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Supply
Chain by the Numbers |
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- Nov. 7, 2024
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US Manufacturing Contracts again in October. Amazon’s High Cost Logistics. Chinese Firms Taking US Warehouse Space. Idled Container Ships Reach Record Low
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20% |
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That is the level of warehouse space leasing this year that was executed by Chinese logistics and ecommerce companies. That according to warehouse developer Prologis this week. The company also noted that this percentage is rising rapidly. For example, in New Jersey, logistics companies based in China had leased 5.6 million square feet of warehouse space through the third quarter - nearly three times the amount of space that Chinese companies leased in that region in all of 2023, according to real-estate firm JLL. Chinese ecommerce giants Alibaba and JD.com have been expanding their warehousing presence in the US, while third-party logistics firms including Western Post, Lecangs and Elogistek have also stepped up leasing levels. |
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That was the level of the US Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for October, as released last Friday by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). That score is again below the key 50 mark that separates US manufacturing expansion from contraction, and was down from the September score of 47.2. What’s more, the US PMI had previously been in contraction territory for 16 straight months until it poked its head into expansion in March with a score of 50.3, but that has now been followed by seven more months of contraction. Meanwhile, the New Order Index remained in contraction territory with a score of 47.1, one percentage points higher than the 46.1 recorded in September, but still a strong negative sign for future US manufacturing activity. |
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0.7% |
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| That is the almost nonexistent percent of containerships that are currently idled. That represents an all-time record, according to analysis this week from the analysts at Alphaliner. That very low number comes even as container volumes remain relatively soft. What’s going on? Alphaliner says it is the on-going impact of the threat from so-called Houthi warriors shooting rockets from South Yemen at commercial container and bulk shipping sailing through the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Alphaliner notes that “the Red Sea crisis forced carriers to call on every available ship to service voyage diversions and meet soaring demand.” That as ships avoided the danger area in favor of a much longer trip from Asia to Europe going around the Cape of Good Hope at the bottom of Africa. |
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That - rather amazingly from our view - was the combined costs for fulfillment and shipping as a percent of on-line sales revenue at Amazon in Q3. That according to Amazon’s Q3 earnings report delivered late last week with our analysis.Two notes: (1) The transportation cost number of $23.5 billion in the quarter does not including any offsetting revenue from paid shipping or Amazon Prime subscriptions (Amazon used to provide this number but no longer does); (2) There is nothing new about these percentages, but they are still shocking nevertheless. Amazon’s on-line sales were $61.4 billion in Q3, while fulfillment costs were $24.6 billion.
