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Lockdown Hits Shanghai; Longshore Labor Worries; Resetting Supply Chains

By Paul Page

 

A tunnel heading into Shanghai’s Pudong district on Monday. PHOTO: HECTOR RETAMAL/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

A new lockdown in Shanghai is threatening another potential setback for global supply chains built on China’s export machine. The two-stage Covid-19 lockdown on China’s most populous city raises concerns about operations at the world’s busiest container port, the WSJ’s Yoko Kobuta reports, as Tesla suspended production at its big car plant and other manufacturers try to keep factory lines open within “closed-loop” bubbles. Shanghai’s port remains open, but exporters are bracing for delays as the lockdowns hit warehouses, transport and staffing, a pattern experienced during similar targeted lockdowns such as the one in the southern city of Shenzhen. Keeping goods moving is tricky as the lockdown ensnares truckers, warehouses and other critical links in supply chains. Freight forwarder Kuehne+Nagel International has diverted some goods bound for Shanghai to the Port of Ningbo, around 100 miles away, and airfreight to the city of Zhengzhou, some 500 miles away.

  • Tesla was trying to create a bubblelike environment to maintain production at its Shanghai factory but couldn’t complete the preparations before the new lockdown. (WSJ)
  • Shanghai residents raced to stock up on food and essentials in panic buying after a lockdown was announced. (South China Morning Post)
 

Quotable

“Warehouses have shut down and transportation to and from the port has been disrupted.” 

— Zou Xiaodong of Shanghai Gangxian International Freight Forwarding
 
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Transportation

The nation’s busiest port complex in Southern California is catching its breath after a run of record imports just as a new threat to global supply chains comes into view. In an episode of The Journal, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger takes listeners to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. 

Containers are moving swiftly through shipping yards there as terminal operators and longshore workers prepare to negotiate a new West Coast labor contract to replace one expiring in July. Importers worry that disagreements between workers, terminals and ocean carriers could lead to work slowdowns, erasing progress this spring in easing the backup of container vessels.

 
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Supply Chain Strategies

A container terminal at China’s Port of Taicang. PHOTO: FINN/COSTFOTO/ZUMA PRESS

A new world order for manufacturing and trade is emerging from the turmoil that has enveloped global supply chains. More companies are questioning the orthodoxies of the past 50- years of globalization, and concluding that the reliance on low-cost production and stripped-down inventories no longer makes sense. The WSJ’s Christopher Mims writes in a Keywords column that an effort to build resilience to global disruptions is under way that could trigger the movement of jobs and manufacturing representing enormous economic activity in the decades to come. As companies build more factories, in more locations, and buy parts and materials from a greater range of suppliers, the world’s supply chains are becoming more like supply webs, highlighting what’s known in the logistics sector as multiple sourcing. It’s hardly deglobalization, but it’s an expensive and time-consuming reshuffling of where things are made and how they are distributed.

 

Here are recent developments following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

Russia and Ukraine prepared to hold cease-fire talks in Turkey while Ukrainian forces pressed to retake territory and Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities. (WSJ)

The Group of Seven nations rejected Russia’s demand that they pay for Russian natural-gas imports in rubles. (WSJ)

Spain is preparing a $17.6 billion economic relief package that includes efforts to cut fuel costs for consumers.

Several companies are donating profits derived from Russia to humanitarian-relief efforts in Ukraine, while others continue to book those profits in their global earnings. (WSJ)

Global brewers Carlsberg and Heineken are withdrawing from Russia. (WSJ)

Tiffany & Co. will stop sourcing Russia-mined diamonds. (Women’s Wear Daily)

Real-estate service firm Cushman & Wakefield is transferring its business in Russia to a local operator. (WSJ)

For the latest updates from Russia and Ukraine, click here.

 
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Number of the Day

$814.8 Billion

The advance estimate for U.S. wholesale inventories in February, up 2.1% from January and 19.4% ahead of the level the year before, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

In Other News

FedEx founder Fred Smith will step down as CEO to become executive chairman, and President and COO President Raj Subramaniam will replace him. (WSJ)

The dollar rose to a more than six-year high against the yen. (WSJ)

Growing business investment in technology and other capital spending could increase productivity. (WSJ)

Walmart is ending cigarette sales in some U.S. stores. (WSJ)

Electronics manufacturer HP is buying videoconferencing gear maker Poly for about $1.7 billion. (WSJ)

Apple is slashing production of its iPhone SE by 20% and cut orders for its AirPod earphones by 10 million units. (Nikkei Asia)

Sports apparel maker New Balance opened a manufacturing facility in Methuen, Mass. (CNBC)

E-commerce and gaming company Sea is withdrawing from India’s retail market. (Reuters)

The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles will add a fee of $10 per 20-foot container to fund a clean-trucks initiative (Modern Materials Handling)

Salvors plan to use five tugboats in a bid to free the grounded Ever Forward from its resting place in the Chesapeake Bay. (gCaptain)

Taiwanese carrier Wan Hai Lines ordered five mid-sized container ships. (Lloyd’s List)

A state budget proposal would shut down faltering bulk handling operations at South Carolina’s Port of Georgetown. (Post and Courier)

A University of Arkansas study found that mandatory electronic logging devices on trucks haven’t reduced road accidents. (Heavy Duty Trucking)

Wedding planners are coping with supply chain shortages of key event materials. (Boston Globe)

 

About Us

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

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

 
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