Breakbulk pop up 640x340 (2).png

Event Pop Up

Events

Maritime

Supply chain

Breakbulk News

Port News

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Marine terminals

International ports

Longshore labor

Breakbulk carriers

Ro/ro cargo

Energy projects

Heavy-haul transport

Project cargo

Trans-Atlantic

Forwarding

Trans-Pacific

Breakbulk ports

North American ports

Breakbulk Quarterly Intelligence

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">One of the most bizarre experiments in modern economic history ended quietly Monday, and economists </div>

One of the most bizarre experiments in modern economic history ended quietly Monday, and economists

<div>One of the most bizarre experiments in modern economic history ended quietly Monday, and economists judged it a resounding failure.President Fernando Collor de Mello astonished Brazil when, the day after taking office in March 1990, he froze most of the country's liquid assets overnight in a once-and-for-all effort to beat inflation.Everyone with bank deposits worth more than $1,250 was told that the government had "borrowed" their money and would not give it back for 18 months. The Central Bank estimates that $45.7 billion was sucked out of the economy at a stroke.The "Collor plan" left citizens penniless, threw the economy...

One of the most bizarre experiments in modern economic history ended quietly Monday, and economists judged it a resounding failure. President Fernando Collor de Mello astonished Brazil when, the day after taking office in March 1990, he froze most of the country's liquid assets overnight in a once-and-for-all effort to beat inflation.Everyone with bank deposits worth more than $1,250 was told that the government had "borrowed" their money and would not give it back for 18 months. The Central Bank estimates that $45.7 billion was sucked out of the economy at a stroke. The "Collor plan" left citizens penniless, threw the economy into chaos, drove companies crazy and helped cause one of the worst recessions ever in this vast country with the Southern Hemisphere's largest economy. It also failed to kill inflation. And as the government paid back the final installment of the blocked money on Monday, no one was celebrating. Prices were rising by 84 percent a month when Mr. Collor took over in 1990 from his predecessor Jose Sarney. Noting that 1989 inflation had topped 1,700 percent, the country's new leader promised to "slay the tiger of inflation with a single bullet." But after an initial dip to 3.3 percent a month, inflation quickly bounced back. Part of the problem with the drastic plan was that wily Brazilians were able to exploit legal and not-so-legal ways to unblock their money, recovering $22.6 billion - nearly half the total - within a few months. Only nine months after the asset freeze, the government was forced to declare a price freeze. Four months after that, Economy Minister Zelia Cardoso de Mello, architect of the drastic anti-inflation plan, was forced to resign. Currently inflation is running at close to 25 percent a month, and economists see no prospect of it dropping any time soon. The Getulio Vargas Foundation, an economic research institute, says prices have risen by 14,221 percent since Mr. Collor's plan was launched - bad news for Brazilians whose blocked money rose in value by only 7,218 percent. The new cruzeiro currency, introduced alongside the plan, has withered, too. Days after the anti-inflation plan was launched, 30 cruzeiros were enough to buy a dollar. These days, dealers in Rio want 5,200. "The government said this plan would end inflation in Brazil," former Central Bank President Affonso Celso Pastore told Reuter news service. "The results are there for everyone to see. Need I say more? "Experiments in economics should be confined to theoretical models, not tried out on society," he added. "There's no reason to believe that this plan could ever have worked." But Ms. Cardoso had no regrets. If necessary, she told O Globo newspaper, she would confiscate the money all over again.

BRAZIL BRINGS TO AN END ITS FAILED ECONOMIC PLAN

<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.

Feature image

<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 .

Container Shipping News

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 mean 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 on <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 mean 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 on keithwallis@hotmail.com .

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

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">While the ceasefire marks the first diplomatic shift in the 40-day conflict, it is being regarded by transport operators as more of a controlled easing rather than an operational reset. </div>

While the ceasefire marks the first diplomatic shift in the 40-day conflict, it is being regarded by transport operators as more of a controlled easing rather than an operational reset.

