After months of dissent and negotiation in the House of Representatives following approval by the Senate back in August, the US Congress has passed and advanced the Infrastructure bill last week to the president to sign into law. The bill provides a long list of new spending items including $110 billion for roads, bridges and major projects; $66 billion for passenger and freight rail and $7.5 billion for electric vehicle chargers and other infrastructure. (See more at link to Transport Topics, “Congress Clears $1 Trillion Infrastructure Package”, November 6, 2021, by Eugene Mulero)

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FEDEMAC reported today that the UK loosened Cabotage rules (the transport of goods between 2 places in the same country by a transport operator from another country for the purposes of hire and reward) which normally involves heavy restrictions in the UK. This action comes as a response to ease supply chain challenges in an environment of driver shortages, high consumer demand and record highs in road rates with forecasts of even further rate increases in Q4 2021. (See link for more at: FEDEMAC, “Record Road Rates as UK Relaxes Cabotage”, November 4, 2021)

September US employment numbers substantially missed expectations despite optimism due to several factors including the ending of supplemental unemployment benefits. A very worrisome and low number of 194,000 jobs were added in September, further down to almost half of the already low number added in August of 366,000. It is now estimated that about 11 million US jobs are currently open. (See link to Worldwide ERC, “A Changed Workforce Complicates Management Challenges”, October 27, 2021, Annie Erling Gofus)

The Northeast Passage through the Arctic is by far the shortest maritime route from Europe to Asia. This cold northern sea route from China to Northern Europe is about 40% shorter than the Suez Canal route and about a two week savings in transit time. (See link for more: Cargo-Partner/Facts, “A shortcut through the Arctic”)

Global port congestion is at unprecedented levels contributing to historic highs in shipping rates. Drewry consultancy is now currently forecasting both spot and contract global container rates for 2021 at a 126% increase compared to 2020. Greg Miller at American Shipper also points out that delivery reliability has “collapsed” together with declining service quality, and explains that “the true COVID-era inflation rate for ocean shipping, when adjusted upward to account for lower quality, is much higher than the rise in freight rates.” (Link: “Shadow Inflation: Shipping costs are up way more than you think”, October 22,2021, by Greg Miller)

See link for full list of Companies with their announcements, including Google, American Express, Apple, Ford, Microsoft and many others.