On this week’s episode of Check Call, David Spencer, director of business intelligence at Arrive Logistics, joins host Mary O’Connell to dive into all things ocean freight.
Key quotes from Spencer:
“I really think [manufacturing volumes] have to do with making up for that lost time. The supply constraints that a lot of manufacturing and industrial production experienced over the last couple years were extreme. Now’s the time to work through those backlogs that have been built up. Commercial vehicles are a great example. We’ve seen back-to-back strong months for new truck orders in what appears to be a worsening trucking market. A lot of that is just replacement for old vehicles that carriers haven’t been able to get their hands on and that would, I’m assuming, persist throughout a lot of other manufacturing sectors and areas of industrial production.”
“As far as the housing market, it certainly is an area of concern, as we’ve seen in the last few months demand for new homes and existing home sales really slowed down but homes still under construction or uncompleted homes, those numbers are still significantly higher than anything we saw, even close to anything we saw pre-pandemic.”
“Slowdowns in the retail spending space have led to increasing inventories and backlogs for retailers to work through. If you’re sitting on a bunch of inventory as a retailer, one of the tactics you can do is discount that inventory and help to move a lot of that. We’ve already seen a lot of discounts that drive continued strong spending. However, given what we’re seeing in the economy, I have concerns about continuing to see strong good spending into next year, especially as we’ve seen services spending really, really take off.”
“We’re looking at a really different market than we did a year ago. I was just looking back a year ago and you know, omicron was raging. That was impacting travel. From a freight perspective, we were looking at well over 100 ships off the coast, particularly off the West Coast. Right now the West Coast is relatively calm and California looks different than it normally does this time of year, and the East Coast is really, really lit up, so a lot of different transitions we’ve had into the final month of the year.”
Got any pain points or things you wish were better in the supply chain and the world of transportation? Contact O’Connell to be on a future episode of Check Call.
Freight Fraud Symposium
Double brokering. AI deepfakes. Identity theft. Freight fraud is an existential threat to the industry. Get ahead of it.
Supply Chain AI Symposium
Past the hype. Join operators, founders, and enterprise leaders figuring out how to deploy AI in supply chain.
Future of Rail Symposium
Reshoring is rewriting freight demand. Join shippers, rail executives, and government officials to shape the next decade.
Double brokering. AI deepfakes. Identity theft. Freight fraud is an existential threat to the industry. Get ahead of it.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame • Cleveland, OH Register NowPast the hype. Join operators, founders, and enterprise leaders figuring out how to deploy AI in supply chain.
The Old Post Office • Chicago, IL Register NowReshoring is rewriting freight demand. Join shippers, rail executives, and government officials to shape the next decade.
The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN Register Now