Latest news with #Flexport
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Flexport Debuts Tariff Simulator as Customers ‘Need Clarity on Costs'
Flexport wants to help businesses better estimate how much extra they're paying in tariffs when they're importing goods into the U.S. The digital freight forwarder launched the Flexport Tariff Simulator Monday as importers continue to navigate the stop-and-start environment. The simulator is accessible to the general public. More from Sourcing Journal US Pushes Global Partners for Trade Deals by Wednesday Trade Truce Crumbles as China Says US Violated Terms Trans-Pacific Ocean Freight Rates Continue Their Ascent on More Front-Loading With the Flexport Tariff Simulator, importers shipping to the U.S. can now estimate tariff and landed cost scenarios based on key shipment details, including: the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code; shipment value; entry date; country of origin; and product-specific details such as material composition. For example, a business importing a men's T-shirt from China can either search their specific product category or enter the relevant HTS code and select an entry date to receive an estimated, detailed duty calculation with landed cost. The calculation also breaks out how much is owed for each individual duty that applies to the product's country of origin. Additionally, the tool also allows shippers to include potential exclusion codes to determine how much they would save if applied. Within the simulator, there is an interactive map that allows users to see trade data around the world including the total value of imports from a given country, the current average duty rate and the percentage of total U.S. imports coming from that country. The map also can break down total imports by individual HTS codes, and enables users to see the top trade partners for each individual product category. The simulator is built to enable dynamic scenario planning and cost forecasting as importers explore alternative trade lanes, manufacturing options and import timelines. According to Flexport, the user interface is updated in real time as tariff policies change. 'Our customers have been telling us loud and clear: they need clarity on costs,' said Ryan Petersen, founder and CEO of Flexport, in a statement. 'Our engineering team built The Flexport Tariff Simulator in response to meet that need in the face of all the uncertainty caused by rapid policy changes. We want to help merchants avoid expensive surprises.' Petersen has been vocal about the tariffs in recent months and how they could impact the Flexport business and its many customers. He told Fortune in a recent interview that the duties push back profitability projections for Flexport by six months to a year. And in a separate interview with The Wall Street Journal, he called the tariffs 'an extinction-level, asteroid-wiping-out-the-dinosaurs kind of event' for small businesses. In a LinkedIn post on Monday, Petersen called the tariff simulator 'the number one thing customers have asked for.' Retailers and brands alike of all sizes have had to endure a flurry of on-the-fly changes to U.S. tariff policy since April 2, when President Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' announcements unveiled a slew of country-specific 'reciprocal' tariffs on dozens of American trade partners. A week later, on the day those duties initially went into effect, Trump put a 90-day pause on the country-specific tariffs, paring them back to a 10-percent baseline. Much of the attention is now on China, where plenty of Flexport customers still manufacture and source many of their products. China has seen the most tariff fluctuations of any U.S. trade partner as the White House continues its trade war against the country, likely creating confusion among those business leaders needing to stay abreast of the immediate impacts. On top of already existing Section 301 tariffs, China's 'Liberation Day' duties, including the 20-percent fentanyl-related tax, totaled 54 percent. These tariffs were then escalated to 145 percent as the remaining country-specific tariffs were scaled back, before being put largely on pause in May for 90 days. Chinese imports into the U.S. now have a duty rate of 30 percent. President Trump and China's President Xi Jinping could hold direct talks on the tariffs as soon as this week, according to the White House. Flexport's launch came the same day a Reuters report indicated that the White House wants its 'best offers' from U.S. trade partners by a Wednesday deadline. The official deadline for most countries to negotiate new deals with the Trump administration is July 9, before the 90-day pause expires and the original April 2 duties would go into effect. For China, the target date is Aug. 14. Alongside the tariff simulator launch, the freight tech company also is debuting a new, searchable catalog of HTS code content. Each entry is designed to provide detailed, easy-to-understand information to help businesses better navigate classification requirements, special duty rates and implications for their customs clearance process. Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Melden Sie sich an, um Ihr Portfolio aufzurufen. Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Flexport Launches Tariff Simulator to Help Businesses Navigate Rapidly Changing Trade Policies
SAN FRANCISCO, June 02, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flexport, the leading global logistics technology company, today announced the launch of the Flexport Tariff Simulator, a powerful new tool designed to help businesses estimate landed costs and navigate the evolving tariff landscape with greater speed and confidence. The tool is available to the general public at The launch marks the latest addition to Flexport's growing suite of customs and trade advisory technology—designed to provide importers with the data, insights, and transparency they need to make smarter, faster decisions in a complex global trade environment. With the Flexport Tariff Simulator, importers shipping to the United States can now estimate tariff and landed cost scenarios based on key shipment details, including: Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code; Shipment value; Entry date; Country of origin; and Product-specific details such as material composition. For example, a business importing aluminum-containing goods from China can enter the relevant HTS code, input the aluminum content, and select an entry date to receive an estimated, detailed duty calculation