<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">As shippers and forwarders scramble for effective ways to consume visibility data, software providers are finding new angles to sell their products in a competitive market. 
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As shippers and forwarders scramble for effective ways to consume visibility data, software providers are finding new angles to sell their products in a competitive market.

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<div>Visibility software continues to be an elusive space to categorize due to the complex range of offerings in the market and varied adoption drivers for shippers and logistics providers, evidenced by recent activity in the market.Early this month, Lyon, France-based global forwarder Clasquin tied up a commercial partnership with Paris-based visibility provider Wakeo that’s emblematic of how third-party logistics providers (3PLs) are using visibility software to bolster their internal and customer-facing capabilities. That development echoes other relationships between existing and emergent visibility providers and 3PLs, such as <a>OL USA partnering with Blume Global</a> and Turvo partnering with Ryder.Meanwhile, visibility provider...

Visibility software continues to be an elusive space to categorize due to the complex range of offerings in the market and varied adoption drivers for shippers and logistics providers, evidenced by recent activity in the market. Early this month, Lyon, France-based global forwarder Clasquin tied up a commercial partnership with Paris-based visibility provider Wakeo that’s emblematic of how third-party logistics providers (3PLs) are using visibility software to bolster their internal and customer-facing capabilities. That development echoes other relationships between existing and emergent visibility providers and 3PLs, such as OL USA partnering with Blume Global and Turvo partnering with Ryder. Meanwhile, visibility provider project44 said Tuesday the latest version of its platform includes order and inventory-level visibility for shippers and 3PLs that want to provide that level of visibility to their clients as the Chicago-based software company seeks to become known as more than just a provider of predictive visibility. Few would argue today that visibility is not valuable, but the extent to which it is valuable remains a sticking point. For instance, ClearMetal has focused its value proposition on helping importers improve the delivery experience for their customers as much as working out contingency plans for delayed cargo. That’s an area project44 has been targeting as well, both on the domestic landscape in North America and Europe, and more recently in international modes. But other visibility providers are taking the approach that this remains a challenge that needs to be solved piece-by-piece. Terminal 49, for instance, is supplying logistics companies and fellow software providers with a container tracking application programming interface (API) they can use to infuse data straight into their existing solutions. Another provider, OpenTrack, is keying on the forwarding market to provide automated tracking , including wrinkles such as rolled cargo alerts. “Forwarders can better invest, because of the aggregation of volume, in ways that importers can’t,” OpenTrack CEO Kevin Valsi told JOC.com. Forwarders the visibility conduit Clasquin’s partnership with Wakeo is instructive of the opportunity that forwarders see in visibility, but illustrative of how complicated the market is for companies that are buyers and providers of such software. Clasquin, a mid-sized forwarder with its own offices in nearly 20 countries, including five in the US, sees the predictive visibility data Wakeo provides as a tool to enhance its customer relationships. Marc Dumortier, Clasquin’s digital solutions manager, told JOC.com his company focuses on a segment of the forwarding market between large global 3PLs and newer, digitally oriented entrants, and that engagements such as the one with Wakeo allow it to position itself as such. “We want to be between the big players that are struggling with the complexity of their systems and the digital players,” he said. “We cannot be a digital player — we’re not an IT company. That’s why we’re going with companies like Wakeo. But we have agility, we have expertise, including IT expertise. We will never be a digital freight forwarder, but we have the expertise they won’t. We want to be the data-driven freight forwarder.” Clasquin embarked on a digital reformation strategy in 2017, switching to CargoWise as its internal operating system, adopting a new finance management tool, and migrating its global offices to a connected Microsoft 365 environment. “Then we focused on how to find new solutions with added value for our clients, leveraging our foundations,” Dumortier said. “We don’t want to reinvent the wheel — there are best-in-class actors in the market. How can we use external data to enrich our environment?” Wakeo, founded in 2016, had traditionally viewed shippers as its customers, Loic Marzin, the company’s chief technology officer, told JOC.com. “Some are very mature. Some directly hire people to treat the data. Sometimes they don’t have the team to drill into the data, so we design customized dashboards using [Microsoft] Power BI,” he said. Marzin said the dashboards are designed to illuminate the most important aspect for an individual shipper to track, be it detention and demurrage costs or carbon footprint, or something else. “But they’re not all interested in the same thing, which is why we customize that dashboard,” he said. Data sharing the key The partnership with Clasquin represents Wakeo broadening its reach to 3PLs, an effort meant not only to equip those logistics companies with visibility data, but also to allow Wakeo’s to enhance its predictive capabilities. Wakeo, similar to many newer software providers catering to logistics companies, supplies data directly to CargoWise, because users generally want visibility to be integrated within the system they are already using. “[Clasquin] has pushed us hard,” Marzin said. “Clasquin is very mature about how it deals with the data, so we can give them raw data but also personalized dashboards for them to provide to their customers. Until last year, we mostly worked with shippers, but we are increasingly approached by 3PLs and 4PLs to be embedded within their systems.” Clasquin uses Wakeo to provide visibility into all shipment milestones, including predictive ETAs that are recalculated as circumstances around a shipment change. That helps Clasquin better handle pre- and post-freight activities, Dumortier said. But he added that the broader goal is to eventually develop new internal and customer-facing solutions based on the data. He also said that Clasquin has taken an approach that it needs to build for what will come, not necessarily what its clients needed yesterday or today. “You cannot wait for your clients to become mature on this,” Dumortier said. “Either our clients want to get perfect tracking or not, but more and more on [requests for proposal], you get these requests and you have to be ready. We don’t want to just be opportunistic. It’s important for us to think about what can be proposed to the clients — not only what we are doing today, but what we can propose.” That jibes with feedback JOC.com has gathered in recent months from a range of mid-sized forwarders that have invested in proprietary solutions or, more commonly, software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools to equip them with where customers are likely to be, not where they are today. project44’s new release is similarly intended to allow logistics providers to build solutions for their shipper customers. “By enabling shippers who use project44 access to their shipments, we achieve full transparency within our transport network and can proactively mitigate any risks,” Kristian Kaas Mortensen, director of strategic partnerships at Lithuania-based trucking and logistics provider Girteka Logistics, said in a statement. “This high level of consistent performance has been and will continue to be mission-critical to our business." project44 has established a high-profile partnership with SAP, whose supply chain management software is widely used among manufacturers and logistics providers. Last month, it also said it has enhanced its ocean visibility capabilities. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @LogTechEric .

