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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>JNPT’s own terminal has suspended ground rent charges until March 31, while PSA’s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT) is offering an additional three free days.</p></div>

JNPT’s own terminal has suspended ground rent charges until March 31, while PSA’s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT) is offering an additional three free days.

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<div><p>Terminal stakeholders in India have announced temporary free time and demurrage benefits to provide relief to cargo owners caught up in supply chain hurdles linked to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) national lockdown. </p><p>But an analysis of yard inventory levels at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) suggests the proactive measure is proving to be counterproductive on the pace of cargo clearance.</p><p>JNPT’s own terminal, which took the lead in responding to trade concerns over clearance delays because of truck driver scarcity, has had the lowest gate-out numbers out of five terminals in the harbor in recent days, the authority highlighted in...

Terminal stakeholders in India have announced temporary free time and demurrage benefits to provide relief to cargo owners caught up in supply chain hurdles linked to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) national lockdown. But an analysis of yard inventory levels at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) suggests the proactive measure is proving to be counterproductive on the pace of cargo clearance. JNPT’s own terminal, which took the lead in responding to trade concerns over clearance delays because of truck driver scarcity, has had the lowest gate-out numbers out of five terminals in the harbor in recent days, the authority highlighted in its latest trade advisory. To illustrate, out of 3,624 TEU held at the terminal yard on Sunday, JNPT said only 559 TEU were cleared by container freight station (CFS) service providers, raising yard inventory levels to 4,583 TEU on Monday. With the port design essentially modeled on an off-dock customs ecosystem for space reasons, the JNPT shipper community predominantly follows a "CFS delivery" method. By comparison, other terminals operated by APM Terminals, DP World (two facilities), and PSA International have reported lower inventory levels, which JNPT put at 2,216 TEU, 6,985 TEU (combined), and 2,990 TEU, respectively. Ironically, these private terminals have much higher capacity and volumes. “Due to poor rate of deliveries by CFSs, JNPT yards are getting clogged up and congested, which is resulting in an increase in import dwell time of CFS containers as well,” the port authority said. “This is also causing a lot of hindrance to our [cargo] handling and disturbing our yard planning.” Additional free days offered JNPT’s own terminal has suspended ground rent charges until March 31, while PSA’s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT) is offering an additional three free days. Other JNPT operators have yet to announce any such trade-centric measures, while many container lines have put a hold on the levy of detention fees, with Maersk’s waiver remaining valid through April 7. “It can be seen that maximum pendency [backlog] is at the JNPT yard, which clearly implies that CFSs are not picking up containers only from there for the reason best known to them,” the port said. Concerned over unreasonable trade behavior, JNPT cautioned that it may have no choice but to delay berthing of vessels arriving with import containers until the backlog is cleared. Efforts to seek comment from JNPT’s private handlers were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, taking a cue from the Adani Group, more terminals, including APM Terminals Mumbai, have declared force majeure. At the same time, some industry groups, particularly the Indian National Shipowners’ Association (INSA), have urged the government to reconsider the move, citing the “essential service” rationale. Terminals at Chennai and Cochin are operating at about 40 percent capacity at present, sources said. Bency Mathew can be contacted at bencyvmathew@gmail.com .

More free time fails to accelerate Indian cargo clearance pace

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>Container flows at the railroad’s primary Appliance Park terminal slowed considerably in December and into January after it implemented a new appointment system for truck drivers to pick up import boxes.</p></div>

Container flows at the railroad’s primary Appliance Park terminal slowed considerably in December and into January after it implemented a new appointment system for truck drivers to pick up import boxes.

