September 7, 2023

Shipping sentiment of major ports and export volumes are down in major ports around the world:

Bloomberg’s Trade Tracker shows a mixed picture in mid-August with six of 10 gauges in below-normal range. While port activity in Los Angeles is normalizing, it was offset by a sharp reversal in South Korea’s outbound shipments. Sentiment across key economies like Germany and China turned even gloomier.

This is tied to economic indicators showing manufacturing slowing and major economies showing slow decline in investment.

Oil prices continue to drive costs in the shipping sector as well with the recent increase in Brent going to $90 a barrel.

The impact in the USA is that Union Pacific, partner with CN on North-South transport has furloughed IAM's craft mechanical employees.

Intermodal traffic in the LA ports is lower and has not recovered from the beginning of August, in spite of the Canadian port strike being over.

• Rail safety continues to be a hot-button issue in the USA.
• Rail companies are pushing back hard on new rail regulations that they say are too costly.
• Republicans are pushing for reviews of the rail safety while at the same time holding-up rail safety legislation.

These fights come as Americans are increasingly concerned over rail safety and investment after both a perceived increase in derailments and more focus on expanding rail by Biden's White House.

Much of the focus is on track inspections, but also about regulations of technology upgrades for car and locomotive inspection systems.