Logistics Technology News

Forwarders turn to visibility for customer leverage

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Rising fuel costs, reliable service, and higher rates amid the end of the four-year recession in trucking are helping convert more freight to rail in the eastern US. </div>

Rising fuel costs, reliable service, and higher rates amid the end of the four-year recession in trucking are helping convert more freight to rail in the eastern US.

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<div class="phx-topic">US domestic intermodal demand has rebounded sharply since the war with Iran began, with the growth coming, surprisingly, on lanes east of the Mississippi River rather than the long-haul West Coast corridors that typically offer the biggest fuel advantage over trucking. Intermodal providers have historically struggled to compete with trucking in the eastern US because the shorter lengths of haul mean less cost savings than transcontinental moves. But railroads and intermodal marketing companies (IMCs) say rising fuel costs, higher rates amid the end of the four-year recession in the trucking industry, and reliable service are helping convert more freight to rail in the east. Combined domestic container traffic in March and April was up 9% over the same period in 2025, according to the International Association of North America (IANA), a surge not seen since the pandemic-related lockdowns six years ago. Freight originating in the Northeast, South-Central and Southeast US have all jumped more than 10% year over year. “You’re finally seeing us coming out of… the worst trucking cycle that we’ve witnessed — at least the worst one certainly that I’ve seen,” said Kevin Boone, CFO of CSX Transportation, said at the Bank of America Annual Industrials Conference on May 13. “We’re seeing [freight] start to convert over to rail and with our service product, we’re pretty optimistic that can continue here.” The strongest gains have been concentrated in eastern corridors. Traffic from the Northeast to the Southeast jumped 17.7% year over year in March and April, according to IANA, while Southeast-to-Northeast traffic on the same corridor rose 16%. Midwest-to-Northeast volume increased 17.6%. Those are three routes where CSX will be able to better compete after beginning double-stack intermodal service through the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/soaring-truck-rates-power-major-rebound-in-domestic-intermodal-volume-6208736">earlier this month</a>. The upgrade allows CSX to compete better against Norfolk Southern on freight between Atlanta and Newark and cuts about a day from transit times between Chicago and Newark. That gives CSX a chance to capture more of the eastern demand upswing, along with private-asset intermodal partners such as J.B. Hunt Transport Services. J.B. Hunt executives are signaling the same strong demand pattern in the east, with shippers beginning to save more money on freight in the region. “The discount has grown from 15% to 20% in the last six to eight weeks,” Darren Field, the company’s president of intermodal, said this week at Wolfe Research’s Annual Global Transportation and Industrials Conference. “I don’t know that we can close that 20% discount gap back to 15% in just this cycle, but I would anticipate certainly our intermodal pricing opportunity to start to improve [in the 2027 bid cycle].” <h3>Rebound tied to diesel prices? </h3>The Journal of Commerce <a href="https://www.joc.com/resources/special-reports/intermodal-savings-index">Intermodal Savings Index</a> also showed the steepest increases in rail savings sequentially compared with truckload in March occurred in the eastern US. Even so, Norfolk Southern cautioned that the rebound may be tied more to higher diesel prices than to a structural change, meaning it could fade if energy markets ease. “If the war ends in the next couple of weeks and fuel prices start going back down over the next few months, does that dynamic persist or does it reverse back to where it was? Hard to say,” NS CEO Mark George said at the Wolfe Research conference. Service will help determine whether intermodal keeps gaining share from trucking on the East Coast. CSX’s intermodal train speed was 7.2% faster from March through the first week of May than during the same period last year, while Norfolk Southern’s speeds were 1.1% slower over the same span, according to the Association of American Railroads. A disruption at CSX’s Fairburn intermodal terminal in Atlanta in April sharply increased truck turn times, in some cases forcing drivers to wait hours and pushing deliveries to the next day. The issue has since been resolved. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

