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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Lamberts Point Coal Terminal, the big Virginia coastal site where Norfolk Southern Railway trains deliver Appalachian coal that can be loaded onto ships for export, should have the first of its tw</div>

The Lamberts Point Coal Terminal, the big Virginia coastal site where Norfolk Southern Railway trains deliver Appalachian coal that can be loaded onto ships for export, should have the first of its tw

<div>The Lamberts Point Coal Terminal, the big Virginia coastal site where Norfolk Southern Railway trains deliver Appalachian coal that can be loaded onto ships for export, should have the first of its two damaged conveyor belts back in operation overnight, an NS spokesman said Dec. 30.&amp;ldquo;There are currently 10 ships waiting to be loaded, and we expect to be able to catch up in fairly short order,&amp;rdquo; said Robin Chapman. NS expected to put the first ship-loading belt back into service about 11 p.m. on Dec. 30, and the second sometime in the evening of Jan. 1.Chapman said Pier 6...

The Lamberts Point Coal Terminal, the big Virginia coastal site where Norfolk Southern Railway trains deliver Appalachian coal that can be loaded onto ships for export, should have the first of its two damaged conveyor belts back in operation overnight, an NS spokesman said Dec. 30. &ldquo;There are currently 10 ships waiting to be loaded, and we expect to be able to catch up in fairly short order,&rdquo; said Robin Chapman. NS expected to put the first ship-loading belt back into service about 11 p.m. on Dec. 30, and the second sometime in the evening of Jan. 1. Chapman said Pier 6 of the railroad&rsquo;s Lamberts Point terminal, on the Elizabeth River at Norfolk, Va., is the largest coal transloading facility in North America, with separate loaders to feed two ships simultaneously and a capacity to dump 8,000 tons of coal an hour into their holds. At Lamberts, NS can blend different grades of coal to supply each ship or coastal barge with the properties their customers require. Barges, for instance, might take steam coal for electricity production to U.S. power plants. Most of the ships loaded there take metallurgical coal to Europe and South America; also called coking coal, it is often used as a high-heat fuel for metals production. Norfolk Southern, like other railroads and highways in the eastern U.S., was hit hard by a massive snowstorm on Dec. 19, and declared &ldquo;force majeure&rdquo; to lift normal service guarantees due to events outside its control. The railroad was pretty much back to normal after digging out during the Christmas week, when on Dec. 26 at Lamberts Point a bearing overheated in the conveyor system of one of the ship loaders and caused two rollers to catch fire. That melted a hole in the conveyor belt, and shut it down. Then &ldquo;coincidentally, on Dec. 27 the conveyor belt in the other ship loader ripped apart,&rdquo; Chapman said. Repairing them is no small matter, as each belt is 132 feet long. As of Wednesday, NS officials had not decided when to lift their force majeure declaration &ndash; either once the terminal was running again or only after both conveyors were back to normal. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll post a service alert on our Web site and email our service alert list when we do lift it,&rdquo; the spokesman said. Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com .

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Norfolk Southern to Reopen Major Coal Pier

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The start to the year was largely unaffected by the Middle East conflict, but the lagging effect of high bunker fuel prices will be felt from Q2 onwards. </div>

The start to the year was largely unaffected by the Middle East conflict, but the lagging effect of high bunker fuel prices will be felt from Q2 onwards.

Feature image

<div class="phx-topic">OOCL recorded a 7.6% year-over-year drop in first-quarter revenue amid lower demand on most trades and softening rates. The Cosco subsidiary booked revenue of $2.13 billion in the first three months, with top line sales down across all four main trade lanes as capacity increased 4.3%. The carrier’s total volume rose 1.7% to just under 2 million TEUs, while the overall load factor was 2.1% lower than during the same period in 2025. Trans-Pacific liner revenue at OOCL fell 17% year over year to $744 million, Asia-Europe revenue was down 4.5% at $482 million, trans-Atlantic revenue fell 4.3% to $163 million, and intra-Asia/Australasia revenue slipped 0.7% to $748 million. The slight increase in Q1 volume was thanks to the Asia-Europe corridor, the only trade lane to record growth in the quarter. The carrier handled 384,893 TEUs on Asia-Europe, up 12% year over year. Trans-Pacific volume fell 6% to 523,385 TEUs, trans-Atlantic volume was down 1.3% at 133,910 TEUs, and intra-Asia/Australasia volume declined 3% to 954,464 TEUs. <h3>Lagging impact of high bunker fuel price </h3>While the oversupplied container shipping business appears to be heading for a weak first quarter largely unaffected by disruption from the Middle East war, the industry bill for a sharp increase in bunker prices will be due from the second quarter onwards, according to investment bank J.P. Morgan. “The Persian Gulf disruption remains a highly fluid situation and given the time lag in loaded rates, bunker adjustment factors for contracts, and Maersk’s two-month bunker fuel inventory, we see the impact skewed to Q2 2026 onwards,” the bank wrote in a note to Maersk investors Friday. J.P. Morgan is expecting Maersk’s first-quarter earnings out May 7 will also reflect a muted first quarter, given the decline in freight rates through the end of February and the effects of Persian Gulf disruption not really impacting Q1. But the investment bank highlighted the impact of high bunker fuel prices that carriers are trying to recover through bunker adjustment factors (BAFs) and emergency fuel surcharges. "We have factored into our 2026 estimates [for Maersk] our assumption that these disruptions will last at least six months, with bunker fuel cost increases post Q2 the biggest drag on earnings that will need to be recovered through firmer spot rates and BAF compliance,” J.P. Morgan said. The bank expects the 2026 bunker fuel bill for Maersk to increase by $1.2 billion to a full-year cost of $7.3 billion on the back of an average price of $693 per ton versus $539 in 2025. “Maersk reportedly has two months of bunker fuel inventory, which shields it from the current volatility,” the bank said. “The bunker fuel adjustment factor for contracts will be recovered in Q3 and therefore there is a lagged fuel cost recovery.” Reflecting this dynamic, J.P. Morgan has forecast that Maersk will report an earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) loss of $2.6 billion for the year, up from a previous expectation of a $2.8 billion loss. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

