<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A strong surge in intermodal traffic pushed Kansas City Southern&amp;rsquo;s net profit up 60 percent to $52 million in the fourth quarter, extending a strong string of profit reports from North American </div>

A strong surge in intermodal traffic pushed Kansas City Southern&rsquo;s net profit up 60 percent to $52 million in the fourth quarter, extending a strong string of profit reports from North American

<div>A strong surge in intermodal traffic pushed Kansas City Southern&amp;rsquo;s net profit up 60 percent to $52 million in the fourth quarter, extending a strong string of profit reports from North American railroads. Railroad earnings news from JOC:<a>Canadian Pacific</a>, <a>Norfolk Southern</a>, <a>Canadian National</a>, <a>CSX</a>That gain from a year earlier would be 82 percent, the company said, when excluding debt retirement costs for the latest quarter.Revenue grew 18 percent to $479 million, &amp;ldquo;reflecting continued improvement in economic conditions in the markets served,&amp;rdquo; said <a>KCS</a>, the smallest of the U.S. Class I freight railroads with widespread operations in Mexico plus its U.S....

A strong surge in intermodal traffic pushed Kansas City Southern&rsquo;s net profit up 60 percent to $52 million in the fourth quarter, extending a strong string of profit reports from North American railroads. Railroad earnings news from JOC: Canadian Pacific , Norfolk Southern , Canadian National , CSX That gain from a year earlier would be 82 percent, the company said, when excluding debt retirement costs for the latest quarter. Revenue grew 18 percent to $479 million, &ldquo;reflecting continued improvement in economic conditions in the markets served,&rdquo; said KCS , the smallest of the U.S. Class I freight railroads with widespread operations in Mexico plus its U.S. lines. Freight volume increased 12 percent to 488,800 loads. Intermodal traffic rose 24 percent from a year earlier, while revenue on that business grew 28 percent to leave intermodal its third-strongest cargo for total receipts behind coal and grain. Metals and scrap volume surged 43 percent while sales in that group jumped 37 percent. Automotive traffic edged 1 percent higher but its 41 percent revenue gain was the largest increase for any category from the 2009 quarter. For all of 2010, revenue rose 23 percent to $1.8 billion even though Hurricane Alex blew away a lot of third quarter business. Unit volume rose 15 percent from 2009 and net profit for the full year tripled to $169 million. &ldquo;A solid fourth quarter capped off a year in which KCS&rsquo; 2010 linehaul revenues exceeded 2008 levels,&rdquo; said Executive Chairman Michael R. Haverty. He said KCS &ldquo;KCS will continue to deliver attractive volume and revenue growth as well as sustaining a high level of operating performance in 2011.&rdquo; Contact John Boyd at jboyd@joc.com .

Rail News

North-American rail

KCS Profit Soars 60 Percent on Intermodal Demand

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Tobias Meyer said companies are starting to consider offloading Asia export cargo at ports in the Indian subcontinent for eventual onward shipment into the Gulf region, but it has not yet emerged as a trend.</div>

Tobias Meyer said companies are starting to consider offloading Asia export cargo at ports in the Indian subcontinent for eventual onward shipment into the Gulf region, but it has not yet emerged as a trend.