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<div class="phx-topic"><p>Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) is reopening an idled terminal in Louisville, giving the railroad a second facility to support what is now a congested market.   </p><p>The Buechel Intermodal Facility will reopen on Jan. 26 as NS battles long truck turn times and congestion at Appliance Park, its primary terminal in Louisville. Appliance largely replaced the older Buechel facility that was built nearly 50 years ago. </p><p>Buechel briefly reopened in 2021 during the pandemic-related freight surge but was idled again as volumes cooled off. But container flows in Appliance Park slowed considerably in December and into January after Norfolk Southern implemented a new appointment system for truck drivers to pick up import boxes, which also coincided with the holidays and some construction on the property. Conditions at Appliance <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/drivers-battling-delays-at-norfolk-southern-terminal-in-louisville-6150589">deteriorated into early January,</a> with some drivers complaining of waits up to six hours. </p><p>“Right now, we target approximately 20 to 25 appointments per hour at Appliance Park and with the Buechel facility up and running, we’ll basically double the number of appointments available to drivers,” a NS spokesperson told the <i>Journal of Commerce</i>. </p><h2>NS says dwells improving </h2><p>The railroad said drive dwell times have dropped to about 30 minutes on average in the last 10 days, which coincides with NS opening a temporary satellite lot at a Louisville depot owned by drayage provider ContainerPort Group. </p><p>Once Buechel is re-opened, Norfolk Southern will restructure how international containers are handled in Louisville. All import loads will be taken to Buechel and put into container stacks, while all exports will be dropped off at Appliance Park. The move will allow ground crews to concentrate on a single direction for container flow at each terminal. </p><p>NS will conduct a soft launch this weekend before officially segmenting inbound and outbound ocean containers on Monday. </p><p>The Appliance Park and Buechel terminals are approximately three miles from one another, which Norfolk Southern said should make it relatively easy for truck drivers to perform a dual mission – dropping off an export container and then picking up an import box during the same trip. </p><p><i>Contact Ari Ashe at </i><a href="ari.ashe@spglobal.com "><i>ari.ashe@spglobal.com</i></a>.</p></div>

Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) is reopening an idled terminal in Louisville, giving the railroad a second facility to support what is now a congested market. The Buechel Intermodal Facility will reopen on Jan. 26 as NS battles long truck turn times and congestion at Appliance Park, its primary terminal in Louisville. Appliance largely replaced the older Buechel facility that was built nearly 50 years ago. Buechel briefly reopened in 2021 during the pandemic-related freight surge but was idled again as volumes cooled off. But container flows in Appliance Park slowed considerably in December and into January after Norfolk Southern implemented a new appointment system for truck drivers to pick up import boxes, which also coincided with the holidays and some construction on the property. Conditions at Appliance deteriorated into early January, with some drivers complaining of waits up to six hours. “Right now, we target approximately 20 to 25 appointments per hour at Appliance Park and with the Buechel facility up and running, we’ll basically double the number of appointments available to drivers,” a NS spokesperson told the Journal of Commerce. NS says dwells improving The railroad said drive dwell times have dropped to about 30 minutes on average in the last 10 days, which coincides with NS opening a temporary satellite lot at a Louisville depot owned by drayage provider ContainerPort Group. Once Buechel is re-opened, Norfolk Southern will restructure how international containers are handled in Louisville. All import loads will be taken to Buechel and put into container stacks, while all exports will be dropped off at Appliance Park. The move will allow ground crews to concentrate on a single direction for container flow at each terminal. NS will conduct a soft launch this weekend before officially segmenting inbound and outbound ocean containers on Monday. The Appliance Park and Buechel terminals are approximately three miles from one another, which Norfolk Southern said should make it relatively easy for truck drivers to perform a dual mission – dropping off an export container and then picking up an import box during the same trip. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .

Norfolk Southern reopening second terminal in congested Louisville

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>The deal will create a company with more than $5 billion in revenue across truckload brokerage, managed transportation services, and port-related offerings.</p></div>

The deal will create a company with more than $5 billion in revenue across truckload brokerage, managed transportation services, and port-related offerings.

<div class="phx-topic"><p>Freight broker Echo Global Logistics has acquired third-party logistics provider and drayage specialist ITS Logistics, the companies announced Wednesday.  </p><p>The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, gives privately held Echo, the fifth-largest brokerage in the US, a major network of drayage, intermodal and drop trailer assets. </p><p>The combined entity would create a company with $5.4 billion in revenue, Echo said in a statement. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year. </p><p>“This acquisition represents a meaningful strategic opportunity for Echo and our customers,” Echo CEO Doug Waggoner said, calling ITS’ products “highly differentiated.” </p><p>“By applying Echo’s proprietary technology, advanced analytics, and growing AI capabilities to the ITS solution set, we will strengthen our value proposition for a broader range of customers,” Waggoner added. </p><p>Founded in 1999, ITS has grown to be a top 10 provider of drayage services. </p><p>“Echo's truckload brokerage scale, managed transportation platform, strong cross-border capabilities, and broad multimodal offering — combined with its technology platform and AI-driven innovation — will enable us to elevate our service offerings and provide enhanced value to our customers,” ITS CEO Scott Pruneau said in the statement. </p><p>Echo, which was taken private in 2021, said ITS will continue operating with its existing leadership team and customer-facing structure, but will hook into Echo’s technology platform, carrier network, and enterprise commercial capabilities. </p><p>ITS also has a robust truckload brokerage and dedicated truckload model that would integrate with Echo’s truckload and intermodal brokerage businesses. </p><p>The acquisition represents Chicago-based Echo’s biggest acquisition since its $420 million purchase of fellow broker Command Transportation in 2015. Its most recent acquisition came in August, when it bought California-based 3PL FreightSaver for an undisclosed amount. </p><p><i>Contact Eric Johnson at </i><a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com"><i>eric.johnson@spglobal.com</i></a>.</p></div>

