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As 2025 closes, freight demand remains soft, and many indicators suggest the first half of 2026 may bring even slower patterns before a rebound takes shape. To help shippers plan with confidence, this session breaks down what the data is signaling and how those trends translate into real-world supply chain impacts.

Lee Klaskow, senior analyst for transportation at Bloomberg Intelligence, will unpack the economic forces shaping the 2026 outlook and the metrics that matter most. Gary Cornelius, vice president of business development at TCW, will provide the motor carrier perspective and highlight what shippers can expect from capacity, service models and carrier response as conditions shift.

Join us for a practical, data-backed look at what early 2026 may hold and how your supply chain can prepare for what is ahead.

 Moderator:

Ariane Herrera, Senior Associate Editor, Special Projects, Journal of Commerce by S&P Global

Speakers:

Gary Cornelius, Vice President, Business Development, TCW

Lee Klaskow, Senior Freight Transportation & Logistics Analyst, Bloomberg Intelligence

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Amid margin pressure, hiring constraints and choppy trade flows, forwarders need artificial intelligence that solves real-world operational problems. Drawing on engagements with more than 60 freight forwarders worldwide, Raft CTO Nisarg Mehta and CCO Laura Fava will discuss where AI reliably moves the needle in operations and where it is not a good fit. The discussion will examine three high-impact areas: exception triage that reduces rework and handoffs, customs data quality that cuts prep time from 60 minutes to under 10 with 30% to 40% faster clearance, and AP invoice validation that reaches 40% zero-touch to accelerate close cycles. Mehta and Fava will also cover the guardrails that matter, including regulation and data governance, plus a practical 90-day adoption path and the KPIs leaders can use to prove value.

Moderated by Ariane Herrera, senior associate editor of special projects, Journal of Commerce by S&P Global, this hour-long conversation will focus on decisions freight forwarding leaders can act on this quarter.

Moderator:

Ariane Herrera, Senior Associate Editor, Special Projects, Journal of Commerce by S&P Global

Speakers:

Laura Fava, CCO, Raft

Nisarg Mehta, CTO and Co-Founder, Raft

Matt Yankow, Chief Technology Officer, MBL Logistics

Container volumes at US ports this year have held relatively strong this fall and yet congestion at the major gateways in the Pacific Northwest, Southern California, New York-New Jersey and the South Atlantic experienced only minimal congestion issues. This is in stark contrast to the supply chain disruptions those gateways experienced during the post-pandemic boom years of 2021-2022. Vessel backlogs this year were few, truck turnaorund times remained in a reasonable range, container dwell times at the marine terminals were manageable, and warehouses handled seasonal spikes in container volumes with relatively few issues. What lessons did ports and their supply chain partners learn during the post-pandemic rebound of US imports, and how did they incorporate these lessons into their operations? What infrastructure improvements have the ports made to enhance port productivity? Have the marine terminals implemented process improvements such as advance sharing of shipment information, trucker appointment systems and container peel piles? Where will the efforts of the ports and their stakeholders be focused in the months ahead to keep the momentum going? This webcast, led by Journal of Commerce Senior Editor Bill Mongelluzzo will feature insights from port representatives from the four corners of the US.

Moderator:

Bill Mongelluzzo, Senior Editor-West Coast, Journal of Commerce by S&P Global

Speaker(s):

Jeff Bellerud, Chief Operations Officer, The Northwest Seaport Alliance

Joel Britt, Vice President-Terminal Operations, South Carolina Ports Authority

Dr. Noel Hacegaba, Chief Operating Officer, Port of Long Beach

Beth Ann Rooney, Port Director, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

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The coming year will be marked by the divergence in container growth in North America and the rest of the world amid a shipping down cycle anticipated to deepen as carriers take delivery of more tonnage. Container volumes globally rose 5% year over year in September, while North American volumes dipped 5% in the same period, according to data from Container Trades Statistics. Global container volumes will end the year up 2.5% to 3.5% compared to 2024, and will expand at a similar clip in 2026, according to BIMCO. But with new capacity coming online in 2026, the supply-demand gap could widen, and in the process dampen ocean carrier earnings. This webcast, led by Journal of Commerce executive editor Mark Szakonyi, will analyze the outlook for the global containerized shipping market, with a specific focus on US economic trends, the state of ocean capacity and the impact of growing overcapacity on BCOs, and updates on the major US ocean trades.

Moderator:

Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor, Journal of Commerce by S&P Global

Speaker(s):

Ines Nastali, Senior Supply Chain Analyst, S&P Global Market Intelligence

John McCauley, Consultant and Cargill (Ret)

John D. McCown, Author, The McCown Report

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Trucking’s “peak” season traditionally ran from Labor Day through Thanksgiving, when holiday goods needed to be in stores for Black Friday sales. That schedule has been upended and extended over the past decade by e-commerce and now by fluctuations in freight scheduling caused by US tariffs. The peak now may run beyond the holidays and into January, though the extended shipping season is sometimes less “peaky.” The fourth quarter for trucking this year looks more like a bump in the road than a peak, with excess capacity and weak demand for both truckload and less-than-truckload (LTL) service. But what are the chances for a “November surprise”? Will consumers prove resilient in the face of economic uncertainty and increase their spending? Will they change how and where they spend in a search for greater value? Or will they cut back? How much of an increase in demand is needed to shrink retail inventories to the point of replenishment? Are factories using up raw materials at a pace that could spark higher demand for inputs? On the supply side, will tighter enforcement of truck driver licensing laws finally reduce excess capacity and lead to spot market rate hikes in late 2025 or early 2026? Are there signs in this year’s trucking peak of a market inflection in 2026? This webcast will examine all of these questions and more as shippers plan their transportation strategies for the new year and beyond.

Moderator:

William Cassidy, Senior Editor, Trucking and Domestic Transportation, Journal of Commerce by S&P Global

Speaker(s):

Dean Croke, Principal Analyst, DAT Freight & Analytics

Keith Prather, Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Armada Corporate Intelligence

*Check back soon for more information! Interested in sponsoring this webcast? For more information, please visit: https://subscribe.joc.com/mediasolutions/