Global ocean container volumes rise 8%
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The day’s most important moves across every mode — air, rail, road, ocean and the trade that ties them together.
| ● On the Wire |
Monday, November 9 |
4 stories |
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Ocean
BY STUART CHIRLS · AMERICAN SHIPPER · NOVEMBER 6, 2026
Global container volumes hit 17.35 million TEUs in September, up 8% year on year, with North American imports up 9% and the Global Price Index up 62% from a year earlier.
| THE TAKE — Volumes slipped 1.4% from August’s record, but the price index rose 5.1% on the month to 123 points, so shippers are still paying a premium as the Persian Gulf crisis, Panama Canal constraints and port congestion keep capacity tight. North American imports accelerated from 7% growth in the second quarter, while the region’s exports fell 1%, a reminder of how lopsided trans-Pacific flows remain. |
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Ocean
A.P. Moller Capital, a sister company to the Maersk liner operator, agreed to buy Singapore-based Portek and is pursuing control of Euroports, which would bring more than 50 terminals.
| THE TAKE — Together the deals would give the Maersk family a far larger terminal footprint in Asia, Europe and Africa, with Euroports alone covering more than 50 deep-sea and inland terminals in 10 European countries and China. Financial terms weren’t disclosed and both transactions still need approvals. It’s also separate from the liner operator, so the investment arm’s moves don’t directly change Maersk’s own shipping network. |
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Rail
Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena told FreightWaves he wasn’t making a threat when he said in March that shippers opposing the Norfolk Southern merger could face higher rates.
| THE TAKE — Vena’s explanation lands after the STB forced the video public: in it, he said rates could rise "three or four extra percent" for shippers that didn’t want a seamless railroad. UP is describing it as humor, but CPKC argued the comments chilled participation in the merger proceeding, so how regulators weigh the context will matter more than the CEO’s characterization. |
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Warehousing
Americold lifted its 2026 AFFO forecast for the second time after quarterly revenue rose 4.2% to $691.6 million and same-store warehouse revenue grew 5.7%.
| THE TAKE — The headline net income of $683.4 million is mostly a one-time gain from the EQT joint venture, which also cut debt by $1.15 billion and net leverage by a full turn. The more telling numbers are same-store NOI up 6% and a services margin of 15.9%, even as core FFO per share fell to 23 cents from 29 cents. |
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