JCP J C Penney Company Inc

By Paul Page   Sign up:With one click, get this newsletter delivered to your inbox. 

Department stores are trying to put supply-chain lessons from the fast-fashion world to work. Retailers including Lord & Taylor, J.C. Penney Co. and Hudson's Bay Co. are trying to streamline production and move goods faster and with more flexibility, the WSJ's Suzanne Kapner reports, mimicking the nimble operations of Inditex SA's Zara and Hennes & Mauritz AB's H&M that have roiled the retail apparel world. Changing the supply chain is a matter of survival for the big stores since shifting shopping habits have sent their sales tumbling. It's also a tricky proposition because it means changing the most fundamental parts of their business. The stores are pulling away from entrenched wholesalers, distribution channels and sales strategies built up over years and moving instead to new suppliers and supply-chain designers aligned with fast-fashion methods. One key, says New York-based Xcel Brands Inc., which sells fast-fashion tricks to traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, is to start work at the factories knowing that operations will change as consumers weigh in with their choices.

Global shipping lines are under new scrutiny over price-fixing. South Africa's Competition Commission is investigating some of the world's biggest container shipping operators, the WSJ's Costas Paris reports, and using information from raids on the carriers' local offices. The operators targeted are the South African units of Germany's Hamburg Sud, Denmark's Maersk Line, Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company, France's CMA CGM Shipping and Safmarine, a Maersk subsidiary. The problem follows the conclusion in July of a three-year probe by the European Commission on the pricing of 14 container liners. In that case, regulators imposed no penalties after the carriers promised to make freight rate setting practices more transparent. South Africa, which sits at a key crossroads for international transport, hasn't been as lenient in the past. The South African regulator last July fined Japan's Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha $8.5 million for colluding with competitors in shipping vehicles.

That delivery you're expecting by drone might be late. Despite escalating industry pressure for approval of package-delivery drones and high-profile tests of the operations, the WSJ's Andy Pasztor reports that safety experts and federal documents indicate widespread flights aren't likely before the next decade. U.S. aviation authorities only recently kicked off the formal, time-consuming process of defining the types of collision-avoidance systems essential for such operations to receive broad regulatory approval. Drafting the technical standards is projected to take three or four years, envisioning a suite of ground-based and airborne sensors that haven't been developed. Impatient private companies are persistently prodding regulators -- and some are lobbying extensively on Capitol Hill -- to move more quickly to open up the skies for delivery drones. Until that happens, tests like one that United Parcel Service Inc. recently disclosed will get plenty of attention, but won't presage a commercial operation anytime soon.

SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES

This is a bad time to be a British importer. While exporters have benefited from the decline of the pound since Britons voted to leave the European Union, the WSJ's Simon Zekaria reports production costs for companies that depend on materials from abroad are soaring and that's starting to hit the broader economy. The spreading impact highlights the big role trade plays in the U.K., and how the movement of currency values outside their normal ranges can change the fundamentals for some businesses. U.K. companies' fuels and materials costs rose 7.6% in August from a year earlier, according to the Office for National Statistics, and companies are starting to raise their prices to consumers. Small and mid-size companies are particularly hard-hit because they have fewer protections against currency swings, but large companies also are coming closer to making big decisions about their investments. Nissan Motor Co. says it may scrap a major investment in the U.K. without more clarity on post-Brexit trade relations and wants compensation from the government if there are new tariffs.

QUOTABLE

IN OTHER NEWS

The U.S. economy grew at a 1.4% rate in the second quarter, faster than earlier estimated, thanks to improved business investment. (WSJ)

Vietnam's economic growth accelerated to 6.4% in the third quarter. (WSJ)

The union representing United Continental Holdings Inc. mechanics will put a new tentative labor contract to a member vote in the coming weeks. (WSJ)

Deutsche Lufthansa AG will take over Brussels Airlines. (WSJ)

Nike Inc. plans to expand direct-to-consumer sales to $16 billion, a third of its revenue, while lessening its dependence on wholesalers. (WSJ)

Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a surprise increase in quarterly earnings despite cheap fuel and higher wages. (WSJ)

Auto makers are speeding up their development of electric vehicles to compete with Tesla Motors Inc. (WSJ)

Several countries called for the International Maritime Organization at its October meeting to adopt a detailed plan to reduce carbon emissions in shipping. (Shipping Watch)

Electronics maker Sharp Corp. plans to spin off its logistics operations into a separate company as it focuses on lean manufacturing. (Nikkei Asian Review)

The U.S. House overwhelmingly passed a bill authorizing spending on dozens of water-related projects around the country. (The Hill)

Holders of Rickmers Maritime bonds are fighting the troubled shipping line's bid to make reduced payments, demanding instead to get their full principal returned. (Straits Times)

Warehouse workers for British online fashion seller Asos are put through intrusive and highly stressful working conditions, according to a Buzzfeed investigation. (Buzzfeed)

Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC suspended its marine engine manufacturing operation in Shanghai amid depressed shipbuilding demand. (Splash 24/7)

Texas-based Vroom.com secured $50 million in new funding to back expansion of its online car retailing business. (Internet Retailer)

Damco, the forwarding unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, named Klaus Rud Sejling chief executive after the resignation of Hanne Sorensen. (The Loadstar)

Maersk Line ordered 14,000 refrigerated containers, adding to strong growth in temperature-controlled equipment in shipping this year. (Lloyd's Loading List)

Apparel retailer Tory Burch will build a distribution center outside Atlanta for e-commerce fulfillment. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The Girl Scouts of America introduced a "Women in Trucking" badge. (DC Velocity)

ABOUT US

Paul Page is deputy editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Follow him at @PaulPage, and follow the entire WSJ Logistics Report team: @brianjbaskin, @lorettachao, @RWhelanWSJ and @EEPhillips_WSJ, and follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.

Subscribe to this email newsletter by clicking here: http://on.wsj.com/Logisticsnewsletter .

Write to Paul Page at paul.page@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2016 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.