2,000 Ships Stuck, Blocking Strait of Hormuz
There are currently still around 2,000 vessels trapped and unable to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. (Reuters)
China Shields SPR, Shifting Cost to Refiners
Interesting analysis from Michel Meidan at OIES on China’s not-at-all-diminishing energy stockpiles. Though, while the author demonstrates that China can avoid large SPR draws for a while through run cuts, yield shifts, export controls, discounted Russian/Iranian crude, and coal-chemical substitution, she...
AI Boosts Supply Chain Traceability and Transparency
Leverage #AI for Enhanced Traceability and Transparency in the #SupplyChain by @antgrasso #Logistics #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligence #ML #DL https://t.co/v568TNle06
AI Excels at Demand Forecasting, Not Inventory Control
If a manager had asked AI whether inventory control is a good application for AI, what would it say? "The sweet spot for AI in inventory is forecasting demand at scale across many SKUs — not the control logic itself,...
Quad Launches Port, Critical Minerals Pact—Impact Remains Uncertain
Australia-India-Japan-US Quad to build a port, unveil pact on critical minerals The minerals framework will guide how to leverage economic policy tools and coordinate investment to strengthen critical minerals supply chains – including in mining and processing – and in...
Korea's Import Shift Thwarts Brent $200 Surge
Why did Brent not go to $200? Korea saw a big drop in oil imports from Saudi Arabia, but was able to offset that almost entirely by ramping up imports from Canada and Malaysia. The massive supply crunch that apocalyptic...
Safran Pours €125 M Into Belgian Compressor Plant for Next‑gen Engines
Safran invests €125mn in Belgium compressor components plant to support LEAP, GEnx and GE9X engines. https://www.metalnomist.com/2026/05/safran-compressor-components-plant.html
Oil Prices Will Drop as Markets Anticipate Normal Shipping
It'll obviously take time for shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to normalize, but don't fall into the trap of thinking this means oil prices will stay high. Markets are forward-looking, so they'll price normalization long before it happens... https://t.co/sVpm56J5Xu...
Hormuz Reopening Won’t Ease Oil Crisis Before November
There is no “successful reopening” of Hormuz that can be cleanly modeled, @Peter_Strachan. Even in the most wildly optimistic scenario, the supply crisis likely doesn’t bottom until November. And that’s just restoring flows. Now factor in production damage, insurance paralysis, refinery disruptions, inventories,...
Smart Truckers Switch to SONAR, Uncover Lost Revenue
It isn’t price collusion. It’s data. The smart truckers have all switched to SONAR and realized how much money they were leaving on the table with DAT.
Conditional Safety Ratings Stigmatize Truckers in Post‑SCOTUS Era
A conditional safety rating is a scarlet letter for truckers in the post-SCOTUS world. Barrs says the FMCSA plans to address this, but it is unclear what that means. He is aware of the importance of safety ratings in the...
Watch Rare Earths and AI as US‑China Economic Levers
Rare earths, the AI ecosystem, and export controls: While it may be too soon to know whether the U.S. or China will ultimately blunt the other’s economic weapons, it's not too soon to know what signs to watch for. NEW, by...
Emerging Chemical Dependency Mirrors Chinese Rare‑earth Risk
Striking. Suspect there is a growing risk of dependency in certain chemicals that generates the same supply chain dependencies that developed from Chinese dominance of rare earth processing.
Merchant Ship Captain Faces Fire in Gulf War Zone
Master under fire: Inside a merchant ship trapped in the Gulf war zone https://t.co/fuPgu9VEgl via @splash_247
Memorial Day Spike Threatens Cargo Amid Q1 Theft Decline
It’s Memorial Day Weekend, always a big target for cargo thieves CargoNet warns: “Memorial Day creates the kind of operating environment cargo thieves look for: loaded freight at rest, closed facilities, delayed communication, and fewer people available to verify changes. The...
Zipline Dominates Drone Deliveries, Saving 17,000 Lives Annually
This is how your next Chipotle burrito, online package, and medical prescription will be delivered. And it might be my favorite company in all of robotics right now. Zipline has done over 2 million autonomous drone deliveries to date. That's more than every...
Hormuz Closure Threatens Recession-Scale Economic Downturn
A closure of the Strait of Hormuz through August raises the risk of an economic downturn that comes close to the scale of the Great Recession in 2008, according to Rapidan Energy Group https://t.co/BO69wnSivn via @MiaGindis https://t.co/Sdbohmrflw
US Manufacturers Ramp up Supply
US manufacturing tries to get ahead of rising prices from the Iran war. That means more upstream supply chain activity. And logistics.
