By Paul Page
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Holiday hiring growth in distribution centers appears to be
leveling off, but that may be because the payrolls are growing
throughout the year. Amazon.com Inc. is adding 120,000 seasonal
workers to help fill holiday orders this year, topping the hiring
plans of other major retailers. The total is the same number of
temporary workers that Amazon brought in a year ago, the WSJ's
Laura Stevens writes, but it follows significant hiring the
e-commerce giant has already done this year as it pushes to add
100,000 full-time and 30,000 part-time workers by the middle of
next year. Seasonal hiring at United Parcel Service Inc. will also
be on par with last year, with 95,000 jobs. Hiring in warehouses
has been strong for several years as e-commerce demands have ramped
up, however. Warehouse and storage employment rose by 35,000 to
961,000 jobs in September from a year ago. And payrolls have grown
by 300,000 jobs, or roughly 46%, since September 2011, according to
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
U.S. auto makers are shifting production into an even lower gear
as they cope with weaker demand and growing inventories. General
Motors Co. is temporarily closing one Detroit factory that produces
slow-selling sedans, the WSJ's Mike Colias reports, and will pare
back the assembly line by some 20% even when the plant resumes
operations. It's one of the steepest moves yet by a U.S. auto
manufacturer as they cope both with lagging sales and demand that's
shifting from sedans to sport-utility vehicles. A more-than 21%
slide in sales of the Buick LaCrosse, for instance, has left left
dealers with a roughly 10-month supply of the car in a field where
a two-month supply is considered healthy. GM is trying to balance
questions over inventory and revenue in cutting production: Car
companies book revenue when they ship vehicles to dealerships, and
GM has been criticized for cranking out too many cars that required
steep discounts to sell.
A trade battle between the U.S. and several African countries is
forming over an unlikely commodity: used clothing. Several nations
-- including Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania -- are moving to restrict
the imports of secondhand goods that are the primary source of
clothing across much of Africa, saying the cheap items undermine
their efforts to nurture domestic textile production. The New York
Times reports the actions are prompting a backlash in the U.S.,
which has threatened to remove some East African countries from the
African Growth and Opportunity Act, which is meant to foster trade
and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The dispute is a new
challenge for countries trying to move up the supply chain ladder
by producing more goods rather than just shipping out raw
materials. Apparel provides the kind of light manufacturing that
would help East African countries compete with Bangladesh, Vietnam
and other low-cost producers, but for now the competition is coming
from donated clothes.
COMMODITIES
China's impact on global commodities is expanding into a new,
significant area: trading in metals futures and the critical
information that goes along with it. Shanghai is encroaching on
London as the hub of the metals trading world, the WSJ's Amrith
Ramkumar reports, a shift that investors say threatens to erode the
reliability of copper, zinc and aluminum prices as a read on the
global economy. Industrial metals used in items from bridges to
electric vehicles have long been used to gauge the likely course of
manufacturing and shipping. Now, analysts say speculative Chinese
investors risk distorting that picture by accelerating price moves,
raising concerns that the prices will become severed from
supply-demand dynamics around the world. The worries add a new
wrinkle to commodities markets that have been in broad rebound this
year, fueling a rebound upturn in bulk shipping.
QUOTABLE
IN OTHER NEWS
China's exports expanded 8.1% in September while imports soared
18.7%. (WSJ)
Eurozone industrial output surged 1.4% from July to August, and
was up 3.8% from a year ago. (WSJ)
Singapore's economy, a bellwether of global trade, grew at a
sharply faster 6.3% pace in the third quarter. (WSJ)
The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims fell for
the second week in a row at the beginning of October. (WSJ)
Airbus SE took control of a Malaysian plane-repair company, part
of the move by aircraft makers to move into the lucrative market
for servicing airliners. (WSJ)
Samsung Electronics Co. forecast a $12.8 billion operating
profit for the third quarter that will be the company's highest
ever. (WSJ)
German regional passenger airline Air Berlin PLC is selling part
of its assets to Deutsche Lufthansa AG. (WSJ)
Southwest Airlines Co. is extending its long-haul routes with
plans for service to Hawaii next year. (WSJ)
A study says the U.S. auto parts industry could lose up to
50,000 jobs if Nafta is terminated. (Reuters)
High water levels closed the Ohio River to c ommercial barge
traffic, the second closure in as many weeks. (Farm Journal)
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is pushing harder into emerging
markets as direct competition with Amazon grows around the world.
(Nikkei Asian Review)
Hong Kong-based logistics startup Lalamove raised $100 million
in a funding round valuing the company at nearly $1 billion. (South
China Morning Post)
Amazon has gained more than $1.2 billion in tax breaks as it has
expanded its network of U.S. distribution centers. (Business
Journals)
U.S. railroads' intermodal traffic soared 10.6% in the first
week of October. (Progressive Railroading)
Last week's $2.09-per-mile average spot rate for U.S. truckload
van transport was the highest in nearly three years, says DAT
Solutions LLC. (DC Velocity)
Toyota Motor Corp. is testing its hydrogen cell-powered truck in
freight operations around California's ports of Los Angeles and
Long Beach. (TechCrunch)
Difficulty finding warehouse workers is hindering Eastern
Pennsylvania's l ogistics-industry growth. (Allentown Morning
Call)
Demand for warehouse and distribution space in Houston has
soared since Hurricane Harvey. (Houston Chronicle)
Furniture retailer Noble House and home accessories seller Best
Choice each plan to build East Coast distribution hubs near
Georgia's Port of Savannah. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Ireland-based apparel retailer Primark named David James as its
supply chain director. (Logistics Manager)
ABOUT US
Paul Page is deputy editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Follow him
at @PaulPage, and follow the entire WSJ Logistics Report team:
@brianjbaskin , @jensmithWSJ and @EEPhillips_WSJ. Follow the WSJ
Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.
Write to Paul Page at paul.page@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 13, 2017 06:49 ET (10:49 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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