A battle over the direction of shipping-services company Pitney Bowes is heating up, with investment in e-commerce business at the heart of the fight. Hedge fund Hestia Capital Management stepped up its push for changes at the century-old business with a call to replace Pitney Bowes CEO Marc Lautenbach and to take over control of the board. The WSJ Logistics Report’s Liz Young writes the third-largest shareholder in Pitney Bowes with an 8.4% stake claims the company’s profitability is being held back in part because of a strategic shift in recent years aimed at capturing more e-commerce business. It wants to cut costs and to replace Mr. Lautenbach with former software executive Lance Rosenzweig and seek strategic alternatives for the business. Pitney Bowes says it is focused on its long-term strategy of diversifying beyond its core mail services operations, a sector it says is in structural decline.

• Brazil is cracking down on Asian e-commerce companies in a tax overhaul. (South China Morning Post)

The electric-vehicle market could see some price relief at the source. Prices for the lithium that is a key battery material are reversing after a two-year tear that saw the value of the mineral grow by a factor of 12. The WSJ’s Scott Patterson and Amrith Ramkumar report that lithium prices are down more than 30% this year, a potential boost for consumers and vehicle manufacturers after the run-up in commodities prices. Prices for other metals that go into batteries, such as cobalt and nickel, are also sliding. The price reversal comes as auto makers invest heavily in new supply chains for the vehicles, including stakes in mining operations and battery plants. At the same time, companies including Tesla and Ford are cutting vehicle prices to attract more customers in an increasingly competitive market. For now, lithium prices remain high and auto makers remain worried about securing enough supply. 

Auto makers are striking more deals aimed at forging new supply chains for electric vehicles. Stellantis and BMW are now in talks with Panasonic about teaming up to build battery plants for the next-generation cars in North America. The WSJ’s River Davis, Ryan Felton and William Boston report the discussions come as car and battery makers are spending billions of dollars to build capacity for EV batteries and making crucial choices on technology now that could shape the future of the industry. Manufacturers are choosing between the rectangular pouch shapes preferred so far by most legacy auto makers and cylindrical batteries that can be more expensive and complicated but also pack more power and are considered relatively safe. Panasonic specializes in cylindrical batteries, and it has churned out billions of cylindrical cells for its main car-making customer, Tesla.

• Ryder System is adding 4,000 BrightDrop electric commercial vans to its fleet. (TechCrunch)
• General Motors overtook Ford as the No. 2 seller of electric vehicles in the U.S. after Tesla. (Associated Press)

Orders for manufactured goods in the U.S. fell in February for the third time in four months. (MarketWatch)

The number of job openings in the U.S. fell below 10 million in​ February for the first time in nearly two years. (WSJ)

Johnson & Johnson is proposing a settlement of at least $8.9 billion over lawsuits alleging that its talc-containing powders caused cancer. (WSJ)

A survey shows the average annual salary of supply chain and logistics professionals fell 4% in 2022 from the year before to $121,150. (Logistics Management)

Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing will start auditing working conditions at its third-tier suppliers. (Nikkei Asia)

Airbus is close to a multibillion-dollar sale of A350 widebody jets to China. (Bloomberg)

Mediterranean Shipping took delivery of its fourth vessel with capacity for more than 24,000 20-foot containers. (Port Technology)

Frontline owner John Fredriksen raised his stake in rival tanker operator Euronav to 26.46%. (Splash 247)

Authorities seized cocaine worth about $3.4 billion in a global investigation that included the seizure of 107 shipping containers. (Maritime Executive)

Global airfreight traffic declined 7.5% year-over-year in February. (Air Cargo News)

Maersk Air is adding two U.S.-China routes to its freighter network. (The Loadstar)

Authentic Brands is acquiring sports and lifestyle apparel retail group Boardriders. (Retail Gazette)

A top U.S. military officer says a “just-in-time” supply chain is too risky for the F-35 joint strike fighter program. (Defense News)

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 Twitter at @WSJLogistics.