Freight broker Echo Global Logistics has acquired third-party logistics provider and drayage specialist ITS Logistics, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, gives privately held Echo, the fifth-largest brokerage in the US, a major network of drayage, intermodal and drop trailer assets. The combined entity would create a company with $5.4 billion in revenue, Echo said in a statement. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year. “This acquisition represents a meaningful strategic opportunity for Echo and our customers,” Echo CEO Doug Waggoner said, calling ITS’ products “highly differentiated.” “By applying Echo’s proprietary technology, advanced analytics, and growing AI capabilities to the ITS solution set, we will strengthen our value proposition for a broader range of customers,” Waggoner added. Founded in 1999, ITS has grown to be a top 10 provider of drayage services. “Echo's truckload brokerage scale, managed transportation platform, strong cross-border capabilities, and broad multimodal offering — combined with its technology platform and AI-driven innovation — will enable us to elevate our service offerings and provide enhanced value to our customers,” ITS CEO Scott Pruneau said in the statement. Echo, which was taken private in 2021, said ITS will continue operating with its existing leadership team and customer-facing structure, but will hook into Echo’s technology platform, carrier network, and enterprise commercial capabilities. ITS also has a robust truckload brokerage and dedicated truckload model that would integrate with Echo’s truckload and intermodal brokerage businesses. The acquisition represents Chicago-based Echo’s biggest acquisition since its $420 million purchase of fellow broker Command Transportation in 2015. Its most recent acquisition came in August, when it bought California-based 3PL FreightSaver for an undisclosed amount. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Surface

Drayage

Truck brokers

Broker Echo buys ITS Logistics to build drayage, intermodal presence

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>Shippers should heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint.</p></div>

Shippers should heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint.