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<div class="phx-topic">Decisions over whether companies should transship ocean freight disrupted by the Middle East war to other ports or employ other modes including air freight and trucking are likely to be made by early next week, the CEO of forwarder DHL said Thursday. Tobias Meyer said DHL is starting to see companies consider whether to offload Asia export cargo at ports in the Indian subcontinent for eventual onward shipment into the Gulf region, but it has not yet emerged as a trend. “People are adopting a wait-and-see attitude which we expect to last a couple of days, not a couple of weeks,” Meyer said during the 2025 results briefing for the German logistics giant. He did not specify which ports could emerge as transshipment hubs, although the Sri Lanka Ports Authority is promoting Colombo, while Mombasa in Kenya has also been highlighted by forwarders as a transshipment option for Middle East cargo. Food supplies in the region are expected to become especially critical if the situation with “ocean freight doesn’t change in the coming days,” Meyer said. “The region is not self-sufficient in food.” Meyer said cargo owners could fly urgent supplies and augment that by long-distance trucking, especially from Saudi Arabia. He added there has been a modest improvement in the air cargo situation, with carriers such as DHL able to fly its aircraft out of the region, potentially boosting available capacity even though regional air space remains tightly controlled with a small number of flights allowed. Meyer’s remarks came as ocean carriers announced a raft of continency measures linked to the war. Hapag-Lloyd said in an advisory Thursday customers with cargo in transit would be offered a range of options, including a change of destination to an alternative port or a return of the cargo to the original loading port. If no instructions are received, the carrier will declare an “end of voyage,” and the cargo will be stored at an alternative location. CMA CGM said vessels with calls scheduled for countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia would be diverted to other ports under force majeure provisions. ”Customers will subsequently be requested to provide further instructions regarding the onward handling of their cargo,” the carrier said in an advisory, noting the options include delivery by road or rail or an agreed change to an alternative port. Maersk said in an advisory Wednesday that most ports in the region remained open, including Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Doha in Qatar, Damman and Jubail in Saudi Arabia, and Sohar and Salalah in Oman, while Bahrain is also open but with security checks. But while those ports remain open, carriers such as Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, and CMA CGM have stopped accepting cargo bookings for all but essential freight like foodstuffs and medicine. Meyer expected the disruption to ocean freight to benefit DHL’s air cargo and ground businesses as cargo owners switched to alternative modes to move critical shipments. “We typically benefit from such turmoil…. historically, that’s the case,” he said. <h3>Revenue declines for 2025 </h3>Meyer said during the results briefing he expected 2026 “to remain volatile” following a mixed 2025 for DHL’s two biggest divisions – Express and Global Forwarding/Freight. At Express, uncertainty caused by US tariffs caused a 26% drop in the weight of daily express shipments to the US last year, while the weight of daily express shipments to the rest of the world remained stable. The Express division saw a 2.5% increase in operating profit to $3.7 billion in 2025, while revenue fell 3% to $28.3 billion. Operating profit was unchanged in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, though revenue declined 4% in the period to $7.6 billion. DHL’s Global Forwarding/Freight division was hit by lower freight rates while ocean and air freight volumes remained largely unchanged at 3.3 million TEUs and 1.8 million metric tons, respectively. The division saw operating profit slump 30% last year to $878 million, while revenue declined 5% to $21.6 billion. Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>. </div>

Decisions over whether companies should transship ocean freight disrupted by the Middle East war to other ports or employ other modes including air freight and trucking are likely to be made by early next week, the CEO of forwarder DHL said Thursday. Tobias Meyer said DHL is starting to see companies consider whether to offload Asia export cargo at ports in the Indian subcontinent for eventual onward shipment into the Gulf region, but it has not yet emerged as a trend. “People are adopting a wait-and-see attitude which we expect to last a couple of days, not a couple of weeks,” Meyer said during the 2025 results briefing for the German logistics giant. He did not specify which ports could emerge as transshipment hubs, although the Sri Lanka Ports Authority is promoting Colombo, while Mombasa in Kenya has also been highlighted by forwarders as a transshipment option for Middle East cargo. Food supplies in the region are expected to become especially critical if the situation with “ocean freight doesn’t change in the coming days,” Meyer said. “The region is not self-sufficient in food.” Meyer said cargo owners could fly urgent supplies and augment that by long-distance trucking, especially from Saudi Arabia. He added there has been a modest improvement in the air cargo situation, with carriers such as DHL able to fly its aircraft out of the region, potentially boosting available capacity even though regional air space remains tightly controlled with a small number of flights allowed. Meyer’s remarks came as ocean carriers announced a raft of continency measures linked to the war. Hapag-Lloyd said in an advisory Thursday customers with cargo in transit would be offered a range of options, including a change of destination to an alternative port or a return of the cargo to the original loading port. If no instructions are received, the carrier will declare an “end of voyage,” and the cargo will be stored at an alternative location. CMA CGM said vessels with calls scheduled for countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia would be diverted to other ports under force majeure provisions. ”Customers will subsequently be requested to provide further instructions regarding the onward handling of their cargo,” the carrier said in an advisory, noting the options include delivery by road or rail or an agreed change to an alternative port. Maersk said in an advisory Wednesday that most ports in the region remained open, including Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Doha in Qatar, Damman and Jubail in Saudi Arabia, and Sohar and Salalah in Oman, while Bahrain is also open but with security checks. But while those ports remain open, carriers such as Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, and CMA CGM have stopped accepting cargo bookings for all but essential freight like foodstuffs and medicine. Meyer expected the disruption to ocean freight to benefit DHL’s air cargo and ground businesses as cargo owners switched to alternative modes to move critical shipments. “We typically benefit from such turmoil…. historically, that’s the case,” he said. Revenue declines for 2025 Meyer said during the results briefing he expected 2026 “to remain volatile” following a mixed 2025 for DHL’s two biggest divisions – Express and Global Forwarding/Freight. At Express, uncertainty caused by US tariffs caused a 26% drop in the weight of daily express shipments to the US last year, while the weight of daily express shipments to the rest of the world remained stable. The Express division saw a 2.5% increase in operating profit to $3.7 billion in 2025, while revenue fell 3% to $28.3 billion. Operating profit was unchanged in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, though revenue declined 4% in the period to $7.6 billion. DHL’s Global Forwarding/Freight division was hit by lower freight rates while ocean and air freight volumes remained largely unchanged at 3.3 million TEUs and 1.8 million metric tons, respectively. The division saw operating profit slump 30% last year to $878 million, while revenue declined 5% to $21.6 billion. Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Air Cargo Carriers News

