Shipping equipment companies Cargotec and Konecranes ditched their bid to make a merger of equals one day after DOJ told them that their settlement proposal was insufficient to address important competition concerns in four areas of shipping container handling equipment used by port customers to move goods, DOJ said March 29. The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority also blocked the transaction. Cargotec and Konecranes both provide container handling equipment services to port terminals across the globe. In October 2020, the firms announced their intent to combine under a $5 billion deal. Following an Antitrust Division investigation, DOJ said that the transaction "would have eliminated intense competition" between the two rival companies in already highly concentrated markets. CMA found that British customers would have few remaining alternative suppliers if the companies combined.
HP has suspended shipments to Russia “in compliance” with the Biden administration’s sanctions over the Ukraine invasion, CEO Enrique Lores said Feb. 28 on an earnings call about fiscal Q1 ended Jan. 31. “The difficult situation in Ukraine is the latest in a series of global challenges we have faced,” he said.
The Information Technology Industry Council is asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to push Indonesia to drop tariffs on technology products during Trade and Investment Framework Agreement meetings in February. Data center and networking equipment, printers, solid state drives and other products covered by the World Trade Organization's Information Technology Agreement are facing tariffs in Indonesia, the industry group said in a letter Jan. 27, even though Indonesia is a signatory to the ITA.
In its annual State of American Business, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce chose to emphasize the need to double the level of legal immigration, its opposition to Build Back Better legislation and what it sees as overly aggressive antitrust enforcement over the need to remove tariffs on hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Chinese imports. Three years ago, the Chamber was arguing that the tariffs needed to go (see 1901100007), but last year, admitted it was not politically feasible as it laid out its trade agenda (see 2101130057).
A group of Washington, D.C.-based lobbying and public affairs entities plans a listing on London’s Alternative Investment Market, a submarket of the London Stock Exchange, in mid-December. Public Policy Holding Company Inc. (the group) operating subsidiaries are Crossroads Strategies, Forbes Tate Partners, Seven Letter, O'Neill and Associates, and Alpine Group Partners. The group represents companies and industry groups on various trade issues, among other things.
PSA International agreed to acquire BDP International from private equity firm Greenbriar Equity Group, the companies said Nov. 30. PSA is based in Singapore and describes itself as "a leading global port group and trusted partner to cargo stakeholders." Tan Chong Meng, CEO of PSA, said "BDP will be PSA’s first major acquisition of this nature -- a global integrated supply chain and transportation solutions provider with end-to-end logistics capabilities." BDP's services include "air and ground transportation; origin management, export freight forwarding; import customs clearance and regulatory compliance; trade compliance, analytics and optimization solutions." The deal's financial terms weren't released.
Chambers of commerce in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. collectively are asking each country's leaders to hold each other accountable to fully implement USMCA. In a joint letter Nov. 16, they said, "The Canadian and Mexican private sectors share apprehension over differing interpretations of USMCA’s rules of origin and how the U.S. interpretation of these provisions poses risks to our integrated supply chains." They also said that the Canadian and U.S. private sectors are deeply concerned about Mexico's actions restricting investment in its energy sector. "Attempts to favor state-owned enterprises at the expense of renewable and other private energy providers only undermine investment certainty, put at risk ambitious shared goals to address climate change, and promise both added cost and diminished opportunity for our countries’ workers," they wrote, and said they hope government will engage the private sector in meaningful dialogue in both arenas. They also said in future emergencies like the pandemic, "there should also be greater cooperation on border management to ensure the flow of commercial traffic and cargo."
Farmers who produce several sorts of commodities continue to regret the U.S. retreat from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and want the administration to prioritize opening markets for their goods in Southeast Asia, according to a Farmers for Free Trade panel held virtually.
Retail imports remain high, but there’s no telling how much the congestion at U.S. ports is denting the volume of incoming goods, the National Retail Federation reported Oct. 7. “The cargo is there for larger gains at several ports but congestion issues are impacting fluid operations,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “Ships will eventually get unloaded but the pressure is on for everyone to work together to get the containers out as quickly as possible.” U.S. ports handled 2.27 million 20-foot cargo containers or their equivalents in August, NRF said. That was up 3.5% from July and 7.8% higher than a year earlier and tied March as the second-busiest month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002. The congestion and disruption come in the middle of the peak season for shipping “when retailers stock up on holiday merchandise each year, but many retailers began bringing in holiday goods this summer to be sure sufficient inventory will be available.”
Costco has chartered three “ocean vessels” for the next year to transport containers between Asia and North America, “and we've leased several thousand containers for use on these ships,” Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said on a call Sept. 23 to discuss the results of fiscal Q4 ended Aug. 29. “Every ship can carry 800 to 1,000 containers at a time and we'll make approximately 10 deliveries during the course of the next year.” Costco's electronics sales in the quarter were "very good," but up against a tough comparison with a year earlier when "we had really outsized sales" amid COBID-19 stay-at-home orders, Galanti said.