3M Japan

Supply chain issues tied to liner shipping have been front page news throughout 2021; just about everyone agrees that there’s a problem. The underlying cause is right out of Economics 101: a surge in demand for moving containerized cargo, in the face of “inelastic” throughput capacity (which includes vessels and their landside interfaces to surface transportation, trucks and rail) that could not handle the swell, attributable to re-stocking of containerized cargo as economic activity recovered from the pandemic induced jolts.

Barge freight costs for moving grains in the Midwestern United States spiked on Thursday due to ongoing logistical problems more than two weeks after Hurricane Ida, while CHS Inc said the timeline to reopen its terminal remains uncertain.CHS Inc, a farmer cooperative and grain trader, said it expected its Myrtle Grove, Louisiana, grain export terminal to be operational by the height of the U.S. corn and soy harvest but could not be more specific.The terminal, which unloads grain barges and loads ocean-going vessels for export, remains without power from the local utility provider and repair crews are using an onsite generator, it said. Power will have to be restored to resume shipments.

Hyundai Heavy Industries' shares closed 86% above their initial public offering (IPO) price on their trading debut in South Korea on Friday.The shipbuilder, one of the largest in the world, raised $935 million from its IPO, with much of the proceeds set to fund investments in new technology.A total of 1,633 domestic and foreign institutional investors placed bids to acquire shares earlier this month, valuing total bids at 1,130 trillion won ($962.3 billion), according to Hyundai Heavy.The institutional book for the IPO had been 1,836 times covered - the second-largest for an IPO in South Korea after SKIET earlier this year.

Several south Louisiana ports are requesting federal assistance to bolster recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Ida.On August 29, Ida made landfall in southeast Louisiana as a category 4 storm, heavily impacting local infrastructure, waterways and communities.The Lower Mississippi River opened three days later, and by September 2, the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) resumed limited operations and became fully operational September 7.  Although operations resumed, there remains ongoing assessment of needs, and supply chain disruptions also continue.

Indonesia said on Friday it was worried about an arms race in the region after neighboring Australia announced plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines as part of a new Indo-Pacific security alliance with the United States and Britain.Known as AUKUS, the alliance will see Australia get the technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines as part of agreement intended to respond to growing Chinese power.In a statement on Friday, the Indonesian foreign ministry noted with caution Australia's decision to acquire the submarines and said it was "deeply concerned over the continuing arms race and power projection in the region".