James Miller

Middle East tensions push up shipping costs and squeeze exporters’ margins

Spot freight and crude-linked transport surcharges have climbed since hostilities flared in the Middle East, directly feeding into higher input costs for manufacturers and adding immediate pressure on export logistics chains.

FMCSA recruits drivers to pre-test flexible sleeper and split-duty HOS pilot programs

The FMCSA has initiated a six-week pre-testing phase that will involve 18 commercial drivers to validate two new hours-of-service (HOS) pilot programs aimed at testing flexible sleeper-berth and split-duty options.

Multi‑Agent AI in Logistics: Designing Security into Distributed Systems

When three warehouse management agents reassign 300 pallets across two carriers and a last‑mile courier, a 150–250 ms messaging lag between agents translated to a 4‑hour delay in manifest generation—concrete proof that latency, trust, and data integrity in multi‑agent systems directly affect throughput and service-level agreements.

Logistics Viewpoints Reorganized: Decision Domains, ARC Advisory Group Ties, and What Leaders Should Prioritize

Logistics Viewpoints has restructured its editorial taxonomy into explicit decision domains — Planning, Transportation, Warehousing, Global Trade, AI, Data Architecture, Industrial Platforms, Risk, and Sustainability — shifting from broad commentary to a framework aligned with capital allocation and operational governance.

IFS Completes Acquisition of Softeon, Folding WMS Execution into Industrial AI Enterprise

IFS's acquisition of Softeon immediately positions warehouse execution as an embedded component of an enterprise-level Industrial AI platform, sharpening visibility from strategic planning to on-floor operations and reducing the classic blind spots between ERP and WMS.

Hexagon launches Octave: a consolidated industrial software group for lifecycle and infrastructure intelligence

Hexagon is preparing to spin off a standalone software business under the brand Octave, combining its Asset Lifecycle Intelligence (ALI) division with Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial assets and the Bricsys, ETQ, and Projectmates businesses into a single entity that would operate with roughly 7,200 employees in 45 countries, subject to board, shareholder and regulatory approvals.

Emirates SkyCargo boosts India network with extra freighter rotations to Mumbai and Ahmedabad

Emirates SkyCargo will deploy two additional weekly freighters to India in March 2026 — a direct dedicated rotation to Ahmedabad and a Dubai–Singapore–Mumbai connector — increasing available uplift by roughly 3,000 tonnes per week across the market.

Thomas Wylie named President, Global Strategic Projects at deugro

deugro has placed operational responsibility for complex heavy‑lift and project freight accounts under its Global Strategic Projects leadership, effective February 1, 2026, aiming to tighten planning-to-execution interfaces across multimodal shipment chains and on-site engineering teams.

Awery and Group Concorde partner to centralise GSSA cargo operations on a single ERP platform

Group Concorde will consolidate cargo bookings, revenue accounting and multi‑airline workflows from its network of over 30 offices into Awery’s integrated ERP, aiming to reduce manual touchpoints and shorten turnaround on air cargo handling by measurable percentages.

MSC suspends bookings to the Middle East, disrupting Red Sea and Persian Gulf services

Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) has suspended all worldwide bookings destined for the Middle East, immediately removing an estimated 73,000 TEU of weekly capacity across nine liner strings serving the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. The advisory cites crew safety as the reason and signals a halt in direct calls to roughly 25–30 regional ports until security stabilizes. Scope of the suspension and immediate capacity impact The suspension affects multiple MSC strings, including services that link North India and South America to the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean rim. While MSC did not specify every string by name, industry estimates place the affected capacity across intra‑regional feeders and

Settlement ends Progress Rail’s antitrust fight with Wabtec after GE Transportation deal

Progress Rail and Wabtec announced a settlement in the Delaware litigation that followed Wabtec’s 2019 $11 billion acquisition of GE Transportation, after Progress Rail alleged exclusionary conduct that affected diesel-electric long-haul locomotive markets and component compatibility.

Attack on U.S.-flag Stena Imperative at Bahrain raises regional shipping congestion and rerouting challenges

About 150 tankers are anchored in the Persian Gulf after Iran blocked access to the Strait of Hormuz, producing a choke point that disrupts crude exports, increases waiting times at berth, and pushes up demurrage and bunker costs for short-sea and deep-sea operators alike.