Supply Lines: Port talks to restart

US port operators along the East and Gulf coasts and the longshoremen they employ to keep cargo flowing look set to return to the negotiatin

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US port operators along the East and Gulf coasts and the longshoremen they employ to keep cargo flowing look set to return to the negotiating table after a seven-week-long stalemate. As Bloomberg's Laura Curtis reports today from Los Angeles, talks between the International Longshoremen's Association and US Maritime Alliance are set to resume next Tuesday — a small but important breakthrough in an impasse dating back to mid-November. That leaves just over a week for the two sides to either resolve their remaining grievances and sign a new contract, or extend the talks again. Otherwise, the dockworkers union is threatening another strike after the Jan. 15 deadline. QuickTake: Why US Port Workers Are Threatening to Strike — Again The ILA is framing its fight against automation as an existential one, and it's received the backing of President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20. The USMX is making a broader economic case that the ports need to modernize to serve the needs of American businesses, saying the automation will help improve the efficiency of domestic ports, protect jobs and ensure terminals can handle higher volumes in the future. Meanwhile, the dual threat of a US port strike and Trump's tariffs are boosting spot shipping rates. The Drewry World Container Index released Thursday showed the rate for a 40-foot shipping container from Shanghai to New York rose 6.1% over the past week — that route's third straight weekly advance — while the rate to Los Angeles gained 7.3%. —Brendan Murray in London Click here for more of Bloomberg.com's most-read stories about trade, supply chains and shipping.

Charted Territory

Export strength | South Korea's exports maintained growth momentum in December as demand from China increased while semiconductor sales stayed resilient. The value of shipments adjusted for working-day differences increased 4.3% from a year earlier in December, according to data released Wednesday by the trade ministry. That compared with a 3.7% rise initially reported for the full month of November.

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Factory activity in Asia expanded as domestic orders and output improved, but weaker confidence and a sustained drop in export orders point to global risks ahead. China's manufacturing activity slowed.  Nippon Steel offered to give the US government a veto over any reduction in US Steel's production capacity in a proposal that marks a last-ditch effort to win President Joe Biden's approval for its takeover of the iconic American company. China's BYD enjoyed a year-end surge to push total sales to 4.25 million passenger cars last year, narrowing its gap with Tesla as the two vie for the crown of top-selling electric-vehicle maker of 2024. Here are five key things to watch for in Asia's car market this year. Mexico delayed applying a tax on cruise ship passengers at its ports for six months while exempting wheat and a fertilizer from tariffs for all of 2025. Trump's tough talk on global trade is creating nervousness on Wall Street, while his general unpredictability has many prognosticators on edge.

On the Bloomberg Terminal

Bloomberg Economics estimates that increasing US tariffs on European exports to 20% could wipe out about half of exports to the US, taking as much as 1% off euro-area GDP. Confidence among British manufacturers tumbled to a two-year low in December amid a slump in exports and mounting global trade tensions. Run SPLC after an equity ticker on Bloomberg to show critical data about a company's suppliers, customers and peers. Use the AHOY function to track global commodities trade flows. See DSET CHOKE for a dataset to monitor shipping chokepoints.  For freight dashboards, see BI RAIL, BI TRCK and BI SHIP and BI 3PLS Click HERE for automated stories about supply chains. On the Bloomberg Terminal, type NH FWV for FreightWaves content. See BNEF for BloombergNEF's analysis of clean energy, advanced transport, digital industry, innovative materials, and commodities.

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