<div class="phx-topic"><p>It is a buyer’s market during this annual trans-Pacific service contract cycle, and importers of Asia-sourced goods — particularly smaller shippers — are under some of the strongest C-Suite pressure in years to reduce costs. But shippers should also heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint.  </p><p>A few container line executives privately acknowledge what preliminary contract benchmark readings reflect: The starting point for contract rate levels is lower than during last year’s negotiation cycle. Demand is weaker than a year ago, and capacity is more plentiful as evidenced by the swelling order book.  </p><div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/6155716_0.1.jpg"></img></div><p>In the first two rounds of bids in this annual service contract cycle, tendered rates for Asia to the US West Coast were down approximately 25% from levels in January 2025, according to a Xeneta analysis. However, the tendered rates in this cycle have been rising since the beginning of the year, said Emily Stausbøll, senior analyst at Xeneta. </p><p>“We certainly expect that as more US shippers start tendering, they should be saving money compared to last year, but how much depends on shippers’ individual negotiations and whatever happens in the market over the next few months before many of those contracts are finalized,” Stausbøll said.  </p><h3>C-Suite calling  </h3><p>The pressure on logistics managers to cut costs has risen dramatically in less than a year, making it infeasible to simply pass on the additional costs to suppliers and/or suffer weaker margins. The US tariff rate on imports from China more than doubled to 47.5% between January and November 2025, according to the latest available analysis from the Peterson Institute for International Economics.  </p><p>No wonder then that a recent Goldman Sachs survey found that between April and August of last year, surveyed businesses passed 37% of higher tariff costs to consumers and 9% onto suppliers. The companies absorbed the remaining 51%, according to the study released in October.  </p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="a08410a8-0b00-4c48-9ef6-78b6354f0678"></dynamic-object></div><p>Small and medium-sized importers are ordering only what they know they can sell and taking an even harder look at their own transport costs, said Serkan Kavas, executive vice president for imports at the forwarder MTS Logistics. </p><p>For example, shippers who booked before a general rate increase (GRI) was imposed but didn’t ship until after it was implemented have become more sensitive to the higher transport cost they’ve accrued, and often with one day or less of notice, he said. A cost difference of $50 per TEU matters more now.  </p><p>“It’s all about cost,” Kavas said. “The service reliability has not been too bad. There is an abundance of space. On the carrier side, there is not too much difference to the level of service.”   </p><p>In a down market, in which analysts expect US imports to barely register any growth in 2026 compared with 2025, some ocean carriers are targeting smaller shippers that they would have normally left to forwarders. One of Kavas’ customers, he said, was approached by a major carrier for annual volumes of no more than 1,000 TEUs. </p><h3>Holding the line so far  </h3><p>While volumes are plunging, pricing isn’t. US imports from China in December dropped 22.3% year over year while total volumes from Asia fell 6.1% in the same period, according to PIERS, a sister company of the <i>Journal of Commerce</i> within S&amp;P Global. </p><p>Yet container spot rates, as measured by Drewry, Platts and the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, have shown resilience, rising about 40% since early December. Implementing blank sailings and moderately-sized GRIs while holding the price line on freight-all-kind rates appears to have worked for carriers. </p><p>“Ocean carriers need another catalyst to keep the rates at certain levels, or they will continue to perform blank sailings which they have mastered,” Kavas said. “They are doing this in a very disciplined manner, and considering the number of carriers in the market at the moment, ocean freight rate fluctuations will continue to be present, but I don’t see rates are diving.” </p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="a2606c91-b30c-4219-b617-9491b44b6af1"></dynamic-object></div><p>Ocean carriers are adjusting further to expectations of reduced demand. Carriers will reduce the available capacity from Asia to North America to 2.5 million TEUs in the first quarter from 2.6 million TEUs in the fourth quarter, according to Xeneta forecasts and an analysis of blanked sailings, including those not announced by carriers.  </p><p>The semblance of carrier control on the trans-Pacific despite weakening volumes should give importers pause amid negotiations on annual contracts, which generally run from May 1 through April. The market may be down, but capacity discipline so far isn’t, and shippers who push too hard on contract rates or are too exposed to spot rates could end up paying if the market turns.  </p><p><i>Contact Mark Szakonyi at </i><a href="https://www.joc.com/article/mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com"><i>mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com</i></a>.</p></div>

It is a buyer’s market during this annual trans-Pacific service contract cycle, and importers of Asia-sourced goods — particularly smaller shippers — are under some of the strongest C-Suite pressure in years to reduce costs. But shippers should also heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint. A few container line executives privately acknowledge what preliminary contract benchmark readings reflect: The starting point for contract rate levels is lower than during last year’s negotiation cycle. Demand is weaker than a year ago, and capacity is more plentiful as evidenced by the swelling order book. In the first two rounds of bids in this annual service contract cycle, tendered rates for Asia to the US West Coast were down approximately 25% from levels in January 2025, according to a Xeneta analysis. However, the tendered rates in this cycle have been rising since the beginning of the year, said Emily Stausbøll, senior analyst at Xeneta. “We certainly expect that as more US shippers start tendering, they should be saving money compared to last year, but how much depends on shippers’ individual negotiations and whatever happens in the market over the next few months before many of those contracts are finalized,” Stausbøll said. C-Suite calling The pressure on logistics managers to cut costs has risen dramatically in less than a year, making it infeasible to simply pass on the additional costs to suppliers and/or suffer weaker margins. The US tariff rate on imports from China more than doubled to 47.5% between January and November 2025, according to the latest available analysis from the Peterson Institute for International Economics. No wonder then that a recent Goldman Sachs survey found that between April and August of last year, surveyed businesses passed 37% of higher tariff costs to consumers and 9% onto suppliers. The companies absorbed the remaining 51%, according to the study released in October. Small and medium-sized importers are ordering only what they know they can sell and taking an even harder look at their own transport costs, said Serkan Kavas, executive vice president for imports at the forwarder MTS Logistics. For example, shippers who booked before a general rate increase (GRI) was imposed but didn’t ship until after it was implemented have become more sensitive to the higher transport cost they’ve accrued, and often with one day or less of notice, he said. A cost difference of $50 per TEU matters more now. “It’s all about cost,” Kavas said. “The service reliability has not been too bad. There is an abundance of space. On the carrier side, there is not too much difference to the level of service.” In a down market, in which analysts expect US imports to barely register any growth in 2026 compared with 2025, some ocean carriers are targeting smaller shippers that they would have normally left to forwarders. One of Kavas’ customers, he said, was approached by a major carrier for annual volumes of no more than 1,000 TEUs. Holding the line so far While volumes are plunging, pricing isn’t. US imports from China in December dropped 22.3% year over year while total volumes from Asia fell 6.1% in the same period, according to PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Yet container spot rates, as measured by Drewry, Platts and the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, have shown resilience, rising about 40% since early December. Implementing blank sailings and moderately-sized GRIs while holding the price line on freight-all-kind rates appears to have worked for carriers. “Ocean carriers need another catalyst to keep the rates at certain levels, or they will continue to perform blank sailings which they have mastered,” Kavas said. “They are doing this in a very disciplined manner, and considering the number of carriers in the market at the moment, ocean freight rate fluctuations will continue to be present, but I don’t see rates are diving.” Ocean carriers are adjusting further to expectations of reduced demand. Carriers will reduce the available capacity from Asia to North America to 2.5 million TEUs in the first quarter from 2.6 million TEUs in the fourth quarter, according to Xeneta forecasts and an analysis of blanked sailings, including those not announced by carriers. The semblance of carrier control on the trans-Pacific despite weakening volumes should give importers pause amid negotiations on annual contracts, which generally run from May 1 through April. The market may be down, but capacity discipline so far isn’t, and shippers who push too hard on contract rates or are too exposed to spot rates could end up paying if the market turns. Contact Mark Szakonyi at  mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com .