<div class="phx-topic">The two-week ceasefire agreed to between the US and Iran this week is too short and too fragile to encourage international air carriers to resume flights to the Middle East, air freight analysts say. While the ceasefire marks the first diplomatic shift in the 40-day conflict, it is being regarded by transport operators as more of a controlled easing rather than an operational reset. “There will be a bit of reluctance from non-Gulf-based carriers to resume normal scheduled activity until there is a feeling that the ceasefire will be more permanent,” said Frederic Horst, managing director of Sydney-based consultancy Trade and Transport Group. “Combined passenger and freight on flights through Gulf-facing hubs have been edging up a little bit over the past couple of weeks, but we are still at less than 40% of previous levels,” Horst told the Journal of Commerce. Niall van de Wouw, chief air freight officer at rate benchmarking platform Xeneta, said bringing air capacity back to the Middle East corridors will provide welcome relief for shippers, many of whom were facing severe disruption to ocean supply chains. But carriers require a far more permanent settlement to the conflict before flights resume, van de Wouw said in a statement from Xeneta Thursday. “A two-week timeline is too short to justify restructuring freight plans,” he said. “Carriers will be in no rush to lower rates given the ceasefire is only temporary and the geopolitical situation remains uncertain. Shippers will also not rush into major routing decisions on the basis of a fragile two-week ceasefire “Even when it is deemed safe to fly, setting up the infrastructure again takes time,” he added. “Customers need to find you again and trust you again. Insurance companies may still advise against transiting these Middle East hubs despite the ceasefire.” Should the ceasefire hold, a full return to pre-conflict capacity and rates on trades transiting Middle East hubs is still one to two months away, van de Wouw said. <h3>Passenger confidence key to restoring networks </h3>Pre-conflict networks routed through the Middle East accounted for about 30% of the Asia-Europe air freight capacity, much of that carried in the bellies of passenger aircraft. Flights to the regional hub of Dubai by Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and British Airways remain suspended until May 31. Air France as of now has Dubai flights suspended only until April 19, with KLM due to return May 17. Both van de Wouw and Horst identified passenger confidence as a key variable in the recovery of air freight in Middle East corridors. “Gulf carriers such as Emirates and Qatar Airways operate some of the world’s most important air freight networks, but those networks depend on passenger revenue,” van de Wouw said. “If tourist confidence in Middle East destinations takes time to recover — even after the ceasefire — airlines may operate routes at below-sustainable passenger load factors and could cut network capacity as a result,” he noted. Horst said flight frequencies into the Middle East hubs might take a long time to return to pre-conflict levels, with passenger confidence shaken by the war. “In terms of overall flight levels, I don’t know whether they will come back in the next few years because people are probably going to re-evaluate their exposure to the Middle East and travel to alternative locations,” he said. <h3>Cargo backlogs, shuttered airports </h3>Crane Worldwide Logistics wrote in an update Wednesday that cargo backlogs at Dubai International Airport were structural and there was no defined timeline for clearing the logjam. “Full air freight normalization is expected no earlier than three to six weeks post‑ceasefire,” the forwarder noted. Crane added in the update that Bahrain International Airport remains closed, with home carrier Gulf Air operating out of Dammam in Saudi Arabia. Kuwait International Airport will remain closed indefinitely. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="8fc0722e-09e9-4b12-a4ba-76e0a0deaa46"></dynamic-object></div>With air freight routes disrupted through the Middle East, forwarders have scrambled to find direct capacity from Asia to Europe, leaving space limited and pushing rates on the corridor higher. Percentage increases in spot rates provided by Xeneta show a steep increase in the five weeks since the conflict began on Feb. 28, particularly out of Southeast Asia and South Asia. Rates have risen 105% from South Asia to Europe, 84% from South Asia to the Middle East, and 82% from South Asia to North America, according to Xeneta. The rates were up 87% from Europe to the Middle East and 72% from Southeast Asia to Europe. In price per kilogram, air cargo spot rates are at their highest level of the year, according to the Freightos Air Index. Spot rates from China to Europe of $4.69/kg are up 33% compared with the first week of January, while China-Middle East rates are up 43% since the start of the year at $4.20/kg, Freightos data showed. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

