Just after dawn, Rotterdam felt different. The lashers — the crews who climb up and lock stacks of boxes in place — agreed to pause their strike for five days while wage talks restart. Cranes are moving again. But it’s not a light switch. The city’s giant container terminals are...
On the East Coast docks last week, the stacks looked a little thinner. The September numbers confirm it: U.S. containerized imports fell by nearly 6% month on month, marking the sharpest dip since spring. The slowdown has several drivers. Retailers, still wrestling with bloated inventories, cut orders heading into fall. Manufacturing...
At dawn on Thursday, ships lined the approaches to Rotterdam. Some had been waiting overnight, their lights flickering in the mist. On the quays, the scene was quieter than usual. The men and women who normally climb the ladders to lash and unlash containers weren’t there. It wasn’t a full blockade....
In the middle of the night at Mexico City’s airport, ground crews unloaded pallets of smartphones, fast fashion, and automotive spares from an incoming widebody jet. Flights like these have become routine, but the numbers now tell a bigger story: the Asia–Mexico air cargo bridge has reached record volumes this...
For days, long lines of trucks stretched out of sight at several checkpoints along the frontier between Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine. Drivers slept in their cabs, cargo sat idle, and rail yards backed up with containers waiting for clearance. On Tuesday night, the worst of the jams began to ease—but...
Late Saturday, something odd drifted into Vilnius’ controlled airspace—dozens of cheap balloons carrying cigarettes. It sounded like a prank, but it brought the airport to its knees. By dawn, about thirty flights had been delayed or canceled. Around 6,000 passengers watched as runways cleared, gates locked, announcements rolled. Air traffic control...
A few years ago, predictive algorithms in logistics were still pilot projects. Today, they have quietly taken the driver’s seat. From Shanghai to Rotterdam, more and more forwarders are relying on AI-powered platforms to decide how cargo should move—what route to take, which carrier to book, and when to hold...
Copper, lithium, cobalt, rare earths. Names once familiar only to engineers are now being spoken in cabinet meetings and parliaments. This week, from Brussels to Washington to Tokyo, governments rushed to announce new deals and new stockpiles. The concern is the same everywhere: without secure access to critical minerals, the...
Hong Kong looked like a ghost city on Tuesday. Streets usually packed with commuters were deserted, schools were closed, and public transport stood still. The reason was Typhoon Ragasa, already called the strongest storm of the year. The airport felt the shock first. In less than 24 hours, over 700 flights...
