Mike King

In this clip from EP14 of The Freight Buyers’ Club podcast, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King hears that the threat of union action at US east and Gulf coast ports later this year is already prompting retailers to route cargo via west coast terminals. Mike is talking to: Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor, Journal of Commerce Jon Gold, VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation

In this special new insight episode, host Mike King and Brendan Sullivan, Global Head, Cargo, International Air Transport Association (IATA), discuss if air cargo is ready to fill supply chain shortages emerging as a result of the Red Sea shipping crisis.
They also look at the performance of the air freight industry last year, what 2024 has in store for the sector, SAF uptake, and what operators can do better to meet the needs of shippers.

In this clip from EP14 of The Freight Buyers’ Club podcast, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King asks who will foot the bill as a combination of factors including diversions away from the Suez Canal impact global supply chains and trade.
Mike is talking to: Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor, Journal of Commerce Jon Gold, VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation.

In this episode, host Mike King and guests examine the multiple challenges facing international trade in the early days of 2024 as supply chain disruptions mount and container shipping freight rates soar.
The prime cause of these disruptions is attacks on container shipping services by Houthi rebels based in Yemen. These are prompting carriers to divert vessels away from Bab-el-Mandeb, the strait which acts as the gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, a key global artery for trade.
Instead, ships are now steaming to Europe and the US via the Cape of Good Hope, adding weeks on to journey times, and threatening to soak up the liner industry’s excess capacity.
Already container shipping rates are spiralling, even on trades such as the trans-Atlantic and Asia-US West Coast where services are, in theory at least, not being directly affected.
Economic headwinds, geopolitical turmoil, low water on the Panama Canal, and the threat of union action at US east coast and Gulf coast ports are also casting a chaotic shadow over shipper supply chains in early 2024. As Mike and guests discuss, all of these factors are driving up risk levels for shippers, changing the focus of supply chain procurement professionals from cutting costs to mitigating disruption.
Guests
Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor, Journal of Commerce
Jon Gold, VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation
 
Episode in more detail:
JOC’s take on the new Suez crisis (2.21)
Freight rates surge contagion (3.39)
The implications of vessel diversion (7.08)
Mitigation strategies for retailers (11.41)
Panama Canal water shortage (13.26)
Are shippers 2024’s biggest losers? (15.13)
China+1 & low-cost vs supply chain resilience (17.35)
Geopolitical risks in 2024 (23.09)
Value chains and democracy vs autocracy (24.44)
The future of globalisation (28.12)
The US elections (30.06)
US east coast dockworker strike threat (34.44)
Retailers shift cargo to West Coast (38.14)

In this special news insight episode, Mike King is joined by Alvin Fuh, shipping veteran and current Special Assistant to Chief Executive Officer at Dimerco Express Group, for an update on the Red Sea/Suez Canal shipping crisis. They also explore shipper options as transit times increase and Asia-Europe ocean shipping freight rates soar.

In this episode of the Freight Buyers’ Club, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, the big freight, economic and shipping stories of 2023 are put under the microscope when host Mike King speaks to Paul Berger, The Wall Street Journal’s Logistics & Supply Chain Reporter. The implications of the Yellow and Convoy bankruptcies are examined. Mike and Paul also discuss shipper risk and the economic outlook in 2024, and why labour disputes might further disrupt supply chains in the months ahead.
In part 2, Mike interviews Philip Damas, Managing Director of Drewry Shipping Consultants and Head of Drewry’s Supply Chain Advisors practice. They discuss how to plan ocean freight tenders, budgeting for new EC ETS surcharges, how carriers will use blanks to manage supply, and what China+1 means for the global container trade.
Guests
Paul Berger, Logistics & Supply Chain Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Philip Damas, Managing Director of Drewry Shipping Consultants and Head of Drewry’s Supply Chain Advisors practice
 
Episode in more detail:
2023 in review (1.56)
ILWU settlement implications (4.47)
Union risk on the eastern seaboard (7.44)
Labour unrest in 2024? (10.25)
Why freight failed to rebound (12.20)
Casualties: Yellow and Convoy (13.48)
Economic outlook and risk (15.32)
‘De-risking’ supply chains (16.58)
2024 trends and stories (20.49)
Drewry: ocean freight tender advice (22.59)
ETS – the new emissions surcharge (25.58)
Container shipping oversupply (30.34)
Shipper risk in 2024 (34.21)
Trans-Pacific outlook (38.26)
What China+1 means for container volumes (41.44)
2024 shipper risks and carrier losses (44.43)

In this episode of The Freight Buyers’ Club, produced in partnership with Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King has an exclusive interview with Bronson Hsieh, former chairman of both Evergreen and Yang Ming container lines.
They discuss future container shipping demand and supply, what this means for freight buyers and why everyone in the business of ocean supply chains should understand how new European Commission emissions and competition regulations will impact them.
Kathy Liu, Senior Director, Dimerco Global Sales & Marketing, discusses the view of China + 1 and nearshoring strategies from China’s perspective. And Bronson talks about why the diversification of sourcing strategies globally will transform container shipping and the type of vessels built to meet the needs of what he calls “globalisation with regionalisation”. 
 
Guests:
Bronson Hsieh, former chairman of Evergreen and Yang Ming container shipping lines
Kathy Liu, Senior Director, Dimerco Global Sales & Marketing
 
Episode in more detail:
Introducing Bronson Hsieh – container shipping legend (1.29)
US demand upswing (2.41)
Global economic forecast (4.35)
Did container lines over-order (5.45)
Will liner vertical consolidation strategies succeed (9.10)
Geopolitics, globalisation and liner implications (12.03)
Globalisation and regionalisation (13.41)
Did carriers buy the right sized ships? (14.55)
Dimerco positive on China (22.16)
Europe’s Emissions Trading System (25.06)
Will shippers pay? (29.40)
Will China and the FMC follow the EC (36.02)
Implications of exposing to carriers to competition laws (33.07)

In this episode of The Freight Buyer’s Club, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King looks at global and US air cargo markets.
What has happened to peak season is the key question examined, but Mike and his guests also discuss inventory levels, global demand and economics, what the decarbonisation of supply chains means for air freight, SAF availability forecasts, and the market for freighters.
Guests
Niall van de Wouw, Chief Airfreight Officer, Xeneta
Eric Kulisch, Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor, FreightWaves

In this pilot episode of Freight Expectations, a Freight Buyers’ Club podcast which will be launched in 2024, host Mike King speaks to one of the world’s foremost authors and thought leaders on logistics technology and the future of supply chains.
Professor Yossi Sheffi is the current Director of the Center for Transportation & Logistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the author of a new book, “The Magic Conveyor Belt: Supply Chains, AI, and the Future of Work”.
Prof. Sheffi has also advised governments, retailers and manufacturers, and co-founded a string of successful supply chain companies which he successfully sold to companies including Oracle, Manhattan Associates and Ryder.
Mike and Yossi discuss, amongst other things, AI applications in the businesses of freight and logistics, and whether the supply chain industry and its workers should feel threatened by tools such as ChatGPT.