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The Freight Buyers' Club: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Mike King
The Freight Buyers’ Club podcast is a new home for anyone with a professional interest in international trade, container shipping, procurement, logistics and air cargo. Each episode your host, award-winning journalist Mike King, will be speaking to leading decision-makers, analysts, journalists, operators and shippers to get their take on current freight and logistics markets and the challenges and opportunities ahead.
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- 4 days ago50 min
Shipping to the US? Why inland freight costs are soaring, with Dean Croke, Principal Analyst at DAT iQ, and Bill Cassidy, Senior Editor, Trucking at the Journal of Commerce
What happens to your freight once the container is off the ship in America, and why is it costing so much more to move? In this episode of The Freight Buyers’ Club, host Mike King is joined by Dean Croke, Principal Analyst at DAT iQ, and Bill Cassidy, Senior Editor, Trucking at the Journal of Commerce, to explain what’s going on in the US inland market and what it means for importers and exporters around the world. US truck rates are up by around a third on last year, but as Dean explains, it isn’t because there’s more freight. He says the market has been repriced by a mass exodus of trucking capacity, driven by tougher enforcement on driver licensing, immigration status and English proficiency, and he describes his own encounter with ICE officers checking drivers at a truck stop fuel island. Dean also explains why national averages hide what’s happening on the busiest import lanes out of Los Angeles, and why diesel prices that vary by state are changing where carriers are willing to run. Bill sets out what shippers are actually paying, and why he sees a “K-shaped” economy shaping US freight demand. The pair also look at how the AI data centre boom has been holding up parts of the trucking market, and why Dean thinks that could be a bubble, as well as C.H. Robinson’s $5.8 billion acquisition of RXO, the $604 million verdict against C.H. Robinson and what it means for carrier vetting, the US midterms, the shift from road to rail, the proposed Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern merger, and what to expect in 2027. The video version on YouTube and Spotify includes on-screen charts from DAT iQ, the Journal of Commerce and the Drayrates-JOC port drayage index, which are worth a look alongside the audio. Thanks to Dimerco Express Group (https://dimerco.com/), our sponsor and your best partner on the transpacific. In this episode 00:00 Coming up 01:00 Introductions 03:00 Why Americans call it “the freight market” 05:00 Truck rates up a third, but no more freight 07:00 ICE at the fuel island 10:00 West Coast imports and the lanes out of Los Angeles 13:00 Diesel and where carriers choose to run 15:00 What shippers pay, and the K-shaped economy 21:00 Drayage rates surge at the Gulf Coast ports 22:00 Data centres, flatbed and farm machinery 28:00 C.H. Robinson buys RXO 31:00 The $604 million verdict and carrier vetting 39:00 The midterms, diesel and the trucker vote 43:00 From road to rail 45:00 The Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern merger 46:00 What to expect in 2027 49:00 Thanks and goodbye Related episodes Air Cargo Unpacked: Peak Season, Wartime Costs: What’s Next for Air Cargo in 2027? https://youtu.be/TJwYZQp7K0g Cargo Theft, Double-Brokering and Chameleon Carriers: Nancy O’Liddy on the Fraud Hitting US Freight, with Nancy O’Liddy, Executive Director of the National Industrial Transportation League https://youtu.be/4b4Pz1uN67I
- 1 weeks ago5 min
Suez Traffic Is Back, So Why Are War Risk Premiums Still High? With David McKie, Preston Turnbull
More container ships are heading back through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, but does that mean the waters are any safer? Not according to the London insurance market. Freight Buyers’ Club host Mike King caught up with David McKie, partner at Preston Turnbull LLP and a specialist in shipping and maritime insurance law, at the Cyprus Shipping News event in London on 13 October 2026. They discussed how war risk insurers actually assess danger, and what that means for the costs that end up being passed down the supply chain to cargo owners. David explains the difference between hull and machinery cover and war risk insurance, and how the Joint War Committee in London decides which waters count as high risk. That covers the Black Sea, the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, along with what happened to premiums once the Hormuz crisis kicked off in early 2026. He also sets out what would need to change before shipowners, and ultimately their customers, start paying less. For context, at the time of recording the Joint War Committee had not relaxed its view of the Red Sea at all. In July 2026 it pushed its high-risk zone further north along the Saudi coast, and in September 2026 it extended its Black Sea listing to cover almost the entire basin. So more transits through Suez reflected carriers choosing to pay the premium, not insurers deciding the risk had gone away. The Freight Buyers’ Club, hosted by award-winning freight journalist Mike King, brings together the people shaping freight procurement and supply chains. Subscribe for more conversations like this one.