Container lines

Buyer’s market for US importers belies risks in contract talks

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>As shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year, writes Peter Tirschwell.</p></div>

As shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year, writes Peter Tirschwell.

<div class="phx-topic"><p>This year will not be marked by freight rates collapsing due to overcapacity and shippers weary from tariff costs reaping a windfall in ocean freight discounts. Despite the largest order book in history and volumes expected to slow globally, that is not the scenario coming into focus for the year ahead, even if widespread Red Sea transits resume. </p><p>Rather, according to several sources in recent weeks, a different picture is emerging: Rates will likely moderate, perhaps by a few hundred dollars per container, and as shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year.     </p><div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/6155383_0.1.jpg"></img></div><p>The year ahead, in other words, reflects long-term macro trends under way in containers: capacity tightening despite cyclicality due to infrastructure limitations and carrier actions to manage capacity, and shippers in response turning their focus away from rates and toward service to mitigate risk. </p><p>“For 2026 as we move into this bid season, it won’t be all about the ocean rates,” Chantal McRoberts of Drewry Supply Chain Advisers told a recent <i>Journal of Commerce</i> webinar focused on Asia port congestion.  </p><p>“We know that we’re in a more subdued demand environment. We know that the order book is large. We know that carriers are looking to secure volume, but the key to that is, what service are you providing? Shippers are definitely starting to factor that into their bid strategies,” she said. “The number one question that comes up from BCOs [beneficial cargo owners] is, putting the rates aside, I need a reliable provider or partner to work with. I still have to answer to the CFO. I still have to justify the cost, but I now also have to ensure that I'm procuring my ocean freight to deliver my product.” </p><p>According to eeSea, ocean reliability from Asia to the US West Coast has ranged between 42% and 48% since September. </p><h3>China ‘lacking port capacity’ </h3><p>Port congestion in China is a case in point about shippers’ growing concerns about the integrity of supply chains.  </p><p>Still the source of 36% of US imports in TEUs in 2025, (down from 40% in 2024), according to S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence, the country is encountering chronic congestion at Shanghai and Ningbo, its two largest ports, where ships typically are waiting two to three days outside the port. </p><p>The fundamental reason, according to Asia sources over the past two years, was that while China ambitiously built port capacity ahead of demand in the years after entering the World Trade Organization in 2001, expansion has slowed at a time when its exports are experiencing a growth spurt.  </p><p>“I know it’s a shocker, and it feels unnatural to hear it, but China is lacking port capacity. It’s as simple as that,” Nils Roche, founder of Solvens Advisory and recently deputy head of operations at Singapore-based carrier PIL, said on the <i>Journal of Commerce</i> webinar. </p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="615c1430-acb8-4c73-9884-61992f08d1d3"></dynamic-object></div><p>Limited port capacity in China is being called upon to handle surging volumes growing out of a macro-China economic strategy to diversify away from the US and overcome weakness in other sectors such as real estate.  </p><p>China in November surpassed the $1 trillion trade surplus barrier for the first time. Its share of global exports grew from 33% to 37% between 2023 and 2025, Maersk told investors in November. Influenced by export growth, S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence in November raised Mainland China’s GDP growth forecast for 2025–27 by a quarter point, to 5.0%, 4.6% and 4.5%, respectively. “The upward adjustments primarily reflect a more positive assessment of export prospects,” S&amp;P Global said. </p><p>The intractable nature of port capacity limitations is further reflected in growing ship sizes and more containers needed to be moved per port call at ports that have not kept pace. </p><p>“The ships that you have today, they are not the ships that we had 10 years ago. If you think about it, I used to operate Panamaxes, and they were the rock stars,” Roche said, noting his skepticism that technology-driven productivity improvements can meaningfully expand capacity. “Now you have 18,000, 24,000-TEU ships coming into the ports. A Panamax calling a port is a port call, a 24,000-TEU ship calling a port, it's a major event.”   </p><p>The difficulty ports have in handling the volumes and ship sizes being thrown at them is confirmed by port performance data. The S&amp;P Global Port Performance data is based on vessel turnaround time and normalized by workload, with underlying data provided by carriers — in other words, how many hours a ship is spending in port to achieve a certain move count. The data shows ports on a global basis are operating well below pre-pandemic levels of performance. </p><p>Due to port capacity limitations, Roche says the industry should temper its expectations for the impact of a return to the Red Sea, if that occurs this year (although there is no guarantee it will).  </p><p>He said that if the Red Sea opens up, “we should not expect a massive influx of capacity, simply because the lack of capacity, or the bottleneck if you prefer, will be transferred from the ocean to the land.” </p><p>“I disagree with the narrative carried by analysts that shipping obeys 100% of the laws of supply and demand, and that more ships mean more supply ... it’s being half-blind to an entire ecosystem,” Roche said. </p><p>S&amp;P Global is the parent company of the <i>Journal of Commerce.</i></p><p><i>Contact Peter Tirschwell at </i><a href="mailto:peter.tirschwell@spglobal.com"><i>peter.tirschwell@spglobal.com</i></a>.</p></div>