The two-week ceasefire agreed to between the US and Iran this week is too short and too fragile to encourage international air carriers to resume flights to the Middle East, air freight analysts say. While the ceasefire marks the first diplomatic shift in the 40-day conflict, it is being regarded by transport operators as more of a controlled easing rather than an operational reset. “There will be a bit of reluctance from non-Gulf-based carriers to resume normal scheduled activity until there is a feeling that the ceasefire will be more permanent,” said Frederic Horst, managing director of Sydney-based consultancy Trade and Transport Group. “Combined passenger and freight on flights through Gulf-facing hubs have been edging up a little bit over the past couple of weeks, but we are still at less than 40% of previous levels,” Horst told the Journal of Commerce. Niall van de Wouw, chief air freight officer at rate benchmarking platform Xeneta, said bringing air capacity back to the Middle East corridors will provide welcome relief for shippers, many of whom were facing severe disruption to ocean supply chains. But carriers require a far more permanent settlement to the conflict before flights resume, van de Wouw said in a statement from Xeneta Thursday. “A two-week timeline is too short to justify restructuring freight plans,” he said. “Carriers will be in no rush to lower rates given the ceasefire is only temporary and the geopolitical situation remains uncertain. Shippers will also not rush into major routing decisions on the basis of a fragile two-week ceasefire “Even when it is deemed safe to fly, setting up the infrastructure again takes time,” he added. “Customers need to find you again and trust you again. Insurance companies may still advise against transiting these Middle East hubs despite the ceasefire.” Should the ceasefire hold, a full return to pre-conflict capacity and rates on trades transiting Middle East hubs is still one to two months away, van de Wouw said. Passenger confidence key to restoring networks Pre-conflict networks routed through the Middle East accounted for about 30% of the Asia-Europe air freight capacity, much of that carried in the bellies of passenger aircraft. Flights to the regional hub of Dubai by Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and British Airways remain suspended until May 31. Air France as of now has Dubai flights suspended only until April 19, with KLM due to return May 17. Both van de Wouw and Horst identified passenger confidence as a key variable in the recovery of air freight in Middle East corridors. “Gulf carriers such as Emirates and Qatar Airways operate some of the world’s most important air freight networks, but those networks depend on passenger revenue,” van de Wouw said. “If tourist confidence in Middle East destinations takes time to recover — even after the ceasefire — airlines may operate routes at below-sustainable passenger load factors and could cut network capacity as a result,” he noted. Horst said flight frequencies into the Middle East hubs might take a long time to return to pre-conflict levels, with passenger confidence shaken by the war. “In terms of overall flight levels, I don’t know whether they will come back in the next few years because people are probably going to re-evaluate their exposure to the Middle East and travel to alternative locations,” he said. Cargo backlogs, shuttered airports Crane Worldwide Logistics wrote in an update Wednesday that cargo backlogs at Dubai International Airport were structural and there was no defined timeline for clearing the logjam. “Full air freight normalization is expected no earlier than three to six weeks post‑ceasefire,” the forwarder noted. Crane added in the update that Bahrain International Airport remains closed, with home carrier Gulf Air operating out of Dammam in Saudi Arabia. Kuwait International Airport will remain closed indefinitely. With air freight routes disrupted through the Middle East, forwarders have scrambled to find direct capacity from Asia to Europe, leaving space limited and pushing rates on the corridor higher. Percentage increases in spot rates provided by Xeneta show a steep increase in the five weeks since the conflict began on Feb. 28, particularly out of Southeast Asia and South Asia. Rates have risen 105% from South Asia to Europe, 84% from South Asia to the Middle East, and 82% from South Asia to North America, according to Xeneta. The rates were up 87% from Europe to the Middle East and 72% from Southeast Asia to Europe. In price per kilogram, air cargo spot rates are at their highest level of the year, according to the Freightos Air Index. Spot rates from China to Europe of $4.69/kg are up 33% compared with the first week of January, while China-Middle East rates are up 43% since the start of the year at $4.20/kg, Freightos data showed. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Air Cargo Carriers News

Air Cargo

US-Iran ceasefire unlikely to spur air freight return to Middle East: analysts

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The deal, financial details of which were not disclosed, could possibly be the first M&amp;A domino to fall among a growing number of agent vendors catering to the logistics industry.</div>

The deal, financial details of which were not disclosed, could possibly be the first M&A domino to fall among a growing number of agent vendors catering to the logistics industry.

