The Middle East isn't exactly "business as usual," (you knew that) BUT the cargo heart is starting to beat again. We’re moving past the total shutdown and into the "creative logistics" phase. That's a polite way of saying everything is moving by truck on two-lane highways and costing a fortune.

The real story this week isn't just the closure of the Strait; it’s the surcharge flurry hitting lanes that haven't even seen a ripple from the Gulf. While ocean liners are ship-to-ship refueling like some high-stakes Mad Max sequel, BCOs are finally starting to push back on "volatility taxes" during contract season. 

I’m not crying. You’re just looking at your next fuel surcharge invoice.

Share this episode or I’ll personally ensure your next shipment is "optimized" via a 40-day scenic route through a port that doesn't exist.

00:00:00 — The Strait of Hormuz is still closed (sorry for being blunt). 

00:01:15 — Land bridges and India shuttles: Cargo finds a way. 

00:03:45 — The Surcharge Flurry: Why your Asia-Europe rate just spiked for no reason. 

00:06:10 — Maersk is now its own gas station (ship-to-ship refueling). 

00:08:20 — Air cargo's 84% spike and the "safe air corridor" gamble. 

00:10:45 — Trump, Xi, and the Section 122 tariff shell game.

This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know. 

For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered straight to your inbox, check out our weekly freight email. Want the freshest freight data on demand? Hit up terminal.freightos.com.

Welcome back to the pod! 

This week, I (Eytan) and Judah (not me) dive into why the Straits of Hormuz is the latest headache for your bottom line, even if your containers aren't actually in the Gulf. We’re tracking "Emergency Contingency Surcharges" (top-tier naming, guys) that are adding $300-$400 per container just as we hit the post-Lunar New Year lull.

On the bright side, the Supreme Court and the Court of International Trade just handed a massive win to importers. If you’ve been paying IEEPA tariffs, you’re officially in the "refund" line...though Customs and Border Protection claims it might take a few lifetimes to process.

Share this episode or your next shipment will be hit with a "Forgot to Tell My Friends Surcharge" that is legally binding in at least three oceans.

Chapters

00:00:00 — The "War Card" and why we missed a week.

00:01:15 — The Straits of Hormuz: Why 2% of volume is causing 100% of the drama.

00:03:30 — Creative Surcharges: Emergency, Contingency, and everything in between.

00:06:45 — Air Cargo update: Emirates, Qatar, and the "Safe Corridors."

00:09:40 — Tariff Refunds: The IEEPA ruling and the $150 per TEU fuel hike.

This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know. 

For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered straight to your inbox, check out our weekly freight email. Want the freshest freight data on demand? Hit up terminal.freightos.com.

Special edition for you independent forwarders out there.

SMB forwarders are tired of being told they’re "dinosaurs" by Silicon Valley. 

They’re tired of waiting for ERP roadmaps that never arrive. And they're tired of being told they can't compete with the $100M tech budgets of the global giants.

They’re wrong.

In this episode, I sit down with Farouk Gomati, President of Interworld Freight, to talk about the unfair advantage of the mid-sized operator: The ability to deeply understand the niche, move at lightning speed, and take educated risks that big tech won't touch.

Farouk doesn't write a line of code. But he's "vibe coding" circles around his competition—building custom API-driven tools in minutes that solve real operational headaches. From fixing "lying" productivity KPIs to winning back customers from flashy "gaming-grade" platforms, Farouk proves that in 2026, industry expertise is the only programming language that matters.

What’s inside:

• [00:00:00] The 18-Year "Overnight" Success: How hacking Tableau in 2008 set the stage for AI-driven dominance today.
• [00:05:15] The "Gaming" Platform Trap: Why a competitor’s $1M UI lost to a forwarder who actually picks up the phone.
• [00:08:45] Vibe Coding 101: How Farouk builds custom software without knowing how to code.
• [00:10:00] The KPI Lie: Why "files per person" is a garbage metric and how to build one that actually accounts for compliance and complexity.
• [00:14:45] Why Freight Isn't Uber: The relationship moat and why trust scales better than pure code.

Listen. It's awesome. I promise. And I'm not the slightly bit biased.

This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know. 

For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered straight to your inbox, check out our weekly freight email. Want the freshest freight data on demand? Hit up terminal.freightos.com.

Welcome back to another "uneventful" week in Global Freight. 📍 This week, Eytan opens with a dad-joke for the ages: What is the White House's favorite craft beer? An IEEPA. 🍺 (International Emergency Economic Powers Act). It’s a bitter brew that the Supreme Court just poured down the drain.

In this episode #21, Judah and Eytan break down the Section 122 Pivot. After SCOTUS struck down the IEEPA tariffs, the administration moved at record speed to implement a 10% global tariff using "Balance of Payments" law. It’s a 150-day stopgap that expires in July, effectively flattening the trade landscape—but at what cost?

