Know What's Happening in Supply Chain
Know What's Happening in Supply Chain
Somaliland faces import crisis as Berbera port boom fails to ease shortages
Despite a surge in cargo traffic at the UAE‑backed Berbera port, Somaliland is experiencing severe import shortages. Port revenues have risen to roughly $200 million annually, yet disruptions in the Red Sea have pushed consumer prices up, with inflation in Hargeisa exceeding 15%.
Also developing:
AIM Global, the ISO International Registration Authority for ISO/IEC 15459, is creating an online IAC‑CIN Lookup Service to replace the current paper‑based Issuing Agency Register. The service will provide a searchable, open, federated database of globally unique identifiers for physical and virtual items across supply chains. It is designed to support the EU Digital Product Passport and upcoming regulations for batteries, textiles, and electronics. The platform is slated to go live by the end of May 2026.
Eid al‑Fitr has temporarily halted ship‑breaking activity across major yards in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. The pause comes as the Middle‑East conflict pushes Brent crude above $100 per barrel, boosting freight earnings and discouraging owners from scrapping vessels. Simultaneously, regional...
The Port of Oakland handled 163,254 TEUs in February 2026, a 14.5% year‑over‑year decline and 16.7% drop from January as vessel activity slowed for Lunar New Year. Vessel calls fell to 72, reflecting planned blank sailings, yet export volumes remained...
GOLDMAN: “We upgrade our price forecast for two reasons. First, we now assume that Hormuz flows remain at only 5% of normal levels for a longer 6-week period before a gradual 1-month recovery. Second, a recognition of the risks from...
Thailand Post, the state‑run logistics provider, is accelerating its shift to electric vehicles for last‑mile delivery as fuel prices surge amid the Middle East oil crisis. Oil now accounts for roughly 30% of the carrier’s operating costs, prompting a plan...
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Slovenia has imposed daily fuel purchase caps—50 litres for private cars and 200 litres for companies—to curb shortages after a sudden demand spike. Prime Minister Robert Golob assured that national reserves are sufficient, but many stations remain closed, prompting the government to order...
Cirrus360 unveiled Edgware, a 5G‑enabled automation platform for small and medium‑sized meat processors, at the 2026 International Livestock Congress in Houston. Developed with Rail19 and Texas A&M’s meat‑science faculty, the system fuses edge sensors, cloud analytics, and real‑time incident reporting...
Global home‑technology firm Vorwerk announced the relocation of its Australasian headquarters from Perth to Melbourne, consolidating operations and positioning leadership closer to its largest customer base. The move is expected to generate 55 new jobs and leverages Victoria’s robust manufacturing,...
China unveiled its first national standard system for humanoid robots, the Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Standard System (2026 Edition), at a Beijing technical committee meeting. The framework, built by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology with input from...
Coal is re‑emerging as a key fallback fuel after the Iran‑triggered Operation Epic Fury disrupted global gas supplies. The International Energy Agency now projects 2026 coal demand at a record 8.85 bn tonnes, a 0.5% rise, while thermal‑coal prices have jumped...
Dexterity.ai announced that its production‑proven world model, Foresight, now runs on Nvidia L4 GPUs with a 17× speedup, cutting perception cycles from 1,508 ms to 90 ms. The redesign also increased sensor data utilization from 3 percent to 100 percent, delivering 32× more information...
The issue at many major shippers is that the tenure of the traffic manager is less than two years. They've never seen a carrier's market. They don't know what its like when truckers have the power. Carrier's Revenge is...
National dry‑van spot rates surged to $2.89 per mile, the highest level since 2022, after a $0.12 weekly jump. The rise reflects a 20‑25% year‑over‑year recovery on key lanes and volumes at multi‑year highs. Carrier attrition, driver regulations and tender...
The West Coast hasn't been participating in the trucking market surge, as the ports were slow this March due to CNY. That is about to change. We are seeing significant tightening in the Los Angeles freight market as containers start...
Forget TSA lines, the real problem with air travel in the coming weeks is fuel. Some cargoes are already diverting toward the U.S. on a Jones Act waiver, so domestic travel might hold. Europe? Different story. About 1.77M barrels/day of jet fuel...
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics is expanding its freight‑forwarding network across the Americas through a partnership with ProTrans, integrating TOC's forwarding activities into its global platform. The move bolsters Hellmann’s presence in the United States and Mexico, key markets in a high‑volume...
“Silicon Valley spent the last two years convincing everyone that AI is a pure software revolution, completely forgetting that the entire trillion-dollar capex cycle is dependent on a noble gas extracted in a Middle Eastern warzone. 🤡 You can raise all...
Procurement leaders are increasingly tasked with managing strategic divestments, a role that flips their traditional buying focus to selling assets. Alessandro Comerci’s experience at Procter & Gamble shows that announcing a factory sale can instantly erode internal trust, requiring transparent...
Amazon is treating India as a long‑term growth market, expanding its zero‑referral‑fee program to cover roughly 125 million products. The company announced an additional $35 billion investment in India by 2030, on top of the $40 billion already spent. A new air...
𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗔𝗜. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄. Horizontal AI — ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini — is built for everyone. Broad, general-purpose, impressive. But it doesn't know your industry,...
Cavotec has won a €3 million contract to install its PowerFeed, PowerReach and PowerMove shore‑power systems across several Southern Italy ports. The equipment will let cruise, container and RoRo vessels draw electricity from the grid while docked, eliminating the need for...
⚠️ Iran threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz is NOT just geopolitical noise. It’s the single biggest macro risk in the market right now. ~20% of global oil flows through that choke point. If it closes: • Oil spikes • Inflation rebounds • Risk...
I do genuinely enjoy some of the company names on Asian exchanges that literally make clear what they do. Global Wafers is another one. That said, TSMC is going to lean heavily on OSATs for capacity support. Interesting times....