This year will not be marked by freight rates collapsing due to overcapacity and shippers weary from tariff costs reaping a windfall in ocean freight discounts. Despite the largest order book in history and volumes expected to slow globally, that is not the scenario coming into focus for the year ahead, even if widespread Red Sea transits resume.  Rather, according to several sources in recent weeks, a different picture is emerging: Rates will likely moderate, perhaps by a few hundred dollars per container, and as shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year. The year ahead, in other words, reflects long-term macro trends under way in containers: capacity tightening despite cyclicality due to infrastructure limitations and carrier actions to manage capacity, and shippers in response turning their focus away from rates and toward service to mitigate risk.  “For 2026 as we move into this bid season, it won’t be all about the ocean rates,” Chantal McRoberts of Drewry Supply Chain Advisers told a recent Journal of Commerce webinar focused on Asia port congestion.   “We know that we’re in a more subdued demand environment. We know that the order book is large. We know that carriers are looking to secure volume, but the key to that is, what service are you providing? Shippers are definitely starting to factor that into their bid strategies,” she said. “The number one question that comes up from BCOs [beneficial cargo owners] is, putting the rates aside, I need a reliable provider or partner to work with. I still have to answer to the CFO. I still have to justify the cost, but I now also have to ensure that I'm procuring my ocean freight to deliver my product.”  According to eeSea, ocean reliability from Asia to the US West Coast has ranged between 42% and 48% since September.  China ‘lacking port capacity’  Port congestion in China is a case in point about shippers’ growing concerns about the integrity of supply chains.   Still the source of 36% of US imports in TEUs in 2025, (down from 40% in 2024), according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the country is encountering chronic congestion at Shanghai and Ningbo, its two largest ports, where ships typically are waiting two to three days outside the port.  The fundamental reason, according to Asia sources over the past two years, was that while China ambitiously built port capacity ahead of demand in the years after entering the World Trade Organization in 2001, expansion has slowed at a time when its exports are experiencing a growth spurt.   “I know it’s a shocker, and it feels unnatural to hear it, but China is lacking port capacity. It’s as simple as that,” Nils Roche, founder of Solvens Advisory and recently deputy head of operations at Singapore-based carrier PIL, said on the Journal of Commerce webinar. Limited port capacity in China is being called upon to handle surging volumes growing out of a macro-China economic strategy to diversify away from the US and overcome weakness in other sectors such as real estate.   China in November surpassed the $1 trillion trade surplus barrier for the first time. Its share of global exports grew from 33% to 37% between 2023 and 2025, Maersk told investors in November. Influenced by export growth, S&P Global Market Intelligence in November raised Mainland China’s GDP growth forecast for 2025–27 by a quarter point, to 5.0%, 4.6% and 4.5%, respectively. “The upward adjustments primarily reflect a more positive assessment of export prospects,” S&P Global said.  The intractable nature of port capacity limitations is further reflected in growing ship sizes and more containers needed to be moved per port call at ports that have not kept pace.  “The ships that you have today, they are not the ships that we had 10 years ago. If you think about it, I used to operate Panamaxes, and they were the rock stars,” Roche said, noting his skepticism that technology-driven productivity improvements can meaningfully expand capacity. “Now you have 18,000, 24,000-TEU ships coming into the ports. A Panamax calling a port is a port call, a 24,000-TEU ship calling a port, it's a major event.” The difficulty ports have in handling the volumes and ship sizes being thrown at them is confirmed by port performance data. The S&P Global Port Performance data is based on vessel turnaround time and normalized by workload, with underlying data provided by carriers — in other words, how many hours a ship is spending in port to achieve a certain move count. The data shows ports on a global basis are operating well below pre-pandemic levels of performance. Due to port capacity limitations, Roche says the industry should temper its expectations for the impact of a return to the Red Sea, if that occurs this year (although there is no guarantee it will).   He said that if the Red Sea opens up, “we should not expect a massive influx of capacity, simply because the lack of capacity, or the bottleneck if you prefer, will be transferred from the ocean to the land.”  “I disagree with the narrative carried by analysts that shipping obeys 100% of the laws of supply and demand, and that more ships mean more supply ... it’s being half-blind to an entire ecosystem,” Roche said.  S&P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce.Contact Peter Tirschwell at peter.tirschwell@spglobal.com .