Air Cargo

Middle East transshipment options to emerge in the coming days: DHL CEO

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Engineering, procurement and construction companies, key shippers of project cargo, are expecting an uptick in business in 2026. </div>

Engineering, procurement and construction companies, key shippers of project cargo, are expecting an uptick in business in 2026.

<div class="phx-topic">Project opportunities in oil and gas, advanced technologies, mining and nuclear are in the sights of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies, which are recalibrating their strategies to target those segments for growth in 2026. Four major EPCs — Fluor, KBR, TechnipFMC and Worley — are building on contract wins as they work to capitalize on rising global demand for fossil fuels and energy- and water-dependent datacenters to support artificial intelligence. Those industries are positioned to become important drivers of project cargo activity, and all four EPCs are key shippers of cargo related to the construction of industrial, energy, and defense projects. Houston-based defense contractor KBR is expanding its project footprint in Iraq, while the company is preparing to spin off its national security and space business into a standalone entity this year. On Feb. 23, KBR announced the company had been awarded a “transformational” oil project contract from the Basra Oil Company in Iraq. Under the contract, KBR will provide EPC management and integrated field management services for the Manjoon Oil Field in Basra, one of the world’s largest oil fields. KBR is also projecting a double-digit bid increase for its mission tech business this year as the company prepares to spin off its national security and space segment into a separate public company by mid-to-late 2026, according to KBR’s Feb. 26 year-end earnings results. KBR is working through a project backlog supported by liquefied natural gas (LNG), ammonia, defense, and intelligence. “Work under contract covers roughly 63% of our 2026 guidance, putting us above normative levels for this business going into the year,” CEO Stuart Bradie said during the company’s Feb. 26 earnings call, citing a $5 billion near-term project pipeline. The company ended the fourth quarter with a combined project backlog and potential future work options totaling $23.2 billion, up 13% from the previous year. <h3>Worley targets data centers, industrial water </h3>Australian engineering group Worley is forecasting moderate growth for the remainder of 2026 while pursuing complex critical infrastructure projects as a key expansion area. Worley booked $7 billion in work in the first half of its fiscal year ending Dec. 31, a 63% increase from six months prior and a 70% jump from a year earlier, with wins across its energy and mining and metal resources businesses. “We are seeing momentum building as we win a greater share of major projects in areas that we have identified as growth markets,” CEO Chris Ashton said in the company’s half-year earnings remarks released Feb. 26. Worley is prioritizing datacenter infrastructure, power, industrial water, and ports and marine terminals as high-growth areas. Bookings included the first phase of Venture Global’s CP2 project, a massive LNG export facility in Louisiana that received a final investment decision last July. Worley has been providing EPC planning services for CP2, and in February won the contract to provide those services for the second phase of the project. Worley’s contract wins since January could add over $2.5 billion in project backlog, which reached $11.7 billion in the first half of its fiscal year. <h3>TechnipFMC optimistic on offshore </h3>Multinational oil and gas services contractor TechnipFMC is eyeing a record volume of potential projects for its subsea energy business over the next two years, despite declines in the company’s quarterly and yearly orders. During TechnipFMC’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Feb. 19, CEO Doug Pferdehirt said the next 24 months will bring an estimated $29 billion in subsea project contract opportunities, a record for the company and the sixth consecutive quarterly increase for the segment. Through its subsea business, Technip FMC develops systems for undersea oil and gas exploration and extraction. “We expect a greater share of capital spending to move offshore, where reservoirs are prolific, high-quality and accessible to many operators with attractive project economics that continue to improve,” Pferdehirt said, citing newbuild oil and gas projects as a significant growth area. Subsea orders, which account for 90% of the company’s overall business, fell 13% to $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter while slipping 3% to $10.1 billion for the year. A key project for the quarter included a $600 million to $800 million integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract for BP’s Tiber oil and gas production hub in the US Gulf. <h3>Fluor expects ‘significantly higher’ awards in 2026 </h3>Texas-based engineering and construction company Fluor is eyeing project opportunities across LNG, mining, nuclear fuels and advanced technology in 2026 as the company recovers from declining annual performance, according to year-end earnings results. During Fluor’s Feb. 17 earnings call, CEO James Breuer said the company was pursuing prospects across those segments. “We anticipate that new awards for 2026 will be significantly higher than in 2025” based on conversations with clients, Breuer said. New awards in 2025 totaled $12 billion, a 21% decline from the previous year. Nearly three-fourths of those awards came from Fluor’s urban solutions business, which includes mining, infrastructure and advanced technology projects such as data-centers and semiconductor facilities. The segment’s $8.7 billion in new awards represented an 8% decline from 2024 but also the third consecutive year awards reached near $9 billion. Breuer cited growth opportunities with large copper, aluminum, and green steel projects, as well as rare earth material production facilities. The company has also beefed up its support of semiconductor and datacenter projects. “We are in advanced discussions with a client for a major data center in the US, we’re pursuing project management work on a data center project in Europe, and are well-positioned for semiconductor work in the US,” he said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at <a href="mailto:autumn@autumngiusti.com">autumn@autumngiusti.com</a>. </div>