<div class="phx-topic">Logistics technology provider project44 has acquired an automation company focused on building digital agents that cover dozens of pre-built use cases across international and domestic freight, the company announced Thursday. The all-cash acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, will enable project44 to embed agents from Chicago-based LunaPath into its visibility and transportation management products. Founded in 2024, LunaPath develops logistics orchestration- and execution-focused agents that tackle discrete tasks like sourcing missing ocean freight milestones and retrieving container location at the port of discharge. The company’s agents, also known as digital workers, undertake tasks in domestic freight as well, such as finding missing equipment identifiers and resolving invalid truck telematics connections. LunaPath’s sale is the first of the dozen or so artificial intelligence-focused agent developers serving the logistics and transportation industry to have emerged in the last three years. project44 CEO Jett McCandless told the Journal of Commerce the company had been trialing a number of these providers side-by-side over the past 16 months to see which ones performed best using project44’s data. “The reality is there isn’t one that’s the best at everything,” he said. “Some are better at voice, some are better at documents. Some better on Tuesday. Some are better for one carrier than another.” But LunaPath stood out, McCandless said, especially in high-volume voice and messaging execution use cases, prompting the decision to buy the emergent company rather than just use them among a number of other automation vendors. “They outperformed in a lot of use cases,” he said. “They got answers faster and more consistently.” <h3>‘Customers want outcomes’ </h3>The speed component is key in an environment where the cost of computing capacity to power digital workers is a factor that software companies must control. “Faster means it’s taking less capital; less time and less tokens,” McCandless said. “Our customers want outcomes.” Tokens are a unit the makers of AI models use to charge for use of their product. The more tokens used, the more a software company building agents pays, and in general, the faster a task is accomplished, the fewer tokens are used. The cost to build agents is starting to become a key issue as they become more prevalent in logistics, with some arguing that building agents are a cost of doing business for software providers, who should be expected to be enhancing their products continuously. On the other hand, some argue the cost of using AI models will only rise, and software vendors shouldn’t bear those costs alone. “The cost is not a billion dollars, but it’s not free either,” McCandless said. “Every time an agent does something it has a cost.” His contention is that application programming interfaces (APIs) are sometimes a more efficient way to transfer information, with project44 an early advocate for broader use of APIs over more traditional information exchange mechanisms like electronic data interchange (EDI). ”Where an API can do the job reliably, we use it,” McCandless said. “Agents earn their place when the task requires judgment, context or real-time adaptation. We’re not religious about it. We’re focused on outcomes.” <h3>Will also use other AI agent vendors </h3>McCandless said the acquisition of LunaPath won’t preclude project44 from using other AI agent vendors, such as Vooma and HappyRobot, with which it has had longstanding partnerships. project44, which serves more than 1,000 shippers and two-thirds of the world’s biggest logistics providers, has dived headlong into AI and agent-based workflows over the past 18 months to power its data platform and a new transportation management system it unveiled in 2025. A high-profile software vendor snapping up an early-stage AI vendor could, in theory, trigger other such acquisitions, but not all of those vendors are in the same position as LunaPath. Many have raised tens of millions of dollars from venture capital investors and need a return that justifies such investment. But it’s generally recognized that not every AI logistics vendor will survive in a market that appears commoditized, especially for agents that do relatively straightforward tasks that could be built internally by prospective buyers. Indeed, McCandless said project44 has built its own agents, ones that will be combined with those of LunaPath and augmented by those provided by other partner vendors. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com.</a></div>

