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Tesla’s High-Voltage Output; Snarled Supply Lines; Boeing’s Bad Year
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PHOTO: ALEXIS GEORGESON/TESLA MOTORS/ZUMA PRESS
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Today's newsletter was written by WSJ Logistics Report's Jennifer Smith.
Tesla’s automotive supply chain is moving into high gear as the electric-vehicle maker prepares to claim space in the truck market. The Silicon Valley carmaker posted its first full-year profit in 2020, delivering some half a million vehicles amid a global pandemic, the WSJ’s Rebecca Elliott writes, and is aiming to boost production by about 50% on average for the coming years. Tesla said supply-chain costs and other factors weighed on its bottom line in the fourth quarter, when it generated $270 million in profit as sales rose 46% to roughly $10.7 billion. The company is on track to start vehicle production this year in Berlin and Austin, Texas. And Tesla is standing by its goal of delivering the electric
semitrailer “by the end of the year,” which will test how far the company can push its manufacturing capabilities as it tries to break into a new industry.
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PHOTO: MARTIN JOPPEN/SANOFI/HANDOUT/SHUTTERSTOCK
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Trouble is brewing in Europe over a snafu in the coronavirus vaccine supply-chain. The European Union is demanding that AstraZeneca stand by its planned delivery schedule for Covid-19 shots after the U.K.-based drugmaker said it would slash supplies because of production problems on the continent. The WSJ’s Laurence Norman, Matthew Dalton and Bojan Pancevski report that the shortfall blows a sizable hole in the 27-member bloc’s vaccination plans, with as many as 60% fewer AstraZeneca doses than expected and other vaccine developers also scrambling to meet overwhelming demand. The drugmaker says it set up factories in the Netherlands and Belgium to serve the EU while two U.K. sites produce most of the shots for
that market. Now the EU is pressing AstraZeneca to supply doses from those plants if necessary, another complication after the U.K.’s recent exit from the trading bloc.
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“We reject the logic of first-come, first-served. That may work in the neighborhood butcher’s, but not in contracts, and not in our advance-purchase agreements.”
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— EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides on why AstraZeneca shouldn’t give priority to the U.K. market.
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PHOTO: SEATTLE AVIATION IMAGES/ZUMA PRESS
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Production delays are adding to Boeing’s woes after a tough year for the aerospace giant. The plane maker reported its biggest-ever annual loss, the WSJ’s Doug Cameron and Andrew Tangel report, as problems with its new 777X passenger jet and plunging travel demand deepen the company’s reliance on its commercial-aircraft business. Boeing has shed tens of thousands of jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, which followed a string of botched jetliner and military programs including the grounding of the 737 MAX. Now the industry bellwether is lagging behind rivals including Raytheon Technologies and Airbus, with a fourth-quarter loss pushing its annual deficit to $11.94 billion.
Customers such as Deutsche Post’s DHL and Atlas Air are still ordering freighters to meet strong air-cargo demand, but airlines hard-hit by the pandemic are simply using passenger planes to move freight instead of buying new ones.
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9.6%
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Annual increase in total U.S. inbound container shipments in the first two weeks of January, down from the double-digit pace through the fourth quarter of 2020, according to Panjiva.
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Growth in demand for long-lasting manufactured goods in the U.S. slowed to 0.2% in December. (WSJ)
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady while saying the U.S. economy has softened. (WSJ)
A pullback in consumer spending could hamper India’s recovery from the pandemic. (WSJ)
Apple posted its most profitable quarter yet, generating $111.4 billion in sales on strong demand for laptops, tablets and higher-end iPhones. (WSJ)
French drugmaker Sanofi will help produce doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. (CNN)
General Motors and Navistar are developing hydrogen fuel-cell powered big rigs that J.B. Hunt Transport Services plans to test in 2022. (Detroit Free Press)
Japanese truck maker Isuzu Motors will source diesel engines from Cummins. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Walmart is adding dozens of automated micro-fulfillment systems to stores to speed up delivery and in-store pickup. (MarketWatch)
Fourth-quarter sales at Levi Strauss fell 12% but online sales rose 38%. (MarketWatch)
Shares in European parcel-locker business InPost jumped sharply following an initial public offering in Amsterdam. (Bloomberg)
German container line Hapag-Lloyd estimates its 2020 operating profit was about $3 billion, ‘significantly above’ the previous year. (ShippingWatch)
DP World signed a 20-year concession agreement with Angola to operate a multipurpose terminal at the Port of Luanda. (Port Technology)
South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries hopes to raise $905 million in an initial public stock offering this year. (Splash 247)
Container operator SM Line plans to list on the stock exchange in Seoul. (Splash 247)
XPO Logistics chief Brad Jacobs says he plans more acquisitions once XPO completes its split into two companies. (Journal of Commerce)
Henry Maier will retire as head of FedEx Ground in July and FedEx Freight CEO Lance Moll will succeed him. (CNBC)
Truckload giant Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings more than doubled its fourth-quarter profit to $142.3 million. (Dow Jones Newswires)
Love’s Travel Stops plans to open 50 locations and add more than 3,000 truck parking spots this year. (Chain Store Age)
Alaska Airlines plans to continue operating passenger freighter flights, citing strong demand despite a 16% decline in cargo revenues in 2020. (Air Cargo World)
Operating income at Canadian National Railway rose 16% in the fourth quarter, to $1.09 billion. (Progressive Railroading)
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