1. Alibaba: Expected to Complete Dual Primary Listing by End of August

   On May 16th, Alibaba Group announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year of 2024, stating its anticipation to complete the transformation of its primary listing in Hong Kong by the end of August 2024. Upon completion, Alibaba will have dual primary listings on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. On July 26, 2022, Alibaba Group announced that its board of directors had authorized the management to submit an application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to add Hong Kong as a primary listing venue. The dual primary listing is expected to expand the investor base and bring new liquidity to Alibaba.

   Source: Securities Times

2. SF Express Upgrades Same-Day Delivery Service

   On May 16th, SF Express officially launched its "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cross-City Same-Day Delivery" service, another upgrade to its cross-city same-day delivery service following the "Shenzhen-Hong Kong Same-Day Delivery" and "Yangtze River Delta Cross-City Same-Day Delivery" services. The newly launched "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Same-Day Delivery" covers a total of 90 routes in 17 cities, including major cities like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguan, as well as medium-sized cities like Foshan, Zhongshan, Huizhou, Heyuan, and Qingyuan. It also introduces the "Dongguan-Hong Kong" cross-city same-day delivery service.

   Source: SF Express Group

3. Southern Airlines Logistics Signs International Cargo Station Project Cooperation Agreement with Zhaoqing High-tech Zone

   On May 16th, UPS opened a new distribution center near Munich, Germany, in Kirchheim, to expand its capacity and accelerate decarbonization in delivery. The new center covers an area of 20,900 square meters and is equipped with modern facilities aimed at providing a better working environment for employees and accelerating the expansion of the electric vehicle fleet. UPS also achieves zero-emission delivery through freight bicycles and electric vehicles, aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and have 40% of its vehicles using alternative energy by 2025.

   Source: State Post Bureau

4. MSC Leads with $10,000 Freight Rate

   On May 16th, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world's largest container shipping company, reintroduced the Diamond Tier freight rates implemented during the pandemic, which guarantee container space. Specifically, the freight rate per 40-foot container is $8,000 for the US West Coast and $10,000 for the US East Coast, effective from May 15th to 31st.

   Currently, the freight rate per 40-foot container is approximately $4,200 for the US West Coast and around $5,300 for the US East Coast. MSC's guaranteed space freight rates are nearly double the current rates. The market is also observing whether other shipping companies will follow suit. Shipping company executives noted that by the end of May, container space on US routes is already fully booked, while space on European routes is fully booked until the first or second week of June.

   Source: Shipping News

5. China to US Ocean Freight Rates Surge Nearly 40% in a Week

   Since May, ocean freight rates from China to North America have surged, causing "container scarcity" and soaring prices, posing difficulties for many small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in shipping. On May 13th, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) for exports (US West Coast route) reached 2,508 points, up 37% from May 6th and 38.5% from the end of April.

   The SCFI released on May 10th showed an 18.82% increase from the end of April, reaching a new high since September 2022. Among them, the US West Coast route rose to $4,393 per 40-foot container, and the US East Coast route rose to $5,562 per 40-foot container, up 22% and 19.3% from the end of April, respectively, reaching levels seen after the Suez Canal congestion in 2021.

   Source: SCFI

6. New Shipping Route Opened from Tianjin Port to US East Coast

   On May 16th, as the "COSCO SHIPPING Camellia" slowly departed from the Pacific International Container Terminal in Tianjin Port, it marked the official opening of a new shipping route from Tianjin Port to the US East Coast. This follows the addition of a direct route to the East Coast of South America earlier this month, making it another container shipping route opened by Tianjin Port. The route will deploy nine vessels with a capacity of 14,000 standard containers and operate once a week, facilitating the import of automobiles and agricultural products to the US East Coast and the export of chemical products, daily necessities, and other goods from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

   Source: CCTV News

7. Performance Reports for Hapag-Lloyd and HMM Released for the First Quarter

   On May 16th, the two shipping companies of THE Alliance, Hapag-Lloyd and HMM, respectively released their performance reports for the first quarter, with vastly different performances.

   In the first quarter of 2024, Hapag-Lloyd achieved revenues of $4.623 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 23%; Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) amounted to $396 million, down 78.8% year-on-year; Container transport volume increased by 6.8% year-on-year, reaching 3.037 million TEUs, with an average freight rate of $1,359 per TEU, a decrease of $640 per standard container compared to last year.

   In the first quarter of 2024, HMM achieved operating revenue of 23 trillion Korean won (approximately $16.8 billion), a year-on-year increase of 15%; operating profit was 407 billion Korean won (approximately $300 million), up 33% year-on-year; net profit was 485 billion Korean won (approximately $350 million), an increase of 62.8% year-on-year.

   Source: Hapag-Lloyd, HMM

8. Alibaba's AliExpress, TEMU, and Korean Government Sign Agreement

   On May 16th, the Korean government signed an agreement with AliExpress, a global subsidiary of Alibaba, and TEMU, a Korean subsidiary of Pinduoduo, to enhance product safety standards. Currently, AliExpress and TEMU have a significant number of users in Korea, with user numbers reaching 8.87 million and 8.29 million, respectively, as of March. This number has surpassed other local shopping platforms in Korea.

   Source: GlobeNewswire

9. Shopee's GMV Grows by 36.3% in the First Quarter

   On May 16th, Sea Group announced its financial performance for the first quarter ending March 31, 2024. The data showed that in the first quarter of 2024, the group's total revenue was $3.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 22.8%; net loss was $23 million, compared to a net profit of $87.3 million in the first quarter of 2023; adjusted EBITDA was $401.1 million, compared to $507.2 million in the first quarter of 2023.

   In 2015, the group launched the e-commerce platform Shopee in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. This quarter, the total number of orders for e-commerce business was 2.6 billion, up 56.8% year-on-year; GMV was $23.6 billion, up 36.3% year-on-year; total revenue was $2.7 billion, up 32.9% year-on-year, including $2.4 billion in GAAP marketplace revenue.

   Source: Sea

10. Amazon India Receives INR 16.6 Billion Investment

    On May 16th, Amazon invested INR 16.6 billion (approximately $198 million) in its Indian subsidiary. This is Amazon's second investment in its Indian division in five months. In January of this year, Amazon's Indian financial technology department, Amazon Pay, also received an investment of INR 8.3 billion from its US parent company. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated that Amazon will invest an additional $15 billion in India by 2030, bringing its total investment in India to $26 billion, including $12.7 billion that Amazon Web Services (AWS) will invest in India by the end of this year.

   Source: FashionNetwork India

11. US Announces Additional 301 Tariffs on Chinese Products

    On May 16th, the US government announced the results of the four-year review of the 301 tariffs on China, stating that it will further increase tariffs on imports from China, including electric vehicles, lithium batteries, photovoltaic cells, critical minerals, semiconductors, as well as steel, aluminum, port cranes, and personal protective equipment, with tariffs raised to 25% to 100%. The effective date is expected to be approximately within 90 days. China's exports of the "new three items" are all included. The White House believes that this move will affect over $18 billion worth of Chinese goods.

   Source: Yicai Finance

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Cross-border e-commerce logistics Bai xiaosheng