OOCL recorded a 7.6% year-over-year drop in first-quarter revenue amid lower demand on most trades and softening rates. The Cosco subsidiary booked revenue of $2.13 billion in the first three months, with top line sales down across all four main trade lanes as capacity increased 4.3%. The carrier’s total volume rose 1.7% to just under 2 million TEUs, while the overall load factor was 2.1% lower than during the same period in 2025. Trans-Pacific liner revenue at OOCL fell 17% year over year to $744 million, Asia-Europe revenue was down 4.5% at $482 million, trans-Atlantic revenue fell 4.3% to $163 million, and intra-Asia/Australasia revenue slipped 0.7% to $748 million. The slight increase in Q1 volume was thanks to the Asia-Europe corridor, the only trade lane to record growth in the quarter. The carrier handled 384,893 TEUs on Asia-Europe, up 12% year over year. Trans-Pacific volume fell 6% to 523,385 TEUs, trans-Atlantic volume was down 1.3% at 133,910 TEUs, and intra-Asia/Australasia volume declined 3% to 954,464 TEUs. Lagging impact of high bunker fuel price While the oversupplied container shipping business appears to be heading for a weak first quarter largely unaffected by disruption from the Middle East war, the industry bill for a sharp increase in bunker prices will be due from the second quarter onwards, according to investment bank J.P. Morgan. “The Persian Gulf disruption remains a highly fluid situation and given the time lag in loaded rates, bunker adjustment factors for contracts, and Maersk’s two-month bunker fuel inventory, we see the impact skewed to Q2 2026 onwards,” the bank wrote in a note to Maersk investors Friday. J.P. Morgan is expecting Maersk’s first-quarter earnings out May 7 will also reflect a muted first quarter, given the decline in freight rates through the end of February and the effects of Persian Gulf disruption not really impacting Q1. But the investment bank highlighted the impact of high bunker fuel prices that carriers are trying to recover through bunker adjustment factors (BAFs) and emergency fuel surcharges. "We have factored into our 2026 estimates [for Maersk] our assumption that these disruptions will last at least six months, with bunker fuel cost increases post Q2 the biggest drag on earnings that will need to be recovered through firmer spot rates and BAF compliance,” J.P. Morgan said. The bank expects the 2026 bunker fuel bill for Maersk to increase by $1.2 billion to a full-year cost of $7.3 billion on the back of an average price of $693 per ton versus $539 in 2025. “Maersk reportedly has two months of bunker fuel inventory, which shields it from the current volatility,” the bank said. “The bunker fuel adjustment factor for contracts will be recovered in Q3 and therefore there is a lagged fuel cost recovery.” Reflecting this dynamic, J.P. Morgan has forecast that Maersk will report an earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) loss of $2.6 billion for the year, up from a previous expectation of a $2.8 billion loss. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

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OOCL posts revenue decline in muted first quarter

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">An increasing number of lawmakers at the federal, state, and municipal levels are taking steps to freeze data center development, which serves as an important cargo source. </div>

An increasing number of lawmakers at the federal, state, and municipal levels are taking steps to freeze data center development, which serves as an important cargo source.