Iran’s UN maritime representative Ali Mousavi announced that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to all vessels except those linked to “Iran’s enemies.” The statement follows a U.S. warning that Tehran’s power plants could be targeted if the strait is...
While it is end of the quarter, I’m afraid this is just a small preview of what’s coming. Zero capacity relief in the flatbed market and we haven’t hit housing shipping season yet. https://t.co/VZsgYs7mmA
The US benefits from the closing of the Hormuz Strait are 'tremendous,' expert says https://t.co/KX4da2Twrp
President Donald Trump issued a 48‑hour ultimatum demanding Iran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the obliteration of its power plants. Iran responded by threatening to strike U.S. energy, information‑technology and desalination infrastructure across the Gulf. The exchange...
"Hydropower Line From Quebec to Queens Could Power a Million N.Y.C. Homes" https://t.co/CEfzSRT1cG "Its construction included the underwater installation of more than two million feet of cable imported from Sweden" https://t.co/xqTcpfviM5
The SONAR team has been telling shipper and broker clients for months that every capacity signal was warning that the freight market was flipping and it wasn't just holiday peaks or weather. Unprecedented capacity churn with early green shoots in...
BAE Systems Hägglunds has launched a pilot partnership with Brazil’s Knightec Group to develop military vehicle components in Resende, Rio de Janeiro. The collaboration will initially produce conceptual designs for gear housings for the BvS10 all‑terrain vehicle, targeting lower costs...
At what point does this escalation by Trump-Netanyahu actually prompt Iran to mine the Straight of Hormuz... with these ships on it?! Then this humanitarian crisis goes from lock-down to existential pretty quickly.
Yep, and through 2028 now at least. Everyone in the supply chain we talk to is noting how LTA's extend with every customer conversation. Now multi-year is the standard--which is something if you know historical memory supplier agreements.
The Trump Administration announced temporary licenses to allow Iranian and Russian crude to move and offered 86 million barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Experts argue the licensing is largely symbolic, as sanctions, insurance gaps, and financing constraints keep...
OUT NOW - @JLinvilleFert on how Strait of Hormuz's closure has blocked >30% of world's fertilizer exports & degraded farming economics. Upward fert & food price risk. It's bad. Apple 🔊https://t.co/cMO23J6a4g Spotify📽️ https://t.co/CX48AK9HEc YouTube📽️ https://t.co/qx5Od1DJd1 https://t.co/uA1oP879mc
Distinguished Columbia Univ. Prof. Jeff Sachs on current geopolitics: "In many ways, the US can not compete with China [in both manufacturing and diplomacy]... And I think we all feel it's not a temporary phenomenon but really the end of the...
Treasury official Scott Bessent defended recent U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran, saying the operations target Iranian defenses near the Strait of Hormuz. He argued the attacks are intended to pressure Tehran into reopening the vital shipping corridor. The military...
Iran struck Qatar's gas infrastructure. Qatar is the world's largest LNG exporter. This isn't just oil at risk. It's the entire Gulf energy supply chain. $XLE is at all-time highs for a reason. https://t.co/7TjuVfAelG
Routing guides getting wrecked. It’s just starting. The “it’s just the weather” crowd is going to have a hard time to explaining to their bosses why trucks aren’t showing up this spring and budgets are getting obliterated.
The European Union is weighing safeguard duties on rice imports after the Federation of Rice Millers pressed for a review of existing trade agreements. EU rice imports have reached roughly 1.7 million tonnes, a large share arriving under zero‑tariff arrangements. A...
KHARG ISLAND — a thread: Trump has talked about taking Iran's Kharg Island for 40 years. The problem? Capturing it won't shut down Iran’s entire oil export system. And thus it won't lead to Hormuz re-opening fast enough. 🧵1/10 @Opinion FREE-TO-READ: https://t.co/ZOYtq3KESE https://t.co/xtLBqPShB6
Is the Royal Canadian “navy” going to send three staff officers to help with paperwork like they did to reopen the Red Sea? Or can they not even manage that anymore?
Lloyd’s Register has entered a partnership with Echo Marine Group to certify the design and construction of five battery‑electric passenger ferries for Perth’s Swan River, creating Western Australia’s first fully electric ferry fleet. The vessels are part of the METRONET...
Even if this were true (which, naw), the 140 million barrels of Iranian oil on water Bessent cites here would offset roughly one week of Hormuz stoppage. We’re now in week 4.
Shippers that didn’t prepare for higher transportation costs this year are about to have their budgets blown out.
"World faces gas supply cliff edge as Gulf’s final LNG shipments approach ports" https://t.co/OjcnxXcs8a "China gets 30 per cent of its LNG from the Gulf but has some domestic gas production and can switch to coal-fired power generation if needed." https://t.co/ikbgxbUPhV
"Up to 200,000 drivers, approximately 5% of the entire U.S. truck driver workforce, could lose CDL eligibility as licenses expire under the new framework. The press covered it as an immigration story. That is the least interesting part of it"...
"To expect it to cave in today... ignores past lessons. And unlike the Islamic Republic, the White House doesn’t have the benefit of time. It needs to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in days or, at worst, weeks." - @JavierBlas...
Iran’s Kharg Island as seen **today** by the @CopernicusEU Sentinel-2 satellite. Iran is loading multiple tankers, exporting oil and making $$$ — now, with the help of the White House. The idea that Trump admin is using Iranian oil barrels...
Threats are flying between the US and Iran, but what matters for oil prices isn't words but deeds. Those deeds are that big oil tankers with capacity of 2 million barrels keep docking at Kharg Island to fill up. This...
22% of the world’s traded urea, 24% of its aluminium, a third of its helium and 45% of its sulphur come from the region