Supply chain certainty, rather than price, will shape shipping in 2026

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>The carrier has inked a slot charter agreement on a service that is operated by Taiwanese rivals Yang Ming and Wan Hai, as well as Singapore’s PIL.</p></div>

The carrier has inked a slot charter agreement on a service that is operated by Taiwanese rivals Yang Ming and Wan Hai, as well as Singapore’s PIL.

<div class="phx-topic"><p>Evergreen Marine is strengthening its Asia-Latin America links with a slot charter agreement on the Asia-West Coast South America 6 service (WSA6) in a move that comes amid a surge of capacity on the Asia-Latin America trade. </p><p>Antonella Teodoro, senior consultant for MDS Transmodal, said capacity direct services have increased almost 50% over the past year. </p><p>“Having been relatively stable the past three years, scheduled deployed TEU capacity on the direct Far East-Latin America trade lane increased by some 46% between January 2025 and 2026,” Teodoro told the <i>Journal of Commerce.</i> </p><p>Total capacity over the past 12 months soared to 4,112,888 TEUs compared with 2,812,495 TEUs in the prior period, according to MDS Transmodal data. </p><p>“This increase is mainly due to the three new services that started in 2025, namely MSC’s Alpaca service, CMA CGM with Maersk on the SAES3/ASAS2, and HMM and ONE jointly initiating their FL2/SX2 service,” Teodoro said. </p><p>Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s Asia to West Coast South America Alpaca service is the most recent of the three, having been inaugurated last September by the 4,600-TEU <i>MSC Lome V</i>, one of eight ships deployed on the route. </p><p>Teodoro said the MDS data did not include services with intermediate calls in other markets including the US, Middle East and Indian sub-continent. </p><p>By comparison, data from eeSea carried on the <i>Journal of Commerce</i>’s Gateway platform also shows a significant capacity increase on the Asia-Latin America trade. Actual deployed capacity rose 21% to 6.5 million TEUs last year from 5.4 million TEUs in 2024 based upon monthly capacity figures. </p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="0a4c1e7e-2956-4186-b6de-e38dce7f57e0"></dynamic-object></div><p>Evergreen’s inclusion on the WSA6 service coincides with a continued fall in freight rates on both the Asia-South America West Coast and East Coast services. </p><p>Data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange carried on the Gateway platform shows spot rates from Shanghai to Santos were down to $1,195 per TEUs on Jan. 16, the lowest since January 2023, while spot rates from Shanghai to Manzanillo were down to $1,001/TEU, the lowest for at least two years. </p><h3>Operated by Taiwanese rivals </h3><p>Evergreen confirmed its involvement in the WSA6 service in updated service schedules published over the weekend. </p><p>Taiwan’s top container line will take space on the service that is operated by rivals Yang Ming Marine Transport, Wan Hai Lines, and Singapore’s Pacific International Lines. </p><p>Evergreen said the slot charter will begin with the 8,533-TEU <i>Kota Manzanillo</i> that is due to depart Ensenada on Feb. 21 with a scheduled 56-day transit to Shanghai. Other ships deployed on the route, including<i>YM Fountain</i> and<i>YM Success</i>, have a nominal capacity of 5,560 TEUs. </p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="1ac6ad07-0f60-4109-bf91-3409ff42996a"></dynamic-object></div><p>The full rotation is Ningbo, Shanghai, and Qingdao in China; Pusan (South Korea), Ensenada, Manzanillo, and Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico; Puerto Quetzal (Guatemala), Buenaventura (Colombia), Callao (Peru), San Antonio (Chile), and Ningbo. </p><p>The WSA6 service is Evergreen’s sixth linking the Asia and South American markets and the third connecting the West Coast of South America. </p><p><i>Contact Keith Wallis at </i><a href="https://www.joc.com/article/keithwallis@hotmail.com."><i>keithwallis@hotmail.com</i></a>.</p></div>