<div class="phx-topic">Growing calls to place moratoriums on data center construction across the US present a concern for project cargo specialists who are counting on power generation shipments and other key cargoes required to meet the enormous demands of the mega projects. An increasing number of lawmakers at the federal, state, and municipal levels are taking steps to freeze data center development, which serves as an important cargo source. Opponents say the centers drain power supplies, raise energy costs, and can harm the environment. Beyond the physical construction of data centers — the largest of which exceed 4 million square feet in the US and can consume as much energy and water as a small town — the development of these facilities is driving large volumes of cargo for infrastructure projects to support their massive utility needs. Data center construction is already facing setbacks related to tariffs and equipment scarcity. According to an April 1 report by Bloomberg, nearly half of data centers planned for this year in the US are expected to experience delays or cancellations because of a shortage of electrical equipment including transformers, switchgear and batteries to build out the power infrastructure for the centers. The parts primarily come from China, subjecting them to heavy tariffs and taking 24 to 30 months to arrive — up to a year later than data center developers say they need the equipment. For project logistics providers, delays from moratoriums can create significant setbacks for cargo shipments. “Long-lead equipment may already be manufactured or in transit, requiring additional storage, rerouting or resequencing of deliveries,” John Lu, global sector head for semiconductor and cloud construction with DHL Global Forwarding Industrial Projects, told the Journal of Commerce. For large artificial intelligence (AI) and data center developments, planning around power, water and sustainability often starts well before projects are publicly announced, Lu said. “Projects of this scale are complex and typically involve multiple layers of local, state and federal approvals,” he said. <h3>Maine set to impose first statewide ban </h3>Legislative efforts to rein in data centers are playing out on all levels of government — some with more support than others. In March, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) introduced legislation in the Senate and House, respectively, that they said would enact a “reasonable pause” on the development of new AI data centers in the US “to ensure the safety of humanity.” If the bill becomes law, it would institute “an immediate federal moratorium on AI data centers until strong national safeguards are put in place” to ensure AI is safe and effective, does not increase electricity or utility prices, or harm communities or damage the environment. Although the legislation is unlikely to advance, its introduction follows efforts by more than a dozen states and several cities and counties pushing forward with moratorium proposals. Maine is set to become the first US state to temporarily outlaw the development of most new data centers after a proposed ban received state House approval April 6. The bill advances to the state Senate, which is expected to pass the legislation. The moratorium would freeze construction of any data center consuming at least 20 megawatts of electricity until Nov. 1, 2027. Lawmakers have proposed data center bans or restrictions in 12 other states: Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. On the municipal level, the city of New Orleans in January passed a one-year moratorium on the construction of data centers, and city council members — who unanimously approved the measure — say the ban will likely become permanent. Cities in North Carolina and Wisconsin also approved temporary bans earlier this year, while Dallas and Denver are considering their own restrictions. Global spending on data centers is projected to reach $7 trillion by 2030, according to consultant McKinsey. Of the 4,088 data centers now in the US, Virginia and Texas are the top two states for data center construction, with 579 and 411 facilities, respectively, according to industry website Data Center Map. DHL is in the process of expanding its North American infrastructure to support data center logistics, adding 10 warehouse sites with over 7 million square feet of capacity. The facilities are set go live sometime in 2026, according to DHL. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at <a href="mailto:autumn@autumngiusti.com">autumn@autumngiusti.com</a>. </div>

Growing calls to place moratoriums on data center construction across the US present a concern for project cargo specialists who are counting on power generation shipments and other key cargoes required to meet the enormous demands of the mega projects. An increasing number of lawmakers at the federal, state, and municipal levels are taking steps to freeze data center development, which serves as an important cargo source. Opponents say the centers drain power supplies, raise energy costs, and can harm the environment. Beyond the physical construction of data centers — the largest of which exceed 4 million square feet in the US and can consume as much energy and water as a small town — the development of these facilities is driving large volumes of cargo for infrastructure projects to support their massive utility needs. Data center construction is already facing setbacks related to tariffs and equipment scarcity. According to an April 1 report by Bloomberg, nearly half of data centers planned for this year in the US are expected to experience delays or cancellations because of a shortage of electrical equipment including transformers, switchgear and batteries to build out the power infrastructure for the centers. The parts primarily come from China, subjecting them to heavy tariffs and taking 24 to 30 months to arrive — up to a year later than data center developers say they need the equipment. For project logistics providers, delays from moratoriums can create significant setbacks for cargo shipments. “Long-lead equipment may already be manufactured or in transit, requiring additional storage, rerouting or resequencing of deliveries,” John Lu, global sector head for semiconductor and cloud construction with DHL Global Forwarding Industrial Projects, told the Journal of Commerce. For large artificial intelligence (AI) and data center developments, planning around power, water and sustainability often starts well before projects are publicly announced, Lu said. “Projects of this scale are complex and typically involve multiple layers of local, state and federal approvals,” he said. Maine set to impose first statewide ban Legislative efforts to rein in data centers are playing out on all levels of government — some with more support than others. In March, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) introduced legislation in the Senate and House, respectively, that they said would enact a “reasonable pause” on the development of new AI data centers in the US “to ensure the safety of humanity.” If the bill becomes law, it would institute “an immediate federal moratorium on AI data centers until strong national safeguards are put in place” to ensure AI is safe and effective, does not increase electricity or utility prices, or harm communities or damage the environment. Although the legislation is unlikely to advance, its introduction follows efforts by more than a dozen states and several cities and counties pushing forward with moratorium proposals. Maine is set to become the first US state to temporarily outlaw the development of most new data centers after a proposed ban received state House approval April 6. The bill advances to the state Senate, which is expected to pass the legislation. The moratorium would freeze construction of any data center consuming at least 20 megawatts of electricity until Nov. 1, 2027. Lawmakers have proposed data center bans or restrictions in 12 other states: Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. On the municipal level, the city of New Orleans in January passed a one-year moratorium on the construction of data centers, and city council members — who unanimously approved the measure — say the ban will likely become permanent. Cities in North Carolina and Wisconsin also approved temporary bans earlier this year, while Dallas and Denver are considering their own restrictions. Global spending on data centers is projected to reach $7 trillion by 2030, according to consultant McKinsey. Of the 4,088 data centers now in the US, Virginia and Texas are the top two states for data center construction, with 579 and 411 facilities, respectively, according to industry website Data Center Map. DHL is in the process of expanding its North American infrastructure to support data center logistics, adding 10 warehouse sites with over 7 million square feet of capacity. The facilities are set go live sometime in 2026, according to DHL. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at autumn@autumngiusti.com .

Push for data center bans in US threatens project cargo surge

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Most of the increases represent a significant premium on current pricing levels, but it remains to be seen how sticky the aspirational rates will be with cargo markets also under pressure from high energy prices. </div>

Most of the increases represent a significant premium on current pricing levels, but it remains to be seen how sticky the aspirational rates will be with cargo markets also under pressure from high energy prices.

