<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The forecast of container trade growth in Japan looks at the eight ports that together handle 90 percent of Japan’s containerized trade.</div>

The forecast of container trade growth in Japan looks at the eight ports that together handle 90 percent of Japan’s containerized trade.

<div>The research arm of Japan’s largest freight forwarder expects the country’s container trade growth to accelerate and increase for the second straight year in fiscal year 2017.Japan’s container trade will grow 0.9 percent year-over-year to 11.9 million twenty-foot-equivalent units in the fiscal year starting in April, building on the 0.2 percent growth projected for fiscal 2016, according to Nittsu Research Institute and Consulting Inc.The forecast of container trade growth in Japan by the subsidiary of Nippon Express looks at the eight ports that together handle 90 percent of Japan’s containerized trade: the Port of Tokyo, the Port of Yokohama, the...

The research arm of Japan’s largest freight forwarder expects the country’s container trade growth to accelerate and increase for the second straight year in fiscal year 2017. Japan’s container trade will grow 0.9 percent year-over-year to 11.9 million twenty-foot-equivalent units in the fiscal year starting in April, building on the 0.2 percent growth projected for fiscal 2016, according to Nittsu Research Institute and Consulting Inc. The forecast of container trade growth in Japan by the subsidiary of Nippon Express looks at the eight ports that together handle 90 percent of Japan’s containerized trade: the Port of Tokyo, the Port of Yokohama, the Port of Nagoya, the Port of Osaka, the Port of Kobe, the Port of Shimizu, the Port of Yokkaichi, and the Port of Hakata. NRIC projects exports will climb 1.1 percent to 4.9 million TEUs in fiscal 2017 amid moderate global economic growth but warns that exports could slip into negative territory depending on “uncertain” US-bound shipments since the United States is Japan’s largest export market. Exports could also become negative if the pace of recovery in shipments to emerging markets slows or declines. Japanese imports should rise 0.7 percent to 6.9 million TEUs, as the trade battles against sluggish growth in consumer spending and corporate capital investment that have held back Japan’s economic growth, NRIC said. Japan’s three largest container lines — NYK Line, MOL, and 'K' Line — will welcome the growth in their home market as NYK and 'K' Line in January warned of record losses for the fiscal year and MOL said it would not post any profit. The three announced in October that they would merge their container operations to achieve the economies of scale needed to remain competitive in a rapidly consolidating industry.

International ports

Japanese container trade growth to accelerate

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Forwarders are juggling a steady stream of distractions while balancing a workforce to meet ever-evolving hot-button topics, conference attendees were told.</div>

Forwarders are juggling a steady stream of distractions while balancing a workforce to meet ever-evolving hot-button topics, conference attendees were told.

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<div class="phx-topic">New Orleans — “Buckets of risks” are keeping project cargo stakeholders awake at night, according to panelists at the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference 2026. Luke Mace, senior vice president at global freight forwarder GEODIS Project Logistics, told conference participants Tuesday he counted three buckets of risk: people, established risks and newer disruptions. “No matter what we discuss today, the biggest risk to your organization will always be people. Let's not forget that through everything else,” he said. “The second bucket is the more established risks, the ones that we've learned through decades of experience.” Mace said forwarders create tools to help measure what they believe “could” happen on any given project to identify what risks they can take. “And that could be anything from foreign exchange losses to compliance issues and equipment availability,” he said. But it is the third category of “newer disruptions” that is really upending project cargo and breakbulk logistics today. “Right now, that is the Middle East conflict, but that’s just the most recent,” Mace said. “You have had everything from the Baltimore bridge to Ukraine to COVID to union strikes...there are so many things around that are not about moving cargo.” Guillermina del Pino, head of project logistics/Americas at shipper Siemens Energy, told Breakbulk26 that strategies are being adjusted every day. ”I’ve been doing this for 27 years and today you would probably look at the next two to three years as a long-term strategy because we don’t know what will happen in 10 years,” she said. An upside of this volatility is that project cargo shippers are now working more closely with contract managers and legal sales within their companies, del Pino added. <h3>Priorities keep shifting </h3>Mace said managing project cargo logistics today has become a matter of “balancing priorities.” ”Every couple of years there’s a new industry trend,” he said. “Today it’s AI. Before, it was sustainability. Before that, cyber security. Before that, gender diversity. These are all equally important topics.” Mace said that project forwarders invest heavily in these areas, and that investment has to be maintained when the industry moves onto the next topic. “You pivot now to putting more resources into dealing with the current conflicts, and you just keep adding more and more people to your organization,” he said, adding that customers still demand cheap deals from their forwarders, despite them carrying “crazy overheads.” “Sometimes I think it becomes a bit of a distraction, because I tend to spend 90% of my time talking about things that have nothing to do with delivering cargo,” said Mace. “We've become lawyers and finance directors. We've become everything, not only delivering cargo.” Contact Carly Fields on <a href="mailto:carly.fields@spglobal.com">carly.fields@spglobal.com.</a></div>

