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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 |
MON · AUG 10 · 2026 |
5 stories |
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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. Choose Port Houston for your cargo needs.
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OCEAN · PANAMA CANAL
BY STUART CHIRLS · AMERICAN SHIPPER · AUG 7, 2026
The Panama Canal Authority is cutting the maximum vessel draft from 49.5 feet to 47.5 feet by Sept. 3 as drought lowers Gatun Lake, the fourth and fifth such restriction this year, forcing box ships to sail lighter.
| THE TAKE — Carriers have already layered on Canal surcharges as high as $320 per TEU on Asia-to-East and Gulf Coast strings — shippers with discretionary cargo should watch for more of it shifting to West Coast and Canadian gateways and moving inland by rail while the restriction holds. |
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RAIL · M&A
A coalition of chemical, fuel, fertilizer and other industrial shippers filed a joint motion with the Surface Transportation Board opposing the Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger, arguing the railroads’ filings still don’t supply enough data to meet the board’s public-interest standard.
| THE TAKE — With the STB having already bounced the initial application once and pushed for more documentation this summer, shippers are signaling they’ll keep pressing on competitive-harm and service-disruption safeguards before any deal clears. |
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TRADE · CROSS-BORDER
Tamaulipas plans to expand the World Trade Bridge linking Nuevo Laredo and Laredo, Texas — widening the existing span to 10 lanes and adding a parallel 8-lane bridge for 18 total cargo lanes, more than doubling current capacity.
| THE TAKE — About half of Mexico’s cross-border cargo already moves through this crossing, and with two-way U.S.-Mexico trade near $405 billion through May, more lanes could meaningfully cut dwell times for automotive, electronics and agribusiness shippers once construction starts later this year. |
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OCEAN · CONTAINER SHIPPING
HMM is spending $135 million to upgrade Washington United Terminals at the Port of Tacoma, contracting HD Hyundai Samho for two new quay cranes and two new yard cranes to replace aging equipment.
| THE TAKE — The upgrade would take WUT’s annual box capacity from 590,000 to 880,000 TEUs, nearly 40% more, giving HMM room to run bigger ships on its U.S. West Coast strings once the new cranes arrive in 2028. |
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SUPPLY CHAIN · SMALL BUSINESS
Small and midsize shippers are getting squeezed by tariffs, fuel costs and carrier fee hikes, and ShipStation Global CEO Tom Madine says the costliest mistake in the segment is trying to navigate it all without outside logistics expertise.
| THE TAKE — With no one-size-fits-all playbook and costs likely to stay elevated longer than expected, smaller shippers may be better served leaning on outside logistics partners for visibility across systems rather than going it alone. |
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OCT 27–28, 2026 · THE SIGNAL AT CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO · CHATTANOOGA, TN
FreightWaves’ flagship freight festival returns to Chattanooga with industry-defining keynotes, rapid-fire tech demos and the inaugural F3 Awards Dinner reveal of the FreightTech25 and Shipper of Choice winners.
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American Shipper · The Daily — published weekdays
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