Logistics technology provider project44 has acquired an automation company focused on building digital agents that cover dozens of pre-built use cases across international and domestic freight, the company announced Thursday. The all-cash acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, will enable project44 to embed agents from Chicago-based LunaPath into its visibility and transportation management products. Founded in 2024, LunaPath develops logistics orchestration- and execution-focused agents that tackle discrete tasks like sourcing missing ocean freight milestones and retrieving container location at the port of discharge. The company’s agents, also known as digital workers, undertake tasks in domestic freight as well, such as finding missing equipment identifiers and resolving invalid truck telematics connections. LunaPath’s sale is the first of the dozen or so artificial intelligence-focused agent developers serving the logistics and transportation industry to have emerged in the last three years. project44 CEO Jett McCandless told the Journal of Commerce the company had been trialing a number of these providers side-by-side over the past 16 months to see which ones performed best using project44’s data. “The reality is there isn’t one that’s the best at everything,” he said. “Some are better at voice, some are better at documents. Some better on Tuesday. Some are better for one carrier than another.” But LunaPath stood out, McCandless said, especially in high-volume voice and messaging execution use cases, prompting the decision to buy the emergent company rather than just use them among a number of other automation vendors. “They outperformed in a lot of use cases,” he said. “They got answers faster and more consistently.” ‘Customers want outcomes’ The speed component is key in an environment where the cost of computing capacity to power digital workers is a factor that software companies must control. “Faster means it’s taking less capital; less time and less tokens,” McCandless said. “Our customers want outcomes.” Tokens are a unit the makers of AI models use to charge for use of their product. The more tokens used, the more a software company building agents pays, and in general, the faster a task is accomplished, the fewer tokens are used. The cost to build agents is starting to become a key issue as they become more prevalent in logistics, with some arguing that building agents are a cost of doing business for software providers, who should be expected to be enhancing their products continuously. On the other hand, some argue the cost of using AI models will only rise, and software vendors shouldn’t bear those costs alone. “The cost is not a billion dollars, but it’s not free either,” McCandless said. “Every time an agent does something it has a cost.” His contention is that application programming interfaces (APIs) are sometimes a more efficient way to transfer information, with project44 an early advocate for broader use of APIs over more traditional information exchange mechanisms like electronic data interchange (EDI). ”Where an API can do the job reliably, we use it,” McCandless said. “Agents earn their place when the task requires judgment, context or real-time adaptation. We’re not religious about it. We’re focused on outcomes.” Will also use other AI agent vendors McCandless said the acquisition of LunaPath won’t preclude project44 from using other AI agent vendors, such as Vooma and HappyRobot, with which it has had longstanding partnerships. project44, which serves more than 1,000 shippers and two-thirds of the world’s biggest logistics providers, has dived headlong into AI and agent-based workflows over the past 18 months to power its data platform and a new transportation management system it unveiled in 2025. A high-profile software vendor snapping up an early-stage AI vendor could, in theory, trigger other such acquisitions, but not all of those vendors are in the same position as LunaPath. Many have raised tens of millions of dollars from venture capital investors and need a return that justifies such investment. But it’s generally recognized that not every AI logistics vendor will survive in a market that appears commoditized, especially for agents that do relatively straightforward tasks that could be built internally by prospective buyers. Indeed, McCandless said project44 has built its own agents, ones that will be combined with those of LunaPath and augmented by those provided by other partner vendors. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com.

Logistics Technology News

project44 acquires agent developer to expand AI use cases

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The Jacksonville Port Authority said Wednesday the Ocean Alliance will include the port on its Chesapeake Bay Express (CBX) service rotation as of this June. </div>

The Jacksonville Port Authority said Wednesday the Ocean Alliance will include the port on its Chesapeake Bay Express (CBX) service rotation as of this June.