New Orleans — “Buckets of risks” are keeping project cargo stakeholders awake at night, according to panelists at the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference 2026. Luke Mace, senior vice president at global freight forwarder GEODIS Project Logistics, told conference participants Tuesday he counted three buckets of risk: people, established risks and newer disruptions. “No matter what we discuss today, the biggest risk to your organization will always be people. Let's not forget that through everything else,” he said. “The second bucket is the more established risks, the ones that we've learned through decades of experience.” Mace said forwarders create tools to help measure what they believe “could” happen on any given project to identify what risks they can take. “And that could be anything from foreign exchange losses to compliance issues and equipment availability,” he said. But it is the third category of “newer disruptions” that is really upending project cargo and breakbulk logistics today. “Right now, that is the Middle East conflict, but that’s just the most recent,” Mace said. “You have had everything from the Baltimore bridge to Ukraine to COVID to union strikes...there are so many things around that are not about moving cargo.” Guillermina del Pino, head of project logistics/Americas at shipper Siemens Energy, told Breakbulk26 that strategies are being adjusted every day. ”I’ve been doing this for 27 years and today you would probably look at the next two to three years as a long-term strategy because we don’t know what will happen in 10 years,” she said. An upside of this volatility is that project cargo shippers are now working more closely with contract managers and legal sales within their companies, del Pino added. Priorities keep shifting Mace said managing project cargo logistics today has become a matter of “balancing priorities.” ”Every couple of years there’s a new industry trend,” he said. “Today it’s AI. Before, it was sustainability. Before that, cyber security. Before that, gender diversity. These are all equally important topics.” Mace said that project forwarders invest heavily in these areas, and that investment has to be maintained when the industry moves onto the next topic. “You pivot now to putting more resources into dealing with the current conflicts, and you just keep adding more and more people to your organization,” he said, adding that customers still demand cheap deals from their forwarders, despite them carrying “crazy overheads.” “Sometimes I think it becomes a bit of a distraction, because I tend to spend 90% of my time talking about things that have nothing to do with delivering cargo,” said Mace. “We've become lawyers and finance directors. We've become everything, not only delivering cargo.” Contact Carly Fields on carly.fields@spglobal.com.

Breakbulk carriers

Energy projects

Heavy-haul transport

Project cargo

Breakbulk News

Maritime

Breakbulk26: Risk ‘buckets’ disrupting project cargo logistics priorities

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The terminal operator and port authority will enter a one-year exclusivity period to explore jointly developing and operating the proposed mega terminal that would increase Vancouver’s capacity by 50%. </div>

The terminal operator and port authority will enter a one-year exclusivity period to explore jointly developing and operating the proposed mega terminal that would increase Vancouver’s capacity by 50%.