- 1 weeks ago37 min
Air Cargo Unpacked: Peak Season, Wartime Costs
Peak season has arrived with wartime costs attached. In this month’s Air Cargo Unpacked, Mike King and Neel Jones Shah ask whether there is still such a thing as a traditional peak season. They look at how soaring jet fuel prices are hitting airlines and shippers, and what the conflict in the Middle East means for air cargo, from the attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport to container ships sunk in the Strait of Hormuz. Neil Wilson, editor of TAC Index, calculating agent for the Baltic Air Freight Indices, takes us through the latest rates. Global rates are up 24.3% year on year, Hong Kong to US is far outpacing Hong Kong to Europe, and jet fuel is up 111% year on year. Plus the outlook for peak season and 2027 from Elaine Low (Maersk), Peter Kerins (Magna Aviation), Henk Venema (DHL Global Forwarding), Simon Milne (Solent Freight Services), Peter Scholten (Air One) and Steven Polmans (Swissport). We also discuss the US midterms, and finish on the first flight of the Airbus A350F and the FAA exemption that lets Boeing keep building the 777F. Also mentioned: Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Spirit Airlines, airBaltic, Lufthansa, IAG, Air France-KLM, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Atlas Air, FedEx, Kalitta Air, the FAA, WorldACD, BIMCO, Air Cargo News, CNN and the Baltic Exchange. Next week on the Freight Buyers’ Club: Bill Cassidy (Journal of Commerce) and Dean Croke (DAT Freight & Analytics) on the US domestic trucking market. Next month on Air Cargo Unpacked: David Shepherd, Managing Director, IAG Cargo. Watch: Is Global Trade Fragmenting for Good? Customs, Tariffs and the New Rules of Importing: https://youtu.be/4s1XNmd5p6A Read: Mike King in the latest issue of Cargo Airports & Airline Services (CAAS), on the Asia Pacific market (pages 4-10) and interviewing Robert van de Weg, CEO of Mexican carrier mas (pages 14-16): https://caasint.com/latest-issue/ Rates data courtesy of TAC Index and the Baltic Exchange. Produced by Karen Ball. #AirCargo #PeakSeason #FreightRates #JetFuel #TACIndex #BalticExchange #FreightBuyersClub
- 2 weeks ago58 min
Is Global Trade Fragmenting for Good? Customs, Tariffs and the New Rules of Importing: What Freight Buyers Need To Know
A year ago, we asked whether global trade was entering an era of chaos. A year on, it looks less like chaos and more like a new, fragmented normal: the US has built a new, stacked tariff regime out of four separate legal authorities, the EU has ended its duty-free threshold for cheap parcels, and customs authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are quietly redefining what it means to import something legally. In this episode: The US’s new tariff regime, stacking four separate legal authorities, including fresh forced labour tariffs on sixty trading partners The EU’s flat €3 customs duty on parcels under €150, and its impact on Shein, Temu and AliExpress US Customs and Border Protection’s purge of millions of importer records The EU’s Customs Data Hub and where European customs reform stands WiseTech’s VerifyWise, built in part on its newly acquired FRDM.ai, and how it maps suppliers and minimises risk Is this a genuinely new global trading order, or the same old protectionism with a new label on it? Featuring: Stephen Tracey, General Manager for Customs Product Europe, WiseTech Global Cindy Allen, CEO, Trade Force Multiplier Roel Gevaers, Professor, University of Antwerp / Academic Director, Antwerp Management School Chapters: 00:00 Coming up, cold open and introductions 03:00 Opening salvo: fragmentation, data as the new border, and economic security 07:00 Cindy: trade as a “team sport” 12:00 Cindy: this summer’s tariff changes, explained 17:00 Stephen: where fragmentation bites hardest for European traders 19:00 Stephen: the EU’s three euro parcel duty 21:00 Stephen: the Customs Data Hub and EU reform timeline 23:00 Stephen: where AI actually helps in customs 25:00 Stephen: VerifyWise, FRDM.ai and supplier risk 27:00 Cindy: are the forced labour tariffs genuine, or IEEPA relabelled? 31:00 Roel: Europe’s view on the forced labour tariffs, and risk to Shein and Temu 35:00 Roel: is there a precedent for this pace of change? 36:00 Roel: China’s response, and how the e-tailers adapted 40:00 Roel: the European carmakers analogy, and whether this is good policy 43:00 Roel: where next for the WTO and WCO? 44:00 Cindy: SME importers, refunds and the cost of compliance 48:00 Stephen: how CargoWise responds to a sudden rule change 51:00 Five years out: can trade stay connected as policy diverges? 55:00 Final thoughts: the one thing to get right next year 57:00 Thanks and goodbyes #GlobalTrade #Customs #Tariffs #ForcedLabour #SupplyChain #Logistics #FreightBuyersClub