<div class="phx-topic">CMA CGM will add the Port of Jacksonville to its trans-Pacific express service, adding to the port’s roster of direct Asia services and tapping the recent modernization of Jaxport’s main marine terminal. The Jacksonville Port Authority said in a statement Wednesday the Ocean Alliance will include the port on its Chesapeake Bay Express (CBX) service rotation as of this June. The CBX, operated exclusively by CMA CGM, calls Vietnam, China and South Korea before its eastbound rotation that includes US calls at Norfolk, Charleston and Savannah before Jacksonville. The CBX had previously called Miami, which is no longer on its rotation, according to its schedule. Ocean Alliance had previously been planning to <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/ocean-alliance-adding-vietnam-calls-to-north-america-for-2026-6155909">add Jacksonville to one of its Gulf Coast services</a> but instead settled on including it on the CBX. Jaxport will see the first CBX call with the June 27 expected arrival of the 7,327-TEU CMA CGM Passion. Jaxport Chief Executive Eric Green said in the statement the introduction of the CBX “expands routing flexibility between the Southeast United States and key Asian markets.” Jaxport added that its position on the CBX rotation will mean “opportunities for equipment repositioning and expedited transit for US export cargoes.” <h3>Two other direct Far East services </h3>The addition of the CBX marks the third Far East Asia service now calling Jacksonville directly. Premier Alliance’s EC3 service, which made Jacksonville the first US Southeast port of call for that service last July, now dominates the port’s Asian trade volumes. During the past 12 months, Premier Alliance partner Ocean Network Express (ONE) has made 61 port calls to Jacksonville with ships of 14,000-TEU average capacity, according to Sea-web, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. ONE’s standalone West India North America service also calls the port. Jacksonville also has a jointly-operated trans-Pacific service from Mediterranean Shipping Co. and Zim Integrated Shipping Services. The two accounted for 21 of the post-Panamax ship calls to Jacksonville over the past 12 months. The CBX will be able to tap an expansion and modernization of Jacksonville’s Blount Island container terminal, which was completed last fall. The three-year project included adding six outbound truck lanes, additional staging areas, and newly paved asphalt to allow for higher container stacks. Blount, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/jaxport-receives-30-million-in-state-funds-for-new-cranes-at-blount-island-5201528">which has six post-Panamax cranes</a>, will have capacity to handle 500,000 TEUs per year. The port is currently undertaking a project to raise power lines that span the St. John’s River and <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/jaxport-secures-funding-to-raise-power-lines-for-blount-island-big-ship-calls-5220798">increase the air clearance for larger vessels</a> to call its Dames Point Container Terminal. Jacksonville’s containerized imports from Asia and the Indian subcontinent slipped to 137,941 TEUs in 2025, according to PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce, a 1.1% drop from a year earlier. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

CMA CGM will add the Port of Jacksonville to its trans-Pacific express service, adding to the port’s roster of direct Asia services and tapping the recent modernization of Jaxport’s main marine terminal. The Jacksonville Port Authority said in a statement Wednesday the Ocean Alliance will include the port on its Chesapeake Bay Express (CBX) service rotation as of this June. The CBX, operated exclusively by CMA CGM, calls Vietnam, China and South Korea before its eastbound rotation that includes US calls at Norfolk, Charleston and Savannah before Jacksonville. The CBX had previously called Miami, which is no longer on its rotation, according to its schedule. Ocean Alliance had previously been planning to add Jacksonville to one of its Gulf Coast services but instead settled on including it on the CBX. Jaxport will see the first CBX call with the June 27 expected arrival of the 7,327-TEU CMA CGM Passion. Jaxport Chief Executive Eric Green said in the statement the introduction of the CBX “expands routing flexibility between the Southeast United States and key Asian markets.” Jaxport added that its position on the CBX rotation will mean “opportunities for equipment repositioning and expedited transit for US export cargoes.” Two other direct Far East services The addition of the CBX marks the third Far East Asia service now calling Jacksonville directly. Premier Alliance’s EC3 service, which made Jacksonville the first US Southeast port of call for that service last July, now dominates the port’s Asian trade volumes. During the past 12 months, Premier Alliance partner Ocean Network Express (ONE) has made 61 port calls to Jacksonville with ships of 14,000-TEU average capacity, according to Sea-web, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. ONE’s standalone West India North America service also calls the port. Jacksonville also has a jointly-operated trans-Pacific service from Mediterranean Shipping Co. and Zim Integrated Shipping Services. The two accounted for 21 of the post-Panamax ship calls to Jacksonville over the past 12 months. The CBX will be able to tap an expansion and modernization of Jacksonville’s Blount Island container terminal, which was completed last fall. The three-year project included adding six outbound truck lanes, additional staging areas, and newly paved asphalt to allow for higher container stacks. Blount, which has six post-Panamax cranes , will have capacity to handle 500,000 TEUs per year. The port is currently undertaking a project to raise power lines that span the St. John’s River and increase the air clearance for larger vessels to call its Dames Point Container Terminal. Jacksonville’s containerized imports from Asia and the Indian subcontinent slipped to 137,941 TEUs in 2025, according to PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce, a 1.1% drop from a year earlier. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Port infrastructure

