| Ports on the US's Gulf and East Coasts are looking to sustain higher volumes as retailers seek to avoid supply-chain logjams that bedeviled the nation's biggest maritime shipping hubs out west. That's leading to greater investments in ports and warehouses while increasing demand for workers to staff the bigger operations. Eastern and Gulf gateways for trade boosted their share of Asian imports by almost 5 percentage points in the first quarter of 2022 from a year earlier and 4 percentage points in the second quarter, the biggest increases since at least 2008, according to digital freight forwarder Flexport. Click here for the full story by Jeannette Neumann and Augusta Saraiva As it stands now, 44% of Asian imports enter the country via the East and Gulf Coasts, compared with about one-quarter in 2008. That has come at the expense of the West Coast, which has seen its share fall to 56% from about 75% during the same period. While much of the pandemic-era shift is temporary, an increasing number of retail executives say they plan to stick with the East Coast for the long haul. "We used to think the West Coast was the only option," says Jose Velez, director of operations for Doral, Florida-based Creative Home and Kitchen, which imports products including cast-iron cookware from Colombia and holiday decorations from China. "The pandemic has opened our eyes to more options to arrive into the States." The shift has led to new congestion problems that have kept some companies away during the past year or so. The East and Gulf Coasts are on track to eventually snag roughly half the market, said Eric Oak, a Flexport analyst. "Supply chains are living creatures that evolve over time," he said. Read More: —Jeannette Neumann and Augusta Saraiva in New York Normalizing rates | The Drewry Hong Kong-Los Angeles container-rate benchmark dropped 18.1% sequentially in the week ended Aug. 31 to $4,052 per 40-foot container, down 49% from a year earlier. On the surface it might seem that the bottom has fallen out of trans-Pacific rates and that carriers could be heading toward challenging times. But rates are simply continuing to normalize from last year's unsustainable levels and remain well above historical figures: up 19% from 2020, 177% from 2019 and 76% from 2018, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Lee Klaskow. That should drive robust earnings for container-liner operators into 2023. - Stay at home | The Chinese city of Chengdu will lock down its 21 million residents starting Thursday night, a seismic move in the vast Western region that has been largely untouched by the virus until recently. Meanwhile, China's coastal provinces are bracing for the strongest storm of 2022.
- Canceled flights | Lufthansa is suspending almost all its flight operations in Frankfurt and Munich on Friday because of a strike by pilots demanding higher pay. Separately, train drivers across the UK will strike again in September, the third walkout in as many months.
- Factory slowdown | Closely watched gauges of manufacturing in South Korea and Taiwan slumped in August as China's slowdown weighed on the region and risks piled up in the global economy. South Korea also posted a record trade deficit in August.
- Survival bid | Bed Bath & Beyond said it's putting in place a new business strategy to reduce costs, cutting 20% of jobs across its corporate and supply-chain operations and closing about 150 lower-producing stores.
- Hitting headwinds | Cathay Pacific, one of the world's biggest air freight carriers, warned that inflation, supply-chain snags and Covid restrictions in China could lead to weaker cargo demand in this year's peak season.
- Brighter lines | A new rule from the Federal Highway Administration aims to make US road markings brighter to help drivers — and autonomous vehicles — stay in their lanes.
- Power crunch | California's grid operator is warning of potential power shortages that could lead to blackouts as a heat wave mounts and a historic years-long drought has drained hydropower supplies.
 | - Service improvement | North American rail traffic rose 1.5% in the week ended Aug. 27 from a year earlier, according to AAR data. As most rails focus on improving service amid easing comparisons, they may be able to spur volume growth in the third quarter, Bloomberg Intelligence says.
- EV hurdles | The Biden administration wants to waive requirements that electric-vehicle chargers bought with federal dollars be made in the US, but state officials fear the move won't be enough to stave off project delays.
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