<div class="phx-topic">Global Container Terminals (GCT) and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA) will explore the possibility of jointly developing and operating the port’s proposed mega terminal, they announced Tuesday. GCT will also pull its request to develop a new berth at its main Vancouver terminal. GCT and the VFPA said in a joint statement they’ve signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for studying the development of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2. The MOU will allow the parties to work exclusively over a one-year period “to share information and negotiate in good faith” toward a final development agreement, they said. First scoped out in 2013, Roberts Bank 2 would provide an additional 2.4 million TEUs of capacity to Vancouver, which, by some estimates, would near full capacity by the 2030s. Vancouver has nominal capacity of 5 million TEUs currently. The project, for which the VFPA would fund the below-water work, <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/planned-vancouver-mega-container-terminal-wins-environmental-clearance-5217090">received environmental approval back in 2023 after a lengthy review</a>. The MOU also marks the official end of <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/vancouver-capacity-needs-spark-conflict-among-port-tenant-5223507">GCT’s own plan to expand Vancouver’s capacity</a> by adding a fourth berth to its Deltaport terminal. GCT had pitched the fourth berth that would add 2 million TEUs of capacity to Vancouver as a faster option than building a new terminal. However, GCT said that as part of the Roberts Bank MOU with the port authority, it has permanently withdrawn its application for developing the berth. “Increasing container capacity is essential to meeting future demand, improving supply chain resilience, and maintaining Canada’s global competitiveness,” the joint statement said. “The MOU reflects a shared commitment to strengthen Canada’s trade infrastructure by exploring opportunities for partnership to deliver RBT2 in a coordinated, efficient, and commercially viable manner.” The move by GCT and the VFPA to advance the terminal project comes amid Canada’s broader push to diversify its trade away from the US. <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/canada-looks-for-new-container-gateways-for-decoupling-from-us-6122714">Canada’s government has pledged that billions in funds</a> will be made available to trade-related infrastructure projects over the coming years. In the country’s east, the Port of Montreal has started land grading and below-water work on <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/dp-world-to-build-big-ship-container-terminal-in-montreal-6077326">its planned Contrecoeur container terminal</a>, which DP World is slated to co-develop and operate. Contact Michael Angell at <a href="mailto:michael.angell@spglobal.com">michael.angell@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Global Container Terminals (GCT) and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA) will explore the possibility of jointly developing and operating the port’s proposed mega terminal, they announced Tuesday. GCT will also pull its request to develop a new berth at its main Vancouver terminal. GCT and the VFPA said in a joint statement they’ve signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for studying the development of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2. The MOU will allow the parties to work exclusively over a one-year period “to share information and negotiate in good faith” toward a final development agreement, they said. First scoped out in 2013, Roberts Bank 2 would provide an additional 2.4 million TEUs of capacity to Vancouver, which, by some estimates, would near full capacity by the 2030s. Vancouver has nominal capacity of 5 million TEUs currently. The project, for which the VFPA would fund the below-water work, received environmental approval back in 2023 after a lengthy review . The MOU also marks the official end of GCT’s own plan to expand Vancouver’s capacity by adding a fourth berth to its Deltaport terminal. GCT had pitched the fourth berth that would add 2 million TEUs of capacity to Vancouver as a faster option than building a new terminal. However, GCT said that as part of the Roberts Bank MOU with the port authority, it has permanently withdrawn its application for developing the berth. “Increasing container capacity is essential to meeting future demand, improving supply chain resilience, and maintaining Canada’s global competitiveness,” the joint statement said. “The MOU reflects a shared commitment to strengthen Canada’s trade infrastructure by exploring opportunities for partnership to deliver RBT2 in a coordinated, efficient, and commercially viable manner.” The move by GCT and the VFPA to advance the terminal project comes amid Canada’s broader push to diversify its trade away from the US. Canada’s government has pledged that billions in funds will be made available to trade-related infrastructure projects over the coming years. In the country’s east, the Port of Montreal has started land grading and below-water work on its planned Contrecoeur container terminal , which DP World is slated to co-develop and operate. Contact Michael Angell at michael.angell@spglobal.com .

Port News

Port infrastructure

North American ports

Marine terminals

GCT, Vancouver port to jointly study Roberts Bank terminal project

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The new surcharges will be introduced immediately on cargo to and from specific locations in the Caribbean and South America before being progressively rolled out in other regions globally.</div>

The new surcharges will be introduced immediately on cargo to and from specific locations in the Caribbean and South America before being progressively rolled out in other regions globally.

