M. Holland is exhibiting during the WAI Operations Summit & Wire Expo on June 7-8 in Dallas, Texas. This event focused on wire and cable manufacturing offers industry forecasts, technical presentations, networking and more. Join us at Booth #621 to learn more about our supply solutions for wire and cable.
Nick Chodorow has joined M. Holland as Chief Innovation Officer. In this role, Nick will lead efforts to enhance the company’s technology platforms and accelerate its digital journey. Click here to read the full press release.
Supply
Oil prices rose almost 2% Friday, with WTI notching its sixth weekly gain on tight U.S. supplies.
Canadian heavy crude is struggling to find export markets as it competes with releases of similar grades from strategic oil reserves, sending its discount to WTI to a seven-month high.
Some Norwegian oil production could go offline this week if over 600 workers move forward with a threatened strike.
The EPA issued biofuel blending mandates for 2022 and retroactive mandates for 2020 and 2021 that were delayed due to the pandemic, rejecting requests from oil refiners to be exempted.
A federal court ruling will make the U.S. administration analyze climate impacts before leasing some 4 million acres of federal land for oil and gas development.
Qatari LNG exports dropped this year despite requests from European countries for bigger deliveries.
France initiated talks with the UAE about potentially boosting the OPEC heavyweight’s exports.
Although Russian energy exports continue to find markets, industry leaders believe sanctions will degrade the nation’s production capacity over time, similar to Iran and Venezuela.
California port officials expect imports to rise as Shanghai emerges from its two-month lockdown, which sent Asia-West Coast FEU spot rates down 30%.
Nineteen of the U.S.’s top 20 ports are seeing record trade this year as consumers tap into savings and credit to keep up spending.
New long-term container line contracts are hitting all-time highs and sometimes are more expensive than the spot market. Benchmarking firm Xeneta’s index, which measures long-term contract rates, is up 30% this month and 150% the past year.
Shipyards in South Korea and China are overloaded with container ship orders, hindering output of LNG newbuilds and keeping rates for LNG carriers at all-time highs.
U.S. regulators have yet to find evidence of collusion over demurrage and detention rates charged by ocean carriers during periods of peak pandemic congestion.
Supply chain projects in North Carolina, Alaska and Puerto Rico were selected for some $40 million in federal dollars from America’s Marine Highway Program.
The Port of Houston started work on a $1.1 billion expansion of the Houston Ship Channel to allow more vessels to pass through. The port handled a record 334,493 TEUs in April, up 21% from last year.
The U.S. reported 13,138 new COVID-19 infections and 18 virus fatalities Sunday.
The Northeast’s recent surge of COVID-19 is moving West, with California seeing a 30% jump in cases the past week. Upward infection trends continue in at least 21 states.
Three different highly contagious Omicron subvariants are driving a new surge of COVID-19 infections in Florida, with the seven-day daily average of new cases rising to more than 10,200 Friday.
Half of business owners expect to be operating in-person all the time a year from now, according to a Nationwide survey. Just 7.4% of American workers are teleworking due to COVID-19, down from a pandemic high around 35%.
American Airlines predicts second-quarter revenue could swell 13% over 2019 levels, while non-fuel expenses rise a larger-than-expected 11%.
Boeing says the current state of aircraft technology would not justify launching a new jetliner, despite Airbus’ widening lead in the narrow-body market.
International Markets
Seven new COVID-19 cases prompted Shanghai authorities to lock down multiple neighborhoods only a day after city-wide restrictions were lifted last week.
Beijing will further relax COVID-19 restrictions starting today, including dropping traffic bans and allowing indoor dining and normal work to resume.
Less than 25,000 vehicles were sold in Russia in May, an 84% decline from April and the lowest level since at least 2006, as sanctions and the fallout from the war in Ukraine take a toll on the nation’s auto industry.