Container Bytes: Weekly Ocean & Air Freight Intelligence for Supply Chain Pros

The Supreme Court  tossed IEEPA tariffs out, but don't pop the champagne just yet. The White House pivoted with a (temporary-ish) 10% global tariff under Section 122 just four days later. It's currently sitting well below the 15% to 20% ranges we saw previously, but with the July expiration date looming, the USTR is sprinting through 122 new trade investigations. The billion-dollar quest...

The Middle East isn't exactly "business as usual," (you knew that) BUT the cargo heart is starting to beat again. We’re moving past the total shutdown and into the "creative logistics" phase. That's a polite way of saying everything is moving by truck on two-lane highways and costing a fortune. The real story this week isn't just the closure of the Strait; it’s t...

Welcome back to the pod!  This week, I (Eytan) and Judah (not me) dive into why the Straits of Hormuz is the latest headache for your bottom line, even if your containers aren't actually in the Gulf. We’re tracking "Emergency Contingency Surcharges" (top-tier naming, guys) that are adding $300-$400 per container just as we hit the post-Lunar New Year lull. On the bright side, the Su...

Special edition for you independent forwarders out there. SMB forwarders are tired of being told they’re "dinosaurs" by Silicon Valley.  They’re tired of waiting for ERP roadmaps that never arrive. And they're tired of being told they can't compete with the $100M tech budgets of the global giants. They’re wrong. In this episode, I sit down with Farouk Gomati , President of Inte...

Welcome back to another "uneventful" week in Global Freight. 📍 This week, Eytan opens with a dad-joke for the ages: What is the White House's favorite craft beer? An IEEPA. 🍺 (International Emergency Economic Powers Act). It’s a bitter brew that the Supreme Court just poured down the drain. In this episode #21, Judah and Eytan break down the Section 122 Pivot. After SCOTUS struck...

They never thought we'd make it, but here we are: Episode 20. We’ve been talking about Lunar New Year for six weeks, but we were still blindsided by the reality of it this week. Forget the traditional benchmarks—Judah’s inbox is currently the world’s most accurate economic indicator, overflowing with hundreds of out-of-office replies. In this episode, we break down the Ocean Rate Cliff , with...

We’re back for episode 19, and with Lunar New Year just days away (Feb 17th), the "Gear Down" is officially here. Manufacturing is slowing down, and for the first time this year, we don't have a major geopolitical change to talk about. It almost feels... quiet. In this episode, we break down the LNY Rate Slide : Asia-Europe is down to $2,400/container and the Med has plummeted to $3...

Welcome back to Freightos' Container Bytes, Episode 18. Judah and I were just reminiscing about the fact that we don't have theme music. We still don't. But what we do have is a weather report that’s actually scarier than the geopolitics for once. Storm Kristin just put the North Atlantic in a chokehold, grounding vessels from Spain to the English Channel and proving that Mother Nat...

Welcome back to Freightos' Container Bytes, Episode 17. We’re only four weeks in, and we’ve had more trade "wars" than I’ve had hot coffees.  This week, Eytan and Judah track the whiplash of the Greenland deal—shoutout to Davos for the "peace framework"—and the immediate shift of the tariff-cannon toward our neighbors to the North. While the US threatens 100% tariffs on Ca...

Time for a high-stakes episode of "Where in the World is the Trade War?" with our  Greenland Bingo card. ❄️ In this episode, Judah and Eytan break down the sudden 10% tariff threat on the EU (which apparently wasn't on anyone's 2026 forecast) and why the EU is dusting off its "Big Bazooka" in retaliation. We also check in on the Red Sea, where Maersk is leaning in jus...

Welcome back to Freightos' Container Bytes, the podcast that is technically Episode 15, despite the fact that our team’s ability to count past 14 has recently been called into question. We dive into the geopolitical soup of the Strait of Hormuz. While the headlines are screaming about oil, we’re looking at the real logistics casualty: the UAE’s Jebel Ali port. If the "Ocean-to-Air"...

This is an episode from Freightos' Unfiltered Freight series, shared here too. Welcome to a masterclass in air cargo reality with Glyn Hughes, the Director General of TIACA and a 40 year industry veteran who has seen it all. From the early days of faxed rate sheets to the current AI revolution, Glyn is here to explain why the industry is currently stuck in a psychological trap of its own maki...