<div class="phx-topic">Hapag-Lloyd is widening its imposition of emergency bunker fuel surcharges to cover the extra fuel levies it is now being charged by third-party feeder and barge operators to offset oil prices driven higher by the war in the Middle East. The new surcharges, announced by the carrier Tuesday, will be introduced immediately on cargo to and from specific locations in the Caribbean and South America before being progressively rolled out in other regions globally. Hapag said the surcharges, varying between $50 and $150 per TEU, will be applied both as an emergency operations charge at origin and an emergency operations charge at destination. It comes a month after Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said the war <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/war-adding-40-50-million-per-week-to-hapag-lloyds-costs-ceo-6193532">has raised the carrier’s operating costs by $40 million to $50 million per week</a>. Hapag-Lloyd is thought to be the first carrier to announce such a measure, as other lines including Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM have yet to confirm their own fuel surcharges on feedered cargo. The new charges are in addition to the standard emergency fuel surcharge (EFS) Hapag-Lloyd already charges customers. “We are now facing explicit charges from our third-party feeder operators,” the carrier said in a customer advisory. “As the EFS covers incremental fuel costs within Hapag-Lloyd-operated services, these additional third-party charges require a separate surcharge.” <h3>Bunker prices doubled at key hubs after war began </h3>Cargo at Zarate, Argentina, will attract the lowest surcharge, while cargo at locations including Punta Arenas in Chile, and Caribbean islands such as the US Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Dominica, Saint Lucia and Bonaire will have the highest levy. Hapag-Lloyd said the surcharge will apply to trades not regulated by the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) from April 21, and beginning May 21 for FMC-regulated trades plus Ecuador and Colombia. The FMC requires a 30-day notice period for surcharges implemented on US trades, and has <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/fmc-again-rejects-maersk-petition-to-waive-notice-period-for-emergency-fuel-surcharge-6199261">rejected recent requests by ocean carriers to have the waiting period waived</a>. The introduction of the levy comes just weeks after some feeder operators in the Caribbean increased bunker surcharges in response to fuel prices that have been driven higher by the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s crude oil supplies typically transit each day. Bunker fuel prices at some of the world’s key hubs approximately doubled in the days after the war began on Feb. 28. Tropical Shipping, which operates 17 feeder ships on services in Latin America, doubled bunker surcharges on April 12 on Caribbean and South American services to $200 for a 20-foot container and $400 for a 40-foot box. Contact Keith Wallis at <a href="mailto:keith.wallis@hotmail.com">keithwallis@hotmail.com</a>. </div>

Hapag-Lloyd is widening its imposition of emergency bunker fuel surcharges to cover the extra fuel levies it is now being charged by third-party feeder and barge operators to offset oil prices driven higher by the war in the Middle East. The new surcharges, announced by the carrier Tuesday, will be introduced immediately on cargo to and from specific locations in the Caribbean and South America before being progressively rolled out in other regions globally. Hapag said the surcharges, varying between $50 and $150 per TEU, will be applied both as an emergency operations charge at origin and an emergency operations charge at destination. It comes a month after Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said the war has raised the carrier’s operating costs by $40 million to $50 million per week . Hapag-Lloyd is thought to be the first carrier to announce such a measure, as other lines including Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM have yet to confirm their own fuel surcharges on feedered cargo. The new charges are in addition to the standard emergency fuel surcharge (EFS) Hapag-Lloyd already charges customers. “We are now facing explicit charges from our third-party feeder operators,” the carrier said in a customer advisory. “As the EFS covers incremental fuel costs within Hapag-Lloyd-operated services, these additional third-party charges require a separate surcharge.” Bunker prices doubled at key hubs after war began Cargo at Zarate, Argentina, will attract the lowest surcharge, while cargo at locations including Punta Arenas in Chile, and Caribbean islands such as the US Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Dominica, Saint Lucia and Bonaire will have the highest levy. Hapag-Lloyd said the surcharge will apply to trades not regulated by the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) from April 21, and beginning May 21 for FMC-regulated trades plus Ecuador and Colombia. The FMC requires a 30-day notice period for surcharges implemented on US trades, and has rejected recent requests by ocean carriers to have the waiting period waived . The introduction of the levy comes just weeks after some feeder operators in the Caribbean increased bunker surcharges in response to fuel prices that have been driven higher by the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s crude oil supplies typically transit each day. Bunker fuel prices at some of the world’s key hubs approximately doubled in the days after the war began on Feb. 28. Tropical Shipping, which operates 17 feeder ships on services in Latin America, doubled bunker surcharges on April 12 on Caribbean and South American services to $200 for a 20-foot container and $400 for a 40-foot box. Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Container lines

