Maritime
June 10: Global Disruptions Drive Containership Fleet to Near Full Capacity, Alphaliner Says – gCaptain
The global container shipping industry is experiencing unprecedented levels of fleet utilization, with commercial idle capacity hitting a remarkable low of just 0.6% of the world’s 32.0 Mteu fleet, according to Alphaliner. This development comes amid a complex interplay of geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions affecting maritime trade.
According to Alphaliner’s latest survey from June 2, only 70 vessels, accounting for 185,157 TEU, remain commercially idle. This exceptionally low idle rate “confirms that the liner sector is ‘fully employed’ with idling only occurring for incidental operational reasons,” the analyst said.
Several factors are tightening capacity. Suspended U.S.-China tariffs have increased Transpacific shipping as companies rush to move goods before August’s potential tariff reinstatement. The Red Sea diversions and global port congestion further strain vessel availability, with estimates indicating that ships rerouting around Africa are reducing global shipping capacity by 8%.
June 14: Shipowners Warned to Avoid Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz amid Israel-Iran Conflict – Marine Insight
After Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran on June 13, tensions in the Middle East have led to major concerns for global shipping.
Shipping companies are now taking extra precautions, with many avoiding the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, especially near the Strait of Hormuz-one of the world’s most important maritime routes for oil and goods.
The Combined Maritime Forces, a U.S.-led coalition that monitors regional waters, confirmed that the Strait of Hormuz remains open and commercial traffic is moving. However, they also stated that the likelihood of regional conflict has increased to a “significant” level.
Greece and the United Kingdom have issued official advisories.
June 24: Strait of Hormuz GPS Jamming Remains Major Security Issue – CNBC
Despite a tentative ceasefire between Israel and Iran, security issues in the Strait of Hormuz continue for shipowners, with GPS jamming incidents forcing vessels to reduce transits.
According to Angeliki Frangou, chairman and CEO of Navios Maritime Partners, which owns and operates dry cargo ships and tankers, vessels in the Strait of Hormuz are still being threatened by continuous GPS signal blocking. The GPS jamming has more vessels waiting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have had about 20% less passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, and vessels are waiting outside,” Frangou told CNBC. “You are hearing a lot from the liner [ocean shipping] companies that they are transiting only during daytime because of the jamming of GPS signals of vessels. They don’t want to pass during the nighttime because they find it dangerous. So it’s a very fluid situation,” Frangou said.
Air
June 23: Airlines Weigh Middle East Cancellations After U.S. Strikes in Iran – American Journal of Transportation
Airlines on June 23 were weighing how long to suspend Middle East flights as a conflict that has already cut off major flight routes entered a new phase after the U.S. attacked key Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran vowed to defend itself.
Cancellations in recent days to typically resilient aviation hubs such as Dubai, the world’s busiest international airport, and Qatar’s Doha by international carriers show how aviation industry concerns about the region have escalated.
The usually busy airspace stretching from Iran and Iraq to the Mediterranean has been largely empty of commercial air traffic for 10 days since Israel began strikes on Iran on June 13, as airlines divert, cancel and delay flights through the region due to airspace closures and safety concerns.
Rail
June 11: CPKC System Cutover Triggers Service Woes in Some Former KCS Locations – American Shipper
The Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger has gone smoothly over the past two years – until a long-planned computer system cutover last month in former Kansas City Southern territory in the U.S.
CPKC Chief Operating Officer Mark Redd says the cutover – during which CP’s operations system replaced the old KCS system and processes – led to localized service problems in Louisiana, eastern Texas and parts of Mississippi. “We’ve struggled just a bit with some of the operating features,” he said on June 11.
The biggest impact has been to local customer switching service, Redd says. “We deeply regret some issues that we’ve had,” he says, noting that the railroad has been working closely with shippers.
June 23: CPKC Says Service Is on the Mend in Former KCS Territory – FreightWaves
Canadian Pacific Kansas City expects service to return to normal by late July in former Kansas City Southern territory that has experienced congestion, delays and missed customer switches since a May 3 computer cutover.
“CPKC’s level of service performance on the legacy-KCS network since May 3, 2025 – as reflected in part in the [first mile/last mile] and manifest [on-time performance] metrics – does not measure up to CPKC’s standards for the quality of service it provides customers or the efficient operation of its network,” the railway said in a June 20 letter that was posted to the Surface Transportation Board website.
The letter was filed in response to STB Chairman Patrick Fuchs’ request for information about the service problems, including their causes and how and when CPKC intends to fix them.
“While it is too early to offer firm predictions about the timing of a full return to the high level of service performance that CPKC strives to provide customers, CPKC anticipates that service levels for the vast majority of legacy-KCS customers will be in the normal range in the second half of July,” the Calgary-based railway said.
Trucking
June 5: Cargo Theft Gets More Sophisticated, Experts Warn – Transport Topics
The trucking industry continues to confront an evolving cargo theft landscape, with experts signaling the spread of more sophisticated operations during the first quarter.
“We’ve seen [an] increase in fraud and fraud attempts,” said Keith Lewis, vice president of operations at Verisk Analytics’ CargoNet, which tracks cargo theft data in Canada and the U.S. “That scares me because the hardest crime to combat is the fraud. Under the fraud column [are] attempts – contact scams – and even if the attempt didn’t go through, it’s still an attempt. So, it’s still a crime.”
CargoNet data found that criminal activity was more lucrative during the quarter; the estimated average value per theft increased 42% to $401,000 from $282,000, even as cargo theft incidents overall decreased 10.9% year over year to 824 from 925. Drilling down, the data showed that traditional straight thefts accounted for 451 of the total incidents, while the rest were more advanced strategic-type thefts.
June 27: Werner Wins $100-Million Nuclear Verdict Reversal by Texas Court – Transport Topics
The Texas Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Werner Enterprises, reversing a $100-million jury verdict against the motor carrier upheld by an appellate court in a 2014 fatal crash in which a pickup truck lost control on a slick interstate, traveled across the highway median and collided with a Werner tractor traveling on the opposite stretch of road.
The Texas high court rejected the notion that the Werner driver shared in the fault for the accident. “This awful accident happened because an out-of-control vehicle suddenly skidded across a wide median and struck the defendant’s truck, before he had time to react, as he drove below the speed limit in his proper lane of traffic,” the court wrote. “That singular and robustly explanatory fact fully explains why the accident happened and who is responsible for the resulting injuries.”
