U.S. ports are sending warning signals about trade flows in the New Year. The first reports from gateways on both coasts suggest container imports turned sharply downward last month, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes, while shipping executves say they are bracing for weak demand in the first part of 2023. A continuing decline at the Southern California ports deepened in November, with combined imports into Los Angeles and Long Beach plummeting 26% to the lowest level since the start of the pandemic. Inbound volumes at the ports of Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C., also retreated. The figures signal that dockside business is feeling the impact of wavering U.S. consumer demand and weakening China exports. Container lines and ports usually get a wintertime bump from Lunar New Year volumes out of Asia, but executives aren’t expecting to celebrate much in the coming weeks.

The promise of blockchain in the supply chain is fading. The recent end of the TradeLens operation run jointly by A.P. Moller-Maersk and IBM is the most visible sign of a quiet withering of the technology aimed at tracking assets through complex supply chains. The Wall Street Journal’s Isabelle Bousquette reports that another big effort by Walmart to track groceries through blockchain is progressing only slowly, as big bets on the technology taper off or worse. Experts say the complexity of blockchain, the time needed to get it into operation and the difficulties in enlisting participants have made it slow going for the technology that underpins bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Walmart says it had to spend time educating suppliers on blockchain and that most of its small- to medium-sized growers were more focused on “making sure they’re providing quality products to us than about technology.”

Truckload carrier Werner Enterprises sees its future growth increasingly tied to the cloud. The operator is lacing its trucks with more tracking and monitoring tools from Internet-of-Things technologies maker Samsara, the WSJ’s Belle Lin reports, part of Werner’s plan to turn toward cloud computing to help boost annual revenue from $2.7 billion to $5 billion in the coming years. CIO Daragh Mahon says dashboard cameras with artificial-intelligence capabilities and computer vision in the new rollout will help Werner detect road incidents and inform drivers via audio warnings if the cameras pick up on risky driving like speeding. That kind of monitoring has faced pushback from drivers, but Werner says it’s aimed at helping truck operations run smoothly and keeping drivers on the road. Mr. Mahon says nearly 50% of Werner’s systems, data and applications have been moved to the cloud as it moves to modernize its technology.
 

U.S. retail sales fell 0.6% in November. (WSJ)

U.S. industrial production fell 0.2% in November, led by a 2.8% drop in automotive-sector output. (MarketWatch)

Annual growth in China’s industrial output slowed sharply to 2.2% in November, while retail sales fell. (WSJ)

Factory gauges in the New York and Philadelphia regions weakened this month. (MarketWatch)

New U.S. jobless claims fell sharply to the lowest level since September. (WSJ)

The U.S. is banning exports to top Chinese chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technology. (WSJ)

Apparel retailer H&M’s sales growth slowed in the fourth quarter. (WSJ)

Sales of cough and cold medications are surging as Americans treat a combination of flu, RSV and Covid-19. (WSJ)

The U.K. declared a “serious shortage” of three varieties of penicillin. (Financial Times)

China banned the export of certain types of chips it deemed “strategically important.” (South China Morning Post)

U.S. maritime regulators will examine how container lines are complying with rules barring retaliation against shippers. (TradeWinds)

Danish pension fund ATP told Maersk Line it will “need to see” the carrier’s logistics acquisitions bring value to shareholders. (ShippingWatch)

Singapore’s state-controlled PSA International is considering selling its 20% stake in the port business of Hong Kong's CK Hutchison. (Caixin Global)

Debt-saddled Deutsche Bahn is going forward with efforts to sell global logistics operator DB Schenker. (The Loadstar)

Old Dominion Freight Line is raising rates an average of 4.9% next month. (Transport Dive)

Trucker Navajo Express settled a Justice Department suit over claims of immigration-related discrimination. (Commercial Carrier Journal)

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

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