Project opportunities in oil and gas, advanced technologies, mining and nuclear are in the sights of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies, which are recalibrating their strategies to target those segments for growth in 2026. Four major EPCs — Fluor, KBR, TechnipFMC and Worley — are building on contract wins as they work to capitalize on rising global demand for fossil fuels and energy- and water-dependent datacenters to support artificial intelligence. Those industries are positioned to become important drivers of project cargo activity, and all four EPCs are key shippers of cargo related to the construction of industrial, energy, and defense projects. Houston-based defense contractor KBR is expanding its project footprint in Iraq, while the company is preparing to spin off its national security and space business into a standalone entity this year. On Feb. 23, KBR announced the company had been awarded a “transformational” oil project contract from the Basra Oil Company in Iraq. Under the contract, KBR will provide EPC management and integrated field management services for the Manjoon Oil Field in Basra, one of the world’s largest oil fields. KBR is also projecting a double-digit bid increase for its mission tech business this year as the company prepares to spin off its national security and space segment into a separate public company by mid-to-late 2026, according to KBR’s Feb. 26 year-end earnings results. KBR is working through a project backlog supported by liquefied natural gas (LNG), ammonia, defense, and intelligence. “Work under contract covers roughly 63% of our 2026 guidance, putting us above normative levels for this business going into the year,” CEO Stuart Bradie said during the company’s Feb. 26 earnings call, citing a $5 billion near-term project pipeline. The company ended the fourth quarter with a combined project backlog and potential future work options totaling $23.2 billion, up 13% from the previous year. Worley targets data centers, industrial water Australian engineering group Worley is forecasting moderate growth for the remainder of 2026 while pursuing complex critical infrastructure projects as a key expansion area. Worley booked $7 billion in work in the first half of its fiscal year ending Dec. 31, a 63% increase from six months prior and a 70% jump from a year earlier, with wins across its energy and mining and metal resources businesses. “We are seeing momentum building as we win a greater share of major projects in areas that we have identified as growth markets,” CEO Chris Ashton said in the company’s half-year earnings remarks released Feb. 26. Worley is prioritizing datacenter infrastructure, power, industrial water, and ports and marine terminals as high-growth areas. Bookings included the first phase of Venture Global’s CP2 project, a massive LNG export facility in Louisiana that received a final investment decision last July. Worley has been providing EPC planning services for CP2, and in February won the contract to provide those services for the second phase of the project. Worley’s contract wins since January could add over $2.5 billion in project backlog, which reached $11.7 billion in the first half of its fiscal year. TechnipFMC optimistic on offshore Multinational oil and gas services contractor TechnipFMC is eyeing a record volume of potential projects for its subsea energy business over the next two years, despite declines in the company’s quarterly and yearly orders. During TechnipFMC’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Feb. 19, CEO Doug Pferdehirt said the next 24 months will bring an estimated $29 billion in subsea project contract opportunities, a record for the company and the sixth consecutive quarterly increase for the segment. Through its subsea business, Technip FMC develops systems for undersea oil and gas exploration and extraction. “We expect a greater share of capital spending to move offshore, where reservoirs are prolific, high-quality and accessible to many operators with attractive project economics that continue to improve,” Pferdehirt said, citing newbuild oil and gas projects as a significant growth area. Subsea orders, which account for 90% of the company’s overall business, fell 13% to $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter while slipping 3% to $10.1 billion for the year. A key project for the quarter included a $600 million to $800 million integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract for BP’s Tiber oil and gas production hub in the US Gulf. Fluor expects ‘significantly higher’ awards in 2026 Texas-based engineering and construction company Fluor is eyeing project opportunities across LNG, mining, nuclear fuels and advanced technology in 2026 as the company recovers from declining annual performance, according to year-end earnings results. During Fluor’s Feb. 17 earnings call, CEO James Breuer said the company was pursuing prospects across those segments. “We anticipate that new awards for 2026 will be significantly higher than in 2025” based on conversations with clients, Breuer said. New awards in 2025 totaled $12 billion, a 21% decline from the previous year. Nearly three-fourths of those awards came from Fluor’s urban solutions business, which includes mining, infrastructure and advanced technology projects such as data-centers and semiconductor facilities. The segment’s $8.7 billion in new awards represented an 8% decline from 2024 but also the third consecutive year awards reached near $9 billion. Breuer cited growth opportunities with large copper, aluminum, and green steel projects, as well as rare earth material production facilities. The company has also beefed up its support of semiconductor and datacenter projects. “We are in advanced discussions with a client for a major data center in the US, we’re pursuing project management work on a data center project in Europe, and are well-positioned for semiconductor work in the US,” he said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at autumn@autumngiusti.com .