US domestic intermodal demand has rebounded sharply since the war with Iran began, with the growth coming, surprisingly, on lanes east of the Mississippi River rather than the long-haul West Coast corridors that typically offer the biggest fuel advantage over trucking. Intermodal providers have historically struggled to compete with trucking in the eastern US because the shorter lengths of haul mean less cost savings than transcontinental moves. But railroads and intermodal marketing companies (IMCs) say rising fuel costs, higher rates amid the end of the four-year recession in the trucking industry, and reliable service are helping convert more freight to rail in the east. Combined domestic container traffic in March and April was up 9% over the same period in 2025, according to the International Association of North America (IANA), a surge not seen since the pandemic-related lockdowns six years ago. Freight originating in the Northeast, South-Central and Southeast US have all jumped more than 10% year over year. “You’re finally seeing us coming out of… the worst trucking cycle that we’ve witnessed — at least the worst one certainly that I’ve seen,” said Kevin Boone, CFO of CSX Transportation, said at the Bank of America Annual Industrials Conference on May 13. “We’re seeing [freight] start to convert over to rail and with our service product, we’re pretty optimistic that can continue here.” The strongest gains have been concentrated in eastern corridors. Traffic from the Northeast to the Southeast jumped 17.7% year over year in March and April, according to IANA, while Southeast-to-Northeast traffic on the same corridor rose 16%. Midwest-to-Northeast volume increased 17.6%. Those are three routes where CSX will be able to better compete after beginning double-stack intermodal service through the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore earlier this month . The upgrade allows CSX to compete better against Norfolk Southern on freight between Atlanta and Newark and cuts about a day from transit times between Chicago and Newark. That gives CSX a chance to capture more of the eastern demand upswing, along with private-asset intermodal partners such as J.B. Hunt Transport Services. J.B. Hunt executives are signaling the same strong demand pattern in the east, with shippers beginning to save more money on freight in the region. “The discount has grown from 15% to 20% in the last six to eight weeks,” Darren Field, the company’s president of intermodal, said this week at Wolfe Research’s Annual Global Transportation and Industrials Conference. “I don’t know that we can close that 20% discount gap back to 15% in just this cycle, but I would anticipate certainly our intermodal pricing opportunity to start to improve [in the 2027 bid cycle].” Rebound tied to diesel prices? The Journal of Commerce Intermodal Savings Index also showed the steepest increases in rail savings sequentially compared with truckload in March occurred in the eastern US. Even so, Norfolk Southern cautioned that the rebound may be tied more to higher diesel prices than to a structural change, meaning it could fade if energy markets ease. “If the war ends in the next couple of weeks and fuel prices start going back down over the next few months, does that dynamic persist or does it reverse back to where it was? Hard to say,” NS CEO Mark George said at the Wolfe Research conference. Service will help determine whether intermodal keeps gaining share from trucking on the East Coast. CSX’s intermodal train speed was 7.2% faster from March through the first week of May than during the same period last year, while Norfolk Southern’s speeds were 1.1% slower over the same span, according to the Association of American Railroads. A disruption at CSX’s Fairburn intermodal terminal in Atlanta in April sharply increased truck turn times, in some cases forcing drivers to wait hours and pushing deliveries to the next day. The issue has since been resolved. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

Rail News

Truckload

North-American rail

Surface

Local East Coast freight leading charge on intermodal rebound

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The carrier’s first-quarter financials, which included a sharp drop in net profit, were generated in a market roiled by ongoing tensions in the Middle East, rising oil prices and increasing operating costs.</div>

The carrier’s first-quarter financials, which included a sharp drop in net profit, were generated in a market roiled by ongoing tensions in the Middle East, rising oil prices and increasing operating costs.

<div class="phx-topic">CMA CGM on Friday said its first-quarter net profit fell sharply in a volatile container shipping environment marked by persistent geopolitical tensions. The French carrier said it booked net profit of $250 million in the January-March period, down from $1.1 billion in Q1 2025. Earnings before interest, taxes, amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) fell almost 32% to $2.1 billion. First-quarter revenue of $13.2 billion was up a marginal 0.2% year over year. Despite the sharp decline in net profit and EBITDA, Group CEO Rodolphe Saadé described the performance as “resilient” and one that was generated in a market roiled by ongoing tensions in the Middle East, rising oil prices and increasing operating costs. “While tensions in the Middle East and disruptions across global supply chains continued to weigh on the industry, we adjusted our network, implemented alternative logistics corridors and maintained reliable service for our customers,” Saadé said in a statement. For context, Maersk <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/maersk-passing-500-million-monthly-fuel-bill-to-customers-in-full-ceo-6216319">reported first-quarter revenue of $13 billion</a> and a net profit of $100 million. <h3>Revenue per TEU drops sharply </h3>In the group’s container shipping segment, volume in the first quarter was up 1.5% year over year at 5.93 million TEUs while revenue was down 8.5% to $8 billion. Average revenue per TEU declined almost 10%, which was reflected in the shipping division’s EBITDA that fell 41.3% to $1.49 billion despite a rebound in spot rates at the end of the quarter. Q1 logistics revenue of $4.6 billion was up 6.6% year over year, while the segment’s EBITDA fell 17.2% to $330 million as a deteriorating market environment and ongoing challenges affecting the automotive sector kept earnings under pressure. The major container shipping companies have now reported their first-quarter results with two carriers — Zim Integrated Shipping Services and its soon-to-be-owner Hapag-Lloyd — posting losses. But there is more financial pain to come, warned Lars Jensen, CEO of Vespucci Consulting. “Anyone with floating bunker surcharges will see the impact in Q3,” <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7463177368476545024/">Jensen said in a LinkedIn post</a>, using Wan Hai’s recent Q3 bunker surcharge announcement as an example. The carrier’s Asia to Mediterranean fuel surcharge will rise from $220/TEU to $605/TEU, with Asia-Red Sea moving from $160/TEU to $440/TEU. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

