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Lab Testing Supply Chains; Undelivered Packages Become Mystery Gifts By Paul Berger

The quest to keep human rights and environmental abuses out of supply chains is leading companies into the laboratory.

Retailers from Patagonia to Shein are using isotopic testing to verify the provenance of their goods. The WSJ's Dylan Tokar reports that the tests are proving helpful for companies that want to make sure materials such as cotton used in socks and T-shirts aren't sourced from forced labor trouble spots like Xinjiang, China .

Rising attention by regulators around the world to abuses has companies and governments grasping for increasingly sophisticated ways of using science to shine a light into the dark corners of global supply chains.

The demand has created a burgeoning industry of chemical forensics providers such as New Zealand-based Oritain, which says it can help businesses prove the origin of materials in their products.

Isotopic testing allows companies to peer into the atomic makeup of materials to determine where they come from. That is particularly helpful for materials such as cotton, which travels across a sprawling network of factories, textiles makers, mills and cotton ginners before it arrives in the U.S.

Scientists say there is value in isotopic testing. But they caution that it isn't foolproof and that sourcing claims warrant deeper investigation.

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E-Commerce

Undelivered packages are proving an unlikely hit for novelty shoppers. Startup Fundelivered is repurposing the mountain of undeliverable packages generated by the e-commerce boom to bundle pick-and-mix style mystery boxes that can be given as gag gifts. The WSJ's Ben Ashwell writes that the joke can backfire when recipients discover the odd piece of lingerie or a sex toy buried among clothing and accessories . The niche gift idea springs from the struggles of big-box retailers and online merchants dealing with returns because of incorrect mailing information and other delivery snafus. The retailers sell the orphaned inventory to third-party logistics companies who in turn sell the unopened merchandise to businesses like Fundelivered.

TikTok Shop is going live in Spain , the first step of a wider European rollout. (TechCrunch) Number of the Day In Other News

Europe's natural-gas prices are expected to halve in the coming years as global LNG supplies ramp up. (WSJ)

China massed dozens of navy and coast guard vessels in the largest maritime exercises in decades targeting Taiwan. (WSJ)

A federal judge blocked Kroger from acquiring Albertsons. (WSJ)

General Motors scrapped its Cruise robotaxi program . (WSJ)

Boeing is restarting production of its 737 MAX jets after a strike earlier this year. (WSJ)

Memory-chip maker Micron finalized a U.S. government grant of up to $6.1 billion to build factories in New York and Idaho. (WSJ)

Jeep maker Stellantis and Chinese battery maker CATL will invest about $4.3 billion to build a low-cost EV battery plant in Spain. (WSJ)

Volkswagen and labor leaders will meet again next week after failing to reach an agreement on sweeping cost cuts . (WSJ)

Arabica coffee prices hit their highest-ever level on global supply worries, beating a prior record set almost 50 years ago. (WSJ)

The owner of the DSW shoestore chain cut its outlook for the year after sales fell in the most recent quarter. (WSJ)

The head of Hershey's core candy business is leaving the chocolate maker after three months. (WSJ)

Costco Wholesale is switching manufacturers for its popular Kirkland Signature brand of diapers. (Bloomberg)

Hapag-Lloyd's CEO says there isn't enough green fuel to power the dual-fuel ships being added to fleets. (Journal of Commerce)

A Chinese vessel lost two ship-to-shore gantry cranes overboard after running into severe weather off the coast of Spain. (Marine Insight)

Canadian National Railway headed off a potential strike by reaching a tentative deal with the Unifor union. $(CTV)$

Rhode Island can reinstate its trucks-only toll program following an appeals court ruling. (Overdrive)

The crew of an orange juice tanker rescued a sailor from a burning yacht more than 400 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico. (gCaptain)

About Us

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at [paul.page@wsj.com].

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage , @bylizyoung and @pdberger . Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on X at @WSJLogistics .

This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 11, 2024 07:02 ET (12:02 GMT)

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