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Container Bytes is your go-to podcast for quick insights on the latest global freight trends, condensed into easy-to-digest, under-ten-minute episodes. Each week, you’ll get key data points, actionable market movements, and forecasts to help you navigate the ups and downs of ocean and air freight. Tune in, stay sharp, and ship smarter. Brought to you by Freightos, the global freight booking platform.
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The Supreme Court tossed IEEPA tariffs out, but don't pop the champagne just yet. The White House pivoted with a (temporary-ish) 10% global tariff under Section 122 just four days later. It's currently sitting well below the 15% to 20% ranges we saw previously, but with the July expiration date looming, the USTR is sprinting through 122 new trade investigations. The billion-dollar question: how do you actually get your IEEPA refund? CBP is launching the CAPE portal mid-April, but ...
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 ...
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 pay...
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 th...
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 o...
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 Wh...
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 ...
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 ...
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 e...
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 ...
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-o...
This is an episode from Freightos' Unfiltered Freight series, shared here too. Welcome to a masterclass in air cargo reality with Glyn Hughes, the Director General of TIACA and a 40 year industry veteran who has seen it all. From the early days of faxed rate sheets to the current AI revolution, Glyn is here to explain why the industry is currently stuck in a psychological trap of its own making. We have a PlayStation problem. While the next generation is busy playing the game and having fun,...
Welcome to 2026! We are already 3% of the way through the year, so if you haven't hit your KPIs yet, you're officially behind. JK, kinda. Ocean freight is starting the year with a hangover and a double shot of espresso. Rates are climbing fast, with Asia-Med is up 20% to $4,800 and Transpacific rates jumped 22% just to kick off January. It’s the classic pre-Lunar New Year rush, fueled by the Red Sea crisis that just refuses to quit. It’s basically chaos, but organized chaos. And in the weirde...
Welcome to the final Container Bytes of 2025! It’s been a year. We laughed, we cried, we watched spot rates do things that defy physics. (I’m not crying – you are). The "Blink-and-You-Missed-It" Peak This year's peak season on the Trans-Pacific was… weird. Like, "my kids eating their veggies" weird. It was skewed entirely by the trade war front-loading. We saw rates hit $6,000 per container briefly in June/July as everyone panicked about the jump from 30% to 145% tariffs, but then it vanished...
This is an episode from Freightos' Unfiltered Freight series, shared here too. Welcome to a special edition of Container Bytes, featuring 30-year ocean veteran Stephanie Loomis, who's navigated everything from Hanjin's collapse to pandemic-era chaos. Her market predictions are legendary, and she's not sugarcoating what's ahead for your freight procurement in 2026. Carriers have finally learned capitalism. The days of $500 China-LA rates are buried, and today's shipping giants won't touch fre...
We're back and pumped to talk freight. Get your freight Christmas sweater on.🧣 Transpacific air rates hit $7.50/kilo, beating out last year's $7.30 peak despite recession fears and front-loading concerns (take that, 2024!). Meanwhile, Asia-Europe stays flat at $3.60/kilo as carriers shift more capacity there. And....the Red Sea is showing signs of life! I'm not crying - you are. Houthis released hostages that had been held since July, and CMA CGM is increasing vessel traffic through the area ...
BREAKING: So... the Suez Canal Authority is that friend who tells everyone you're definitely coming to their party when you clearly said "maybe next year." Meanwhile, carriers are playing Red Sea chicken while rates do whatever the heck they want (mostly staying flat by YMMV). Air cargo is peaking harder than my acting career (I was a lollipop in Willy Wonka in second grade, nbd). , with China-US hitting $6.50/kg despite everyone's doom predictions. Who needs consistency when you can ha...
Got good news and bad news for your today, freight podcast friend. Good news? The Houthis said they would stop firing on ships in the Red Sea (but container liners aren't holding their breath). The bad news? A 48% increase in China - US West Coast rates (and a confusing 3% drop on China - US East Coast). Ready for a game of GRI Madness? Then how about throwing in a healthy dose of tariff Supreme Court indicators to round it out? Also, do us a solid and share this episode with someone. Chapt...
That's not how this was supposed to work. I'm taking my ball and going home. Ocean freight rates climbed despite increased stability, with some major drivers of stability for the next year on China-US trade. Judah breaks down air cargo rates, ocean rates, why the GRIs might be sticking and which ones aren't. Also, yolo, no port fees! Party time! 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...
Bro, how am I supposed to run a podcast if everything changes every day? Less than 24 after the last weekly podcast was published, a trade summit between China and the United States changed everything. So we tacked on our quick view on what that means at the end of this episode. Just another reminder of how everything can change, every day. 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 m...
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