
Search
or Search by TOPIC



Search Supply Chain Videocasts

Sign-Up Free Newsletter

Supply Chain by the Numbers

Dec. 19, 2025

Supply Chain by the Numbers for Dec. 19, 2025

New EV Strategy at Ford. Retailers Pushing Store Xmas Inventories. UPS Big Robot Buy. China Port Crane Domination


h
$19.5 Billion
That is the financial hit that auto giant Ford said it would be taking to revamp its electric vehicle plans, according to the company this week. That change in EV strategy involves significant pull back from its once aggressive plans, most notably ending production of the Ford F-15 Lightning electric pickup truck, the EV version of its best-selling pick-up ruck model line. Ford noted that it had lost $13 billion on EVs since 2023. Several other automakers have made changes to their electrified product plans in recent years as consumer demand for EVs in the U.S. hasn’t quite met expectations. EVs accounted for about 8% of new vehicles sales in the US last year, but factors such as cost and charging infrastructure remain concerns for mainstream buyers.

44%

That is the share of company respondents to the latest quarterly supply chain survey from CNBC which said more holiday merchandise was leaving their distribution centers compared to last year, in a bullish bet on brick-and-mortar retail sales, the cable news channel reported this week. One-third of respondents said fewer items were leaving their warehouses. The majority of respondents who said they were moving more freight said the level of increase was 5-10%. Companies and organizations representing logistics providers, freight shippers and retailers participated in the survey, which was conducted Dec. 4-Dec. 11. CNBC says this survey is one more signal that consumer spending is holding up reasonably well amid concerns about affordability across the US economy.



400
That is how many truck-unloading robots UPS says it will acquire – at accost of $120 million, according to a report from Bloomberg this week. Bloomberg’s report is based on information from people familiar with the matter, revealing new details on UPS’ $9 billion automation plan that aims to boost profits by decreasing labor costs. Unloading trucks and shipping containers at warehouse docks is mostly done by people and remains a key bottleneck in the flow of cartons. The UPS order puts a spotlight on Pickle Robot Co., a Charlestown, Mass.-based startup already working with UPS that’s raised about $97 million since it began in 2018, according to Pitchbook.



$80%
That is the approximate global share of the giant cranes used to load and unload ocean containers currently enjoyed by China, according to data from the government and recently reported by the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago. In an effort to reduce Chinese crane market domination, in 2024 the Trump administration first implemented a 25% tariff on their import in 2024. This year the US imposed an additional 100% tariff but then later paused it for one year. However, port officials say the pause isn’t long enough to risk buying cranes that take a minimum of two years from order to delivery. They add that the shifting trade policy makes it difficult to plan investments, the Journal reported. Bigger cranes are needed to allow US ports to handle the rising size of the biggest container ships.

Q

Feedback

No Feedback on this article yet.