China’s trade surplus exceeded $1 trillion in the first 11 months of 2025. As reported by splash247, despite shipments to the U.S. dropping nearly one-third year-over-year, overall exports were buoyed by increased activity targeting alternative markets. The pivot to other trade partners has had a significant impact on global container flows, with BIMCO observing demand
According to Sea-Intelligence, vessel capacity that used to be absorbed by major trade lanes is now spilling into secondary trade lanes. Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence, said the extra capacity brought on by the Red Sea crisis is “effectively saturating the peripheral trades of the global network”. Sea-Intelligence tracked more than 16,000 vessel transfers across
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects global air cargo volumes to increase by 2.4% year-over-year, reaching approximately 71.6 million tonnes in 2026. Cargo revenues are projected to rise 2.1% to $158 billion, up from $155 billion in 2025. According to IATA’s December Global Outlook, air cargo demand will continue to grow, although at a
A recent study by the University of Oxford highlighted the vulnerability of global supply chains to disruptions at key maritime chokepoints. The research examined 24 major chokepoints and estimated that disruptions at critical passages impacted $192 billion in trade annually, resulting in approximately $14 billion in economic losses. “We estimate the economic losses of chokepoint
Sea-Intelligence’s October 2025 global schedule reliability report covering 34 trade lanes, shows a 3.5 percentage point decline in schedule reliability, dropping to 61.4%. “This is only the second major M/M decline in 2025 and comes after three consecutive months of stable global schedule reliability. On a Y/Y level, schedule reliability was up 11.1 percentage points,”
According to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) latest Goods Trade Barometer, global merchandise trade growth has decelerated in the second half of 2025. Referencing current readings, the WTO wrote: “While still above trend, the indices for air freight (102.7) and container shipping (101.7) have seen their values decline over the last three months, indicating a
Container shipping lines are laying the groundwork for service restructuring in anticipation of resuming transits through the Suez Canal and Red Seas, according to a news report published by Seatrade Maritime News in collaboration with MDS Transmodal. The global container ship orderbook for 2025 has surpassed 10 million TEUs. However, demand-side projections indicate a slowdown
Container spot rates out of Asia are moving in different directions. As reported by gCaptain, Asia-U.S. lanes are contending with downward pricing pressure, while Asia–Europe routes are seeing rising rates. Industry benchmarks confirm the shift, as Drewry’s World Container Index, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), and Freightos’ Baltic Index show a continued downtrend on
The Port of Los Angeles is on track to handle 10 million containers in 2025, marking only the third time in its history to reach this milestone, according to Port Executive Director Gene Seroka. In a recent media briefing, Seroka stated, “With six weeks to go, we are within reach of the 10 million container
Two of the United States’ largest freight railroads have received overwhelming shareholder support for a landmark merger. Union Pacific (UP) will acquire Norfolk Southern (NS) in an $85 billion transaction, with 99.5% of UP shareholders and 99% of NS shareholders voting in favor. The combined network will span 50,000 miles of rail across 43 states,