Tuesday, October 20, 2026
The news that moves freight
The Freight Brief Oct 17, 2026

What’s going on in freight — Saturday 17 October 2026

Conflict is driving the day. Hormuz attacks are at a record, the Black Sea and Yemen are heating up, and a hurricane has shut Mexico’s main box port. Meanwhile rates, fuel surcharges and third-quarter earnings show who is making money from the disruption and who is paying for it.

War, chokepoints and disruption

  • UKMTO recorded 23 attacks on ships in or near the Strait of Hormuz since 1 October, “almost double the average”, and the container feeder GFS Pride sank after a strike on 13 October. Brokers now quote 6% to 10% war-risk cover for tankers, against about 0.25% before the war. (CBS News, Insurance Journal/Bloomberg, Insurance Business) [01]
  • Hurricane Trudy closed Manzanillo, which handled 2.07 million TEU in the first half of 2026, to ships over 500 gross tonnage from 21:00 on 16 October. Maersk expects to restart at 07:00 on Monday 19 October; it is the port’s third storm stoppage since late September. (Gomsa, POSTA México) [05]
  • Weekly container capacity through Bab el-Mandeb reached 448,273 TEU on 5 October, double late August but 48% of August 2023, according to Xeneta. At the same time, the Houthis have struck Aden, and on Friday a missile aimed at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu oil port was shot down. Panama is back to 33 daily transits. (Xeneta, Al Jazeera, Infobae (EFE)) [03]
  • AP reports at least seven cargo ships hit by drones off Romania and Bulgaria this month, with two dead and at least 25 missing. Romanian F-16s shot down two more drones over Romanian waters on 17 October. (PBS NewsHour (AP), gCaptain (Reuters)) [08]

Rates and markets

  • Drewry’s World Container Index rose 3% to $4,485 per 40ft on 15 October. Shanghai-Genoa rose 7% to $3,945 and Shanghai-Rotterdam 6% to $3,522, the first Asia-Europe rise after 13 weeks of falls. Carriers want $4,500 to $4,800 under FAK tariffs from Monday 19 October. (Drewry, Container News) [02]
  • From 16 November, Maersk raises its emergency intermodal fuel surcharge on US and Canada imports to $350 per dry box and $400 per reefer, up from $200 and $250 in June. A system change will also delay its Canada invoices from 13 to 15 November. (Maersk, Maersk) [10]
  • J.B. Hunt’s Q3 revenue rose 20% to $3.68bn, and fuel surcharge revenue of $670.8m, up from $385.6m, explains close to half of that rise. Its CEO says driver pressure “typically yields a much better pricing environment for the next bid season”. (J.B. Hunt (SEC), FreightWaves) [09]

Tariffs, customs and policy

  • President Trump waived the Graham Act’s Russia measures on 16 October, two days before they were due to start. The waived measures include tariffs of up to 100% on the top five buyers of Russian oil and gas. Separately, Kpler expects a plan to free sanctioned tankers to have “virtually no impact on the current tanker crisis”. (ABC News, Baird Maritime / Reuters) [07]
  • Mexico’s Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard told lawmakers on 16 October that Mexico wants US car tariffs capped at 15%, the rate South Korea gets. Nothing is signed, and the next round of trade-pact talks has no date. (Expansión, The Rio Times) [11]

Forwarders, carriers and deals

  • DHL Group raised its 2026 EBIT guidance to more than EUR 7.0bn, from more than EUR 6.5bn. Global Forwarding Q3 EBIT rose to about EUR 260m from EUR 195m, and DHL Express says about EUR 100m came from tight air capacity. (DHL Group) [04]
  • On 16 October a Dallas County judge upheld the full $604,025,000 jury verdict against C.H. Robinson over a 2021 crash that killed three people. TD Cowen estimates about $107m of interest on top. (FreightWaves) [06]

Software, AI and automation

  • Evos raised $9 million in pre-seed funding, with freight-broker invoice auditing as its showcase. Carrier Logistics and LSP44 put live an API that finds LTL shipments when the tracking (PRO) number is missing or wrong. (FreightWaves, FreightWaves) [12]

Coming up

  • Mon 19 October: Asia-Europe and Asia-Med FAKs take effect, and Manzanillo is expected to restart from 07:00 (Maersk) [02, 05]
  • Wed 21 October: DSV Q3 results [04]
  • Thu 22 October: Kuehne+Nagel nine-month results [04]
  • Thu 29 October: Drewry World Container Index; C.H. Robinson Q3 results expected around this date [02, 06]
  • Tue 3 November: US midterm elections [07]
  • Thu 5 November: DHL Group full Q3 report [04]
  • 13–15 November: Maersk invoice creation delayed in Canada [10]
  • Mon 16 November: Maersk’s higher US/Canada intermodal fuel surcharge takes effect [10]