CMA CGM taps Jaxport as newest call for Asia express service

Use code GTT26W at checkout and save $900 on first year of an annual Gold subscription!

Upgrade Subscription - Gold Trials

Become a Gold Subscriber and Save!

Arm your team with the most trusted information portal for the international container shipping industry.

Group Subscriptions - Wide Box

Get into a group subscription today

Use code SSFTW30 at checkout to save 30% on a Silver or Silver Plus annual subscription! 

Subscribe Now - FT to S/SP - Wide Box

SPRING SALE!

Use code GW595 and upgrade to Gold for just $595! Valid for first year of subscription.

Upgrade Subscription - S/SP to Gold - Wide Box

SAVE $900 ON A GOLD SUBSCRIPTION

Use code SSLW30 at checkout and save 30% on an annual Silver or Silver Plus subscription!

Subscribe Now - Anonymous to S/SP - Wide Box

Access Journal of Commerce content for 30 days

Free Trial - Wide Box

START A FREE TRIAL TODAY

Use code SSGFTW895 at checkout to save $600 on first year of a Gold subscription!

Subscribe Now - FT to Gold - Wide Box

Use code SSLW895 at checkout and save $600 on first year of a Gold subscription!

Subscribe Now - Anonymous to Gold - Wide Box

SPRING SALE: Use code SSFTW30 to save 30% on first year of a Silver or Silver Plus annual subscription!


Subscribe Now - FT to S/SP - Offer Box

Subscribe and Save

GET INTO A GROUP SUBSCRIPTION: Arm your team with unlimited Journal of Commerce content

Group Subscriptions - Offer Box

Group Subscriptions

SPRING SALE: Use code SSLW30 at checkout and save 30% on an annual Silver or Silver Plus subscription!

Subscribe Now - Anonymous to S/SP - Offer Box

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

UPGRADE TO GOLD AND SAVE: Use code GTT26W at checkout and save $900 on first year of a Gold subscription!

Upgrade Subscription

SPRING SALE: Use code SSLW895 at checkout and save $600 on an annual Gold subscription!

Subscribe Now - Anonymous to Gold - Offer Box

SAVE $900 ON A GOLD SUBSCRIPTION: Use code GW595 and upgrade to Gold for just $595! Valid on first year of subscription.

Upgrade Subscription - S/SP to Gold - Offer Box

SPRING SALE: Use code SSGFTW895 and save $600 on the first year of a Gold subscription!

Subscribe Now - FT to Gold - Offer Box

SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE

Monthly publication providing an editorial deep dive into global supply chain news

Journal of Commerce Magazine - Rectangle Box

Journal of Commerce Magazine

A premium access index of savings using domestic intermodal vs. OTR 

ISI Report - Rectangle Box

Intermodal Savings Index

An in-depth analysis of transport trends in the multipurpose and heavy-lift fleet segment

Breakbulk Report - Rectangle Box

Breakbulk Quarterly

An extensive dashboard of charts organized by trade lane, mode, and topic

Gateway - Rectangle Box

Gateway

Customers scoring their intermodal partners to identify the best service providers

Intermodal Service Scorecard - Rectangle Box

Intermodal Service Scorecard

A premium access outlook critical to shippers and transportation providers

QI Report - Rectangle Box

Quarterly Intelligence

The only editorially independent conference for the breakbulk & project cargo industry

Latest News

More News & Analysis

US imports of consumer electronics face threats to growth plans

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

US-Iran ceasefire unlikely to spur air freight return to Middle East: analysts