Welcome to 2026! We are already 3% of the way through the year, so if you haven't hit your KPIs yet, you're officially behind. JK, kinda. Ocean freight is starting the year with a hangover and a double shot of espresso. Rates are climbing fast, with Asia-Med is up 20% to $4,800 and Transpacific rates jumped 22% just to kick off January. It’s the classic pre-Lunar New Year rush, fueled by...

Welcome to the final Container Bytes of 2025! It’s been a year. We laughed, we cried, we watched spot rates do things that defy physics. (I’m not crying – you are). The "Blink-and-You-Missed-It" Peak This year's peak season on the Trans-Pacific was… weird. Like, "my kids eating their veggies" weird. It was skewed entirely by the trade war front-loading. We saw rates hit $6...

This is an episode from Freightos' Unfiltered Freight series, shared here too. Welcome to a special edition of Container Bytes, featuring 30-year ocean veteran Stephanie Loomis, who's navigated everything from Hanjin's collapse to pandemic-era chaos. Her market predictions are legendary, and she's not sugarcoating what's ahead for your freight procurement in 2026. Carriers...

We're back and pumped to talk freight. Get your freight Christmas sweater on.🧣 Transpacific air rates hit $7.50/kilo, beating out last year's $7.30 peak despite recession fears and front-loading concerns (take that, 2024!). Meanwhile, Asia-Europe stays flat at $3.60/kilo as carriers shift more capacity there. And....the Red Sea is showing signs of life! I'm not crying - you are. Ho...

BREAKING: So... the Suez Canal Authority is that friend who tells everyone you're definitely coming to their party when you clearly said "maybe next year."  Meanwhile, carriers are playing Red Sea chicken while rates do whatever the heck they want (mostly staying flat by YMMV). Air cargo is peaking harder than my acting career (I was a lollipop in Willy Wonka in second grade, nbd)....

Got good news and bad news for your today, freight podcast friend. Good news? The Houthis said they would stop firing on ships in the Red Sea (but container liners aren't holding their breath). The bad news? A 48% increase in China - US West Coast rates (and a confusing 3% drop on China - US East Coast). Ready for a game of GRI Madness? Then how about throwing in a healthy dose of tariff Supr...

That's not how this was supposed to work. I'm taking my ball and going home. Ocean freight rates climbed despite  increased stability, with some major drivers of stability for the next year on China-US trade. Judah breaks down air cargo rates, ocean rates, why the GRIs might be sticking and which ones aren't. Also, yolo, no port fees! Party time! This podcast is a little experiment...

Bro, how am I supposed to run a podcast if everything changes every day? Less than 24 after the last weekly podcast was published, a trade summit between China and the United States changed everything. So we tacked on our quick view on what that means at the end of this episode.  Just another reminder of how everything can change, every day. This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and m...

Soybeans! Port fees! GRIs! This week has all the drama that Shakespeare forgot. Journal of Commerce put out estimates of $42M (!) in reciprocal port-call fees, we touch on the upcoming 🇺🇸-🇨🇳 summit and more.  Plus...blanked sailings pushed Transpacific and Asia–Europe spot rates up (Asia→USWC jumped ~18%, and Asia→EU is back towards ~$2,300/FEU). We also talk early peak season demand in air cargo...

What's up in freight? Thought you'd neve ask. Asia→US West Coast popped from ~$1,400 to >$2,000/FEU and Asia→Europe to ~$2,300—driven by mid‑month GRIs and capacity pulls, not tariffs.  We break down why this smells opportunistic in slow season, whether Nov 1 sticks, and what carriers are blanking next, we talk about the impact of the new port‑call fees' minimal impact and air de...

Sorry, we kinda said it all in the title. But you're here so let's keep going. Ceasefire chatter isn’t sending carriers sprinting back through Suez...and even when they do, expect a short scheduling mess, then more capacity and more downward pressure. We break down where rates are (hello, 2023 vibes), the tariff/port‑call fee volley (USTR vs. China, rare earths), who’s actually exposed,...

Sorry, we kinda said it all in the title. Port fees for Chinese vessel calls are coming soon. We break down what it means, how rates are responding, the costs that Chinese carriers are swallowing, and more.  This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know.  For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered s...

In yet another episode of Container Bytes, we talk about the logistics impact of Typhoon Ragasa,  dive into air and ocean rates, and even talk a bit about trade wars. It just wouldn't be a 2025 freight update if we didn't, amiright? This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know.  For more detailed...