with landed cost. The Flexport Tariff Simulator enables dynamic scenario planning and cost forecasting as businesses explore alternative trade lanes, manufacturing options, and import timelines. "Our customers have been telling us loud and clear: they need clarity on costs," said Ryan Petersen, Founder and CEO of Flexport. "Our engineering team built The Flexport Tariff Simulator in response to meet that need in the face of all the uncertainty caused by rapid policy changes. We want to help merchants avoid expensive surprises." Within the simulator, there is an interactive map that allows users to see critical trade data around the world including the total value of imports from a given country, the current average duty rate, and the percentage of total United States imports coming from that country. Along with the tariff simulator, Flexport is also launching a new, searchable catalog of HTS code content. Each entry provides detailed, easy-to-understand information to help businesses better navigate classification requirements, special duty rates, and implications for their customs clearance process. While there are a number of other duty calculators that have launched, the Flexport Tariff Simulator is unique in its intuitive user interface and the fact it is updated in real time as tariff policies change. The technology is powered by Flexport's deep expertise in trade advisory, accurately applying tariff rates in an evolving, complex environment. As tariffs shift, the simulator and HTS catalog will evolve accordingly, ensuring customers always have the most accurate and transparent data at their fingertips. "As one of the largest customs brokerages in the U.S., Flexport is uniquely positioned to help businesses of all sizes stay compliant while managing risk and cost," Petersen added. The Flexport Tariff Simulator is available exclusively for U.S. imports and will be accessible to the general public for free at: About Flexport We believe trade can move the human race forward. That's why since our founding in 2013, it's our mission to make global commerce so easy there is more of it. Flexport is the tech-driven platform for global logistics—empowering buyers, sellers and their logistics partners with the technology and services to grow and innovate. Flexport was one of CNBC's Disruptor 50 Companies as well as one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. Trusted by more than 10,000 brands, Flexport connects every step of the supply chain from factory floor to customer door - making it easy for businesses to ship anywhere, sell everywhere, and grow faster. View source version on Contacts Media Contact press@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Flexport Launches Tariff Simulator to Help Businesses Navigate Rapidly Changing Trade Policies
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flexport, the leading global logistics technology company, today announced the launch of the Flexport Tariff Simulator, a powerful new tool designed to help businesses estimate landed costs and navigate the evolving tariff landscape with greater speed and confidence. The tool is available to the general public at The launch marks the latest addition to Flexport's growing suite of customs and trade advisory technology—designed to provide importers with the data, insights, and transparency they need to make smarter, faster decisions in a complex global trade environment. With the Flexport Tariff Simulator, importers shipping to the United States can now estimate tariff and landed cost scenarios based on key shipment details, including: Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code; Shipment value; Entry date; Country of origin; and Product-specific details such as material composition. For example, a business importing aluminum-containing goods from China can enter the relevant HTS code, input the aluminum content, and select an entry date to receive an estimated, detailed duty calculation with landed cost. The Flexport Tariff Simulator enables dynamic scenario planning and cost forecasting as businesses explore alternative trade lanes, manufacturing options, and import timelines. 'Our customers have been telling us loud and clear: they need clarity on costs,' said Ryan Petersen, Founder and CEO of Flexport. 'Our engineering team built The Flexport Tariff Simulator in response to meet that need in the face of all the uncertainty caused by rapid policy changes. We want to help merchants avoid expensive surprises.' Within the simulator, there is an interactive map that allows users to see critical trade data around the world including the total value of imports from a given country, the current average duty rate, and the percentage of total United States imports coming from that country. Along with the tariff simulator, Flexport is also launching a new, searchable catalog of HTS code content. Each entry provides detailed, easy-to-understand information to help businesses better navigate classification requirements, special duty rates, and implications for their customs clearance process. While there are a number of other duty calculators that have launched, the Flexport Tariff Simulator is unique in its intuitive user interface and the fact it is updated in real time as tariff policies change. The technology is powered by Flexport's deep expertise in trade advisory, accurately applying tariff rates in an evolving, complex environment. As tariffs shift, the simulator and HTS catalog will evolve accordingly, ensuring customers always have the most accurate and transparent data at their fingertips. 'As one of the largest customs brokerages in the U.S., Flexport is uniquely positioned to help businesses of all sizes stay compliant while managing risk and cost,' Petersen added. The Flexport Tariff Simulator is available exclusively for U.S. imports and will be accessible to the general public for free at: About Flexport We believe trade can move the human race forward. That's why since our founding in 2013, it's our mission to make global commerce so easy there is more of it. Flexport is the tech-driven platform for global logistics—empowering buyers, sellers and their logistics partners with the technology and services to grow and innovate. Flexport was one of CNBC's Disruptor 50 Companies as well as one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. Trusted by more than 10,000 brands, Flexport connects every step of the supply chain from factory floor to customer door - making it easy for businesses to ship anywhere, sell everywhere, and grow faster.