- 2 weeks ago59 min
Advantage Carrier: John McCown, Nick Bailey and Jimmy Suroto on $6bn Carrier Profits, 49.9% Reliability and a 2027 Overcapacity Warning
Container shipping has become "advantage carrier", according to John McCown of The McCown Report. US demand on the transpacific has been flat for a second year, yet spot rates have soared, and by John's count carriers made around $6bn in net income in the second quarter, seven times the first. So what can shippers actually do about it? In this container shipping special, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, Mike King is joined by three people who track this market more closely than most: John McCown, publisher of The McCown Report and author of Giants of the Sea Nick Bailey, co-founder of The Signal House and former lead analyst for logistics and services at A.P. Moller-Maersk Jimmy Suroto, founder of Nava Analytics & Research and a PSA veteran We cover: Why rates have climbed so sharply while US demand stays flat, and what John calls "gotcha surcharges" Schedule reliability falling to 49.9% in August, the lowest since 2022 according to Sea-Intelligence, and why Nick says a global average hides your real exposure Port congestion in Asia, a typhoon season John calls the worst in a decade, the Middle East war, and why he believes carriers have learned to profit from disruption Why Asia-Europe and transpacific spot rates have gone in opposite directions Nick's argument that supply chains are now constrained by architecture, not capacity, and how to separate customer, defensive and distortion demand The long shift from West Coast to East and Gulf Coast ports, Jones Act waivers and US maritime policy COSCO, the FMC and the 9 November deadline for US port fees on China-linked ships Jimmy's 2027 forecast of 2% to 5% trade growth against BIMCO's forecast of 9% fleet growth, and what that wave of new ships could mean for rates Mentioned in this episode: ▶️ EXCLUSIVE: FMC Chair Laura DiBella on Trump's Maritime Dominance & Global Enforcement Powers https://youtu.be/GlZPTBKUzA4 Produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group (https://dimerco.com/), your trading partner connecting Asia with the US and beyond. If you enjoy the show, please like, subscribe and leave a comment telling us what you'd like us to cover next. We're working towards 10,000 YouTube subscribers this year, and every subscribe helps. Chapters: 00:00 Coming up 00:49 Welcome: Jimmy Suroto, Nick Bailey and John McCown 05:03 John McCown: flat US demand, soaring rates and "gotcha surcharges" 08:06 Nick Bailey: connected, cascading and compounding risk 11:04 Jimmy Suroto: what most container forecasters miss 12:10 Reliability falls to 49.9%: who is on time and who isn't 15:34 Port congestion hotspots and how carriers profit from disruption 18:40 Why transpacific and Asia-Europe spot rates split 21:27 Nick Bailey: architecture, not capacity, and why a bigger fleet won't save you 24:13 Customer, defensive and distortion demand on the transpacific 27:11 Efficiency or protection, and the headline rate trap 31:50 John McCown: advantage carrier, and the long shift to East Coast ports 34:27 Peak season, tariffs and chaos from the White House 37:30 Will container lines ever lose money again? 39:13 Jones Act waivers and the gap in US maritime policy 43:58 COSCO, the FMC and shots across the bow 47:30 Jimmy Suroto: back to baseline on the transpacific 49:25 Asia-Europe's new growth path 50:28 The Gulf and a 2% to 5% forecast for 2027 51:18 Why listen to Jimmy? His forecasting track record 51:58 A 9% bigger fleet: when does overcapacity bite? 53:35 John McCown on the 9 November port fee deadline 57:55 Nick Bailey: resilience versus efficiency in 2027 1:00:00 Thanks and goodbye #ContainerShipping #FreightBuyersClub #OceanFreight #Suppl...
