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There is a seasonal element to the second quarter increase in capacity deployed on the trade, but the reluctance by ocean carriers to withdraw capacity comes amid increasing signs of a price war.

But countries believed by the White House as having an unfair advantage over the US on trade will be hit with higher levies, including China, South Korea and European Union nations.

The change to a more freight-all-kinds strategy comes as ongoing contracts for the 2024–25 service year bundled with penalty clauses have proved to be problematic for keeping customer relationships intact.

The terminal operator says buying the railroad that connects ports on the canal’s Pacific and Atlantic sides fits into its overall strategy of offering more services to shippers.

Price and volume increases are being seen across trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic trade lanes, but there is little clarity on whether underlying demand is enough to prop up spot rates once the tariffs have been implemented.

Firms sourcing from Vietnam, India or Mexico rely heavily on components, raw materials and equipment from China, which will remain an essential link in the production supply chain even if it’s no longer the only one.

A total of 68 sailings globally are expected to be canceled during April, according to maritime consultancy Drewry, with about half of the cancellations in trans-Pacific services.

As shippers race to get goods from Mexico and Canada into the US before full implementation of 25% tariffs Wednesday, they’re beginning to rethink supply chains.

The initiative, called RailGreen, will allow intermodal customers to purchase verified carbon certificates reflecting their use of lower-emission freight options.

Both volumes and rates in the flatbed sector of the truckload spot market are rising as importers rush industrial products through US ports and across the border.

Forwarders say they are seeing utilization only near 50% on the Asia-Mexico lane amid seasonally low demand and tariff uncertainties.

The carrier is deriving an increasing share of its revenue from long-haul trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services while the contribution from the intra-Asia trade declined last year.

In creating the threat of a clearly significant penalty, the US Trade Representative essentially forced observers to not merely give a thumbs up or down to the proposal, but to offer alternative solutions.

The move comes as Hutchison is facing increasing pressure from the Chinese government over the $22.8 billion sale of its ports business outside of China to BlackRock and TiL, especially the Panama ports.

The deal comes as the world’s largest container shipping company looks to establish a bigger foothold in surface transportation.

Donald Trump’s latest tariffs targeting the auto sector have put key ro/ro ports on alert as they face a “chilling effect” on volumes.

The carrier wants the tax imposed on CO2 emissions to raise the price of conventional bunkers high enough to force increased demand for low- and zero-emission fuels and narrow the yawning price gap between green and fossil energy.

Shippers, carriers and forwarders say uncertainty around consumer demand, tariffs and geopolitical disruptions has produced a wider range of service contract rates this year.

Excess capacity and waning US import demand caused in part by tariff uncertainty could put further downward pressure on drayage pricing in the second quarter.

The port authority on Wednesday completed an expansion of Inland Port Greer ahead of the opening of the near-dock Navy Base Intermodal Facility (NBIF) at the Port of Charleston later this year.

Ongoing supply chain disruption and a significant increase in trading of container freight futures among speculative investors could accelerate the adoption of financial hedging tools among shippers and other physical industry players.

In a move to better utilize its leased pool of trailers, Uber Freight has partnered with software vendor Optimal Dynamics to bundle loads for drivers across 10 trailer pool locations.

Brent Sadler served in the US Navy for 26 years and now works as a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Consolidation in container shipping over the last two decades and better capacity management in recent years show that the old ways of looking at vessel capacity are outdated, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Major carriers had lined up rate increases with the intention of strengthening their bargaining power during service contract negotiations, but overcapacity seems to have kept that tactic in check.

Acquisitions continue in the domestic freight market, with Descartes buying 3GTMS to continue a decade-long spree of purchases.

CEO Stefan Paul told the company’s annual capital markets event in London that while K+N will focus on organic growth, it will also make bolt-on acquisitions “if they make sense.”

Oil and gas project developers pin hopes on legislative support and tax breaks for supporting carbon capture buildouts in the US, but the future of those projects could be at a crossroads under the Trump administration.

An alliance of global shippers is calling on the IMO to use the April gathering of its Marine Environment Protection Committee to meet the “urgency of the moment” when it comes to lowering emissions from shipping.

Capacity improvements at the New Jersey facility will include optimization of the terminal layout, rebuilding berths at a higher level to allow for anticipated increases in the sea level and replacing existing cargo-handling equipment with zero-emission, electric machines.

The top 10 carriers for imports collectively hauled 2.43 million TEUs into the Gulf Coast last year and had a market share of almost 94%, according to the latest Journal of Commerce rankings.

While there is no strong demand trigger for LTL freight on the horizon, providers continue to add terminals and lanes to growing networks.

Why the impact is so potentially profound is the way carriers would likely respond to a scenario in which a fuel standard is imposed on them, but no automatically higher cost is imposed on shippers to pay, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Cosco said changes in the shipping alliances this year will trigger competition in digitization and decarbonization.

US maritime interests said the proposed fees on Chinese ships would hit a variety of low-value, niche trades that can’t absorb the costs.

MPV industry experts call for exemptions to US port taxes for China-built ships, stressing the lack of alternatives for specialist cargo carriage and the unfair burden on responsibility on the sector.

Container lines serving the India-US trade appear to be taking a hard line in the first round of annual contract negotiations amid overcapacity putting downward pressure on spot rates.

Air cargo operators out of Europe’s busiest airport will face at least a week of turmoil as airlines, forwarders and terminals start clearing the rapidly building backlog of freight when flight operations restart at midnight Friday.

The IMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, which potentially puts the organization in the crosshairs of the new administration that is reassessing all its UN positions and policies.

A deal between the Northwest Seaport Alliance and the Native American Puyallup Tribe will result in a 22-acre, two-berth terminal completed by the end of the decade.