Epoch Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
US-China Tariff Truce Triggers Cargo Stampede, Scramble to Diversify Beyond China: Analysts
News Analysis When word broke on May 12 that Washington and Beijing had agreed to a 90-day tariff pause, containers quickly piled up at Shenzhen's Yantian International Container Terminal, the port that handles more than a quarter of U.S.-bound cargo. U.S. duties dropped from 145 percent to 30 percent and China's from 125 percent to 10 percent. Within a day, rows of outbound boxes jammed major Chinese docks, carriers were peak-season surcharges for sailings weeks before summer, and spot rates on the Pacific began to soar. The tariff reprieve expires on Aug. 11. If negotiators fail to reach a broader deal by then, tariffs of up to 54 percent could snap back into place. Analysts say the 90-day truce offers only a brief lifeline. It has locked in a new playbook of rush shipping, floating-tariff contracts, and multi-country production hedges that will outlast the reprieve. Far from reversing the trend, it reinforces the supply-chain exodus that began in Trump's first term and has accelerated in the current one. Average weekly bookings from China to the United States Related Stories 5/18/2025 5/26/2025 Drewry's index shows May 15 spot rates on the Shanghai–Los Angeles lane 'There won't be enough ships for all this cargo. Get ready for surge pricing,' shipping firm Flexport chief executive Ryan Petersen 'The 90-day reprieve simply resets the clock,' U.S.-based economist Davy J. Wong told The Epoch Times. 'We've moved from 'deal or no deal' to chronic confrontation. High tariffs could remain as the baseline, and exemptions become the bargaining chips.' Washington, he added, can raise or lower duties at will, using them as a lever whenever Chinese industrial policy shifts, the yuan slides, or U.S. inflation flares. A lasting thaw of U.S.-China trade tensions 'seems unlikely anytime soon,' Sun Kuo-hsiang, an international affairs professor at Taiwan's Nanhua University, told The Epoch Times. Each pause-and-rebound cycle, he said, nudges more factories abroad and pushes the higher-margin plants that stay to automate—auto-parts lines already swapping workers for robotic welding arms, appliance makers rolling out smart assembly cells. Ports Jammed, Contracts Rewritten The port crunch is already rippling through carrier operations. With Yantian berths booked solid, German carrier Hapag-Lloyd Exporters are betting on speed. An aerial view shows containers stacked at a port in Taicang, in eastern China's Jiangsu province on May 18, 2025. STR/AFP via Getty Images Chinese factories are clearing backlogged inventory, high-margin goods, and holiday merchandise first, Sun said, with long-term orders from major U.S. retailers taking priority. Wong calls the tactic 'ship early and stockpile on the U.S. West Coast'—a reversal of the usual pattern in which U.S. importers build inventories. This time, Chinese exporters are sending even unsold cargo across the Pacific to beat the clock. If duties return in August, cargo still in transit could be rerouted through Mexico or Southeast Asia for repackaging, dumped into China's domestic market, stripped for parts, or written off if margins vanish, Wong said. Buyers and sellers are redrafting deals just as fast, he added. He said contracts now feature floating-tariff clauses, shorter payment terms, , and non-deliverable forwards—currency contracts to cushion any slide in the yuan that new tariff headlines could trigger. Sun sees more pay-on-delivery schedules, and explicit cost-sharing formulas when duties change, with tighter termination clauses: 'These instruments are now routine for mid- to large-size exporters.' Insurance markets have responded in kind: war and political risk premiums, elevated since the Red Sea attacks, now Factories on the Move Producers across the Pacific offer a snapshot of how the 90-day truce is accelerating an old trend. Limoss, a German maker of remote-control systems based in the Chinese manufacturing hub of Dongguan, is seeking to expand operations in Malaysia for U.S. orders because 'crossing our fingers isn't a strategy,' general manager Christian Gassner That calculation echoes up and down the value chain. Japanese heavy machinery maker Komatsu Chinese-made cars, including Volvo and other brands, at a port in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 16, 2025. AFP via Getty Images The pivot has been underway for years: by 2024, Vietnam was making half of Nike's shoes, nearly a third of its apparel, 40 percent of Lululemon products, and 39 percent of Adidas footwear—evidence of how first-term Trump tariffs set global supply chains in motion. A veteran Chinese paper-goods maker surnamed Chen Vietnam itself was briefly subjected to a 46 percent U.S. reciprocal tariff, but that duty has been suspended at a 10 percent baseline since April 9. U.S. retailers are adjusting, too. Target is 'treasure-hunt' model—constantly rotating product offerings—to swap in lower-tariff goods. Automation, 'China + 1' Surge Sun pegs 2024 to 2026 as the critical window for 'China + 1' migration, keeping a foothold in China while adding at least one production base elsewhere