Energy projects

Project cargo

Breakbulk News

Maritime

EPCs bank on growing demand for fossil fuels, tech projects

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The bottlenecks are rippling through Asia-Europe supply chains, undermining vessel schedule reliability, disrupting inventory positioning, and ultimately influencing freight rates, according to Drewry.</div>

The bottlenecks are rippling through Asia-Europe supply chains, undermining vessel schedule reliability, disrupting inventory positioning, and ultimately influencing freight rates, according to Drewry.

<div class="phx-topic">Long Beach, California — A lack of buffer capacity across Europe’s main import gateways lies behind the region’s persistent port congestion, and with no short-term fixes in sight, the bottlenecks should not be regarded as a temporary disruption, industry executives say. The congestion is rippling through Asia-Europe supply chains, undermining vessel schedule reliability, disrupting inventory positioning and ultimately influencing freight rates, according to Chantal McRoberts, director and head of advisory at Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. “Our ports in Europe tend to be in cities and they’ve been there a very long time, which means there’s not enough room for them to expand and build up capacity to accommodate the larger vessels and the larger exchanges of containers,” McRoberts told the Journal of Commerce’s TPM26 conference Tuesday. <div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/6177004_0.1.jpg"></img></div>“The system quickly gets overwhelmed, and congestion builds up fast, but then it takes a longer time to dissipate, which is why we see these congestion issues arising,” she added. European congestion rose through 2025 and into 2026, remaining above pre-pandemic 2019 levels amid alliance reshuffling, service changes, vessel redeployment, low river levels, canceled sailings, labor disruptions, and severe weather. While the factors contributing to European port bottlenecks are outside the control of shippers, they can have serious consequences for their supply chains. David Smrkowsky, global head of commodity procurement, logistics and transportation at automotive supplier Kostal Group, said he has built in a buffer on top of the scheduled transit times given by carriers to compensate for the persistent late arrivals. “From China to Europe, 10 days in most cases is enough of a buffer,” he told the conference. “But if we are hit with a rollover or a blank sailing, then we’re already one week out and there’s only three days left, which is very easily consumed by port congestion. Then we start to have problems.” According to data from eeSea, ocean reliability from Asia to North Europe was at 18% in February, the lowest since August 2025. <h3>Fluctuating transit times </h3>Smrkowsky said reliability from ocean carriers was crucial for the automotive supply chain to work effectively. “The worst thing for us is that one week the transit time is 50 days, the next week it is 40, then we are at 60 days,” he said. “These kinds of fluctuations cannot be built into our inventory management, and the cost of capital is far higher than it was five years ago.” Michael Blach, CEO of Eurogate Group, said that while marine terminals in Europe can handle large vessels, late arrivals completely upset the system. “If you have pre-stowed your yards and arranged everything for a 24,000-TEU ship coming in and you have 10,000 moves planned, and then the ship arrives five days late, how do you manage the thousands of containers that have been pre-stored for that vessel that is not coming?,” Blach said. “The 24,000-TEU ships are very effective if the system works, but it has to work at a very high percentage, because when it doesn’t, it is very difficult to find a backup,” he added. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="03aa677a-024e-4b1a-8957-8135ea01976e"></dynamic-object></div>Anders Boenaes, senior managing director of network at Hapag-Lloyd, acknowledged that carriers were partly to blame for the poor service levels but said congestion was a shared responsibility. Boenaes noted that careful planning with terminals below theoretical capacity would smooth out calls, and he urged terminals to set clear obligations for container lines to retain synchronized operations. “It is a question for the terminals to become more demanding of the shipping lines,” he said. “The terminal can choose which shipping lines they are able to harmonize with, because with the 10,000-TEU container moves, it takes very little to get the system out of sync.” Blach said another factor contributing to port congestion was terminals overpromising their handling capabilities to carriers. “If a carrier suddenly wants to call with three main services in a week, we are very honest about what is possible and what is not possible, because our main obligation is to make sure that the terminal continues to operate,” he said. “If you make too many promises and you take too much in, the terminal will be completely choked, and when it takes you two or three months to get back to normal, everybody’s very unhappy,” Blach added. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>.</div>

