Retailers charter boats to circumvent supply chain crisis, get goods from overseas
24 August 2021
The world’s shipping chaos is pushing mega-retailers to make new investments: their own cargo ships.
Why it matters: It’s one way big companies are trying to circumvent the pandemic-fueled supply chain crisis that’s left store shelves sparse.
What’s happening: Home Depot and Walmart are among those chartering vessels in the mad dash to get stuff from overseas.
- "We have a ship that's solely going to be ours and it's just going to go back and forth … 100% dedicated to Home Depot," the company’s COO said.
- Merchants are "chartering vessels specifically for Walmart goods," though some items are still out of stock more than usual, CFO Brett Biggs told investors last week.
The intrigue: Chartering a vessel can cost around $40,000 per day, per one estimate cited by NBC News — in other words, a rounding error for corporate giants.
- Some transportation service companies are expanding offerings for chartering vessels in response "to high demand from existing retail customers," NBC reports.
But it’s likely not an option for smaller shops. That may make it more difficult for them to compete, at a time when pandemic pains have faded faster for bigger players.
One reason: Most other retailers aren’t bringing in nearly enough merchandise to fill a vessel — something that makes it economical for their giant counterparts.
- “For most other companies, this mismatch makes chartering vessels economically out of reach,” says Nate Herman, a policy executive at trade group American Apparel & Footwear Association.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.