CMA CGM on Friday said its first-quarter net profit fell sharply in a volatile container shipping environment marked by persistent geopolitical tensions. The French carrier said it booked net profit of $250 million in the January-March period, down from $1.1 billion in Q1 2025. Earnings before interest, taxes, amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) fell almost 32% to $2.1 billion. First-quarter revenue of $13.2 billion was up a marginal 0.2% year over year. Despite the sharp decline in net profit and EBITDA, Group CEO Rodolphe Saadé described the performance as “resilient” and one that was generated in a market roiled by ongoing tensions in the Middle East, rising oil prices and increasing operating costs. “While tensions in the Middle East and disruptions across global supply chains continued to weigh on the industry, we adjusted our network, implemented alternative logistics corridors and maintained reliable service for our customers,” Saadé said in a statement. For context, Maersk reported first-quarter revenue of $13 billion and a net profit of $100 million. Revenue per TEU drops sharply In the group’s container shipping segment, volume in the first quarter was up 1.5% year over year at 5.93 million TEUs while revenue was down 8.5% to $8 billion. Average revenue per TEU declined almost 10%, which was reflected in the shipping division’s EBITDA that fell 41.3% to $1.49 billion despite a rebound in spot rates at the end of the quarter. Q1 logistics revenue of $4.6 billion was up 6.6% year over year, while the segment’s EBITDA fell 17.2% to $330 million as a deteriorating market environment and ongoing challenges affecting the automotive sector kept earnings under pressure. The major container shipping companies have now reported their first-quarter results with two carriers — Zim Integrated Shipping Services and its soon-to-be-owner Hapag-Lloyd — posting losses. But there is more financial pain to come, warned Lars Jensen, CEO of Vespucci Consulting. “Anyone with floating bunker surcharges will see the impact in Q3,” Jensen said in a LinkedIn post , using Wan Hai’s recent Q3 bunker surcharge announcement as an example. The carrier’s Asia to Mediterranean fuel surcharge will rise from $220/TEU to $605/TEU, with Asia-Red Sea moving from $160/TEU to $440/TEU. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Container lines

Container Shipping News

Maritime

CMA CGM posts Q1 earnings decline amid volatile ocean trade

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Volumes under contract when the Middle East war began were locked into quarterly bunker fuel adjustments, and those costs are set to be passed on to shippers at the start of the third quarter.</div>

Volumes under contract when the Middle East war began were locked into quarterly bunker fuel adjustments, and those costs are set to be passed on to shippers at the start of the third quarter.

