China's supply chains go global as DC and Beijing start policing

In a nutshell: Chinese manufacturers have spent more than $200bn in three years building factories abroad, and China's logistics firms have followed with ports and rail lines of their own. This summer, both governments most exposed to that shift moved to police it within weeks of each other: Beijing restricting what its own companies can carry abroad, and Washington naming the third countries some of that trade may pass through on its way to American shelves.

Rhine at low ebb - finding Plan B is getting harder

Low water on the Rhine is back, and with it come the usual consequences: barges taking less cargo, higher rates and surcharges, while shippers start asking what can be moved by rail or truck instead. We have seen all this before. Eventually it rains, water levels recover* and the subject disappears again. (*There has been some recent improvement, but 'shipping problems [are] not yet over') For retailers and importers using Rotterdam and Antwerp, however, the issue deserves more attention. The ...

Bullish Robinson getting 'through the fog of war on Montgomery and Lipe'

Citi analyst Ariel Rosa had quite a few good questions for the management team of CH Robinson (CHRW) at the bank's 2026 Global TMT Conference held yesterday. (The management trio - CEO Bozeman, CFO Lee and Rajan, the AI tech guru - were as usual upbeat about what will come next; there'll be more coming from them at the 2026 Jefferies Global Industrials Conference taking place today.) The last five minutes of the call, however, were by far the most interesting as ...