Container Shipping News

Hapag-Lloyd imposes emergency fuel surcharges on third-party feeder cargo

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The war in the Middle East is the latest example of geopolitical conflicts that will mark the shipping landscape for at least the rest of the decade, attendees at Breakbulk26 were told.</div>

The war in the Middle East is the latest example of geopolitical conflicts that will mark the shipping landscape for at least the rest of the decade, attendees at Breakbulk26 were told.

<div class="phx-topic">New Orleans — The ongoing war in the Middle East is the latest example that geopolitical conflicts disrupting shipping will be the norm for the rest of the decade, a geopolitical analyst said Tuesday. José Enrique Sevilla-Macip, an S&amp;P Global senior research analyst, said that while Iran and the US both want to decelerate tensions, boding well for the renewal of a two-week ceasefire by the Wednesday night deadline, there’s little chance of normalization in the Middle East this year. S&amp;P Global expects crude oil prices — which were trading over $98 per barrel Tuesday afternoon — to fall to about $70/b by the end of the year after peaking in the second quarter. “But we are going to have the permanent threat of disruption over there,” Sevilla-Macip told approximately 900 attendees of the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference 2026. “Iran will maintain the capacity to, at any point in time, resume its attacks on shipping or against critical infrastructure in the Gulf space, which we all know what that means.” The Middle East is hardly the only region ripe for continued conflict, with S&amp;P Global expecting the Ukraine-Russia war to last at least another year, Sevilla-Macip said. “What does that mean for [the project cargo] sector? Well, potential large projects for the reconstruction of Ukraine are probably going to remain on hold at least for the next year,” he said. Sevilla-Macip, who is part of S&amp;P Global’s Latin America risk team, pointed to increased tension in recent months between the US and Cuba, and between China and Taiwan. In the meantime, the rerouting of LNG tankers due to the war is creating bottlenecks at the Panama Canal, with overall transits up 16% in March compared with February, said Sevilla-Macip. Worryingly, meteorological forecasts for a <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/el-nino-forecast-suggests-risk-of-low-water-levels-along-panama-canal-6202618">strong El Niño/La Niña weather phenomenon</a> this year threaten renewed drought conditions for the canal. Such conditions would force the waterway to again limit the number of transits and the size of vessels, and that, in turn, would drive up the auction price for ad-hoc transits of the waterway. Still, despite geopolitical conflicts and the resulting shipping disruptions, and President Donald Trump’s continued efforts to impose tariffs on US trading partners, global economic growth continues. S&amp;P Global expects global GDP growth of 2.4% in 2026. “Probably we’re going to see some adjustments in the next couple of months if the situation in the Middle East continues, but it’s still going to be growth,” Sevilla-Macip said. S&amp;P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce. Contact Mark Szakonyi at <a href="mailto:mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com">mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