- 3 weeks ago5 min
Brandon Fried: 45 Years in Air Cargo, the Pan Am 103 Legacy, and Retiring as 'VP of Lunch'
In this extended interview from Air Cargo Unpacked, retiring Airforwarders Association Executive Director Brandon Fried looks back on a career that started almost by accident: a relative in the forwarding business, warehouse work, fine art logistics, legal document delivery, and eventually his own operation in Washington DC before joining AfA. Brandon reflects on what he's most proud of: helping build the modern cargo security framework in the wake of the Pan Am 103 bombing, working with the TSA and Customs and Border Protection to create the Known Shipper Program and canine screening. Neel Jones Shah, who worked alongside Brandon from both the airline and forwarder side, pays tribute to his impact on the industry. Brandon also shares his biggest concern for the future of air freight forwarding (uncertainty and poorly informed regulation, "you're either at the table or you're on the menu"), and his message to whoever succeeds him: stay engaged with companies of every size, not just the big ones. And yes, he confirms his next title: Vice President of Lunch. From The Freight Buyers' Club Podcast. #AirCargo #FreightForwarding #AviationSecurity #Logistics #SupplyChain
- 3 weeks ago15 min
Intra-Asia Container Trades, Port Congestion and Rising Rates, with Elaine Low, Area Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Maersk
Mike King travels to Maersk's Southeast Asia head office in Singapore to talk with Elaine Low, Area Managing Director for Southeast Asia at A.P. Moller-Maersk, about the intra-Asia container trades. It's the world's biggest container trade, and one that rarely gets the attention it deserves, even with Drewry's Intra-Asia Container Index at three-year highs. Elaine explains how manufacturers expanding across the region and fast-growing Asian consumer markets are driving demand. She highlights automotive and EVs, electronics and the semiconductor ecosystem as key industries. She also argues that the real constraint is landside infrastructure at Southeast Asia's many smaller ports, and says every port in the region is effectively full. The conversation also covers how Maersk's Gemini hub-and-spoke network has helped it deal with typhoons and geopolitical disruption, the balance between contract and spot demand, how surcharges have been passed on, and what Maersk's integrator strategy offers shippers in Asia. #Maersk #IntraAsia #ContainerShipping #PortCongestion #SoutheastAsia #FreightBuyersClub #Logistics
- Oct 1, 202618 min
Reimagine Your Supply Chain First, Then Add the Technology, with e2open's Pawan Joshi
In this extended clip from The Freight Buyers' Club, Pawan Joshi, Chief Strategy Officer at e2open, digs into how far AI has actually taken supply chains, and where the real opportunity still sits. Pawan explains that a lot of supply chain processes and company structures were designed decades ago, in a world before the internet, before cell phones, when even desktop computing was limited. Technology has moved on dramatically since then. His point is that the real opportunity isn't just adding AI on top of existing processes. It's rethinking them with today's connectivity and compute in mind. He walks through a real example: monitoring temperature in real time on a refrigerated shipping container. Catching a broken cold chain early gives a business weeks of lead time to plan around a shortage, rather than finding out only when the container arrives. He calls this closing the loop, a concept borrowed from control systems. His argument is that closing the loop matters more than which specific technology, AI included, does the work. Pawan also explains the logic behind e2open and WiseTech's CargoWise coming together. He breaks the supply chain into three groups: the people who make products, the people who sell them, and the people who move them. CargoWise was built for the movers, e2open for the makers and sellers, and bringing them together aims to connect the whole chain rather than stopping at the handoff points. Finally, he addresses what actually blocks companies from sharing supply chain data across their networks. His answer: not a lack of standards, but a lack of trust.
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About The Freight Buyers' Club
The Freight Buyers’ Club podcast is a new home for anyone with a professional interest in international trade, container shipping, procurement, logistics and air cargo. Each episode your host, award-winning journalist Mike King, will be speaking to leading decision-makers, analysts, journalists, operators and shippers to get their take on current freight and logistics markets and the challenges and opportunities ahead.
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