CEO Devin Burke Candid Interview on International Shipping Industry – Part 3
Universal Cargo CEO Devin Burke gave a candid interview at a coffee shop about the international shipping market, covering topics like how companies survive tough times in this business and an outlook for the industry through the rest of the year. Today, we post the third and final part of the interview.
Check out parts one and two here:
CEO Devin Burke Candid Interview on International Shipping Industry
CEO Devin Burke Candid Interview on International Shipping Industry – Part 2
We embedded the Youtube video of the final part of the interview here to the right, but it’s also posted on our TikTok and Instagram accounts.
Of course, the blog is the place for an easy-to-follow transcript of Devin’s insights that come from over forty years in the international shipping business. Speaking of which, here’s that transcript…
DEVIN: So, as far as what’s happening in the future this year, I would say the refunds are giving importers a little boost.
Q: What are you talking about? The refunds? What is that?
DEVIN: So the tariffs that were declared illegal by the Supreme Court, which were the reciprocal tariffs, they are now being refunded. So that’s a lot of money coming back to importers. I think the average amount would be somewhere around 100 grand.
Q: Wow, that’s pretty good.
DEVIN: You know, it’s going back to February of 2025. A lot of companies are getting their refunds now. They didn’t just file for them; they got them. And then this being peak season right now. So that’s causing a little bit of demand, so that freight rates are up, but demand is still way down. So freight rates, they went up a lot July 1st. Here it is July – what is today – 10th, 9th? They’re already coming down.
Q: So what do you think needs to happen in our economy for importing and buying and importing goods to rebound and get back to – maybe not to where it was before but – just better?
DEVIN: We need to get inflation down. So most of the inflation comes from the rising oil costs. And now that the war is back on with Iran, you know, we need to
take control of the Strait of Hormuz, which looks like that’s going to happen. But even then, Iran is always going to be a thorn on our sides, so that’s always going to be a reason for inflation to kind of stay up.
Yeah, where everybody’s hoping inflation would come down and interest rates would go down again. But because of this with Iran, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, and it might even be rates might go up. So that’s really hard on everybody because people can’t borrow money. Companies can’t borrow to spend on their company. People can’t refi. The real estate market sucks. So– it doesn’t really suck. It’s just not where it should be. So that for a lot of our customers, furniture guys, are not doing as much importing for furniture because the demand is still down.
But you know, everything that goes down has to come up. So I think it’s only only a matter of time before everything kind of dust settles and the market bounces back. And those companies that are well-positioned and stable, and we can operate in this depressed market, we’re gonna benefit. We’re gonna do good. That might not be till next year or the year after, I don’t know.
Q: Would you like to close with anything that’s on your mind you would like people to hear from you?
DEVIN: The what? [joking he can’t hear] Eh?
Q: Anything you would like the people to hear?
DEVIN: Well, I hate to sound cliché as a born again believer, but you know, during this time, what helps us is that we just, my wife and I, keep going back to God, saying, “Okay, God, what are you doing here? You’re teaching us something here.” And God is faithful. He answers your prayers. He gives you direction.
**End of transcript.**
Thanks for checking out this candid interview with Universal Cargo’s CEO Devin Burke. And remember, Universal Cargo is always here to help you with all of your international shipping needs.
