Signs of inflation are picking up, with a mounting number of consumer-facing companies warning in recent days that supply shortages and logistical logjams may force them to raise prices.
Container shipping rates are heading higher again, driven to new heights by unrelenting consumer demand and company restocking from Europe to the U.S. that are exhausting the world economy’s capacity to move goods across oceans.
Containers piled high on giant vessels carrying everything from car tires to smartphones are toppling over at an alarming rate, sending millions of dollars of cargo sinking to the bottom of the ocean as pressure to speed deliveries raises the risk of safety errors.
U.S. companies face soaring bills for all kinds of materials that they need to do business — and surging demand is helping them pass on those higher costs to their customers.
Bill Currence, president and managing partner of Cornerstone Consulting Organization, tells of the difficulties that manufacturers are experiencing in attracting workers in the midst of the pandemic, and what the employment picture will look like when it’s over.
Dana Watts, counsel with Miller & Chevalier, explains the “first sale” rule for reducing U.S. importers’ duty levels, and discusses whether it remains a viable method for achieving that purpose.
“This is a very volatile environment right now, very low visibility, lots of surprise,” said Nestle Chief Executive Mark Schneider. “We will take pricing action.”
In less than a year, Kansas City Southern has transformed from an industry wallflower to the belle of the ball, getting courted by Canada’s two biggest railroads.
The globalization of supply chains, technological advancements that allow companies to replace labor, legal barriers to organizing and the shrinking share of factory workers — traditionally easier to organize — in the workforce have all taken a toll.
