Overview
Weekly international logistics industry brief: global international logistics markets saw notable rate hikes across major ocean lanes. Middle Eastern port congestion and carrier route restructuring dominated weekly updates, alongside new shipping service launches, terminal cost adjustments and regional cross-border logistics upgrades. Pre-peak-season cargo surge, lingering Red Sea diversion impacts and Middle East port bottlenecks jointly pushed up global freight costs throughout the period.
Ocean Shipping Market Dynamics
Sharp Freight Rate Upturn & Pre-Peak Space Crunch
Spot container freight rates kept climbing amid advanced peak-season shipment demand. Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) registered continuous weekly growth. Drewry World Container Index rose by 6% to USD 2,712 per 40ft FEU. Asia-Europe and Asia-US West Coast trades faced severe space shortages, frequent cargo rolling and container shortage issues. Most major carriers announced General Rate Increase (GRI) and Peak Season Surcharge (PSS) effective early June, with CMA CGM lifting Asia-North Europe FAK rates sharply starting June 1.
Maersk Restructures Middle East Transit Routing & New North America Terminal Charges
Gulf transit overhaul (effective late May): Maersk canceled Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) transshipment for cargo bound for UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq. Non-Saudi-bound shipments now divert to Salalah (Oman) or Khor Fakkan (UAE), then delivered via Sharjah land-bridge inland haulage. Extra diversion and inland trucking surcharges will be rolled out gradually, while cargo destined for domestic Saudi Arabia remains under original Jeddah routing.
US & Canada terminal fee update: Starting July 1, 2026, Maersk will split previously bundled terminal handling, port security, New York-New Jersey facility and Canada’s DP World green energy transition fees into separate line-item charges for all inbound US & Canada cargoes.
MSC Launches New Intra-Asia Liner Service
MSC unveiled the new OCHNA weekly fixed service linking North China ports and Vietnam, scheduled maiden voyage on June 19 via vessel MSC HAILEY ANN II (HQ625A) to capture booming China-Vietnam cross-border manufacturing and e-commerce cargo volume.
Middle East Port Congestion Alert
DHL’s latest port report marked Jebel Ali (UAE) and Dammam King Abdulaziz Port (Saudi Arabia) as red-alert terminals with over 5-day vessel and cargo delays. Persistent Red Sea diversions, concentrated post-diversion vessel arrivals and limited terminal yard capacity jointly triggered severe berth congestion, creating cascading schedule disruption for Asia-Mediterranean and Asia-Gulf shipping chains.
Green Shipping & Vessel Investment News
Chile-based shipbuilder ASENAV secured an order from SAAM Towage for a second Tier-III compliant escort tugboat for SAAM’s Canadian terminal fleet. The 32-meter tug meets IMO strict emission rules and supports LNG berthing operations, accelerating global port low-carbon fleet upgrading amid tightening IMO decarbonization policies.
Regional & Cross-border Logistics Updates
China Multi-modal Transport Expansion
Chongqing launched a new rail-sea intermodal express route linking Chongqing Guoyuan Port → Guangzhou Nansha → Red Sea liner service, facilitating automobile spare parts export from inland Southwest China to Middle East markets. Meanwhile, a new Taicang-Jiujiang-Ganzhou water-rail intermodal corridor opened to cut inland cross-border delivery cost for southern China manufacturers.
Singapore E-commerce Logistics Innovation
Singapore second-hand trading platform Carousell partnered with SPX Express to launch label-free parcel delivery service. Merchants skip printed airway bills and only mark tracking numbers directly on packages. Over 500 drop-off points and doorstep pick-up are available with starting freight at SGD1.8, greatly optimizing local circular economy logistics efficiency.
Air Freight Trend
Global air cargo market showed diverging performance this week. European and US inbound air rates edged up driven by pre-peak inventory stocking, while the global air freight index dipped moderately on slack intra-Asia bulk cargo demand. Sustained Middle East airspace volatility kept war-risk surcharges in place for most Middle East-bound air shipments.
Market Outlook
Industry analysts expect freight rates to stay firm through mid-June as pre-peak ordering continues. Middle East port congestion will linger in short term, keeping diversion and extra logistics costs elevated across Asia-Europe and Asia-Gulf supply chains. Carriers will keep rolling out incremental new liner capacity to ease tight space gradually.
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