We also cover:

• The Refund Mess: FedEx is suing for their money back, but don't expect a quick check in the mail.
• The Panama Canal Power Move: Why the US pushed out Hutchinson Ports and handed the keys to Maersk and MSC.
• Cyclone Bombs: How the second major storm in weeks is rattling Northeast logistics.

Full weekly update here: Ocean rates ease as LNY begins; US port call fees again?

Freightos Trade War Update: Trade War Update: Supreme Court Cancels IEEPA – Analysis and Implications

Chapters: 

00:00:00 — The IEEPA Joke & the SCOTUS Bombshell. 

00:01:30 — Section 122: The 10% Global Stopgap (and the jump to 15%). 

00:03:00 — Flattening the Landscape: From China to Brazil. 

00:05:30 — The Velocity Shift: Why "Weekend Tariffs" are officially dead. 

00:08:15 — The $175B Refund Mess: FedEx sues the government. 

00:10:00 — The Panama Takeover: Maersk, MSC, and the end of Hutchinson.

This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know. 

For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered straight to your inbox, check out our weekly freight email. Want the freshest freight data on demand? Hit up terminal.freightos.com.

They never thought we'd make it, but here we are: Episode 20. We’ve been talking about Lunar New Year for six weeks, but we were still blindsided by the reality of it this week. Forget the traditional benchmarks—Judah’s inbox is currently the world’s most accurate economic indicator, overflowing with hundreds of out-of-office replies.

In this episode, we break down the Ocean Rate Cliff, with East Coast rates falling 12% to $3,000/container. We also dive into the week's biggest shocker: the White House’s Maritime Action Plan. We’re talking about proposed port call fees that could hit as high as $4,000 per container. That’s not a fee; that’s a structural rewrite of US trade.

Plus, we look at the Hapag-Lloyd acquisition of Zim, a move that could consolidate 3 million TEUs under one digital-first banner.

Full weekly update here: Ocean rates ease as LNY begins; US port call fees again?

Chapters: 

00:00:00 — The Out-of-Office Index: Why Judah’s inbox is the real LNY benchmark. 

00:01:30 — Ocean Rate Cliff: 12% drops and the post-holiday plateau. 

00:02:45 — Air Cargo's Short Lead Spike: Why China-US hit $7.40/kg. 

00:03:15 — The Hapag-Zim Merger: Consolidating 3 million TEUs. 

00:05:30 — The $4,000 Threat: The White House Maritime Action Plan. 

00:07:00 — Witty Banter: Eytan tries (and fails) to get Judah to seal the deal.

This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know. 

For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered straight to your inbox, check out our weekly freight email. Want the freshest freight data on demand? Hit up terminal.freightos.com.

We’re back for episode 19, and with Lunar New Year just days away (Feb 17th), the "Gear Down" is officially here. Manufacturing is slowing down, and for the first time this year, we don't have a major geopolitical change to talk about. It almost feels... quiet.

In this episode, we break down the LNY Rate Slide: Asia-Europe is down to $2,400/container and the Med has plummeted to $3,600. We also tackle the massive uncertainty in Maersk’s 2026 earnings report—a $2 billion swing that could land anywhere from a $1B profit to a $1B loss depending on what happens in the Red Sea.

Finally, we find the "Power of Flowers." While ocean rates tank, Valentine’s Day has air cargo blooming, with prices to Europe spiking 17%.

Chapters: 

00:00:00 — LNY Gear Down: Why ocean rates are in a seasonal freefall. 

00:02:15 — Weather Fallout: Port shutdowns and the post-COVID trauma. 

00:03:30 — The Transpac Slump: Why the pre-LNY rush was surprisingly "muted." 

00:04:30 — The $2 Billion Coin Flip: Maersk, ONE, and the capacity crisis. 

00:06:00 — The Power of Flowers: Valentine's Day air cargo prices. 

00:07:15 — Mini-Tendering: The new playbook for move-with-the-punches agility.

This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know. 

For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered straight to your inbox, check out our weekly freight email. Want the freshest freight data on demand? Hit up terminal.freightos.com.

Welcome back to Freightos' Container Bytes, Episode 18. Judah and I were just reminiscing about the fact that we don't have theme music. We still don't. But what we do have is a weather report that’s actually scarier than the geopolitics for once. Storm Kristin just put the North Atlantic in a chokehold, grounding vessels from Spain to the English Channel and proving that Mother Nature still has the biggest veto in logistics. ⛈️

In this episode, we break down the US-India "Sweet Spot" deal—a massive shift that slashed tariffs from 50% down to 18%. If you’ve been looking for a sign to diversify away from China, this is it (just mind the new energy and tech quotas). We also track the Gemini Alliance’s high-stakes gamble; Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are betting the post-Lunar New Year lull is the perfect window to sneak back through the Suez under naval escort.

Meanwhile, the Transpacific just took a 10% swan dive, with rates falling below $2,000/FEU. It’s a "mini-peak" crash that makes it a surprisingly good time to be an importer—if you can dodge the ice.