<div class="phx-topic">Ocean carriers have unveiled a raft of rate increases and emergency fuel surcharges on multiple trade lanes as high bunker prices push up operating costs across shipping networks. Most of the increases represent a significant premium on current pricing levels, but it remains to be seen how sticky the aspirational rates will be with cargo markets also under pressure from high energy prices. Carriers have been pushing general rate increases (GRIs) on Asia-US trade lanes to lift prices on the trans-Pacific. As of April 9, Asia-US East Coast rates of $3,525/FEU were up 20% compared to levels before the April 1 GRIs, with Asia-West Coast up 24% at $2,525/FEU, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) will increase its Asia-North America emergency fuel surcharge (EFS) on May 1, with the Asia-North America West Coast EFS rising 70% to $467/FEU and the East Coast levy up 50% at $644/FEU. On Asia-North Europe, rates eased this week despite Maersk announcing freight-all-kinds (FAK) prices that set higher rate levels ranging from $3,500 to $3,900/FEU depending on destination ports. Data from rate benchmarking platform Xeneta shows Asia-North Europe rates unchanged this week around $2,854/FEU. Other upcoming increases announced this week include CMA CGM planning an April 16 FAK rate of $4,300/FEU from Northwest India and Pakistan to North Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, more than 70% higher than the current rate, while Hapag-Lloyd will be adding $1,000/FEU on the Indian Subcontinent, Pakistan and Middle East to the US and Canada. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="d915cdd3-263b-4835-b993-5efb9468dc03"></dynamic-object></div>Hapag-Lloyd's EFS of $160/TEU, in effect since mid-March on routes not regulated by the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), was implemented on US trades this week. The FMC requires <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/fmc-rejects-requests-by-carriers-to-waive-waiting-period-for-middle-east-surcharges-6191881">a 30-day notice period from carriers</a> before they can implement rate increases and surcharges on US routes. Ocean Network Express on April 2 implemented an inland fuel surcharge for carrier haulage in Latin America and across all non-FMC regulated trade routes and services and will extend that to FMC-regulated routes on May 2. “The evolving security situation in the Middle East continues to pose significant challenges, affecting logistics operations and customer supply chains,” ONE said in its surcharge announcement this week. ”Many refineries are also operating at reduced capacity, limiting export volumes and causing substantial disruptions in global fuel supply chains,” the carrier added. <h3>Shipping reluctant to pass through Hormuz </h3>The Strait of Hormuz that links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman is a key energy transport route with around 20% of the world’s oil and gas supplies passing through the waterway. It has been effectively closed since the war started on Feb. 28 and despite <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/ocean-carriers-wait-for-clarity-on-safe-hormuz-passage-after-us-iran-ceasefire-6201132">the two-week US-Iran ceasefire agreed to earlier this week</a>, shipping remains reluctant to pass through the strait until safety can be guaranteed. Jan Christensen, senior director of fuel purchasing at Hapag-Lloyd, highlighted the impact high prices and supply disruptions from the Hormuz blockade were having on bunkering operations. “Higher crude oil prices directly translate into higher bunker prices, which are the fuel costs for our vessels,” Christensen said in a recent interview. “Fuel is one of the largest cost components in container shipping, so these developments have a significant financial impact for all carriers. When oil prices move sharply upward, bunker costs follow very quickly, which increases operational expenses across the entire fleet.” <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/singapore-bunker-supply-continues-to-run-down-as-middle-east-war-drags-on-6198359">Fuel availability continues to tighten</a>, particularly in the Asian bunkering hubs in Singapore and South Korea. “Some suppliers are already signalling that they cannot fully guarantee contracted volumes, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to secure bunker contracts for April and May,” Christensen said. <h3>Lingering Europe port congestion </h3>On top of the rising fuel costs, carriers are also facing delays when calling at gateway ports in North Europe and the Mediterranean. Yard density is high with the lingering effects of severe storms in early March continuing to be felt. Kuehne + Nagel’s visibility tool SeaExplorer noted “heavily disrupted operations” at Antwerp, Hamburg and Felixstowe, with seven-day average vessel wait times of more than two days. “It’s been reported that yard density has reached over 75% at ports like Antwerp, Hamburg, and Rotterdam in the past few weeks and much of that was due to the berthing delays from storms in February and early March and their lingering impacts,” said Destine Ozuygur, senior market analyst at Xeneta. Another challenge for shippers on the Asia-North Europe trade lane is on-time performance. While schedule reliability in March of 32% into Northern Europe was a significant improvement on the 18% in February and 22% in January, Ozuygur noted it was barely above the average 29% on-time performance through 2025. “Any gains we’ve seen on this trade have been short-lived over the past 12 months,” she said, adding that only in March and May of last year did schedule reliability ever pass 40%. From a deployed capacity perspective, the Asia-Mediterranean trade lane has seen an 8% increase from April to May, with carriers adding 69,000 TEUs to the corridor to serve rerouted Persian Gulf cargo, Xeneta data shows. Planned capacity on Asia-Mediterranean routes of 844,862 TEUs in April is an increase of 25% compared to March and will jump to 913,285 TEUs in May. “The Far East-Med is being used to route Gulf Cooperation Council-bound cargo through Jeddah, King Abdullah and Mersin,” Ozuygur said. “The challenges that could potentially bring to other Mediterranean ports if this becomes a long-term routing option that gains favor over Khor Fakkan, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, etc. is one worth noting.” Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Ocean carriers have unveiled a raft of rate increases and emergency fuel surcharges on multiple trade lanes as high bunker prices push up operating costs across shipping networks. Most of the increases represent a significant premium on current pricing levels, but it remains to be seen how sticky the aspirational rates will be with cargo markets also under pressure from high energy prices. Carriers have been pushing general rate increases (GRIs) on Asia-US trade lanes to lift prices on the trans-Pacific. As of April 9, Asia-US East Coast rates of $3,525/FEU were up 20% compared to levels before the April 1 GRIs, with Asia-West Coast up 24% at $2,525/FEU, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) will increase its Asia-North America emergency fuel surcharge (EFS) on May 1, with the Asia-North America West Coast EFS rising 70% to $467/FEU and the East Coast levy up 50% at $644/FEU. On Asia-North Europe, rates eased this week despite Maersk announcing freight-all-kinds (FAK) prices that set higher rate levels ranging from $3,500 to $3,900/FEU depending on destination ports. Data from rate benchmarking platform Xeneta shows Asia-North Europe rates unchanged this week around $2,854/FEU. Other upcoming increases announced this week include CMA CGM planning an April 16 FAK rate of $4,300/FEU from Northwest India and Pakistan to North Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, more than 70% higher than the current rate, while Hapag-Lloyd will be adding $1,000/FEU on the Indian Subcontinent, Pakistan and Middle East to the US and Canada. Hapag-Lloyd's EFS of $160/TEU, in effect since mid-March on routes not regulated by the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), was implemented on US trades this week. The FMC requires a 30-day notice period from carriers before they can implement rate increases and surcharges on US routes. Ocean Network Express on April 2 implemented an inland fuel surcharge for carrier haulage in Latin America and across all non-FMC regulated trade routes and services and will extend that to FMC-regulated routes on May 2. “The evolving security situation in the Middle East continues to pose significant challenges, affecting logistics operations and customer supply chains,” ONE said in its surcharge announcement this week. ”Many refineries are also operating at reduced capacity, limiting export volumes and causing substantial disruptions in global fuel supply chains,” the carrier added. Shipping reluctant to pass through Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz that links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman is a key energy transport route with around 20% of the world’s oil and gas supplies passing through the waterway. It has been effectively closed since the war started on Feb. 28 and despite the two-week US-Iran ceasefire agreed to earlier this week , shipping remains reluctant to pass through the strait until safety can be guaranteed. Jan Christensen, senior director of fuel purchasing at Hapag-Lloyd, highlighted the impact high prices and supply disruptions from the Hormuz blockade were having on bunkering operations. “Higher crude oil prices directly translate into higher bunker prices, which are the fuel costs for our vessels,” Christensen said in a recent interview. “Fuel is one of the largest cost components in container shipping, so these developments have a significant financial impact for all carriers. When oil prices move sharply upward, bunker costs follow very quickly, which increases operational expenses across the entire fleet.” Fuel availability continues to tighten , particularly in the Asian bunkering hubs in Singapore and South Korea. “Some suppliers are already signalling that they cannot fully guarantee contracted volumes, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to secure bunker contracts for April and May,” Christensen said. Lingering Europe port congestion On top of the rising fuel costs, carriers are also facing delays when calling at gateway ports in North Europe and the Mediterranean. Yard density is high with the lingering effects of severe storms in early March continuing to be felt. Kuehne + Nagel’s visibility tool SeaExplorer noted “heavily disrupted operations” at Antwerp, Hamburg and Felixstowe, with seven-day average vessel wait times of more than two days. “It’s been reported that yard density has reached over 75% at ports like Antwerp, Hamburg, and Rotterdam in the past few weeks and much of that was due to the berthing delays from storms in February and early March and their lingering impacts,” said Destine Ozuygur, senior market analyst at Xeneta. Another challenge for shippers on the Asia-North Europe trade lane is on-time performance. While schedule reliability in March of 32% into Northern Europe was a significant improvement on the 18% in February and 22% in January, Ozuygur noted it was barely above the average 29% on-time performance through 2025. “Any gains we’ve seen on this trade have been short-lived over the past 12 months,” she said, adding that only in March and May of last year did schedule reliability ever pass 40%. From a deployed capacity perspective, the Asia-Mediterranean trade lane has seen an 8% increase from April to May, with carriers adding 69,000 TEUs to the corridor to serve rerouted Persian Gulf cargo, Xeneta data shows. Planned capacity on Asia-Mediterranean routes of 844,862 TEUs in April is an increase of 25% compared to March and will jump to 913,285 TEUs in May. “The Far East-Med is being used to route Gulf Cooperation Council-bound cargo through Jeddah, King Abdullah and Mersin,” Ozuygur said. “The challenges that could potentially bring to other Mediterranean ports if this becomes a long-term routing option that gains favor over Khor Fakkan, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, etc. is one worth noting.” Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Cost-hit ocean carriers roll out series of rate increases, fuel surcharges