<div class="phx-topic">Cargo owners are accelerating shipments on the Asia-Europe ocean trade to get ahead of the next quarterly bunker fuel adjustment due July 1, with strong demand seen into June. Bunker costs rocketed higher following the start of the Middle East war on Feb. 28, and although emergency fuel surcharges were quickly levied on spot shipments, cargo under contract was locked into quarterly bunker adjustment factors (BAFs). Those costs will now be passed on to shippers in the third quarter, according to Thomas Cassuto, senior vice president of air and ocean at forwarder CEVA Logistics. “We are seeing exceptionally strong shipper demand in late May across most major trade lanes, including Asia-North Europe and Asia-Med, with momentum expected to continue through June,” Cassuto told the Journal of Commerce. “The key driver is a sharp acceleration in bookings from major beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) seeking to move cargo ahead of July 1,” he noted. “From that date, most large shippers will face an automatic increase in freight rates linked to quarterly BAF adjustments.” Data from Vizion indicates bookings from China to the Mediterranean are up almost 50% over the past two weeks and 36% higher to North Europe in what looks to be an early start to the peak shipping season. Traditionally, Asia-Europe peak season activity begins in late June and continues to China’s Golden Week in early October. Recent global disruptions have made seasonal patterns increasingly unpredictable, with last year’s peak season barely getting started and this year demand picking up strongly in May and June. <h3>Robust forward bookings </h3>Kuehne + Nagel and DHL Global Forwarding both reported robust forward bookings and rising rates on the Asia-Europe trade lane, despite an increase in deployed capacity and a cut in blank sailings. Data from eeSea, part of rate benchmarking platform Xeneta, shows capacity on Asia-North Europe in May will be up 16% from April at 1.2 million TEUs, with blank sailings down 5%. In June, planned capacity will fall to 1.1 million TEUs while planned blank sailings will be halved. "We are observing an increased demand for Asia-Europe, partly driven by an earlier peak season linked to extended transit times and lower capacity due to the rerouting (around the Cape of Good Hope),” Paolo Montrone, head of global sea logistics at Kuehne + Nagel, told the Journal of Commerce. “This is consistent with patterns seen last year,” he added. “Demand is expected to remain strong in the coming months; however, visibility remains limited as energy costs and rates continue to be a concern.” A spokesperson for DHL Global Forwarding said there was “significant demand” on Asia-Europe, accompanied by a substantial increase in rates. “Vessels are operating at full capacity, and bookings need to be made well in advance,” the spokesperson said. “In addition, there are capacity restrictions in place, and securing space requires a mix of NAC (named accounts) and FAK (freight-all-kinds).” <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="3e0caaad-ce43-47fa-b859-a779e74cb6a4"></dynamic-object></div>Named accounts are long-term contracts between carriers and customers that guaranteed space and equipment at fixed rates, while cargo moved under FAK is subject to the spot market. Cassuto said vessels out of Asia were fully booked four to five weeks in advance, which has prompted carriers to implement general rate increases and peak season surcharges. “We expect this pattern to extend into July and overlap with what is traditionally the peak season for Christmas shipments, which effectively started earlier this year,” he said. <h3>Hefty rate increases announced for June 1 </h3>Several carriers this week announced June 1 rate increases on eastbound corridors, with Asia to North Europe FAK rates moving to $4,300-$4,700 per FEU and Asia-East Mediterranean rates at $5,500-$5,700/FEU. If they stick, the FAK increases will be at a significant premium to spot rates currently at $2,900/FEU on Asia-North Europe and $4,000/FEU for Asia to the Mediterranean, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&amp;P Global. "I would be very surprised if those spot rates are not going to trend up over the upcoming couple of weeks as we see significant overbooking and as such, there is certainly not a lot of downward pressure on pricing,” Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said in a media briefing following the carrier’s first-quarter results. “If anything, there is upward pressure, which probably a little bit later than we would have liked, but I think you will start seeing that.” <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="af999948-957c-4237-b7e6-873522d9fd5b"></dynamic-object></div>In a market update Friday, HSBC highlighted the demand holding up in container shipping. The bank’s transportation analysts said the global container trade rose 4.4% year over year in the first quarter, with Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd expecting demand to remain strong through Q2 and the third-quarter peak season because of disruption-related frontloading. Still, fuel and network cost pressures are building, Cassuto noted, which would place European import volumes from Asia under increasing pressure. “We are anticipating higher energy costs, persistent inflation and elevated inventory levels to weigh on trade flows in the second half of 2026, leading to a gradual slowdown in volumes,” the CEVA executive said. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com.</a></div>