New Orleans — The ongoing war in the Middle East is the latest example that geopolitical conflicts disrupting shipping will be the norm for the rest of the decade, a geopolitical analyst said Tuesday. José Enrique Sevilla-Macip, an S&P Global senior research analyst, said that while Iran and the US both want to decelerate tensions, boding well for the renewal of a two-week ceasefire by the Wednesday night deadline, there’s little chance of normalization in the Middle East this year. S&P Global expects crude oil prices — which were trading over $98 per barrel Tuesday afternoon — to fall to about $70/b by the end of the year after peaking in the second quarter. “But we are going to have the permanent threat of disruption over there,” Sevilla-Macip told approximately 900 attendees of the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference 2026. “Iran will maintain the capacity to, at any point in time, resume its attacks on shipping or against critical infrastructure in the Gulf space, which we all know what that means.” The Middle East is hardly the only region ripe for continued conflict, with S&P Global expecting the Ukraine-Russia war to last at least another year, Sevilla-Macip said. “What does that mean for [the project cargo] sector? Well, potential large projects for the reconstruction of Ukraine are probably going to remain on hold at least for the next year,” he said. Sevilla-Macip, who is part of S&P Global’s Latin America risk team, pointed to increased tension in recent months between the US and Cuba, and between China and Taiwan. In the meantime, the rerouting of LNG tankers due to the war is creating bottlenecks at the Panama Canal, with overall transits up 16% in March compared with February, said Sevilla-Macip. Worryingly, meteorological forecasts for a strong El Niño/La Niña weather phenomenon this year threaten renewed drought conditions for the canal. Such conditions would force the waterway to again limit the number of transits and the size of vessels, and that, in turn, would drive up the auction price for ad-hoc transits of the waterway. Still, despite geopolitical conflicts and the resulting shipping disruptions, and President Donald Trump’s continued efforts to impose tariffs on US trading partners, global economic growth continues. S&P Global expects global GDP growth of 2.4% in 2026. “Probably we’re going to see some adjustments in the next couple of months if the situation in the Middle East continues, but it’s still going to be growth,” Sevilla-Macip said. S&P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce. Contact Mark Szakonyi at mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com .

Breakbulk26: Geopolitical disruption to shipping the new norm: analyst

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Assessing maritime choke points and leveraging partnerships in regions around the globe will serve as important strategies for EPC companies and forwarders in developing contingency plans for their projects.</div>

Assessing maritime choke points and leveraging partnerships in regions around the globe will serve as important strategies for EPC companies and forwarders in developing contingency plans for their projects.

<div class="phx-topic">New Orleans — With war in the Middle East wreaking havoc on global trade, relationships and awareness will be key for logistics providers, carriers and shippers as they navigate an ever-evolving geopolitical landscape, a panel of experts told attendees Tuesday at the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference 2026. “You need to strive to be the vendor of choice for your client, and to be the client of choice for your vendor,” John Hark, director at Bertling Logistics and an adjunct professor at Texas A&amp;M Galveston, said. Assessing maritime choke points and leveraging partnerships in regions around the globe will serve as important strategies for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies and forwarders in developing contingency plans for their projects, Hark said. “If you’ve got those strong relationships, now is when that’s paying off,” he said. Hark cited the closure of the Strait of Hormuz that has resulted in shipments being diverted to nearby safe ports. “When the [shipment] gets dropped off in Sri Lanka or India, you still have a contact you can talk to at that steamship line to work through the problem and get information,” he said. <h3>Expanding energy sources </h3>José Enrique Sevilla-Macip, senior research analyst for Latin America Country Risk at S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence, said the war in the Middle East underlined the urgency to expand global energy sources, regardless of how long fighting continues. “There’s a longer-term incentive to develop these alternatives to secure energy supplies for any potential conflict, which most certainly at some point will erupt because the core of the conflict in the Middle East won’t be resolved,” he said. Sevilla-Macip said shutting down the Strait of Hormuz has empowered Iran to look to that capability as leverage in the future while they also work to establish a tolling system to effectively control the waterway. “That threat is going to remain permanent,” he said. With the US pushing to expand its energy production, Sevilla-Macip said the conflict in the Middle East could reshape trade deals the US is seeking with partners in Asia and Europe. In those deals, the US has sought to have its partners purchase more of its energy. “The current landscape is a driver that could actually push all these partners,” he said. “If they weren’t actually planning on increasing their purchases, now it makes more sense for them to look for this additional source of energy.” In evaluating geopolitical tensions in other parts of the world, Sevilla-Macip said that while the potential exists for a future conflict between China and Taiwan, it’s an “unlikely scenario,” even as tensions are expected to remain without escalating to military force at least through the end of President Xi Jinping’s term in 2027. “At most, what we would see would be sporadic interruptions due to maritime blockades if China were trying to escalate its pressure on Taiwan,” he said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at <a href="mailto:autumn@autumngiusti.com">autumn@autumngiusti.com</a>. </div>

