Page 25 - AT

BUSINESS Saturday 18 January 2020
A25

For some major U.S. shippers, 2019 ended on a sour note

MICHELLE CHAPMAN and may be isolated, Chan the worst performers across that its profit slid 40%, hurt wrote David G. Ross, also
DAVID KOENIG said. the market in trading Fri- by higher costs, a shorter with Stifel. "There is lots of
AP Business Writers "It's a soft market and it has day. Shares in trucking, rail- holiday season and its hope in the stock market
For major shipping compa- and the freight market for a
nies dealing with trade wars better 2020, but the trends
and slowing global growth, have yet to turn. Maybe
conditions appear to have with the January index
deteriorated for some as readings? Doubtful, as the
2019 came to a close. index (both shipments and
Global shipping and logis- expenditures) normally falls
tics provider Expeditors In- off sequentially from De-
ternational said Friday that cember to January."
it expects fourth quarter The trade war between the
operating income to fall U.S. and China has taken
between $177 million and a toll. Government data
$183 million. showed Friday that China's
CEO Jeffrey Musser cited economy grew by 6.1% last
trade disputes and slow- year, down from 6.6% in
ing growth for a number 2018, and a multi-decade
of economies. The report low.
comes a day after the The Trump administra-
railroad CSX reported a tion has agreed to cancel
7% decline in the freight planned tariff hikes on ad-
it hauled during the final ditional Chinese imports
months of the year. "We've as part of an interim deal
seen impacts throughout In this May 14, 2019 file photo, a Cosco Shipping container ship passes the Golden Gate Bridge in announced this week,
the year from these market San Francisco bound for the Port of Oakland. and Beijing promised to
conditions, but the pace Associated Press buy more American farm
at which these changes goods. Factories have seen
occurred accelerated been, but I haven't seen road and ocean shipping move to cut ties with Ama- less activity in the current
dramatically in the fourth any major negative inflec- companies sold off. zon.com. It too, cut its profit economic environment,
quarter," Musser said. "We tion" on volumes or rates Expeditors competitor, expectations. meaning that they have
know this environment will for shipping and airfreight, Danish freight forwarder The Cass Freight Ship- pulled back on shipments.
change over time, as it al- Chan said. "What's going DSV, fell less than 1%. CH ments Index report, which The Institute for Supply
ways has in the past." on here is mostly related to Robinson, a trucking com- monitors truck shipments Management reported this
Shares of Expeditors In- how the company planned pany that has an ocean- in North America, showed month that its manufactur-
ternational of Washing- or budgeted for the fourth- shipping division, slid almost shipments dropping 6.4% in ing index dropped to 47.2
ton Inc., based in Seattle, quarter market environ- 3%. JB Hunt Transport Ser- December, and 7.9% from in December, from 48.1 in
slumped almost 5%. ment and may have made vices Inc., a trucking com- the same period the previ- November. That's the low-
Bruce Chan, an analyst at a miscalculation" on how pany, on Friday reported ous year. est level in more than a de-
Stifel Nicolaus, said ocean- much capacity to lock profits that fell well short of "Both the shipments and cade.
borne volumes and ship- down. what industry analysts had expenditures components UPS reports fourth quarter
ping rates have been weak But there are signs that expected, according to a of the Cass Freight Index and full-year results at the
for most of the past year but transportation companies survey by Zacks Investment marked their lowest read- end of the month. Its shares
don't appear to be getting are struggling. Research. Shares in that ing of 2019 and took anoth- have been falling over the
dramatically worse now. The freight and logistics company are down 3.5%. er step backwards in terms past month, and are down
The drop-off at Expeditors group contained some of FedEx reported last month of (year-over-year growth," in Friday trading.q

Sales of flowers, pork

push Dutch farm exports

to new record

THE HAGUE, Netherlands amounting to 9.5 billion The rise was fueled by out-
(AP) — Dutch agriculture euros. breaks of African swine
exports rose 4.6% in 2019 Rising prices accounted fever in parts of Asia. Pig
from the previous year to for about two thirds of the meat sales to China rose
a new record of 94.5 billion increase, with growth in from 117 million euros in
euros ($105.2 billion), the sales volumes making up 2018 to an estimated 377
country's statistics office the other third, the Central million euros in 2019, ac-
and a research organiza- Bureau for Statistics and cording to the research.
tion said Friday. Wageningen Economic The Netherlands' eastern
In this country famous for Research said. neighbor Germany re-
its colorful fields of tulips, Meat exports were sec- mained the top market
horticultural products such ond, weighing in at 8.8 bil- for exports, accounting for In this Friday, April 20, 2018 file image fields of flowers are left
to bloom to cultivate the bulbs around spring garden de Keu-
as fresh flowers, bulbs and lion euros, helped by soar- 25% of all sales, followed kenhof in Lisse, west central Netherlands.
plants were the highest- ing prices of pork sold to by Belgium and the United Associated Press
value agricultural sector, China. Kingdom.q