Long Beach, California — A lack of buffer capacity across Europe’s main import gateways lies behind the region’s persistent port congestion, and with no short-term fixes in sight, the bottlenecks should not be regarded as a temporary disruption, industry executives say. The congestion is rippling through Asia-Europe supply chains, undermining vessel schedule reliability, disrupting inventory positioning and ultimately influencing freight rates, according to Chantal McRoberts, director and head of advisory at Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. “Our ports in Europe tend to be in cities and they’ve been there a very long time, which means there’s not enough room for them to expand and build up capacity to accommodate the larger vessels and the larger exchanges of containers,” McRoberts told the Journal of Commerce’s TPM26 conference Tuesday. “The system quickly gets overwhelmed, and congestion builds up fast, but then it takes a longer time to dissipate, which is why we see these congestion issues arising,” she added. European congestion rose through 2025 and into 2026, remaining above pre-pandemic 2019 levels amid alliance reshuffling, service changes, vessel redeployment, low river levels, canceled sailings, labor disruptions, and severe weather. While the factors contributing to European port bottlenecks are outside the control of shippers, they can have serious consequences for their supply chains. David Smrkowsky, global head of commodity procurement, logistics and transportation at automotive supplier Kostal Group, said he has built in a buffer on top of the scheduled transit times given by carriers to compensate for the persistent late arrivals. “From China to Europe, 10 days in most cases is enough of a buffer,” he told the conference. “But if we are hit with a rollover or a blank sailing, then we’re already one week out and there’s only three days left, which is very easily consumed by port congestion. Then we start to have problems.” According to data from eeSea, ocean reliability from Asia to North Europe was at 18% in February, the lowest since August 2025. Fluctuating transit times Smrkowsky said reliability from ocean carriers was crucial for the automotive supply chain to work effectively. “The worst thing for us is that one week the transit time is 50 days, the next week it is 40, then we are at 60 days,” he said. “These kinds of fluctuations cannot be built into our inventory management, and the cost of capital is far higher than it was five years ago.” Michael Blach, CEO of Eurogate Group, said that while marine terminals in Europe can handle large vessels, late arrivals completely upset the system. “If you have pre-stowed your yards and arranged everything for a 24,000-TEU ship coming in and you have 10,000 moves planned, and then the ship arrives five days late, how do you manage the thousands of containers that have been pre-stored for that vessel that is not coming?,” Blach said. “The 24,000-TEU ships are very effective if the system works, but it has to work at a very high percentage, because when it doesn’t, it is very difficult to find a backup,” he added. Anders Boenaes, senior managing director of network at Hapag-Lloyd, acknowledged that carriers were partly to blame for the poor service levels but said congestion was a shared responsibility. Boenaes noted that careful planning with terminals below theoretical capacity would smooth out calls, and he urged terminals to set clear obligations for container lines to retain synchronized operations. “It is a question for the terminals to become more demanding of the shipping lines,” he said. “The terminal can choose which shipping lines they are able to harmonize with, because with the 10,000-TEU container moves, it takes very little to get the system out of sync.” Blach said another factor contributing to port congestion was terminals overpromising their handling capabilities to carriers. “If a carrier suddenly wants to call with three main services in a week, we are very honest about what is possible and what is not possible, because our main obligation is to make sure that the terminal continues to operate,” he said. “If you make too many promises and you take too much in, the terminal will be completely choked, and when it takes you two or three months to get back to normal, everybody’s very unhappy,” Blach added. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Port News

Container lines

Asia-Europe

Marine terminals

International ports

Container Shipping News

TPM26: Europe’s persistent port congestion won’t be remedied by short-term fixes

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Three ocean carriers told the Journal of Commerce they could not commit to contract volume allocations with customers until there was greater clarity on how long the hostilities would last.</div>

Three ocean carriers told the Journal of Commerce they could not commit to contract volume allocations with customers until there was greater clarity on how long the hostilities would last.