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Rising fuel prices and memory costs may force buyers to re-think, or at least delay, purchases of pricey electronics this year. </div>

Rising fuel prices and memory costs may force buyers to re-think, or at least delay, purchases of pricey electronics this year.

<div class="phx-topic">(The following story appears in the Top 100 Importers and Exporters issue of the Journal of Commerce magazine to be published May 4, 2026.) Importers of consumer electronics affected by rising costs on US households in 2025 are facing dual threats to growth prospects in the year ahead: the impact of increased fuel costs on consumer discretionary spending and the skyrocketing price of memory due to demand from data center construction. That means there might be little respite for consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers after they saw containerized imports of those products dip 2.2% in 2025, according to data from PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. “Energy prices and gas prices, that’s going to be a headline budgetary impact on the average household,” Paul Gagnon, vice president of consumer technology at market research firm Circana, told the Journal of Commerce. “We were already expecting consumer demand to not be great this year and that tariffs would have an impact. But food and other necessary purchases will delay demand for discretionary purchases.” A potentially bigger headwind for consumer electronics sales is the impact of memory prices. Gagnon said pricing for memory is up 400% year over year in the last few months. “Data centers use huge amounts of high bandwidth memory and the generators of that memory don’t have bandwidth to supply data centers and lower value memory that goes into consumer products,” he said. The impact of that dynamic won’t be isolated to the types of products most associated with memory, like laptops and tablets, but will be more widespread since virtually every consumer electronic good now has a memory component. “Any product that uses a lot of memory will be susceptible,” Gagnon said. “Even things that use memory indirectly, prices will go up.” Sony, during its fiscal third-quarter earnings call in February, noted the memory cost issue. “We are already in a position to secure the minimum quantity necessary to manage the year-end selling season of next fiscal year,” Sony Group CFO Lin Tao said. “Going forward, we intend to further negotiate with various suppliers to secure enough [memory] supply to meet the demand of our customers.” The way these trends manifest into container volume is not entirely clear, but Gagnon cautioned that with prices likely to increase due to the memory cost issue, retailers might see sales stay steady or rise, but on a lower volume of units. That would, in turn, hit import volume. “It will definitely have a negative impact on volumes,” he said. “Retailers don’t care about volume as much as revenues. And it might be a situation where their revenues hold up because people are willing to pay more or need something and end up having to pay more.” <h3>Sourcing shift </h3>Another sectoral trend affecting volume is changes in sourcing patterns of consumer electronics tied to the size of a product and the composition of parts needed, Gagnon explained. For instance, television supply chains had long ago shifted production to Mexico, but during 2025 saw even more concentration in that market. “What had left China had gone to Southeast Asia but even that had moved to Mexico,” Gagnon said. "But the shift to Mexico didn’t happen broadly outside of large physical size products. For smaller products, there’s not a big benefit to have it more local.” He also said Mexico is suitable to television production because the some of the major component parts — metals and plastics — are not as sophisticated as those needed in other consumer product categories. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="df66d4d5-06ca-41b6-986e-bdb3b6d0346d"></dynamic-object></div>Meanwhile, historical behavior in the electronics sector suggests that when prices rise, consumers will either put off purchases, whether new or replacement, or they will engage in what Gagnon called “trade down behavior,” choosing a less expensive option if they need to buy. The forecast for consumer electronics manufacturing is not much better. S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence in late February revised its projection for global production of consumer electronics downward from 5.5% to 4.4%. The forecast noted that consumer electronics production tends to correlate loosely with global GDP. “Historically, the industry overperformed the global economy by 1.6 percentage points,” the report said. “Over the last 10 years, the gap between industry and global growth even got wider. The industry grew 5.2% on average per year, over-performing GDP growth by 2.4 percentage points.” So a tick down from the average growth rate over the past decade would indicate a slowing sector in a slowing economy. US imports of consumer electronics have lost ground three of the last four years, with 2024 being the outlier, according to PIERS data, adding weight to the slowdown theory not being an isolated trend. While China dominates the supply chain for consumer electronics — it accounted for 53% of global production in 2025 — S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence said the next 10 years will see supply concentration decrease. PIERS data shows that process already occurring, with Vietnam growing its share of US consumer electronic imports from 10.1% in 2020 to 18.1% in 2025, while China’s share decreased from 56.6% to 40.7% in the same period. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