Cargo owners are accelerating shipments on the Asia-Europe ocean trade to get ahead of the next quarterly bunker fuel adjustment due July 1, with strong demand seen into June. Bunker costs rocketed higher following the start of the Middle East war on Feb. 28, and although emergency fuel surcharges were quickly levied on spot shipments, cargo under contract was locked into quarterly bunker adjustment factors (BAFs). Those costs will now be passed on to shippers in the third quarter, according to Thomas Cassuto, senior vice president of air and ocean at forwarder CEVA Logistics. “We are seeing exceptionally strong shipper demand in late May across most major trade lanes, including Asia-North Europe and Asia-Med, with momentum expected to continue through June,” Cassuto told the Journal of Commerce. “The key driver is a sharp acceleration in bookings from major beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) seeking to move cargo ahead of July 1,” he noted. “From that date, most large shippers will face an automatic increase in freight rates linked to quarterly BAF adjustments.” Data from Vizion indicates bookings from China to the Mediterranean are up almost 50% over the past two weeks and 36% higher to North Europe in what looks to be an early start to the peak shipping season. Traditionally, Asia-Europe peak season activity begins in late June and continues to China’s Golden Week in early October. Recent global disruptions have made seasonal patterns increasingly unpredictable, with last year’s peak season barely getting started and this year demand picking up strongly in May and June. Robust forward bookings Kuehne + Nagel and DHL Global Forwarding both reported robust forward bookings and rising rates on the Asia-Europe trade lane, despite an increase in deployed capacity and a cut in blank sailings. Data from eeSea, part of rate benchmarking platform Xeneta, shows capacity on Asia-North Europe in May will be up 16% from April at 1.2 million TEUs, with blank sailings down 5%. In June, planned capacity will fall to 1.1 million TEUs while planned blank sailings will be halved. "We are observing an increased demand for Asia-Europe, partly driven by an earlier peak season linked to extended transit times and lower capacity due to the rerouting (around the Cape of Good Hope),” Paolo Montrone, head of global sea logistics at Kuehne + Nagel, told the Journal of Commerce. “This is consistent with patterns seen last year,” he added. “Demand is expected to remain strong in the coming months; however, visibility remains limited as energy costs and rates continue to be a concern.” A spokesperson for DHL Global Forwarding said there was “significant demand” on Asia-Europe, accompanied by a substantial increase in rates. “Vessels are operating at full capacity, and bookings need to be made well in advance,” the spokesperson said. “In addition, there are capacity restrictions in place, and securing space requires a mix of NAC (named accounts) and FAK (freight-all-kinds).” Named accounts are long-term contracts between carriers and customers that guaranteed space and equipment at fixed rates, while cargo moved under FAK is subject to the spot market. Cassuto said vessels out of Asia were fully booked four to five weeks in advance, which has prompted carriers to implement general rate increases and peak season surcharges. “We expect this pattern to extend into July and overlap with what is traditionally the peak season for Christmas shipments, which effectively started earlier this year,” he said. Hefty rate increases announced for June 1 Several carriers this week announced June 1 rate increases on eastbound corridors, with Asia to North Europe FAK rates moving to $4,300-$4,700 per FEU and Asia-East Mediterranean rates at $5,500-$5,700/FEU. If they stick, the FAK increases will be at a significant premium to spot rates currently at $2,900/FEU on Asia-North Europe and $4,000/FEU for Asia to the Mediterranean, according to Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. "I would be very surprised if those spot rates are not going to trend up over the upcoming couple of weeks as we see significant overbooking and as such, there is certainly not a lot of downward pressure on pricing,” Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said in a media briefing following the carrier’s first-quarter results. “If anything, there is upward pressure, which probably a little bit later than we would have liked, but I think you will start seeing that.” In a market update Friday, HSBC highlighted the demand holding up in container shipping. The bank’s transportation analysts said the global container trade rose 4.4% year over year in the first quarter, with Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd expecting demand to remain strong through Q2 and the third-quarter peak season because of disruption-related frontloading. Still, fuel and network cost pressures are building, Cassuto noted, which would place European import volumes from Asia under increasing pressure. “We are anticipating higher energy costs, persistent inflation and elevated inventory levels to weigh on trade flows in the second half of 2026, leading to a gradual slowdown in volumes,” the CEVA executive said. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com.

Forwarding

Asia-Europe

Demand rising on Asia-Europe ocean trade as July bunker hike looms

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A lead time of five to seven years to build up domestic crane manufacturing capacity could cripple the US heavy-lift industry if tariffs on imported products are not reduced, industry stakeholders say. </div>

A lead time of five to seven years to build up domestic crane manufacturing capacity could cripple the US heavy-lift industry if tariffs on imported products are not reduced, industry stakeholders say.

<div class="phx-topic">US heavy-lift lobbyists are pushing the federal government for relief from tariffs amid growing concerns about potential new trade levies and their repercussions for the project cargo sector. The Specialized Carriers &amp; Rigging Association (SC&amp;RA), the largest trade group representing the US heavy-lift industry, is awaiting federal action after testifying in front of the US International Trade Commission with a request to exempt crane and trailer imports from Canada, the EU and Japan from new Section 301 tariffs. The US Section 301 provision authorizes the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to investigate and impose retaliatory tariffs against foreign countries with trade practices it deems “unfair” to US interests. Those efforts have largely been focused on Chinese trade, but the US has also opened investigations into the practices of several other countries, including Canada, Japan and parts of the EU. Joel Dandrea, president and CEO of the SC&amp;RA, told the Journal of Commerce the 1,350-member international trade group is not opposed to tariffs and supports the Trump administration’s efforts to balance trade fairly. But he said the ever-changing succession of tariffs has made it difficult to budget, plan and forecast for equipment purchases, cargo moves and critical infrastructure projects. ”The tariffs that are placed upon our industry really need to be fair and reasonable, and what we’re seeing at this point are tariff levels that we believe are not reasonable,” Dandrea said. Testifying on behalf of the SC&amp;RA at a May 5 International Trade Commission hearing on tariff investigations, Mike Appling, CEO of LiftHigh Cranes &amp; Rigging, told the ITC that the group supports addressing China’s structural overcapacity. “But the EU, Canada and Japan are proven, trusted allies that do not engage in industrial overcapacity, dumping, forced labor or any other unfair trade practice with respect to these products,” he said. “There is no basis for including their merchandise within the scope of proposed Section 301 action.” Appling said roughly 80% of the cranes used in US construction are imported, and less than 3% of all global all-terrain cranes are manufactured domestically. No US company manufactures tower cranes, and the lead time to build additional domestic manufacturing capacity is five to seven years. “Critical infrastructure projects — data centers, nuclear facilities, LNG terminals, semiconductor fabrication plants, defense installations — cannot pause while that capacity develops,” he said. The problem extends up the supply chain, Appling said, as ultra-high-strength steel grades essential to crane and trailer manufacturing are not produced domestically in sufficient quantities, and US steel manufacturers have indicated there is no compelling business case to do so. During his ITC testimony, Appling outlined a series of requests the SC&amp;RA submitted on April 15 to the USTR: the exemption of cranes, trailers and parts imported from the EU, Canada and Japan from Section 301 tariffs, a 24-month phase-in period for any new tariffs imposed on equipment from those nations, and “proportionate” tariff rates on Chinese products. The proposal included a call for no stacking of Section 301 tariffs on top of existing steel tariffs imposed under Section 232. Citing limited domestic supplies, the SC&amp;RA also proposed tariff exemptions on ultra-high-strength steel, which is used to manufacture cranes and trailers. “This is precisely the wrong moment to impose additional cost burdens on the only viable alternative to Chinese equipment,” Appling said. <h3>High costs, thin margins </h3>The SC&amp;RA’s proposal to the USTR is the latest plea from the association to ease the burdens of tariffs on the heavy-lift and transport industry. Dandrea, who attended the ITC hearing and has been a vocal advocate for tariff relief, said the industry was critical to US construction. “You can have raw steel manufactured, but if there’s no one to transport it, lift it and build with it, it’s of no value,” he said. Dandrea said steel tariffs currently imposed under Section 232, along with related measures, are causing delays for equipment purchases and infrastructure projects while driving up costs — forcing some companies to pause or reconsider those purchases altogether. “When you add $300,000 or $400,000 or $500,000 to the cost of a crane coming from Germany or Japan, or $100,000 or $200,000 to the cost of a highly specialized construction trailer, you can’t just click your fingers from a purchasing standpoint and say we’re going to absorb those costs and quickly turn around and pass those costs onto customers,” he said. The Trump administration in April agreed to adjust Section 232 tariffs on steel derivative products from 50% of their full customs value to 25%. Dandrea said SC&amp;RA would like to see those tariffs reduced further, from 25% to 15%, and for the USTR to ensure that Section 301 tariffs are not stacked on top of those existing tariffs. Dandrea expects it will take until July before the USTR responds to SC&amp;RA’s request, but said the association remains optimistic. “The move to 25% was a move in the right direction,” he said. “But the costs are still too high for an industry operating on thin margins.” Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at <a href="mailto:autumn@autumngiusti.com">autumn@autumngiusti.com</a>. </div>

