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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 |
Wednesday, October 14 |
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Port Houston is investing in infrastructure like expanding the Houston Ship Channel to support larger ships and more efficient flow of cargo.
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Ocean
BY STUART CHIRLS · AMERICAN SHIPPER · OCTOBER 13, 2026
Xeneta says global schedule reliability fell for a fourth straight month in September to 27%, with average vessel delays reaching six days and trans-Pacific spot rates running more than four times last year’s level.
| THE TAKE — A 27% on-time rate means roughly three of every four vessels are arriving late, and Xeneta doesn’t see a floor yet, which turns reliability into a cost shippers have to plan around rather than a nuisance. The Gemini network’s slide from 70% on-time in June to 40% in September shows even the best-run alliances aren’t immune, and Singapore’s queue nearly doubling points to congestion feeding on itself. With blank sailings set to rise in October, Xeneta’s advice to book earlier and ask which services are protected from cuts is practical, not cautious. |
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Ports
After a record September, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka says tariff uncertainty makes November and December hard to forecast, even as importers keep diversifying beyond China.
| THE TAKE — China’s share of the port’s business falling from 60% to 40% shows how real the shift away from single-country sourcing has become, but Harvard’s Willy Shih makes the point that many of those moves are final assembly only, with Chinese components still underneath. His suggestion that companies are optimizing for options rather than lowest cost explains why volumes can stay strong while forecasts stay shaky. For October, Seroka’s roughly 900,000 TEU outlook still leaves rail dwell times as the thing to watch once holiday cargo heads inland. |
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Rail
CSX Chief Operating Officer Mike Cory is retiring, and two senior operations executives will report directly to CEO Steve Angel rather than the railroad naming a single successor right away.
| THE TAKE — Splitting Cory’s duties between a longtime CN veteran and a nearly 30-year CSX operations leader, with both reporting to the CEO, is an unusual way to handle a COO exit and gives Angel unusually direct control of operations. Cory returned from retirement to take the job in 2023, so a transition period running through May 2027 gives the railroad time to decide whether the COO role is refilled or stays divided. It also adds to the leadership turnover at the top of CSX in recent months. |
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OCT 27–28, 2026 · THE SIGNAL, CHATTANOOGA, TN
FreightWaves’ flagship event blends rapid-fire tech demos and world-class speakers with the most legendary networking in logistics. Join 1,000+ freight and logistics experts, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators for a definitive look at the year ahead. Come for the insights, stay for the celebration and leave with the connections that will define your 2027.
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American Shipper · The Daily — published weekdays
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