Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Wow, that's a huge surprise.

I hadn't heard of Flexport before, but they seem to be focused on global shipping. The company I work for ships almost all of its products internationally, and we have seen a massive price hike over the last 2-3 years. Some of it necessary due to rising costs, but we know for a fact that larger-volume customers are still getting lower prices. Additionally, the well-known carriers still offer incredibly poor service - most notably when it comes to tracking shipments and providing proper updates. This seems to be exactly the market Flexport wants to tackle.

If they can't even compete in the current overheated market, something must be going seriously wrong at their end.




The market right now is FAR from overheated. In fact maritime shipping is collapsing right now.

https://www.drewry.co.uk/supply-chain-advisors/supply-chain-...

Both volume and rates are down roughly 80% YOY.


That the companies are so sensitive to spikes and valleys in the market speaks louder about how badly run the companies are than anything else.


How would you better run transport/logistics company to not be as sensitive to spikes and valleys as a typical current transport/logistics company?


Trust me, we're not seeing any of that in practice yet. Although that could be because we almost exclusively use air shipping.


I understand why rates are collapsing. Why is demand / volume collapsing now? Because of slowdowns in China?




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: