Above the Fold: Supply Chain Logistics News (February 28, 2025)

By Adrian Gonzalez

There is no February 29th this year, so I can’t exactly mark the 1-year anniversary of when I had my cancerous thyroid and 26 lymph nodes removed from my neck.

Where does February 29th go in the in-between years?

Is it still there, but in shadow? Does it get spread out in seconds throughout the rest of the year?

I have it in my head that February 29th is at the top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, and for me to properly mark the anniversary, I need to cycle up there to give cancer the middle finger.

But it’s 7.6 miles up, 4,678 feet of climbing, 12% average grade, with no flat portions to rest. It’s been called “the toughest hill climb in the US, if not the world.”

Registration opens tomorrow morning for the August 16, 2025 ride.

I’ve been driving my wife crazy the past few weeks, as I go back and forth on whether I should sign up for this challenge. One minute I’m excited, envisioning myself reaching the summit, the next minute I’m terrified by the beating my legs will take pedaling up a steep mountain for 2-3 hours nonstop.

Can I even do it?

I guess there is only one way to find out.

—-

Moving on, here’s the supply chain and logistics news that caught my attention this week:

Disclaimer: The Following Can Be Outdated in 10 Minutes

Of course, I’m talking about the Trump tariffs, which are definitely happening unless they don’t (or get pushed out).

The 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, which were supposed to take effect last month but were pushed out, will now begin on March 4th, unless President Trump changes his mind again.

To prevent China from feeling left out, Trump announced another 10% tariff on imports from China to begin on March 4th too, on top of the 10% tariff that was implemented last month.

The good news is that neck braces will be exempt from all tariffs due to the high demand from global trade managers suffering from whiplash.

But wait, there’s more!

“The U.S. Trade Representative’s office has proposed charging up to $1.5 million for Chinese-built vessels entering U.S. ports as part of its investigation into China’s growing domination of the global shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors,” reports David Lawder at Reuters. Here are more details from the article:

The probe was launched in April 2024 at the request of the United Steelworkers and four other unions, and conducted under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, as a way to rebuild an industry that has been in deep decline since the 1970s, when Japan and South Korea dominated shipbuilding.

The proposed remedies include port entrance fees of up to $1 million per vessel owned by Chinese maritime transport operators, such as the state-owned China Ocean Shipping Co Ltd. Alternatively, the U.S. would charge $1,000 per net ton of a vessel’s cargo capacity.

Non-Chinese maritime transport operators operating Chinese-built ships would pay up to $1.5 million per port entry, according to the notice. Those with greater than 50% Chinese-built fleets would pay $1 million per vessel entry regardless of origin. The fee would fall to $750,000 if the Chinese fleet percentage was between 25% and 50% and to $500,000 if under 25%.

The remedies also would require at least 1% of U.S. exports to be shipped on U.S. flagged-vessels for the first two years, including capital goods, consumer goods, agricultural products, and chemical petroleum and gas products.

These are all just “proposed” remedies at the moment, but you should put them on your list of future risks to think/worry/stress about. Better yet, you should conduct some scenario planning and modeling now to understand how these proposed remedies would impact your import costs and ocean procurement decisions if they are actually implemented.

Transforming Transportation Procurement

In an October 2020 survey we conducted with members of our Indago supply chain research community — who are all supply chain and logistics executives from manufacturing, retail, and distribution companies — 91% of the respondents either “Agreed” (61%) or “Strongly Agreed” (30%) that the time had come to transform the transportation procurement process.

Technology providers have been answering that call, especially those with network-based solutions.

For example, Transporeon introduced Autonomous Procurement a couple of years ago, Uber Freight announced Uber Freight Exchange: Spot last May, and Alpega introduced Connecta last October (all three companies are Talking Logistics sponsors).

This week, Loadsmart (also a Talking Logistics sponsor) announced the launch of ShipperGuide Marketplace, “an on-demand platform that connects shippers with a trusted network of carriers to match freight with full truckload capacity automatically.” Here are more details from the press release:

When a shipper posts their shipment details in the Marketplace, including origin, destination, and freight type, the system automatically provides FTL rates that can be quickly booked. Brokers and carriers within the network set pre-defined pricing and service conditions, and the Marketplace’s pricing engine automatically matches shipments with coverage that fits the defined criteria. This automates the bidding process, speeding up the entire spot quoting process for both parties.

Leveraging network-based solutions that connect large communities of shippers, carriers, and freight brokers to streamline and automate transportation procurement (contract and spot) and shipment execution is not the future; it is already here, and if you’re still conducting procurement by sending spreadsheets back and forth via email or by “dialing for diesels” or visiting load boards, it’s time to get out of the 1990s.

And with that, have a meaningful weekend!

Song of the Week: “The Night Before” by The Black Keys