|
|
The day’s most important moves across every mode — air, rail, road, ocean and the trade that ties them together.
| ● On the Wire |
Friday, September 25 |
5 stories |
|
|
|
|
|
The Northwest Seaport Alliance connects Pacific Northwest shippers to Asia with some of the shortest transit times on the West Coast, backed by deep-water berths and on-dock rail at both Seattle and Tacoma.
|
|
|
|
|
Ocean
BY STUART CHIRLS · AMERICAN SHIPPER · SEPTEMBER 25, 2026
Traffic through the canal climbed further last month as more carriers test a cautious return to the route, though the recovery remains far from complete.
| THE TAKE — The numbers point to a real shift, not just noise: 1,358 transits in August versus 1,070 a year earlier, with canal revenue up more than 56% as Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM lean back into Asia-Europe routings. But weekly container vessel transits are still running at roughly a third of pre-Houthi-attack levels, and Cosco’s return only began in mid-September. Don’t expect this to translate into near-term rate relief for Asia-U.S. shippers — the capacity math on the trans-Pacific hasn’t changed yet. |
|
Ocean
Trans-Pacific spot rates are climbing back toward early-summer peaks ahead of China’s Golden Week, even as demand on the Asia-Europe lane keeps softening.
| THE TAKE — East Coast rates holding near $9,600/FEU sounds dramatic until you put it next to September 2021’s pandemic peak of over $20,000. What’s more telling is the divergence: trans-Pacific demand is proving resilient while Asia-North Europe rates have fallen 15% and Asia-Mediterranean is down 7% on resumed Red Sea transits. Carriers are blanking sailings on anticipation of softer holiday volumes, which suggests they see this current bump as pre-Golden-Week positioning rather than a durable trend. |
|
Supply Chain
A new benchmark survey of more than 2,500 supply chain planners finds that timing risk out of China has widened sharply versus other sourcing regions over the past year.
| THE TAKE — The gap is the real story here: 75% of Chinese suppliers caused long lead times in 2026 versus 42% elsewhere, a 33-point spread that’s nearly quadrupled from 2025’s 9-point gap. That’s why multi-region sourcing has climbed from 45% to 55% of respondents in two years. But ordering earlier isn’t a full fix — only 44% of shippers who bought ahead of peak actually hit 90%+ service levels, which says the industry is still solving for the wrong variable. |
|
Air Cargo
Qatar Airways Cargo, IAG Cargo and MASkargo have completed a first integrated trial shipment as their trilateral venture nears commercial launch, more than a year behind its original timeline.
| THE TAKE — A 12.1-ton copper foil shipment routed from Kuala Lumpur to Chicago via Doha and Dublin is a modest test flight for a venture this size, but it’s the proof point that matters after a year-long delay. Qatar Airways brings the scale (30 747Fs plus belly space on 240 passenger jets), IAG brings the European network, and MASkargo brings Southeast Asian reach. Combined, a 400-plus-destination network is a real competitive threat to the standalone majors if the integration actually holds together operationally. |
|
Warehousing & Distribution
The retailer’s 11th distribution center, in Nampa, adds automated storage and retrieval technology and hundreds of jobs as it prepares to serve stores across nine Western states.
| THE TAKE — The 865,000-square-foot Nampa facility is notable less for its size than for what’s inside it: Tractor Supply’s first automated storage and retrieval system, paired with a company-wide push to train site managers on AI fundamentals. Starting at 123 stores with headroom for 200-plus shows a deliberately staged ramp rather than a full-capacity opening — sensible given this is new automation technology for the chain’s supply chain network. |
|
|
This week on American Shipper TV: a closer look at how shippers are adjusting network strategy amid shifting trans-Pacific and Suez routing dynamics. Watch the full segment →
|
|
OCT 27–28, 2026 · THE SIGNAL, CHATTANOOGA, TN
Join FreightWaves and the industry’s top operators, technologists and analysts for two days of programming on the future of freight, supply chain technology and logistics innovation.
|
|
American Shipper · The Daily — published weekdays
|
|
|