New Orleans — With war in the Middle East wreaking havoc on global trade, relationships and awareness will be key for logistics providers, carriers and shippers as they navigate an ever-evolving geopolitical landscape, a panel of experts told attendees Tuesday at the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference 2026. “You need to strive to be the vendor of choice for your client, and to be the client of choice for your vendor,” John Hark, director at Bertling Logistics and an adjunct professor at Texas A&M Galveston, said. Assessing maritime choke points and leveraging partnerships in regions around the globe will serve as important strategies for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies and forwarders in developing contingency plans for their projects, Hark said. “If you’ve got those strong relationships, now is when that’s paying off,” he said. Hark cited the closure of the Strait of Hormuz that has resulted in shipments being diverted to nearby safe ports. “When the [shipment] gets dropped off in Sri Lanka or India, you still have a contact you can talk to at that steamship line to work through the problem and get information,” he said. Expanding energy sources José Enrique Sevilla-Macip, senior research analyst for Latin America Country Risk at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the war in the Middle East underlined the urgency to expand global energy sources, regardless of how long fighting continues. “There’s a longer-term incentive to develop these alternatives to secure energy supplies for any potential conflict, which most certainly at some point will erupt because the core of the conflict in the Middle East won’t be resolved,” he said. Sevilla-Macip said shutting down the Strait of Hormuz has empowered Iran to look to that capability as leverage in the future while they also work to establish a tolling system to effectively control the waterway. “That threat is going to remain permanent,” he said. With the US pushing to expand its energy production, Sevilla-Macip said the conflict in the Middle East could reshape trade deals the US is seeking with partners in Asia and Europe. In those deals, the US has sought to have its partners purchase more of its energy. “The current landscape is a driver that could actually push all these partners,” he said. “If they weren’t actually planning on increasing their purchases, now it makes more sense for them to look for this additional source of energy.” In evaluating geopolitical tensions in other parts of the world, Sevilla-Macip said that while the potential exists for a future conflict between China and Taiwan, it’s an “unlikely scenario,” even as tensions are expected to remain without escalating to military force at least through the end of President Xi Jinping’s term in 2027. “At most, what we would see would be sporadic interruptions due to maritime blockades if China were trying to escalate its pressure on Taiwan,” he said. Contact Autumn Cafiero Giusti at autumn@autumngiusti.com .

Breakbulk26: Maritime partnerships transcend uncertainty amid Middle East war

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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 

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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

Breakbulk Conference - Rectangle Box

Attend Breakbulk26

The latest port news from the Journal of Commerce spans the globe from North Carolina and Florida to Shanghai and Singapore. Port news includes port automation, terminal construction projects, the future of decarbonization and net-zero shipping, dredging, port hinterland connectivity, labor, disruption, port congestion and cargo flow.

Longshore labor

Drayage

Breakbulk ports

Stay informed on port news worldwide with Journal of Commerce. From decarbonization to labor updates, get insights on global developments.

Port News | Journal of Commerce

The Journal of Commerce is the industry’s source for maritime news and analysis about ocean container shipping, logistics, supply chains, global shipping ports, shipping technology solutions and end-to-end connectivity. Coverage tracks the movement of containerized cargo — from origin to destination — handled by marine terminals in the US and abroad, depots, container ports, container lines, drayage, consignees and shippers, forwarders, non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOs) and off-dock warehousing providers, as well as pricing, capacity, volume and reliability on the trans-Pacific, Asia–Europe, North America–Caribbean, Central and South American and intra-Asia trades.

Discover comprehensive trucking news and trends with Journal of Commerce - from trucking LTL to regulation and trucking supply and demand.

Breakbulk News shipping | Journal of Commerce

Container shipping news and analysis of ocean container shipping, logistics, supply chains, technology and end-to-end connectivity.

Container Shipping News | Journal of Commerce

News and analysis of ocean containerized cargo movement, logistics, supply chains, technology, and end-to-end connectivity. Maritime news and analysis of containerized ocean cargo movement, breakbulk and roll-on and roll-off shipping from origin to destination.

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More News & Analysis

Breakbulk26: Risk ‘buckets’ disrupting project cargo logistics priorities

GCT, Vancouver port to jointly study Roberts Bank terminal project

Hapag-Lloyd imposes emergency fuel surcharges on third-party feeder cargo