facilities and asking rents near key international gateways have been skyrocketing this year.

The holiday shopping season isn’t turning into fun and games for toy makers. Big manufacturers Mattel and Hasbro are navigating around supply-chain disruptions to get their goods in stores this year, the WSJ’s Omar Abdel-Baqui reports, while suppliers and smaller toy companies are scrambling to renegotiate prices with retailers amid rising materials and shipping costs. Toy industry veterans say this year’s disruption is worse than last year when the Covid-19 outbreak temporarily shut many ports, factories and stores. Mattel, which owns several factories in Asia, said it was leveraging its geographically diverse manufacturing footprint to minimize the effect of freight bottlenecks. Smaller companies have fewer options, and some say they are losing out in bidding wars for tight space in container shipping networks. Some suppliers say they are already looking at pushing back product deliveries, effectively sitting out this season’s supply-chain battles while they wait until next year.
 

It’s going to get more expensive to drown your sorrows over rising commodity costs. The makers of some of the world’s bestselling food and drink brands say they will keep raising prices, the WSJ’s Nick Kostov reports, as they cope with rising raw materials and transportation expenses. Companies across many sectors are contending with rising costs from coffee to aluminum and shipping as the recovery from Covid-19 gains steam. That is leading to higher prices for many goods. Some are adjusting supply-chain strategies, but for drinks makers like Diageo and Anheuser-Busch InBev there’s little room to save on shipping costs for their dense, heavy liquid products. AB InBev’s second-quarter sales rose 28%, but the brewer is paying more for barley and freight, and says surging demand for cans in the U.S. has forced the company to import them from elsewhere, raising costs still more.

U.S. economic growth accelerated to 6.5% in the second quarter and economic output exceeded its pre-pandemic level. (WSJ)

New jobless claims in the U.S. slipped back to 400,000 last week. (WSJ)

Amazon’s second-quarter sales expanded 27% to $113.1 billion, slowing from earlier growth as the company set a restrained outlook for 2021. (WSJ)

Nikola founder Trevor Milton was indicted on securities-fraud charges for allegedly lying to investors about the startup’s business of making electric heavy-duty trucks. (WSJ)

XPO Logistics promoted Treasurer Ravi Tulsyan to chief financial officer. (WSJ)

Samsung Electronics’ second-quarter profit rose 73% to $8.37 billion on growing memory-chip business. (WSJ)

Japan’s Contemporary Amperex Technology is looking to make electric-vehicle batteries using sodium ions, potentially reducing costs and lifting performance. (WSJ)

Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution will build an electric vehicle battery factory in Indonesia. (Nikkei Asia)

The unions representing Canadian border guards authorized a strike that could begin as soon as Aug. 6. (Reuters)

Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel says China’s control of container manufacturing poses a potential threat to U.S. national security. (Lloyd’s List)

Sea-Intelligence says container lines’ schedule reliability deteriorated in June. (ShippingWatch)

Safe Bulkers is ordering eight more dry-bulk carriers following its best quarterly profit in 12 years. (TradeWinds)

Second-quarter profit at Canadian Pacific Railway nearly doubled to about $1 billion as revenue grew 15% to about $1.65 billion. (CBC)

Rail supplier Wabtec raised its outlook after second-quarter earnings rose 44% to $125.2 million on a 15.8% gain in revenue. (Business Journals)

The Interstate 40 bridge across the Mississippi River in Memphis is expected to open next week after undergoing repairs for three months. (Heavy Duty Trucking)

Ryder System swung to a $149.1 million second-quarter profit on a 26% gain in revenue. (Transport Topics)

Malaysia’s AirAsia is seeking $100 million to expand its logistics arm. (TechInAsia)

Warehouse-focused inVia Robotics raised $30 million in a Series C funding round led by Microsoft’s venture fund and Qualcomm Ventures. (Modern Materials Handling)

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

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