United Parcel Service is sounding alarms about shipping demand. The package giant is forecasting its first annual revenue decline since 2009, the WSJ’s Will Feuer reports, as receding retail sales and shifting consumer trends take a toll on parcel volumes. UPS now estimates its full-year revenue will slide about 3%, making it the latest company to signal evidence of a wavering U.S. economy. The dour report sent UPS’s shares sliding nearly 10% on worries about the impact of a dimming economy. The company suggests it will start trimming some operations such as cargo flights, an action rival FedEx is also undertaking in its air express operations. The volumes are sagging as UPS is readying for potentially contentious contract negotiations with the Teamsters. There’s little sign that shippers are diverting parcels ahead of those talks. FedEx volumes declined in its last quarter faster than the 5.4% drop that UPS reported.

• Truck drivers for an Amazon delivery contractor in Palmdale, Calif., joined the Teamsters union. (CNBC)

The latest retreat in diesel fuel prices isn’t providing the relief that the beleaguered U.S. trucking sector is looking for. Wholesale diesel prices have fallen by half from last year’s record level, the WSJ’s David Uberti and Bob Henderson report, a sharp turnaround following the surge last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent commodity markets reeling. Prices at the wholesale level began falling after a warm winter cut demand for heating fuel and a reshuffling of global oil trade left a glut of diesel supplies. A darkening industrial outlook has pulled benchmark diesel futures down nearly 25% this year. Trucking costs are down but demand is also falling at a steep pace. Descartes Datamyne says U.S. container imports fell 23% in the first quarter, meaning fewer trips for goods-hauling tractor-trailers. The decline has been especially hard on smaller truckers who are left with fewer loads.

• Less-than-truckload carrier Yellow agreed to a Teamsters union offer to begin contract negotiations early. (Transport Dive)
• Truck maker Paccar’s first-quarter earnings jumped 22% to $733.9 million on strong revenue gains. (Dow Jones Newswire)

IKEA is looking for big financial gains by designing its furniture to fit better into a sleeker supply chain. The Sweden-based company has been swapping out materials and reworking designs to make its goods lighter, cheaper to build and, crucially, less expensive to ship. The WSJ’s Trefor Moss reports the effort has grown as its attempts to keep costs to customers low became more challenging amid surging raw materials and shipping prices soared. Among the changes, a popular office swivel chair called the Flintan was tweaked to make it fit more snugly into a flat pack. IKEA can now squeeze 6,900 Flintans into one shipping container, up from 2,750, effectively offsetting cost increases. A bed called the Säbövik that was shipped in three cardboard boxes was reconfigured to fit into two, enabling the company to cram twice as many flat-packed beds into a shipping container.

• Swedish manufacturer Luvly designed a nine-foot electric car that can be shipped in parts, with 20 vehicles fitting in a shipping container. (El Pais)

Many companies aren’t waiting for a sweeping U.S. climate-disclosure rule to take effect before they start digging into their supply chains. Companies including Philips, AB InBev and Salesforce are among those already looking at their own carbon emissions and asking their suppliers to do the same. The WSJ’s Richard Vanderford reports that they’re acting even as a Securities and Exchange Commission rule on climate disclosure is still moving through regulatory channels and is sure to face legal challenges. A survey by PwC and Workiva found that 70% of companies intend to comply with the SEC rule regardless of when it becomes final. Philips is among companies pressing suppliers to come up with their own carbon emissions targets. Still, some companies have turned to estimation in an effort to calculate Scope 3 emissions that go deeper into supply chains, instead of directly querying small suppliers for the data.

A measure of U.S. consumer confidence fell to its lowest point since last July. (MarketWatch)

Consumer-goods companies are seeing sales volumes hold steady even as they raise prices. (WSJ)

General Motors and Hyundai each announced new investments to produce electric-car battery cells in the U.S. in joint ventures with South Korean battery makers. (WSJ)

GM raised its profit outlook and said it would end production of its Chevy Bolt electric vehicle. (WSJ)

Jet engine makers General Electric and Raytheon Technologies reported stronger earnings as supply-chain disruptions receded. (WSJ)

3M is cutting 6,000 jobs in a cost-cutting effort that will include simplifying its supply chain. (WSJ)

Gap is eliminating hundreds more jobs in its corporate workforce. (WSJ)

China lost more of its share of shipments to the U.S. from 14 low-cost countries and regions last year. (Caixin Global)

Vietnam’s state-controlled shipping group plans to acquire more container ships and build more inland box depots. (The Loadstar)

Kuehne + Nagel’s first-quarter net revenue from ocean freight fell 45% and airfreight net revenue dropped 42%. (ShippingWatch)

The enlarged Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway struck multiyear intermodal deals with Knight-Swift Transportation and Schneider National. (Journal of Commerce)

Fourteen freight rail unions are launching a joint campaign to halt stop stock buybacks as part of their efforts against precision scheduled railroading. (Progressive Railroading)

Ocado is closing a fulfillment center it has operated north of London in a joint venture with U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Scotts Miracle-Gro is building a 1.3 million-square-foot distribution center in central Ohio. (Business Journals)

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.