to hedge risk. Electronics, apparel, toys, and home-appliance makers are leading the charge to Vietnam, Mexico, and Indonesia. Higher-tech firms are splitting new investment between China and alternative sites, he said. Beijing's counter‐move is rapid If robots and smart controls can cut unit costs far enough, a handful of high-margin lines might stay despite duties—but Sun concedes most plants can't make the numbers work once U.S. tariffs approach 40 to 50 percent. Either way, the trade-off is fewer jobs at home. An employee moves parcels from a conveyor belt to an automatic robot at the warehouse of a logistics base of JingDong Group in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on November 5, the push is official policy. Under its Made in China 2025 blueprint, Beijing wants domestic makers of robots and control systems to capture 70 percent of the home market by 2025. Sun expects automation to spread first in higher-margin segments such as auto-parts machining, large-appliance assembly, and the production of industrial PCs and other embedded controllers. Wong sees the second China + 1 wave cresting in late 2025 as higher-value industries lean into automation, digital twins, and local fulfillment networks to stay nimble. Bottlenecks for the US, Risks for China The scramble carries risks beyond freight rates, Wong said. China still dominates specialty chemicals, active pharmaceutical ingredients, precision machine-tool parts, and rare-earth magnets, he said. Even brief delays can idle U.S. plants for months. At the same time, the capital that keeps this trade moving is just as exposed to shocks, Sun said. Much of the rush is bank-financed, Sun added. Short-term loans fund the inventory, and if demand falters, unsold stock becomes 'a liquidity black hole' for small and mid-size exporters. Chinese lenders have already Wong fears a wave of non-performing loans at Chinese regional lenders that specialize in trade finance. S&P Global Conversely, if tariffs jump in August, Wong foresees 'localized, industry-specific layoffs' in export-heavy Chinese hubs like Guangdong and Jiangsu as early as September. Factories lacking branding and domestic conversion channels would start shedding workers first, he added. Labor-intensive workshops in toys, apparel, and small appliances are already trimming shifts, Sun said. Carriers Eye Exit For ocean carriers, Wong said, the calculus is simple: if demand collapses after August, ships will stay in port despite low fuel prices. New contracts penalize shippers that default on minimum-load commitments, Sun noted, yet without steady volumes, even penalties may not keep vessels running. The Trump administration warns higher tariffs will return unless Beijing concedes more ground. A China Shipping cargo container sits stacked at the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, Calif., on April 10, 2025. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images For now, ships race the calendar. 'The pause-and-rebound cycle is likely here to stay,' Wong said. Sun echoed the view: every truce triggers a rush to ship, a spike in rates, and a fresh round of hedging. Businesses on both shores are behaving as if the era of predictable low tariffs is over, Wong added. They are padding inventories, rewriting contracts, and uprooting supply chains, not for a one-off crisis but for a future in which trade peace lasts only as long as the next 90-day clock. Gu Xiaohua and Reuters contributed to this report.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Uber Freight bets big on AI tools to grow its business
Three years ago, as the pandemic caused chaos for companies big and small, Colgate-Palmolive's chief supply chain officer Luciano Sieber orchestrated a 'logistics blitz.' The result gave Sieber a better understanding of how Colgate-Palmolive moves its products around the world. But it stuck Sieber with another problem: too much data. About a year ago, Sieber says he found a solution to that problem with Uber Freight. The ride-hailing service's long-running logistics and analytics arm has been developing new ways to wrangle large amounts of data by using artificial intelligence. Colgate-Palmolive became one of the first companies to use one of its newest products, a logistics-focused LLM Uber Freight calls Insights AI. Now, Uber Freight is more formally launching a suite of AI features to shippers around the world as part of its existing supply chain software. That includes an expansion of Insights AI, which Uber Freight quietly launched in 2023, as well as more than 30 AI agents built to 'execute key logistics tasks throughout the freight lifecycle.' Uber Freight is not alone in trying to tame unruly supply chains with modern artificial intelligence tools. Flexport announced its own suite of AI tools in February, and there are myriad startups trying to help companies wrangle data, reduce inventory stockpiles, and better predict supply and demand. But Uber Freight is betting its AI solutions can make an immediate impact on the bottom line of both its blue-chip customers and the nearly 10,000 other shippers it works with. That's largely because of the knowledge base and relationships it has established in the eight years since it was created to match long-haul truckers with shippers. 