The Loadstar

The Loadstar began as a blog about airfreight and was established in 2012 as a comprehensive online news platform for the logistics sector. This award-winning website has gained a reputation among top professionals in logistics and supply chain management for its insightful analysis and commentary. The site prioritizes independent, high-quality journalism aimed at enhancing the knowledge and understanding of its audience. It serves a diverse readership, including shippers, forwarders, logistics providers, carriers, ports, and airports, effectively linking various partners within the supply chain.

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DP World announces 'transformative' expansion plan for Caucedo hub

2 days ago | theloadstar.com | Gavin van Marle

Global terminal operator DP World is set to plough some $760m into its Caribbean transhipment hub of Caucedo, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Industry, Commerce. Half of the investment will go into expanding the container terminal from 2.5m teu to 3.1m teu, expansion of the quay and breakwater, to accommodate next-generation vessels, crane, container handling, IT, and landside infrastructure.
Container trade economics - what to look for now - The Loadstar

2 days ago | theloadstar.com | Gavin van Marle

Let’s go The first caveat is these figures don’t show the tariff effect in terms of volumes and pricing – the trade will have to wait another month until that data is established, unfortunately. However, let’s get the big numbers out of the way first: as per a Premium request to the CTS team, the the exact number of loaded containers shipped during the first quarter of 2025 was 44,876,867 teu, compared to 43,071,459 teu shipped in the first three months of ...
Perishables shippers want more reliability on South American trades

2 days ago | theloadstar.com | Charlotte Goldstone

Perishables shippers want more reliability on South America trades after Q1 figures mirror uncertainty, according to a Sea-Intelligence analysis on deviations between scheduled and actual transit times for tradelanes connected to the continent. In its Sunday Spotlight, the maritime intelligence platform analysed port pairs that had 13 or more connections in the first t hree months of the year.
News in Brief Podcast | Week 19 | Airfreight nosedive and blank sailings

3 days ago | theloadstar.com | Charlotte Goldstone

In this episode of The Loadstar’s News in Brief Podcast, host and news reporter Charlotte Goldstone recaps last week’s supply chain news, including a possible end to the Red Sea crisis and a depressing outlook for US truckers. The Loadstar’s managing editor, Gavin van Marle, tells listeners about the diverging strategies between the shipping alliances when it comes to organising their networks amid a demand slump.
Container spot rates diverge: to Europe still falling, but firmer to the US

5 days ago | theloadstar.com | Gavin van Marle

A divergence in container spot freight rates between the Asia-Europe and Asia-North America trades emerged this week, with pricing declines into Europe getting sharper, while rates to North America strengthened, week on week.
Conf call redux: Maersk mum on tariffs

5 days ago | theloadstar.com | Gavin van Marle

It was a somewhat phlegmatic CEO Vincent Clerc addressing analysts at yesterday’s first-quarter Maersk earnings call. Some parts of the business had performed well – take a bow, APM Terminals – while others still had ground to make up – the EBIT margin in Logistics & Services was 4.1%, still stubbornly below the targeted 6% but way better than the measly 1.5% achieved this time last year. It probably doesn’t matter that much at the moment because these are relatively small ...
More cash to burn – Petersen’s search is on - The Loadstar

5 days ago | theloadstar.com | Alessandro Pasetti

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen has been in the news a lot in recent times. Even more in the past week after issuing a warning about a gloomy “extinction-level event” for smaller businesses, if – as Flexport argues here – the current “trade policy and 145% tariffs on Chinese goods don’t come down”. Done with CNBC already, that insight came on the back of a WSJ piece*. (*Headed: ’The CEO who says an asteroid is coming to destroy America’s businesses’.)But don’t miss Bloomberg’s coverage ...
Hapag Lloyd won't take bookings if port congestion leaves cargo stranded

5 days ago | theloadstar.com | Charlotte Goldstone

A “cautious” Hapag-Lloyd has warned it will not accept bookings if port congestion leaves cargo “stranded” at transhipment hubs, leaving Canadian forwarders struggling to secure space to the Middle East. In a briefing yesterday by Hapag-Lloyd and the Canadian port of St John, one forwarder said “many in Canada are experiencing challenges securing space to key Middle East destinations until late June to early July”.
Airfreight rates ex-China 'loss-making', but hopes of a trade deal stay high

5 days ago | theloadstar.com | Alex Lennane

Despite “loss-making” airfreight rates offered for Hong Kong/China-US, Chinese forwarders seem optimistic that the trade war with the US will ease. One forwarder said he’d been offered a co-loading rate from Hong Kong to the US west coast of $3.50 per kg, including FSC and security, and $3.90 to the east coast. “Highly volumetric” cargo rates on the spot market could be $2.50 to $2 per kg, he added. ”It’s definitely a loss-maker. It’s common for BSA-contracted forwarders to be dropping ...
APMM floats along on 'solid' Q1 profitability in Ocean, well prepared for choppy water

6 days ago | theloadstar.com | Gavin van Marle

Despite President Trump’s claim this week that Yemen’s Houthi rebels had “surrendered to the US” and were to cease their attacks on Red Sea shipping, Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc said today that a return to Suez Canal transits this year was extremely unlikely. “There is a strong link between what’s going on in Yemen and what’s going on in Gaza, and therefore, given what we’re seeing every day and the expectation that it’s worsening on the ground in Gaza and that ...