Evergreen Marine is strengthening its Asia-Latin America links with a slot charter agreement on the Asia-West Coast South America 6 service (WSA6) in a move that comes amid a surge of capacity on the Asia-Latin America trade.  Antonella Teodoro, senior consultant for MDS Transmodal, said capacity direct services have increased almost 50% over the past year. “Having been relatively stable the past three years, scheduled deployed TEU capacity on the direct Far East-Latin America trade lane increased by some 46% between January 2025 and 2026,” Teodoro told the Journal of Commerce.  Total capacity over the past 12 months soared to 4,112,888 TEUs compared with 2,812,495 TEUs in the prior period, according to MDS Transmodal data.  “This increase is mainly due to the three new services that started in 2025, namely MSC’s Alpaca service, CMA CGM with Maersk on the SAES3/ASAS2, and HMM and ONE jointly initiating their FL2/SX2 service,” Teodoro said.  Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s Asia to West Coast South America Alpaca service is the most recent of the three, having been inaugurated last September by the 4,600-TEU MSC Lome V, one of eight ships deployed on the route.  Teodoro said the MDS data did not include services with intermediate calls in other markets including the US, Middle East and Indian sub-continent.  By comparison, data from eeSea carried on the Journal of Commerce’s Gateway platform also shows a significant capacity increase on the Asia-Latin America trade. Actual deployed capacity rose 21% to 6.5 million TEUs last year from 5.4 million TEUs in 2024 based upon monthly capacity figures.  Evergreen’s inclusion on the WSA6 service coincides with a continued fall in freight rates on both the Asia-South America West Coast and East Coast services.  Data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange carried on the Gateway platform shows spot rates from Shanghai to Santos were down to $1,195 per TEUs on Jan. 16, the lowest since January 2023, while spot rates from Shanghai to Manzanillo were down to $1,001/TEU, the lowest for at least two years.  Operated by Taiwanese rivals  Evergreen confirmed its involvement in the WSA6 service in updated service schedules published over the weekend.  Taiwan’s top container line will take space on the service that is operated by rivals Yang Ming Marine Transport, Wan Hai Lines, and Singapore’s Pacific International Lines.  Evergreen said the slot charter will begin with the 8,533-TEU Kota Manzanillo that is due to depart Ensenada on Feb. 21 with a scheduled 56-day transit to Shanghai. Other ships deployed on the route, includingYM Fountain andYM Success, have a nominal capacity of 5,560 TEUs.  The full rotation is Ningbo, Shanghai, and Qingdao in China; Pusan (South Korea), Ensenada, Manzanillo, and Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico; Puerto Quetzal (Guatemala), Buenaventura (Colombia), Callao (Peru), San Antonio (Chile), and Ningbo. The WSA6 service is Evergreen’s sixth linking the Asia and South American markets and the third connecting the West Coast of South America.  Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

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Evergreen bolsters Asia-West Coast South America links amid capacity surge

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