Walmart’s Fuel Surge Highlights Logistics Cost Pressures
$WMT Walmart hit by higher fuel costs in its distribution and fulfillment. A sign for supply chains and logistics.
Early LNG Diversions to Asia Cut Fuel, Boost Profits
⏹️As the Hormuz crisis drags on, the market is adapting quickly. Several LNG carriers originally bound for Europe have been diverted to Asia, where prices are significantly higher. ⏹️Earlier in the crisis, ships were typically diverted midway through their voyage....
Chinese Tanker Slips Past US Blockade, Delivers Iraqi Oil
Ok, this Chinese oil tanker carrying 2 mb of Iraqi oil made it through the US blockade. https://t.co/0P4vqXU5l1
Two-Wheeled Robot Revolutionizes Airport Cargo Handling
Meet the Two-Wheeled #Robot Transforming Airport Cargo Handling via @lukas_m_ziegler #Robotics #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligence #ML #MI #Innovation https://t.co/09zZNTzmie
Supply Gaps Persist Despite US Mineral Policy Consensus
If there's one area of policy Trump & Biden actually agree on, it's the importance of securing critical minerals supply chains for key manufactured products. In this new paper in Nature Energy led by @Jieyi_Lu we evaluate strategies to close...
Chinese Container Makers Colluded to Cut Output During COVID
Federal prosecutors say Chinese container manufacturing giants secretly coordinated production cuts just before and during the early stages of the COVID pandemic, helping fuel one of the worst supply chain crises in modern history. The DOJ indictment alleges executives used quotas,...
Safety Rating Gaps Could Push Spot Rates to $5/Mile
$5/mile for truckload spot rates on the horizon? With 30% of the trucks in the market either having no safety-rating or a conditional safety rating, we could see a large percentage of those carriers drop out of the market. Rates...
U.S. Manufacturing Needs a Renaissance, Not Reindustrialization
Reindustrialization is the wrong word for U.S. manufacturing's future. The right word is Renaissance – and the difference shapes every strategy, investment and policy that follows. Read why. #manufacturing #supplychain https://t.co/8iM8TaG6Vr https://t.co/rpWgQEIUq8
SCOTUS Ruling Threatens 1.5M Trucks, Crippling Capacity
Trucking capacity is the tightest it has been in years, with no relief coming anytime soon. The SCOTUS decision could result in the biggest trucking capacity purge in history. There are an estimated 1.2m trucks (36%) with no safety-rating. There are an...
Amazon's Next-Gen Delivery Drones Fly Over Kansas City
Skies of Kansas City Witness Amazon’s Next-Gen Delivery #Drones in Action via @ZappyZappy7 #Innovation #FutureTech #Tech #SupplyChain https://t.co/aQql6faKlh
Wheeled Humanoid Deployed at ZEEKR Smart Factory
Suzhou Botler #Robotics Rolls Out Wheeled Humanoid at ZEEKR Smart Factory by @CyberRobooo #Robotics #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligence #ML #Innovation https://t.co/j9EFqRQKnh
China Shifts Export Focus to Brazil, Argentina, Boosts Infrastructure
"exports have moved lower as China diversified sourcing toward South America, particularly Brazil and Argentina, while also investing in port infrastructure, logistics networks and supply chain partnerships across the region" https://t.co/o15bIJ5jMM https://t.co/t2JiS2ZE2r
Russia Engages Cuba to Counter U.S. Oil Blockade
MOSCOW, May 18 (Reuters) - Russia is in constant contact with Cuba's leadership to determine what can be done to ease the impact of the U.S. oil blockade on the Caribbean island, the Kremlin said on Monday.
EU Bill Caps Single-Supplier Imports at 40%, Forces Diversification
Proposed EU law would set ceilings, expected to be about 30 to 40 per cent, for what can be bought from a single supplier, like China. The rest of the components would need to be sourced from at least three...
China's AI-Driven Port Operates Fully without Human Workers
Fully #Automated: China’s #AI-Powered Port Moves Cargo Without Humans by @_fluxfeeds #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #ML #MI https://t.co/pNEu6UX9En
Hyundai Pushes Partner to Deliver Tens‑thousands of Humanoid Robots
"...the company is under pressure to speed the delivery of working humanoids to Hyundai, which said it wants to integrate “tens of thousands” of them into its own carmaking plants in the next few years."