(The following story appears in the Top 100 Importers and Exporters issue of the Journal of Commerce magazine to be published May 4, 2026.) Importers of consumer electronics affected by rising costs on US households in 2025 are facing dual threats to growth prospects in the year ahead: the impact of increased fuel costs on consumer discretionary spending and the skyrocketing price of memory due to demand from data center construction. That means there might be little respite for consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers after they saw containerized imports of those products dip 2.2% in 2025, according to data from PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. “Energy prices and gas prices, that’s going to be a headline budgetary impact on the average household,” Paul Gagnon, vice president of consumer technology at market research firm Circana, told the Journal of Commerce. “We were already expecting consumer demand to not be great this year and that tariffs would have an impact. But food and other necessary purchases will delay demand for discretionary purchases.” A potentially bigger headwind for consumer electronics sales is the impact of memory prices. Gagnon said pricing for memory is up 400% year over year in the last few months. “Data centers use huge amounts of high bandwidth memory and the generators of that memory don’t have bandwidth to supply data centers and lower value memory that goes into consumer products,” he said. The impact of that dynamic won’t be isolated to the types of products most associated with memory, like laptops and tablets, but will be more widespread since virtually every consumer electronic good now has a memory component. “Any product that uses a lot of memory will be susceptible,” Gagnon said. “Even things that use memory indirectly, prices will go up.” Sony, during its fiscal third-quarter earnings call in February, noted the memory cost issue. “We are already in a position to secure the minimum quantity necessary to manage the year-end selling season of next fiscal year,” Sony Group CFO Lin Tao said. “Going forward, we intend to further negotiate with various suppliers to secure enough [memory] supply to meet the demand of our customers.” The way these trends manifest into container volume is not entirely clear, but Gagnon cautioned that with prices likely to increase due to the memory cost issue, retailers might see sales stay steady or rise, but on a lower volume of units. That would, in turn, hit import volume. “It will definitely have a negative impact on volumes,” he said. “Retailers don’t care about volume as much as revenues. And it might be a situation where their revenues hold up because people are willing to pay more or need something and end up having to pay more.” Sourcing shift Another sectoral trend affecting volume is changes in sourcing patterns of consumer electronics tied to the size of a product and the composition of parts needed, Gagnon explained. For instance, television supply chains had long ago shifted production to Mexico, but during 2025 saw even more concentration in that market. “What had left China had gone to Southeast Asia but even that had moved to Mexico,” Gagnon said. "But the shift to Mexico didn’t happen broadly outside of large physical size products. For smaller products, there’s not a big benefit to have it more local.” He also said Mexico is suitable to television production because the some of the major component parts — metals and plastics — are not as sophisticated as those needed in other consumer product categories. Meanwhile, historical behavior in the electronics sector suggests that when prices rise, consumers will either put off purchases, whether new or replacement, or they will engage in what Gagnon called “trade down behavior,” choosing a less expensive option if they need to buy. The forecast for consumer electronics manufacturing is not much better. S&P Global Market Intelligence in late February revised its projection for global production of consumer electronics downward from 5.5% to 4.4%. The forecast noted that consumer electronics production tends to correlate loosely with global GDP. “Historically, the industry overperformed the global economy by 1.6 percentage points,” the report said. “Over the last 10 years, the gap between industry and global growth even got wider. The industry grew 5.2% on average per year, over-performing GDP growth by 2.4 percentage points.” So a tick down from the average growth rate over the past decade would indicate a slowing sector in a slowing economy. US imports of consumer electronics have lost ground three of the last four years, with 2024 being the outlier, according to PIERS data, adding weight to the slowdown theory not being an isolated trend. While China dominates the supply chain for consumer electronics — it accounted for 53% of global production in 2025 — S&P Global Market Intelligence said the next 10 years will see supply concentration decrease. PIERS data shows that process already occurring, with Vietnam growing its share of US consumer electronic imports from 10.1% in 2020 to 18.1% in 2025, while China’s share decreased from 56.6% to 40.7% in the same period. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

US imports of consumer electronics face threats to growth plans

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The repair and rebuilding of oil, gas and petrochemical facilities in the Middle East will provide project cargoes for the specialist fleet at least through the end of the decade, observers say. </div>

The repair and rebuilding of oil, gas and petrochemical facilities in the Middle East will provide project cargoes for the specialist fleet at least through the end of the decade, observers say.

<div class="phx-topic">Rebuilding energy, petrochemical and other critical infrastructure in the Middle East that has been damaged during the war will drive a surge in cargo demand and freight rates in the multipurpose vessel (MPV) and deck carrier markets when the conflict ends, industry executives say. “Reconstruction needs across the region will be considerable,” said Marco Poisler, chief operating officer for global energy and capital projects at project cargo logistics company UTC Overseas. “The pent-up demand wave will hit a market that is not ready for it. And that, historically, is when freight rates for MPV project cargo move most sharply,” Poisler told the Journal of Commerce. The fragile ceasefire in the region after six weeks of air and sea attacks means demand for MPV-related cargo into the region “is likely to increase substantially above pre-conflict baselines,” he said. That comes as Tehran pledged to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as part of the two-week truce agreed to with the US and Israel Tuesday. But Iran maintains effective operational control of the crucial waterway and has said it will charge vessel transit fees of up to $2 million for passage, with the proceeds used to finance post-war reconstruction in the country. <h3>Freight rates holding firm despite conflict </h3>The conflict has had little impact on MPV rates so far, with the April Toepfer Transport Multipurpose Vessel Index (TMI) remaining virtually unchanged at $12,683 per day, down just 0.53% from March. Six-month rates are projected to be 0.27% higher than current levels, and rising 1% in the 12-month forecast, according to executives polled by Toepfer. “The growing concerns about disruptions and high bunker prices due to the war in the Middle East are not currently reflected in the TMI,” Toepfer said in a commentary this week. “This may be due to the fact that the majority of cargoes not destined for the Middle East are still being shipped, as expected, and thus fleet utilization remains high.” The ceasefire was agreed to as damage to energy infrastructure across the region was already estimated to cost more than $25 billion to repair, according to an initial assessment by Rystad Energy in late March. “Spending is likely to be driven primarily by engineering and construction, followed by equipment and materials, the Norway-headquartered energy consultancy said in a commentary.   <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="c421e66c-3cd4-4d1c-8095-6a37bbeeb1cb"></dynamic-object></div>Iranian missile and drone attacks caused extensive damage to refineries and gas and petrochemical plants in neighboring countries including Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. Similarly, US and Israeli bombing missions targeted Iran’s energy and chemicals industry, especially the country’s South Pars gas field and Kharg Island oil export complex. Anurag Kumar, senior research analyst/MPV at Drewry Maritime Research, said the SAMRAF refinery and Al-Jubail petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi’s Al Hosn gas field, and Qatar’s Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant were among the facilities targeted. “They will require repair, replacement, and in some cases [a] complete rebuild,” Kumar told the Journal of Commerce. “The structural steel, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, turbine components and heavy fabricated packages that constitute the core of this reconstruction cargo are precisely the cargo class served by the MPV sector,” Kumar added. Larger components and modules are likely to be transported on deck carriers, providing a lift for that sector. In Qatar, reconstruction of two LNG production trains at Ras Laffan destroyed by Iran will require deck carriers and MPVs to transport heavy and oversized cargoes including LNG modules, compressors, pipelines and structural steel, according to Kumar and Poisler. The attacks took out 17% of Ras Laffan’s LNG production capacity. <h3>MPV demand through 2030 </h3>Rebuilding work is also likely to take place over the long term, potentially supporting the MPV and deck carrier markets until the end of the decade. Poisler said the Ras Laffan plant could take up to five years to become fully operational again. “This is because the large-frame gas turbines required to power LNG main refrigeration compressors are supplied by only three original equipment manufacturers globally, all of which entered 2026 with production backlogs of around two to four years,” he said. Qatar’s Pearl gas-to-liquids facility also sustained damage during aerial attacks on March 20 that is expected to take about a year to repair. Drewry’s Kumar said the outages at Ras Laffan alone are estimated to cost QatarEnergy some $20 billion per year in lost revenue. He said reconstruction work across the region will also drive the need for better port handling capabilities and integrated logistics to handle MPV and deck carrier cargoes. “As projects become more complex, EPC [engineering, procurement and construction] contractors, shipping lines and port operators will likely need to work together more closely,” he said. “In the medium to long term, ongoing expansion and upgrades to Qatar’s energy facilities should keep breakbulk volumes high.” Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keithwallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>. </div>