US heavy-lift lobbyists are pushing the federal government for relief from tariffs amid growing concerns about potential new trade levies and their repercussions for the project cargo sector. The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA), the largest trade group representing the US heavy-lift industry, is awaiting federal action after testifying in front of the US International Trade Commission with a request to exempt crane and trailer imports from Canada, the EU and Japan from new Section 301 tariffs. The US Section 301 provision authorizes the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to investigate and impose retaliatory tariffs against foreign countries with trade practices it deems “unfair” to US interests. Those efforts have largely been focused on Chinese trade, but the US has also opened investigations into the practices of several other countries, including Canada, Japan and parts of the EU. Joel Dandrea, president and CEO of the SC&RA, told the Journal of Commerce the 1,350-member international trade group is not opposed to tariffs and supports the Trump administration’s efforts to balance trade fairly. But he said the ever-changing succession of tariffs has made it difficult to budget, plan and forecast for equipment purchases, cargo moves and critical infrastructure projects. ”The tariffs that are placed upon our industry really need to be fair and reasonable, and what we’re seeing at this point are tariff levels that we believe are not reasonable,” Dandrea said. Testifying on behalf of the SC&RA at a May 5 International Trade Commission hearing on tariff investigations, Mike Appling, CEO of LiftHigh Cranes & Rigging, told the ITC that the group supports addressing China’s structural overcapacity. “But the EU, Canada and Japan are proven, trusted allies that do not engage in industrial overcapacity, dumping, forced labor or any other unfair trade practice with respect to these products,” he said. “There is no basis for including their merchandise within the scope of proposed Section 301 action.” Appling said roughly 80% of the cranes used in US construction are imported, and less than 3% of all global all-terrain cranes are manufactured domestically. No US company manufactures tower cranes, and the lead time to build additional domestic manufacturing capacity is five to seven years. “Critical infrastructure projects — data centers, nuclear facilities, LNG terminals, semiconductor fabrication plants, defense installations — cannot pause while that capacity develops,” he said. The problem extends up the supply chain, Appling said, as ultra-high-strength steel grades essential to crane and trailer manufacturing are not produced domestically in sufficient quantities, and US steel manufacturers have indicated there is no compelling business case to do so. During his ITC testimony, Appling outlined a series of requests the SC&RA submitted on April 15 to the USTR: the exemption of cranes, trailers and parts imported from the EU, Canada and Japan from Section 301 tariffs, a 24-month phase-in period for any new tariffs imposed on equipment from those nations, and “proportionate” tariff rates on Chinese products. The proposal included a call for no stacking of Section 301 tariffs on top of existing steel tariffs imposed under Section 232. Citing limited domestic supplies, the SC&RA also proposed tariff exemptions on ultra-high-strength steel, which is used to manufacture cranes and trailers. “This is precisely the wrong moment to impose additional cost burdens on the only viable alternative to Chinese equipment,” Appling said. High costs, thin margins The SC&RA’s proposal to the USTR is the latest plea from the association to ease the burdens of tariffs on the heavy-lift and transport industry. Dandrea, who attended the ITC hearing and has been a vocal advocate for tariff relief, said the industry was critical to US construction. “You can have raw steel manufactured, but if there’s no one to transport it, lift it and build with it, it’s of no value,” he said. Dandrea said steel tariffs currently imposed under Section 232, along with related measures, are causing delays for equipment purchases and infrastructure projects while driving up costs — forcing some companies to pause or reconsider those purchases altogether. “When you add $300,000 or $400,000 or $500,000 to the cost of a crane coming from Germany or Japan, or $100,000 or $200,000 to the cost of a highly specialized construction trailer, you can’t just click your fingers from a purchasing standpoint and say we’re going to absorb those costs and quickly turn around and pass those costs onto customers,” he said. The Trump administration in April agreed to adjust Section 232 tariffs on steel derivative products from 50% of their full customs value to 25%. Dandrea said SC&RA would like to see those tariffs reduced further, from 25% to 15%, and for the USTR to ensure that Section 301 tariffs are not stacked on top of those existing tariffs. Dandrea expects it will take until July before the USTR responds to SC&RA’s request, but said the association remains optimistic. “The move to 25% was a move in the right direction,” he said. “But the costs are still too high for an industry operating on thin margins.” Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at autumn@autumngiusti.com .