Ancient Pearl Highlights 8,000-Year Gulf Trade Shift to Land
The world's oldest pearl testifies to 8000 years of Gulf trade Now Strait of Hormuz disruption is forcing Gulf transit towards pipelines and rail Maritime trade routes are re-orienting towards land https://t.co/CJdDSmHqdj
Loadboards' Risk Spurs Shift to Closed Broker Exchanges
The riskiest thing that a broker can do is to do business with a carrier that they don't know. This is the power of loadboards: matching brokers with new carriers with whom they have no history. Loadboards are also breeding grounds...
ADNOC Hides LNG Shipments with Darkened Tankers in Gulf
Adnoc keeps loading LNG onto tankers masking their location in the Persian Gulf 🇦🇪 🚢 Satellite images showed a tanker at Adnoc’s Das Island plant on Friday. But no LNG ships were broadcasting their positions there Adnoc is getting some LNG through...
US Approves NVIDIA H200 Sales to China, Defying Anthropic
The US just cleared NVIDIA to sell H200 chips to China. Exactly the opposite of what Anthropic said to do.
Stabilize Supply Chain Now, Plan 90-Day Transformation
Stabilize now: frequent supplier/lead time/logistics reviews + build into SIOP. Longer term: redesign for regional control + stronger planning/visibility. Need a 90-day plan? LMA can help. #SupplyChain #SIOP #Planning #AI #Manufacturing https://t.co/ezZHVkBY9y
SCOTUS Ruling's Ripple Effects on Freight Market Today
Adamo, Leffler, and I will be on a special edition of Freight Expectations at 3PM ET today. It will be streamed on the FreightWaves X account to discuss the SCOTUS aftermath and its implications for brokers, carriers, shippers, and the...
Supreme Court Ruling Impacts Freight Brokerage
Above the Fold: Supply Chain Logistics News (May 15, 2026) - https://t.co/J52CVpjQmz #SupremeCourt #freightbrokers #freightbrokerage #trucking #transportation @freightpipes @SAP #AI #cargotheft #supplychain
Hormuz Ship Traffic Split by Type, Direction, Route
Hormuz transit traffic by ship type, direction (in/out), and maritime route—including dark transits (data via @Kpler) https://t.co/WgCsnkRHZL
Skyways V2 Flies Cargo 700 Km Autonomously
Skyways V2 #Autonomous Aircraft Delivers Cargo Over 700 km by @spaceandtech_ #Drone #EmergingTech #Technology #Innovation https://t.co/ojv2c9wwDw
New SC Ruling? Use CargoRexx for Carrier Compliance
Looking for Carrier Compliance tools after today's Supreme Court ruling? Check out the @CargoRexx landscape: https://t.co/lLi36On0Gy
Amazon's Logistics Push Threatens Freight Industry Stability
Amazon entering logistics = big disruption risk. In Talking Transports, Morgan Stanley’s Ravi Shanker breaks down: • Amazon vs parcel, LTL, brokerage • Truckload recovery outlook • Structural parcel headwinds • AI & autonomy reshaping freight 🎧 Listen - Episode 138 of Talking Transports: Apple: https://t.co/KZjW1p1gtg Spotify: https://t.co/a2REcP1PWD iHeart:...
SCOTUS Ruling Favours Big Brokers, Punishes Small Truckers
SCOTUS decision winner/losers: Winners: Plantiffs attorneys Defense attorneys Risk management consultants Insurance brokers Mega truckload carriers Top 200 freight brokers Lobbyists Fraud and compliance software Losers: Anyone not a top 200 freight broker Small trucking firms Load boards Factoring companies Anyone working with small truckers...
Cargo War Policies Offer Buyers Unfavourable Terms, Insurers Claim
Cargo war risk buyers receiving raw deal, insurers argue ▶️Some clauses less favourable than hull war ▶️Standard wordings exclude losses from frustration of contract rather than physical attack ▶️No CTL payout after 12 months’ detention https://t.co/J9piFnAJ8d
AI Accelerates Procurement, Turning Delays Into Permanent Cost
Procurement now decides margins more than sales levers. AI is shrinking the learning curve to months, so delay turns into structural cost, not just missed efficiency. Source @kearney Link https://t.co/n09ZU4bmLM via @antgrasso https://t.co/MNQFQmtAnu
Standardization Cuts Levi’s Order Time to Under
Levi’s needs speed and agility as a retailer. Needed common data but had 9 erp systems. “Standardization helped us be agile. We now have 1000 agents working. 80% of our orders are fully autonomous. We reduced order process from several...
Trump Heads to Beijing to Negotiate Limited Rare‑earth Truce
Trump is about to land in Beijing to discuss a rare earth truce hat has only ever been partial. China's export controls are still cutting the US, Japan, Germany and others off from specialty rare earths used in semis, aero...