Rebuilding energy, petrochemical and other critical infrastructure in the Middle East that has been damaged during the war will drive a surge in cargo demand and freight rates in the multipurpose vessel (MPV) and deck carrier markets when the conflict ends, industry executives say. “Reconstruction needs across the region will be considerable,” said Marco Poisler, chief operating officer for global energy and capital projects at project cargo logistics company UTC Overseas. “The pent-up demand wave will hit a market that is not ready for it. And that, historically, is when freight rates for MPV project cargo move most sharply,” Poisler told the Journal of Commerce. The fragile ceasefire in the region after six weeks of air and sea attacks means demand for MPV-related cargo into the region “is likely to increase substantially above pre-conflict baselines,” he said. That comes as Tehran pledged to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as part of the two-week truce agreed to with the US and Israel Tuesday. But Iran maintains effective operational control of the crucial waterway and has said it will charge vessel transit fees of up to $2 million for passage, with the proceeds used to finance post-war reconstruction in the country. Freight rates holding firm despite conflict The conflict has had little impact on MPV rates so far, with the April Toepfer Transport Multipurpose Vessel Index (TMI) remaining virtually unchanged at $12,683 per day, down just 0.53% from March. Six-month rates are projected to be 0.27% higher than current levels, and rising 1% in the 12-month forecast, according to executives polled by Toepfer. “The growing concerns about disruptions and high bunker prices due to the war in the Middle East are not currently reflected in the TMI,” Toepfer said in a commentary this week. “This may be due to the fact that the majority of cargoes not destined for the Middle East are still being shipped, as expected, and thus fleet utilization remains high.” The ceasefire was agreed to as damage to energy infrastructure across the region was already estimated to cost more than $25 billion to repair, according to an initial assessment by Rystad Energy in late March. “Spending is likely to be driven primarily by engineering and construction, followed by equipment and materials, the Norway-headquartered energy consultancy said in a commentary.   Iranian missile and drone attacks caused extensive damage to refineries and gas and petrochemical plants in neighboring countries including Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. Similarly, US and Israeli bombing missions targeted Iran’s energy and chemicals industry, especially the country’s South Pars gas field and Kharg Island oil export complex. Anurag Kumar, senior research analyst/MPV at Drewry Maritime Research, said the SAMRAF refinery and Al-Jubail petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi’s Al Hosn gas field, and Qatar’s Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant were among the facilities targeted. “They will require repair, replacement, and in some cases [a] complete rebuild,” Kumar told the Journal of Commerce. “The structural steel, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, turbine components and heavy fabricated packages that constitute the core of this reconstruction cargo are precisely the cargo class served by the MPV sector,” Kumar added. Larger components and modules are likely to be transported on deck carriers, providing a lift for that sector. In Qatar, reconstruction of two LNG production trains at Ras Laffan destroyed by Iran will require deck carriers and MPVs to transport heavy and oversized cargoes including LNG modules, compressors, pipelines and structural steel, according to Kumar and Poisler. The attacks took out 17% of Ras Laffan’s LNG production capacity. MPV demand through 2030 Rebuilding work is also likely to take place over the long term, potentially supporting the MPV and deck carrier markets until the end of the decade. Poisler said the Ras Laffan plant could take up to five years to become fully operational again. “This is because the large-frame gas turbines required to power LNG main refrigeration compressors are supplied by only three original equipment manufacturers globally, all of which entered 2026 with production backlogs of around two to four years,” he said. Qatar’s Pearl gas-to-liquids facility also sustained damage during aerial attacks on March 20 that is expected to take about a year to repair. Drewry’s Kumar said the outages at Ras Laffan alone are estimated to cost QatarEnergy some $20 billion per year in lost revenue. He said reconstruction work across the region will also drive the need for better port handling capabilities and integrated logistics to handle MPV and deck carrier cargoes. “As projects become more complex, EPC [engineering, procurement and construction] contractors, shipping lines and port operators will likely need to work together more closely,” he said. “In the medium to long term, ongoing expansion and upgrades to Qatar’s energy facilities should keep breakbulk volumes high.” Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

MPV, deck carrier operators eye cargo demand surge from Iran war reconstruction

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