Gulf tanker attacks reported amid US-Iran retaliation

The Global Trade Brief · 11 September 2026

Five minutes to understand what matters in global trade.

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What to Watch

• Sogese expects a gradual return of services to Suez as Asia-Europe container rates decline.
• Nigeria and APM Terminals’ exclusive talks over a greenfield container terminal at Badagry.
• UK air-cargo backlog clearance as forwarders compete for express and priority capacity.

The full day in global trade

Today’s Headlines

• Valencia court rejects bid to halt port expansion
• Lineage opens Spain bonded cold-storage warehouse
• Colonial opens Savannah River breakbulk facility
• Asia-Europe alliances diverge on direct port pairs
• EU directive permits accompanied truck driving from age 17
• DG surcharges incentivise air cargo misdeclaration
• PACTL doubles Shanghai e-commerce handling capacity
• Chile faces permanent tariff risk beyond copper exemption
• Lufthansa Cargo agrees to acquire LUG handling capacity
• CULines starts weekly China-Indonesia service
• New York-New Jersey port launches $45m electric truck scheme
• BYD plans car-carrier expansion to support overseas sales
• India seeks more Venezuelan crude amid supply crunch
• AI cargo tightens Asia-Pacific to US airfreight capacity
• Dutch A28 bridge closure costs trucking about €1m daily

Today’s Analysis

🏗️ Valencia ruling and new US-Spain facilities expand port-side options

Why it matters: New terminal, customs and trucking infrastructure can increase cargo-handling flexibility while the Valencia ruling removes a legal attempt to halt expansion.

• Spain’s High Court of Justice rejected an appeal seeking to halt the Port of Valencia expansion project.
• Lineage opened its first bonded warehouse in Spain after receiving customs authorisation for its Murcia facility.
• The Murcia warehouse can hold temperature-controlled food under customs supervision until release.
• Colonial Terminals opened Foundation 3, a multimodal breakbulk facility on the Savannah River.
• The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Calstart announced electric-truck and charging-station programmes worth USD 45 million.

✈️ PACTL and Lufthansa add ground capacity as AI freight squeezes lift

Why it matters: Expanded handling infrastructure may ease ground bottlenecks, but scarce Asia-Pacific air capacity and dangerous-goods pricing continue to raise shipment costs and compliance risk.

• PACTL expanded its Shanghai cross-border e-commerce centre to approximately 4,170 sq m.
• The PACTL facility grew 40%, while daily handling capacity doubled.
• Lufthansa Cargo agreed to acquire LUG Aircargo Handling, subject to antitrust and regulatory approvals.
• The acquisition would add approximately 50,000 sq m of covered warehouse space in Germany.
• LUG operates at Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg airports.
• Dangerous-goods surcharges typically add between 20% and 40% to the base airfreight rate, according to Air Cargo Week.
• Dimerco reported tight Asia-Pacific to US capacity and rising prices as AI-related traffic takes peak-season space.

🚢 CULines adds a China-Indonesia loop as alliances specialise routes

Why it matters: New services create direct options, but limited network overlap means cargo owners may have fewer substitute carriers for specific port pairs.

• CULines launched a weekly loop linking Shanghai and Ningbo with Jakarta and Surabaya.
• Sea-Intelligence found that 65% of direct Asia-Europe port pairs have no overlap between carrier alliance networks.
• Two alliances share 21% of unique direct port pairs.
• Three alliances serve 9% of the port pairs, while all four serve 5%.
• MSC accounts for 40% of the single-alliance Asia-Europe port pairs.
• BYD plans to expand its car-carrier fleet next year after saying insufficient vessels were limiting export growth.
• BYD is targeting overseas vehicle sales of 2.5m units and expects to export 2m units this year.

🚛 EU driver reform opens a recruitment path as an A28 closure raises costs

Why it matters: Europe may broaden its future driver pool, but infrastructure failures are already imposing immediate detours and operating losses.

• Directive (EU) 2025/2205 allows member states to issue accompanied C1, C1E and C licences from age 17.
• The driver must hold a Certificate of Professional Competence and remain accompanied until age 18.
• Member states must transpose the directive before 26 November 2028 and apply it from 26 November 2029.
• The A28 bridge near Nijkerk closed unexpectedly, disrupting freight access to and from the northern Netherlands.
• Approximately 13,000 trucks use the route daily.
• Transport and Logistics Netherlands estimates sector losses at approximately €1 million per day.

🛢️ India seeks Venezuelan crude as tariffs reshape Chilean exposure

Why it matters: Changing crude sources and permanent tariff exposure can alter procurement costs, supplier choices and export competitiveness.

• India is seeking additional Venezuelan crude amid a supply crunch.
• Indian refiner ONGC said price, rather than politics, would determine India’s crude-sourcing strategy.
• Chile’s copper was excluded from the surcharge discussed by Diario Estrategia.
• Chilean products including salmon and grapes remain exposed to the tariff risk described by the publication.

Sources

1. Spanish court rejects appeal seeking to halt Valencia port expansion
2. Lineage opens its first bonded warehouse in Spain with Murcia Customs authorisation
3. Colonial Terminals opens new multimodal breakbulk facility on the Savannah River
4. Alliance network segregation and overlap
5. Truck licences at 17: What changes under the new EU directive
6. Why DG misdeclaration is a pricing problem, not a training problem
7. PACTL expands e-commerce capacity with upgraded Shanghai handling centre
8. Permanent tariffs: The new risk map for Chilean foreign trade
9. Lufthansa Cargo to acquire German handler LUG
10. CULines launches new China-Indonesia service
11. New York-New Jersey port and Calstart launch USD 45 million electric truck programme
12. BYD looks to boost car-carrier fleet and overseas production
13. India taps Venezuela for more crude amid supply crunch
14. Advance booking critical as hi-tech takes peak airfreight capacity
15. Another crucial access route closes as transport bears the cost