$2.8 billion EV-battery federal grants issued to American automakers
Good morning! Happy Saturday, folks. Here’s something special to start your morning right.
“If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” — Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc.
Tesla and Mercedes-Benz are smiling big this week after President Joe Biden announced $2.8 billion in grants under the first round of funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure law. The funds are meant to expand and enhance domestic EV-battery sourcing and production. Currently, the country is heavily relying on China for both.
Check out today’s featured article from Supply Chain Dive to read about The White House’s pledge of $2.8 billion to auto manufacturers to boost domestic battery supply for electric vehicles. Will this send a “shock” to the already growing industry? ☕️
Featured Article:
Biden awards $2.8B to boost domestic EV battery supply | Supply Chain Dive
“Suppliers for major auto giants including Tesla and Mercedes-Benz won grants to expand manufacturing.”
Ports & Unions 🚢
Shippers hesitate to send cargo to West Coast ports over ongoing labor negotiations
Dockworkers and West Coast ports are still deliberating over proposed contract agreements, and many shippers are getting antsy. While the labor negotiations continue in San Francisco, cargo volumes at the Port of Los Angeles have dropped off pre-peak season as shippers divert traffic to ports on the Gulf and East coasts. Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka pointed out the decline in a Wednesday press briefing, noting that September 2022 volume was down 21.5% from the previous year.
While the potential of port disruptions due to labor strikes is always a possibility, falling consumer demand is also a reason that companies have decided to cut back on purchase orders compared to last year. According to Global Port Tracker and the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, retail imports are forecasted to be almost 10% lower year-over-year.
Railroad & Port Volume 🚂
Railroad and intermodal units pose varying results midway through October
The Association of American Railroads’ (AAR) most recent data shows that rail carloads saw 3.2% annual gain last week, while internal units were off by 1.6%. These mixed results are made up of ten individual commodity groups.
Commodity groups that are experiencing declines are chemicals, carloads, and forestry products. Those that are experiencing the uptick are coal, and nonmetallic materials. The North American rail volume is down 2.1% compared with 2021.
Let’s Get Global 🌎
🌊 Nearshoring is the trend of the year. If Covid-19 shutdowns taught supply chains anything, it was that we need to be more dependent on sourcing goods closer to home. In a Logistics Management reader survey of 100 freight transportation, logistics, and supply chain stakeholders, 85% of respondents indicate that they are narrowing their focus on sourcing geographically closer to North America. Tariffs, logistics costs specifically exporting from Asia, and ocean container traffic jams are just some of the reasons suppliers closer to home are more attractive in 2022.
iLevel With You
More topics for the average American household to consider…
🎁 The congestion at the ports is better… but not “best”. With East and Gulf Costs ports absorbing the cargo that shifted away from the crowded West Coast ports… disruptions are starting to occur. The ten largest U.S. ports experienced a 10% drop in inbound containers over the month of September, but the shifted activity affected the ports on the east and gulf coasts which are not as used to the volume. With peak season around the corner, some are biting their nails in concern.
GET SMART
Ramp up that brain power for these advanced topics…
💰 Another day, another acquisition. The Chicago-based private equity firm Red Arts Capital has purchased privately-owned third-party logistics (3PL) provider, Flex Capital. Flex Capital, based in Eastvale, Southern California, holds 90,000 square feet of warehousing space and currently serves the automotive and consumer products industries. This move seems to signal Red Arts Capital’s interest in real estate space for warehousing services, as it is not the first acquisition the company has made this year of similar circumstances.
The Workday Dash is an aggregation of articles regarding the transportation logistics, trucking, and supply chain industries for November 28, 2024, from iLevel Logistics Inc.