<div class="phx-topic">Long Beach, California — Container lines are pausing or slowing annual trans-Pacific service contract negotiations as they assess the impact the war in the Middle East will have on their cost structures and how much functional capacity they can offer. Ocean carriers and US importers had already been <a href="Trans-Pacific carriers, importers slow-walking service contract negotiations | Journal of Commerce">slow-walking negotiations</a> for the 2026–27 service year, but the war — which has tied up between 2% and 10% of global container tonnage, according to various estimates — is preventing them from finalizing agreements. Executives from three ocean carriers who asked not to be identified told the Journal of Commerce they could not commit to contract volume allocations with customers until there was greater clarity on how long the war would last. Their approach isn’t uniform across the industry, however; other carriers say they are ready to finalize contracts despite the uncertainty. Similar to how Houthi attacks that began in late 2023 spurred major carriers to route away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal and divert around southern Africa, the disruption and dislocation of equipment caused by the war in the Middle East will ripple through ocean networks, including the trans-Pacific trade, forwarders and ocean carriers warn. But the impact of the war on the global shipping system will be less pronounced than the Suez diversions, according to container shipping analyst Lars Jensen.<h3>War ‘adds to cost profile’</h3>The war “adds to our cost profile. We have to think about ‘what is our cost to execute this?’” Michael Britton, Maersk’s head of ocean products for North America, told the Journal of Commerce Wednesday. “There’s a global effect pretty immediately, which is the impact on [bunker] fuel price.” While high oil prices will be reflected in a bunker adjustment factor — albeit with a lag of a couple months — the impact of the war on Maersk’s global network is unclear, said Britton. The war, now in its fifth day, has expanded geographically, stretching as far west as Cyprus, where an Iranian drone was shot down on Monday. “The longer it goes, the wider it becomes, because we end up with ships which are not coming back to their original loading ports, and then we try to plug the holes with additional ships,” Britton said. “Part of it will come down to whether we continue to accept bookings.” The timeline for contract negotiations is also being held up because some of the top retailers, including Walmart, have yet to finalize contracts before the Journal of Commerce’s TPM Conference in Long Beach, as they typically do, according to two carrier executives. Those initial contracts then set the floor for contract rates, with the remaining large, midsize and smaller importers signing for somewhat higher rates in March and through April. Most contracts for the new service year begin on May 1. Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="mailto:mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com">mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Long Beach, California — Container lines are pausing or slowing annual trans-Pacific service contract negotiations as they assess the impact the war in the Middle East will have on their cost structures and how much functional capacity they can offer. Ocean carriers and US importers had already been slow-walking negotiations for the 2026–27 service year, but the war — which has tied up between 2% and 10% of global container tonnage, according to various estimates — is preventing them from finalizing agreements. Executives from three ocean carriers who asked not to be identified told the Journal of Commerce they could not commit to contract volume allocations with customers until there was greater clarity on how long the war would last. Their approach isn’t uniform across the industry, however; other carriers say they are ready to finalize contracts despite the uncertainty. Similar to how Houthi attacks that began in late 2023 spurred major carriers to route away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal and divert around southern Africa, the disruption and dislocation of equipment caused by the war in the Middle East will ripple through ocean networks, including the trans-Pacific trade, forwarders and ocean carriers warn. But the impact of the war on the global shipping system will be less pronounced than the Suez diversions, according to container shipping analyst Lars Jensen. War ‘adds to cost profile’ The war “adds to our cost profile. We have to think about ‘what is our cost to execute this?’” Michael Britton, Maersk’s head of ocean products for North America, told the Journal of Commerce Wednesday. “There’s a global effect pretty immediately, which is the impact on [bunker] fuel price.” While high oil prices will be reflected in a bunker adjustment factor — albeit with a lag of a couple months — the impact of the war on Maersk’s global network is unclear, said Britton. The war, now in its fifth day, has expanded geographically, stretching as far west as Cyprus, where an Iranian drone was shot down on Monday. “The longer it goes, the wider it becomes, because we end up with ships which are not coming back to their original loading ports, and then we try to plug the holes with additional ships,” Britton said. “Part of it will come down to whether we continue to accept bookings.” The timeline for contract negotiations is also being held up because some of the top retailers, including Walmart, have yet to finalize contracts before the Journal of Commerce’s TPM Conference in Long Beach, as they typically do, according to two carrier executives. Those initial contracts then set the floor for contract rates, with the remaining large, midsize and smaller importers signing for somewhat higher rates in March and through April. Most contracts for the new service year begin on May 1. Contact Mark Szakonyi at mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com .