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Heavy-lift trade group lobbies USTR for relief from crane, trailer tariffs

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Tirschwell, who most recently served as vice president of the Journal of Commerce, announced his plans to leave the business and continue work as an independent shipping journalist. </div>

Tirschwell, who most recently served as vice president of the Journal of Commerce, announced his plans to leave the business and continue work as an independent shipping journalist.

<div class="phx-topic">Peter Tirschwell this week ended a 34-year tenure at the Journal of Commerce from which he rose from a cub reporter to become the world’s leading maritime journalist, and founder and chair of the largest container shipping conference in the world. Tirschwell, who most recently served as vice president of the Journal of Commerce, announced his plans to leave the business and continue work as an independent shipping journalist. He leaves behind a senior leadership team dedicated to providing the shipping industry with the essential news and analysis that it has for 199 years, while bringing industry stakeholders together at JOC’s three conferences: TPM in Long Beach, Inland Distribution in Chicago, and Breakbulk &amp; Project Cargo in New Orleans. "Peter’s departure from the Journal of Commerce caps a remarkable journey that began as a general assignment reporter in New York and took him to increasingly senior roles as West Coast bureau chief, managing editor, editor-in-chief, and ultimately to leader of the business,” said Chris Brooks, executive director of the Journal of Commerce and Tirschwell’s longtime colleague. “His contributions, including a recent two-year stint in Singapore to promote the Journal of Commerce’s global growth strategy, have been immeasurable.” Tirschwell, a New York City native with figurative saltwater in his veins, helped make the Journal of Commerce the premier global shipping publication and grow TPM from some 150 people in its first year to a global event attracting more than 4,000 people annually. That, along with his regular analysis and reporting and frequent speeches at industry events, helped make him one of the most respected and unbiased voices and experts in the shipping industry. The Journal of Commerce thanks Peter Tirschwell for his leadership, vision, mentorship, and camaraderie as it moves into a new chapter on the eve of its 200th birthday, dedicated to providing the news, information and events the shipping industry depends upon. Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="mailto:mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com">mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Peter Tirschwell this week ended a 34-year tenure at the Journal of Commerce from which he rose from a cub reporter to become the world’s leading maritime journalist, and founder and chair of the largest container shipping conference in the world. Tirschwell, who most recently served as vice president of the Journal of Commerce, announced his plans to leave the business and continue work as an independent shipping journalist. He leaves behind a senior leadership team dedicated to providing the shipping industry with the essential news and analysis that it has for 199 years, while bringing industry stakeholders together at JOC’s three conferences: TPM in Long Beach, Inland Distribution in Chicago, and Breakbulk & Project Cargo in New Orleans. "Peter’s departure from the Journal of Commerce caps a remarkable journey that began as a general assignment reporter in New York and took him to increasingly senior roles as West Coast bureau chief, managing editor, editor-in-chief, and ultimately to leader of the business,” said Chris Brooks, executive director of the Journal of Commerce and Tirschwell’s longtime colleague. “His contributions, including a recent two-year stint in Singapore to promote the Journal of Commerce’s global growth strategy, have been immeasurable.” Tirschwell, a New York City native with figurative saltwater in his veins, helped make the Journal of Commerce the premier global shipping publication and grow TPM from some 150 people in its first year to a global event attracting more than 4,000 people annually. That, along with his regular analysis and reporting and frequent speeches at industry events, helped make him one of the most respected and unbiased voices and experts in the shipping industry. The Journal of Commerce thanks Peter Tirschwell for his leadership, vision, mentorship, and camaraderie as it moves into a new chapter on the eve of its 200th birthday, dedicated to providing the news, information and events the shipping industry depends upon. Contact Mark Szakonyi at  mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com .

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