Shutdowns, new hires, layoffs, and more

Rise and grind, hustle fam. Though the industry is looking dark right now, there are other reasons to look up.

In this newsletter, we’re bringing you information on the looming U.S. Government shutdown expected to disrupt trade activity, UPS to hire thousands of holiday workers, Flexe layoffs, and a freighter carrier launch in 2024.

NEWS

As Congress members negotiate government spending for the next fiscal year, the United States is at risk of its fourth partial government shutdown in the last decade. This could disrupt the regular operations of U.S. agencies responsible for trade activities.

If the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratic-led Senate don't agree on spending bills for fiscal year 2024 by September 30, 2023, around 438 government agencies will stop working from October 1, 2023. This will lead to non-essential federal workers being put on leave and important services for U.S. trade being affected.

During a government shutdown, the federal government will likely stop doing certain activities related to imports. This includes processing tariff exclusion requests, conducting investigations on antidumping duty and countervailing duty, and other regulatory and administrative tasks.

BUSINESS

UPS, the world's largest package delivery company, said it is hiring seasonal workers for the busy fourth quarter, which includes the festive season. They are offering full-time and part-time positions in many locations throughout the country.

They’re expected to take on 100,000+ more workers during this period for the holiday rush, a similar amount of workers it hired last year for the 2022 holiday season.

LOGISTICS

131 job cuts—33% of Flexe’s workforce—is expected to take place November in Seattle, Washington. As of September 26, the company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifcation and specified that layoffs are expected to start November 27.

Employees affected by the layoffs include logistics, solutions and integration analysts, senior software engineers, and more.

“We can confirm Flexe made the difficult decision to part ways with 33% of our staff. We are sincerely saddened to lose such great talent.”

— Flexe Company Spokesperson

AIR CARGO

US freighter airline 7 Air will launch regional cargo services in February of next year, using a single next-generation Boeing 737 freighter.

While the new airline has plans to add three more 737 aircraft within the first year of operations, it doesn’t currently plan to expand the fleet beyond four aircraft.

However, the airline does share ownership with Xtreme Aviation Holding, which owns leasing and repair businesses.

“The initial aircraft will be dedicated to the provision of all-cargo operations with primary operations from Miami to 48 contiguous states, District of Columbia, Central and South America, Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, and Alaska.”

— Airline 7 Air

WEEKLY RECAP

This past week Rahmael sits down with Jeff Davison, in Atlanta Georgia. As the CEO of Freight Mate, a load management app that saves you money and makes your business more efficient, Jeff’s got tons of tips on shipping pigs, moving freight, and how Freight Mate will change the transportation and logistics industry!

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better do better.“

— Maya Angelou