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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 |
Friday, October 30 |
5 stories |
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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.
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Parcel
BY ERIC KULISCH · AMERICAN SHIPPER · OCTOBER 29, 2026
FedEx’s third-quarter revenue rose 12% to $22.9 billion and adjusted EPS jumped 28% to $3.74, beating expectations and lifting its full-year outlook, with fuel surcharges supplying about a quarter of the growth.
| THE TAKE — Premium services and surcharges are doing much of the lifting, while the cost side is tightening: tight truckload capacity adds about $130 million in monthly costs and pilot wage inflation runs near $100 million a quarter through 2027. Domestic margin slipped 20 basis points to 6.6% even as the network-consolidation program, with 260 stations closed, targets $1 billion in savings by year-end. Cuts of 20% to 40% in European domestic capacity show how aggressively FedEx is reshaping where it competes. |
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Ocean
Asia-Europe and trans-Pacific container rates rose last week even as demand cooled, with congestion and canceled sailings propping up prices.
| THE TAKE — Supply-side friction is doing the work: Drewry counts eight Asia-Europe blank sailings next week versus two now, and about 63% of Asia-Europe capacity still routes through the Red Sea. East Coast rates at $10,565 per FEU hit a high for the year. The next catalysts are the possible Nov. 1 LA–Long Beach watchmen strike, typhoon-related closures at Taiwanese ports, and U.S. port fees on China-linked vessels slated to resume Nov. 10 unless postponed. |
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Rail
U.S. rail traffic rose 7.8% in the week ended Oct. 24, with intermodal volume up 11.3% and carloads up 3.6%, according to the Association of American Railroads.
| THE TAKE — Intermodal is carrying the week, and petroleum and motor vehicle carloads, each up more than 15%, show industrial freight firming too. Year to date, traffic is up 3.8%, so the weekly jump is well above trend and partly reflects a soft comparison. Farm products and grain were the laggards, and coal remains down for the year. |
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Logistics
Danish forwarder Scan Global Logistics agreed to acquire Portland-based OIA Global, which has 1,200 employees and $780 million in annual revenue, in its largest deal to date.
| THE TAKE — The acquisition would move Scan into the top 20 global forwarders and add a strong U.S. presence, but it follows a $101.5 million loss last year tied to debt refinancing and the ITN Logistics purchase, so integration and financing will be the test. Terms weren’t disclosed and the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027 pending regulatory approvals. |
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Ocean
Trailer Bridge named Charles Gittens, a former King Ocean Services and Seacor Island Lines executive, as CEO effective Nov. 2, succeeding Mitch Luciano.
| THE TAKE — Gittens brings Caribbean and island-trade experience to a Jacksonville carrier focused on the Puerto Rico market, after the company sold its domestic logistics division last year and invested more than $9 million in its roll-on/roll-off barges. His record growing Seacor Island Lines’ revenue is the pitch to shippers and the board. |
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This week on American Shipper TV: what FedEx’s earnings say about parcel pricing and costs heading into peak, and why container rates are climbing even as demand cools. Watch the full segment →
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American Shipper · The Daily — published weekdays
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