Full weekly update here: Winter weather challenges, trade deals and more tariff threats – February 3, 2026 Update

Chapters: 

• 00:00:00 — The Atlantic Wall: Storm Kristin and the Med shutdown. 
• 00:01:40 — Strait of Hormuz Staredown: Drones, tankers, and Jebel Ali. 
• 00:03:10 — The Gemini Gambit: Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd head back to Suez.
• 00:04:15 — The 10% Swan Dive: Why Transpacific rates just bottomed out.
• 00:06:30 — Tariff Update: The 18% US-India "Handshake."

This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know. 

For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered straight to your inbox, check out our weekly freight email. Want the freshest freight data on demand? Hit up terminal.freightos.com.

Welcome back to Freightos' Container Bytes, Episode 17. We’re only four weeks in, and we’ve had more trade "wars" than I’ve had hot coffees. 

This week, Eytan and Judah track the whiplash of the Greenland deal—shoutout to Davos for the "peace framework"—and the immediate shift of the tariff-cannon toward our neighbors to the North.

While the US threatens 100% tariffs on Canada over Chinese EVs and 25% on South Korea for legislative delays, the rest of the world is busy swiping right on each other. We break down the historic EU-India Free Trade Agreement and why "America First" is leading to "Everyone Else Together."

Plus, the Red Sea is heating up again with fresh Houthi "Soon" videos, and Winter Storm Fern just grounded 14,000 flights, sending air cargo rates over $6.25/kg. It’s a doozy.

Full weekly update here: More tariff threats, LNY rush easing, and winter storm disruptions – January 27, 2026 Update

Chapters: 

• 00:00:00 — Greenland is Out, South Korea and Canada are In: The 100% tariff threat. 
• 00:02:45 — The Diversification Trend: The EU-India "Mother of all Deals." 
• 00:04:15 — Red Sea & Jebel Ali: Why the "Suez Return" just hit a wall. 
• 00:07:30 — Air Cargo Spikes: Winter Storm Fern and $6.25/kg rates. 
• 00:09:40 — Finding "Good News": Eytan’s desperate search for optimism

This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know. 

For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered straight to your inbox, check out our weekly freight email. Want the freshest freight data on demand? Hit up terminal.freightos.com.

Time for a high-stakes episode of "Where in the World is the Trade War?" with our  Greenland Bingo card. ❄️

In this episode, Judah and Eytan break down the sudden 10% tariff threat on the EU (which apparently wasn't on anyone's 2026 forecast) and why the EU is dusting off its "Big Bazooka" in retaliation. We also check in on the Red Sea, where Maersk is leaning in just as CMA CGM is pulling back, making the Suez Canal the "will-they-won't-they" romance of the maritime world.

Finally, we look at the Lunar New Year dip—with Asia-Med rates falling 5% to $4,600/FEU—and ask if we've already hit the demand ceiling.

Full weekly update here: https://www.freightos.com/logistics-technology-insights/industry-updates/the-weekly-freightos-freight-rate-update/

Chapters:

00:00:00 — Greenland Bingo: 10% tariffs and social media diplomacy.

00:02:15 — The EU Bazooka: Intellectual property and the ACI.

00:04:30 — Red Sea Start-Stop: Maersk’s return vs. CMA CGM’s retreat.

00:07:45 — Lunar New Year: Why rates are finally cooling off.

00:09:15 — The 2026 Forecast: What’s next on the map?

This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know. 

For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered straight to your inbox, check out our weekly freight email. Want the freshest freight data on demand? Hit up terminal.freightos.com.

Welcome back to Freightos' Container Bytes, the podcast that is technically Episode 15, despite the fact that our team’s ability to count past 14 has recently been called into question.

We dive into the geopolitical soup of the Strait of Hormuz. While the headlines are screaming about oil, we’re looking at the real logistics casualty: the UAE’s Jebel Ali port. If the "Ocean-to-Air" bridge that feeds Europe gets shaky, your lead times are going to look as stretched out as my favorite 10-year-old hoodie.

We also break down the latest "gut punch" for US importers—the proposed 25% secondary tariff on any country doing business with Iran.

And come on, show your friends that you're cool and share this episode. You know you want to.

Chapters: 

• 00:00:00 — Counting is hard: Episode 15 (we think)
• 00:01:20 — The Strait of Hormuz: Why oil is the headline, but Jebel Ali is the real story. 
• 00:02:53 — The 25% Iran-Trade Tariff: China, Trump, and the new de-escalation drama.
• 00:04:19 — Lunar New Year "Red Zone": Rates, search spikes, and why you're already late.
• 00:06:21 — Air Cargo: The post-peak lull before the LNY storm.

Resources Mentioned:

• Lunar New Year 2026 Shipping Timeline
• 2026 Lookahead: What 2025 Means for the Forecast

This podcast is a little experiment from Freightos—and may not be around forever—so if you dig quick bites of freight wisdom, let us know. 

For more detailed weekly freight updates delivered straight to your inbox, check out our weekly freight email. Want the freshest freight data on demand? Hit up terminal.freightos.com.