'Supply chain is inherently a data-rich problem. It's complex, it's nuanced, and AI can serve a fundamental role in shaping it and accelerating it,' Uber Freight founder Lior Ron said in an interview with TechCrunch. Uber Freight began as a more straightforward brokerage business model when it launched in 2017. But the Uber subsidiary has steadily evolved over the years into more of a service provider to companies that ship goods around the world. Many modern companies are trying to find ways to incorporate artificial intelligence (often to mixed results); it should come as no surprise that Uber Freight is putting the technology front and center. After all, both Ron's undergraduate work and his master's thesis were centered around AI -- way back 'in the dark ages when it was called 'neural networks,'' he joked. Ron continued to work with machine learning technology when he was running Google Maps from 2007 until 2016. It was there, he said, that he saw 'the potential of digitizing the physical universe.' 'That sort of led me to the foundational belief, nine years ago, that supply chain is fundamentally a data-first, technology-first challenge that could be accelerated with data connectivity, and over time, AI,' he said. 'We've been building towards this moment, I think, since I started Uber Freight.' Ron said Uber Freight has used machine learning in its work since the beginning. But it was around two years ago that the team started trying to work with more advanced generative AI capabilities. That 'hasn't been an easy road,' Ron said. Uber Freight's initial attempts at building a sort of 'co-pilot for logistics' were riddled with hallucinations and returned accurate answers only around 60% to 70% of the time. Now that technology has been 'battle tested' and is 'driving real business outcomes,' with an accuracy rate of 98%, according to Ron. The company says the Insights AI model has been trained on internal and external data related to the $20 billion worth of freight that it helps move every year. It also leverages multiple undisclosed AI models "providing optimal combinations of price, precision and performance," according to Uber Freight. Ron said this AI push creates new ways for customers to work with the data related to their supply chain. They can ask Insights AI to quickly pull up, say, the worst-performing origin points for particular shipments. Or they can ask to be shown 'all shipments to CVS in 2023.' Ron stressed that the queries can be far more complex than this, too, and the model always keeps up. Insights AI is presented to customers much like other popular LLM interfaces; it will also show its work and make clear where all the data is coming from, just like other reasoning models. All of this lets a customer 'gain insights on your network much faster, at close to 100% accuracy instantly, versus formulating what you want to know, sending it to some analysts, and waiting for two weeks for the PowerPoint presentation to come back to have a discussion,' Ron said. Uber Freight works with a lot of Fortune 500 companies, but it found a particularly willing partner in Colgate-Palmolive to trial Insights AI and its other new tools. The conglomerate already makes a suite of AI models available to all of its employees, according to Sieber. It also makes those workers take a mandatory training on AI ethics that was developed in-house. 'I think it's great, because it turns the conversation from fear into, 'how that makes me more efficient, and how [do] I become a better professional and deliver more by having access and using those new technologies,'' Sieber said. For instance, Sieber said his company has used Insights AI to easily identify carriers who are accepting fewer shipments than they're contractually obligated to move. From there, they can work out why those levels are low, and either come up with a solution to get the carrier back in compliance or drop them in favor of another. This was previously a challenge to solve in real time, Sieber said, because companies like Colgate-Palmolive work with thousands of carriers. Each of those might work with different systems and workflows, and all of that resulting information was never really centrally managed. The next step with AI, both Sieber and Ron said, has been finding ways to create more proactive solutions. Ron said this is another place Uber Freight can flex its data strengths. 'We know the facilities, we know the lanes, we know the prices,' he said. 'What do you want to know?' These more proactive integrations come in the form of alerts that tell a customer like Colgate-Palmolive they're overpaying on certain routes, or that there are faster options available for a particular shipment. Any single suggestion like that may only save a few hundred, or perhaps a few thousand, dollars. But aggregated over an entire network, it could make a big difference. That's why, when asked, Sieber was quick to answer that Colgate-Palmolive's chief financial officer is the executive who's most pleased with what Uber Freight's enabled. 'He loves to see logistics costs coming down,' Sieber laughed. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
