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GFS ship sinks after missile attack, second ship sustains damage

Missiles struck two container ships in Global Feeder Shipping's (GFS) fleet in the Strait of Hormuz in the last 24 hours, with one vessel subsequently sinking after catching fire. Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said that the 2008-built 2,824 teu GFS Pride was damaged and caught fire before sinking. All of its 21 crewmen were evacuated, with no injuries reported. The other ship, 2015-built 4,350 teu GFS Giselle, sustained hull damage but remained operational and proceeded under its own power to a safe anchorage. All 22 crew members were safe, and no injuries were reported. Both ships are Singapore-flagged but had no Singaporeans among their crew. SeaSearcher's AIS data shows that GFS Pride was approximately one nautical mile east of Ras Makhbuq, Oman, when it was hit. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said an unnamed container ship carrying more than 2,500 containers had struck a mine while transiting what it described as an "unauthorised and dangerous" route through the strait. The sinking of GFS Pride is the second vessel loss since the US-Israel-Iran war began on 28 February, according to data from the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations' shipping agency. The earlier incident involved a bulk carrier, Cape Dao, which sank in the Gulf of Oman yesterday, after being hit by two torpedoes on 23 September. One Indian seafarer was killed and two others were injured. Both GFS Pride and GFS Giselle were originally owned by Dubai-based Simatech Shipping, before the latter's liner operations were acquired by GFS in October 2018. Abu Dhabi-based AD Ports owns 81% of GFS. GFS' website states that GFS Pride served a Khor Fakkan-Fujairah-Karachi service, and was supposed to have arrived in Khor Fakkan on Friday. GFS Giselle is deployed on a Fujairah-Khor Fakkan-India (Nhava Sheva) service and was due to have arrived in Khor Fakkan, also on Friday. MPA said it was in contact with the vessels' management company and was closely monitoring developments. The authority expressed concern over continued attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, including the latest incidents involving the two Singapore-registered ships. It described the attacks as unprovoked and unjustifiable, saying they violated international law. MPA added that all actions affecting international shipping must comply with international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and must not jeopardise the safety of vessels or seafarers.

Look beyond AI productivity gains, forwarders told

Freight forwarders should focus on using artificial intelligence to capture lost gross profit and deliver more tailored customer service, rather than treating the technology primarily as a productivity tool, according to Erik Muttersbach, founder of AI software company Zauber. Speaking on The Loadstar Podcast, Mr Muttersbach said AI could transform freight forwarding into a higher-value, higher-margin business over the next three to five years, with a growing divide between companies that adopt the technology quickly and those that struggle to keep pace. Mr Muttersbach said 2025 saw a wave of AI start-ups and funding announcements, while 2026 has been characterised by companies running pilots and proofs of concept, alongside industry leaders committing to larger-scale deployments. He expects the first results of these implementations to become visible in financial reporting next year, particularly in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), shipment volumes and customer retention. The challenge, he said, is not simply implementing software but transforming organisations. For this reason, he said that CEOs must articulate how AI will improve the business and address employees' concerns about job security and changing business models. He highlighted that rather than using AI to increase productivity, forwarders should instead target opportunities to improve profitability. These include charging for waiting time, managing demurrage and detention cases more effectively, and improving allocation management by using earlier visibility of inbound volumes to make better use of carrier contracts. AI could also help forwarders deliver on complex customer-specific requirements that have traditionally been difficult to manage consistently across global operations. Mr Muttersbach explained AI systems could draw on customer standard operating procedures (SOPs), previous correspondence, transport management system (TMS) data and operational expertise to ensure shipments are handled according to individual customer needs. Historically, these requirements have often created additional work without being properly priced into contracts, while inconsistent knowledge across branches can result in service failures. "There's an opportunity to do incredibly individual customer service every single time," he stressed, and underscored that forwarders that continue offering only standardised services risk losing their competitive edge as customers increasingly expect individualised service to become the norm. While AI will not eliminate the need for human relationships, Mr Muttersbach expects roles to change significantly, with people focusing more on complex problems, customer relationships and strategic supply chain support. On whether to build or buy AI systems, Mr Muttersbach recommended developing in-house solutions where a forwarder has a genuine strategic advantage, such as distinctive approaches to customer order management or carrier allocation. More standardised processes, meanwhile, may be better handled by specialist providers with the experience and data to deploy solutions quickly and cost-effectively. He also stressed the importance of integration: AI must have access to the same operational actions as human employees through APIs or EDI connections if it is to automate meaningful work.

Liege Airport cargo growth flatlines following EU e-commerce charge

Cargo specialist Liege Airport has been one of Europe's fastest-growing freight hubs in recent years but the European Union's introduction of a charge on low-value parcels has put the brakes on growth. The Belgian airport today released its traffic figures for the third quarter of the year, which showed that cargo volumes were 0.1% down year on year at 334,950 tonnes, while aircraft movements dropped by 6% compared with last year to 6,826. To put the fall in context, the airport registered an 11% year-on-year increase in cargo volumes in the first half of the year. Liege said the fall in movements is mainly due to the introduction, on 1 July 2026, of a €3 tax on imported parcels valued at less than €150. The charge was introduced to try and stem the flow of e-commerce goods into the bloc. Since its introduction, volumes of small parcels have fallen by 42%, directly affecting part of the e-commerce- related business and reducing the number of flights dedicated to this segment. However, the airport was also keen to point out that over the first nine months of the year, cargo volumes have continued to grow and are 7.3% ahead of last year's levels at just over 1m tonnes. Flight numbers are up 0.1% at 21,180. Liege Airport chief executive Laurent Jossart said: "The sluggish growth in the third quarter reflects the immediate impact of the new tax regime applied to small parcels. "However, when we look at the results since the start of the year, we can see that the airport continues to grow. We are recording stable traffic in terms of the number of movements, have passed the 1m tonne mark and are seeing particularly strong growth in exports. "These results demonstrate the resilience of our hub and the diversification of our cargo operations." The airport said that the growth levels registered over the first nine months of the year are driven in particular by strong export performance. Between January and September 2026, exports totalled 453,265 tonnes, compared with 382,299 tonnes a year earlier - an increase of 18.5%. Air Cargo News has requested the airport traffic figures for September. In August, the airport remarked that the new charge had "profoundly altered the structure of imports".