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With vessel capacity outstripping volumes on the major trade lanes, analysts expect carriers to fall into the red as early as the first quarter, culminating in a multi-billion-dollar combined loss for the full year.

Months of frontloading explain the sharp volume slowdown in the final months of 2025, and with consumer sentiment weak and long-term trade policies still uncertain, US retailers are keeping inventories lean in early 2026.

While Union Pacific plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make a combined railroad run smoothly, there are locations where service could degrade should the merger be approved by federal regulators.

The use of real-time cargo status data is expected to make trade finance more efficient, reducing credit costs and processing and payment times, the Hong Kong government said.

While some gateways are expanding their intermodal access to vie for discretionary cargo destined for inland locations, others are moving full speed ahead with capacity expansions that will allow them to handle more and larger ships.

With demand conditions unlikely to improve in the short term, LTL carriers are putting more of their capacity, old and new, into reserve.

Developers expect vacancy rates to drop as shippers that had been paralyzed by US tariff uncertainty set more long-term plans in motion.

Airlines will continue to adjust capacity to account for shifts in volume, but the volatility of US trade policy and continued demand growth fueled by the AI boom will make this more difficult.

While container trade between the South Pacific and USEC was flat prior to 2021, it has shown growth since then, albeit from a small base.

The fee — generally in the range of $200 per TEU and $450 per FEU — was introduced by the carrier in January 2024 following the industry-wide rerouting of vessels via the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa.

The strength of holiday retail sales in the final month of 2025 and inventory levels approaching the Lunar New Year factory shutdowns in February will be the major factors determining the extent of pricing power in trans-Pacific contract talks.

Those factors will lift volumes, but true organic expansion depends on a recovery in the truckload market.

The change, effective Jan. 2, allows importers to digitally designate customs brokers to receive bills, checks and liquidation notices on behalf of clients.

The Taiwanese carrier said the box orders were split between three different suppliers, including its own manufacturing subsidiary.

Although the timeline is still uncertain, a resumption of the shorter Suez routing brings its own risks, with analysts warning of the potential for significant port disruption and upward rate pressure.

Current anti-trust protections “have enabled foreign-owned shipping lines to exert disproportionate control over pricing and service levels” in Australia’s maritime industry, the head of a leading shipper group in the country says.

The carrier is now including calls at Malta, Port Said (Egypt) and Beirut on the weekly Medex itinerary, replacing Valencia and Barcelona in Spain and For-sur-Mer in France.

Whatever capacity might exit the market in 2026, most analysts believe a strong resurgence in freight volumes is needed to enable a true rebound in truckload rates.

Hapag-Lloyd’s investment in the Aracruz terminal project in Brazil is part of a plan announced by CEO Rolf Habben Jansen last March to expand the carrier’s ports network to more than 30 terminals by 2030.

As 2026 begins, US import demand remains uncertain, but the record amounts of capacity container lines plan to deploy in January and February could put further pressure on already weak rates.

The investment plan was developed amid growing alarm that the country is losing out in the trade stakes due to a lack of investment by South Korean companies in overseas logistics facilities.

ONE and SM Line are ocean carrier partners to Union Pacific on the West Coast, and a majority of UP’s international intermodal volume originates at the Port of Los Angeles.

The pause on work at five major offshore wind farms along the US East Coast is likely to have an impact on heavy-lift and project cargoes supporting the installations.

Widening global overcapacity and import volume forecasts warning of weak volume growth will embolden cargo owners to attempt to secure more favorable fine print in their contracts on key service issues.

The agreement will result in a reduction of an estimated 25,000 metric tons of CO2-equivalent well-to-wake emissions for ocean freight transported under DHL’s “GoGreen Plus” initiative.

For shippers whose priority is low price, the possibility certainly exists that the next few years will serve up a favorable pricing environment, if not highly favorable, writes Peter Tirschwell.

The moves come as capacity from Asia to the East and West coasts of South America has risen sharply this year, and as Mexico plans hefty tariffs against China.

Union Pacific sent a 6,000-plus page application to US regulators Friday seeking formal approval for its closely watched merger proposal with Norfolk Southern that would create the country’s first transcontinental railroad.

The carrier, as it sends a US-bound vessel through the region, said if security thresholds hold it will take a “stepwise approach” toward gradually resuming navigation on east-west services via the Suez Canal and Red Sea.

The acquisition of Malherbe will enable Geodis to develop the French road freight market for truckload and less-than-truckload, and to increase its presence in the agri-food and mass retail sectors.

The private equity fund that operates New York-New Jersey’s largest marine terminal agreed to the Port Authority’s new requirement to carry the cost of maintaining berths and wharves.

The US’ de minimis program, which ended in May, allowed importers one shipment per day valued at $800 or less to clear customs duty-free and with minimal data elements.

Hapag-Lloyd customers have expressed concerns about liability exposure if a US-India service were to resume transits through the Red Sea and Suez Canal. .

While the alliance will strengthen its presence in Southeast Asia, the refined network to be rolled out in April has removed several direct calls in other parts of Asia.

Port officials say the next Army Corps spending bill needs to make sure that dredging funds set aside under a 2020 law actually get distributed.

Zvi Schreiber oversaw key milestones such as Freightos’ public listing and a transformative acquisition of air freight booking platform WebCargo, but the company has yet to turn a profit.

The head of one opposition union says the job protection deals agreed to by other unions in exchange for their support of the merger have “loopholes big enough to traverse freight trains through.”

The Hamburg-based carrier will share the tender with feeder carrier North Sea Container Line that will operate e-ammonia services on a northern intra-Europe trade lane. 

But a spokesperson for ONE would not be drawn on whether the agreement was a precursor to the carrier relaunching its own services through the Red Sea and Suez Canal.

Unless shipowners significantly postpone or cancel orders, the wallops of new tonnage added in 2027 and 2028 will dwarf the deliveries made this year and next.