As national governments supercharge the drive toward electrification, the scramble to secure supplies of Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) batteries is fueling major investments in mines, factories, and R&D. Global trade data is capturing signs of shifting cross-border supply...
Imports Into Southern California’s Ports Plunged 26% in October
Port of Los Angeles executive director says protracted contract negotiations are pushing importers to Gulf and East Coast gateways Imports into the nation’s busiest container port complex in Southern California are plummeting as U.S. trade sputters and retailers and...
US imports sink in September, suffer steepest drop since 2020 lockdowns
10/10/22 – Demand for Asian goods began dropping earlier this year. This is now having a delayed — and highly negative — effect on U.S. imports. Read More
What the First Half of 2022 Tells Us About Global Trade for the Future
More than halfway into 2022 and we are only certain about one thing – that predicting global trade flows is harder than ever. As Descartes’ Chris Jones writes, high inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine threaten to depress the economy. Read The Article »
Supply Diversity Is Key to Global Trading System Resilience: IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is calling for more diversity in global value chains as a means to boost supply chain resilience. Meanwhile, Descartes Datamyne trade data confirms the point that diversification reduces losses to supply disruptions. Moreover, our...
Global Shipping Crisis: Managing Supply Chain Risk More Complicated as U.S. Imports Hit Record High
A somewhat positive short-term outlook for the American economy and continued strong consumer spending helped push U.S. container imports into new record territory in May 2022. The spike will likely make managing supply chain risk all the more complex especially when...
Four Key Steps to Supply Chain Resilience in Today’s Rapid-Fire Shipping Disruptions
Economic downturns, trade conflicts, a pandemic, the shipping crisis, and a hot war in Europe – global supply chain disruptions now come in rapid-fire, tsunami-scale waves. Global trade intelligence can help companies reroute and rebuild supply chains today and craft...
What’s Happening at the Top U.S. Port?
In an interview with SupplyChainBrain, Descartes’ Mark Segner talks about a significant shift in U.S. import sources away from China and towards select countries in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam and Thailand. Read The Article »
Why the Global Shipping Crisis Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon
Supply chain issues continue to plague the industry, while persistent inflation and conflict abroad could create additional market chaos. Here's what it means for distributors. Read The Article »
Global Shipping Crisis: U.S. Container Import Volume Remains in Record Territory at Start of 2022
It would not have been outside the realms of possibility to think that the start of the New Year would marked by a lull in U.S. import volume. Afterall the traditionally quieter December month was as frenetic as it has been compared with the previous six months. The...



