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By Paul Page 

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British grocery supplier G Fresh Ltd. has been resetting its supply chain well ahead of the U.K.'s departure from the European Union, packing trucks from Spain more tightly and bypassing distribution centers to cut rising import costs. The company is among many across the country that are already taking strategic moves to prepare for a post-Brexit future, the WSJ's Jason Douglas and Robert Wall report. Actual separation could take years, even after the U.K. moved closer today with a vote from Parliament giving British Prime Minister Theresa May the go-ahead for negotiations. But the more immediate concern has been a sharply lower pound that has roiled trade, pushing greater demand for U.K. exports but driving up the cost of imported goods, supplies and ingredients for many companies. Some, like G Fresh, are tweaking distribution operations, but industrial parts maker Corrotherm International Ltd., accelerated plans to open a factory in France to avoid any new tariff or custom costs.

Ocean transport operations are moving from the water to land. Shipping technology provider INTTRA is buying Belgium-based container tracking specialist Avantida, WSJ Logistics Report writes, adding an intermodal piece to the company's booking platform and likely setting the stage for more moves in the seaborne supply chain. INTTRA Chief Executive John Fay says the buy is the first step in a strategy "to extend our network beyond the ocean participants." Those ocean players include Maersk Line, the world's biggest container line and, along with several other carriers, a part owner of INTTRA. Maersk wants to expand its role in shipper supply chains, and recently struck a deal to test blockchain technology for tracking shipments. INTTRA's new business tracks empty containers, not shipments, but finding and getting those far-flung empties can be crucial to getting exports on ships, which is really what the shipping lines and their booking platform want.

Intel Corp. is placing the biggest bet yet that the future of automotive supply chains will be based on computer chips. The semiconductor giant struck a deal to buy Mobileye NV for about $15.3 billion, the WSJ's Austen Hufford reports, the latest big investment by a technology company in the future of self-driving cars. Jerusalem-based Mobileye makes chip-based camera systems that power semi-automated driving features already being used in cars, and wants to make that technology central to self-driving cars of the future. The acquisition will accelerate the race by auto makers, part suppliers and increasingly aggressive tech companies in the autonomous-vehicle sector. And the sheer scale of Intel's Mobileye acquisition reflects the widespread view that the auto-supply sector is where future value is expected to be generated.

SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES

The Lincoln and Cadillac will start competing head-to-head far from their home markets. Lincoln Motor Co. will start building cars in China by late 2019, the WSJ's Trefor Moss reports, bidding to catch up with General Motors Co.'s Cadillac and gain a larger share of rising luxury-car demand in the world's biggest auto market. The Ford Motor Co. unit says it will start making Lincolns in Chongqing -- where Ford already operates in partnership with local state-owned auto maker Changan Automobile Group Co. The move extends the globalization of automotive supply chains even amid growing protectionist rhetoric in the U.S. and elsewhere. There are big incentives for the companies to move their manufacturing to China since cars imported into the country incur a 25% tariff, making local manufacturing a necessary step for any auto maker wanting to sell in volume in a highly price-sensitive market segment.

QUOTABLE

IN OTHER NEWS

The Port of New York and New Jersey closed and thousands of flights were canceled today as the East Coast braced for a storm set to dump heavy snows from Virginia to New England. (WSJ)

Home decor and apparel chain Gordmans Stores Inc. is seeking chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after reaching a deal to liquidate inventory and other assets. (WSJ)

Truck drivers say the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach clean-trucks plan has provided them with shoddy vehicles, dimming confidence in the program. (KPCC)

Urgent efforts to bar shipments of flammable rechargeable batteries from aircraft have faded under the Trump administration's deregulation drive. (Associated Press)

Panjiva says U.S. waterborne imports fell 8% in February. (Logistics Management)

Authorities in Bangladesh ordered dozens of tanneries to shut down over environmental concerns. (Sourcing Journal)

Amazon.com Inc. has become one of Costa Rica's biggest employers with its investment in software development and other work. (Seattle Times)

DHL opened a distribution center in Hong Kong aimed at cross-border e-commerce shipping. (Air Cargo News)

HSH Nordbank rejected a RIckmers Maritime Trust restructuring plan but said it may forgive some debt if the container ship owner can reach deals with other creditors. (Splash 24/7)

The parent of Hong Kong's Orient Overseas Container Line reported a $219.2 million loss for 2016 on an 11% decline in freight revenue. (Seatrade Maritime)

The Alaska Railroad Corp. is cutting more positions as it copes with an unrelenting decline in shipping demand. (Progressive Railroading)

Scientists seeking to preserve thousands of years of climate data are shipping pieces of a glacier from Bolivia to Antarctica. (Fast Company)

ABOUT US

Paul Page is deputy editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Follow him at @PaulPage, and follow the entire WSJ Logistics Report team: @brianjbaskin, @jensmithWSJ and @EEPhillips_WSJ and follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.

Subscribe to this email newsletter by clicking here: http://on.wsj.com/Logisticsnewsletter .

Write to Paul Page at paul.page@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 14, 2017 06:51 ET (10:51 GMT)

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