Trans-Pacific

Middle East war slows trans-Pacific service contract talks further

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">While resuming the movement of vessels in the war zone is important, the shipping group says the president’s offer needs clarification. </div>

While resuming the movement of vessels in the war zone is important, the shipping group says the president’s offer needs clarification.

<div class="phx-topic">Shipping association BIMCO is taking a wait-and-see approach to comments made by US President Donald Trump indicating the US would offer political risk insurance to all maritime trade in the Persian Gulf, where shipping has come to a standstill after the weekend attacks launched by the US and Israel against Iran. The hostilities are now in their fifth day, with Iranian retaliation against other Gulf countries expanding the war across the whole of the region. With oil prices on the rise amid Iran’s chokehold on the narrow Strait of Hormuz, Trump on Tuesday said he directed the US Development Finance Corporation to provide “political risk insurance and guarantees for the financial security of ALL maritime trade, especially energy, traveling through the Gulf.” The Truth Social post from Trump said the insurance would be available “at a very reasonable price ... to all shipping lines.” But Jakob Larsen, BIMCO’s chief safety and security officer, expressed caution Wednesday, saying the proposal from Trump “has yet to be explained in full.” “Depending on the details of the proposal, it might help tip the risk/reward ratio and stimulate more shipowners to resume operations in the high-threat area,” Larsen said in a statement. He also said Trump’s offer for the US Navy to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz “sounds interesting,” but needed clarification. “Naval escorts would help reduce the threat for the ships being protected,” Larsen said. “That said, providing protection for all tankers operating in areas currently threatened by Iran is unrealistic, as this would require a very high number of warships and other military assets.” Although Trump’s offer for naval escorts did not mention container shipping, supply chains in the region <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/carriers-pause-india-middle-east-cargo-bookings-amid-persian-gulf-port-chaos-6179223">have come to a standstill</a> following the suspension of all services. “At some future point, if the Iranian threat has been degraded significantly, the relative effect of naval escorts will improve,” Larsen said. “This might push the security risk below the risk acceptance level of some shipowners and cause some ships to resume operations in the high-threat area.” The escalation of hostilities in the region is expected to push maritime risk insurance premiums through the roof, Dylan Mortimer from UK-based insurance risk adviser Marsh <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/shipping-avoids-middle-east-region-after-us-israel-begin-strikes-on-iran-6177596">said Sunday</a>, at the outset of the US and Israeli attacks. Contact Kevin Saville at <a href="mailto:kevin.saville2@spglobal.com">kevin.saville2@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Shipping association BIMCO is taking a wait-and-see approach to comments made by US President Donald Trump indicating the US would offer political risk insurance to all maritime trade in the Persian Gulf, where shipping has come to a standstill after the weekend attacks launched by the US and Israel against Iran. The hostilities are now in their fifth day, with Iranian retaliation against other Gulf countries expanding the war across the whole of the region. With oil prices on the rise amid Iran’s chokehold on the narrow Strait of Hormuz, Trump on Tuesday said he directed the US Development Finance Corporation to provide “political risk insurance and guarantees for the financial security of ALL maritime trade, especially energy, traveling through the Gulf.” The Truth Social post from Trump said the insurance would be available “at a very reasonable price ... to all shipping lines.” But Jakob Larsen, BIMCO’s chief safety and security officer, expressed caution Wednesday, saying the proposal from Trump “has yet to be explained in full.” “Depending on the details of the proposal, it might help tip the risk/reward ratio and stimulate more shipowners to resume operations in the high-threat area,” Larsen said in a statement. He also said Trump’s offer for the US Navy to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz “sounds interesting,” but needed clarification. “Naval escorts would help reduce the threat for the ships being protected,” Larsen said. “That said, providing protection for all tankers operating in areas currently threatened by Iran is unrealistic, as this would require a very high number of warships and other military assets.” Although Trump’s offer for naval escorts did not mention container shipping, supply chains in the region have come to a standstill following the suspension of all services. “At some future point, if the Iranian threat has been degraded significantly, the relative effect of naval escorts will improve,” Larsen said. “This might push the security risk below the risk acceptance level of some shipowners and cause some ships to resume operations in the high-threat area.” The escalation of hostilities in the region is expected to push maritime risk insurance premiums through the roof, Dylan Mortimer from UK-based insurance risk adviser Marsh said Sunday , at the outset of the US and Israeli attacks. Contact Kevin Saville at kevin.saville2@spglobal.com .

BIMCO expresses caution over Trump’s Persian Gulf shipping insurance offer

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