Tag: Freight (Cargo)

Biden Plans to Harden Protection Against Cybersecurity Threats to Ports

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President Biden is expected to sign an executive order on Wednesday that will strengthen the government’s ability to respond to maritime cybersecurity threats, amid heightened concerns that China could seek to hobble crucial infrastructure systems within the United States. Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, previewed the executive order for reporters on Tuesday evening, saying it would broaden the powers of the Department of Homeland Security. She said that the order would also allow the U.S. Coast Guard to outline rules for establishing minimum…

Red Sea Attacks Leave Shipping Companies With Difficult Choices

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The shipping companies that move goods on one of the world’s busiest trade routes for factories, stores, car dealerships and other businesses face an excruciating decision. They can send their vessels through the Red Sea if they are willing to risk attacks by the Houthi militia in Yemen and to bear the cost of sharply higher insurance premiums. Or they can sail an extra 4,000 miles around Africa, adding 10 days in each direction and burning considerably more fuel. Neither option is appealing and both raise costs — expenses that…

Fake Signals and American Insurance: How a Dark Fleet Moves Russian Oil

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The Cathay Phoenix is not a lone rogue ship, but one of at least three tankers identified by The New York Times taking extraordinary steps to hide their true activity, a practice that helps them to elude U.S. government oversight and puts their American insurer at risk of violating recent sanctions on Russian crude oil. For years, ships wanting to hide their whereabouts have resorted to turning off the transponders all large vessels use to signal their location. But the tankers tracked by The Times go beyond this, using cutting-edge…

U.S. Navy Steps Up Efforts to Curb Iran’s Ship Seizures in Strait of Hormuz

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U.S. Navy warships stationed in the Persian Gulf region have increased their patrols through the Strait of Hormuz, the busy merchant ship passageway, in response to recent moves by Iran to seize two oil tankers, the latest sign of rising tensions between Iran and the United States. “Iran’s actions are unacceptable,” Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the region, said in an interview on Monday at the Navy base here in Bahrain. He was speaking several days after he rode a Navy guided-missile destroyer through…

How a Texas Border City Is Shaping the Future of Global Trade

Chin@Strategy

The teeming warehouses carved into the desert surrounding Laredo, Texas, attest to an explosion of trade between the United States and Mexico. On a recent morning, 55-gallon drums full of chemicals concocted in Ohio awaited trucks that would haul them across the Rio Grande, for use as raw materials at a paint factory in Mexico’s industrial city of Monterrey. Destined northbound, brake pads manufactured in Mexico were headed to trucking firms as far away as South Dakota. The more trade expands, the greater the opportunities for Laredo, a sprawling city…

Global Shipping Delays Loom Over Retailers for the Holidays

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — It was 73 days until Christmas, and the clock was ticking down for Catch Co. The Chicago-based fishing company had secured a spot to sell a new product, an advent calendar for fishing enthusiasts dubbed “12 Days of Fishmas,” in 2,650 Walmart stores nationwide. But like so many products this holiday season, the calendars were mired in a massive traffic jam in the flow of goods from Asian factories to American store shelves. With Black Friday rapidly approaching, many of the calendars were stuck in a 40-foot steel…

Supply Chain Shortages Continue Around the World. Get Used to It.

Chin@Strategy

Like most people in the developed world, Kirsten Gjesdal had long taken for granted her ability to order whatever she needed and then watch the goods arrive, without any thought about the factories, container ships and trucks involved in delivery. Not anymore. At her kitchen supply store in Brookings, S.D., Ms. Gjesdal has given up stocking place mats, having wearied of telling customers that she can only guess when more will come. She recently received a pot lid she had purchased eight months earlier. She has grown accustomed to paying…