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A Nightmare on Freight Street
An Unholy Ode to Halloween and the Global Supply Chain
‘Twas the night before Halloween, down at the quay,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a dray.
The containers were stacked by the gantries with care,
In hopes that Saint Customs would soon clear the air.
But long before pumpkins and candy and fright,
The Celts had a festival haunting the night.
They called it Samhain, when summer was done,
And the dead crossed the border. No ISF. None!
The Druids lit bonfires, the spirits drew near,
And disguises were worn to keep ghosts in the rear.
Today we wear costumes to frighten our friends,
While carriers disguise what their surcharge intends.
Then Christians brought All Hallows’ Eve to the scene,
Which centuries later became Halloween.
The poor begged for soul cakes, with prayers as their fee,
The first door-to-door service, with no POD!
For Halloween traveled by immigrant tide,
With customs and folklore all packed for the ride.
No freight forwarder, no tariff, no duty to pay,
Just ghosts in the manifest, sailing away.
But back at the port, something stirred in the gloom,
A figure emerged from a reefer’s dark tomb.
‘Twas Michael Myers, with his knife and stare,
Demanding detention relief from the carr’ier!
Jamie Lee Curtis appeared on the dock,
And shouted, “That bastard’s still here? What a shock!”
She’d survived every sequel, each stabbing, each scare,
But screamed when she saw the demurrage bill there.
The zombies in Customs kept shuffling around,
Their entries were pending, their documents drowned.
A witch shipped her broomsticks, but Customs cried, “Wait!
Your country of origin doesn’t match your freight!”
Then Charlie Brown waited beneath the moon’s light,
For the Great Pumpkin’s arrival that very night.
But Linus looked up with a terrible frown:
“His container’s been rolled. He won’t make it to town.”
So remember, dear shippers, when October grows cold,
The scariest stories aren’t necessarily old.
For monsters may vanish when dawn brings the light,
But your storage keeps going, all day and all night.
And deep in the darkness, a voice made them scream:
“Your container’s been flagged for an intensive exam!”
The dead may find peace when their haunting is through,
But the invoice lives on. And it’s coming for YOU!
The Ghost of Bunkers Past
- An ancient industry faces a frightening future.
- For 70 million years, dinosaurs have enjoyed a remarkable second career. After a disastrous first act, they have become THE mascots of fossil fuels. Coal, crude oil, bunker fuel. Dead dinosaurs are making a killing.
- Then, on April 6, 1992, ____ing Barney debuted on television, launching a second extinction event. Millions of innocent parents lost their will to live.
- Technically, petroleum comes primarily from ancient marine organisms, not dinosaurs, but YOU try explaining that to a furious Tyrannosaurus haunting a container ship’s engine room.
- Now shipping is experimenting with fuels made from corn, sugarcane, and agricultural waste. Apparently, extinction wasn’t enough. Dinosaurs are being replaced by a salad bar.
- RIP petroleum? Maersk recently completed the world’s largest reported ethanol bunkering operation, fueling the Maersk Halifax in Singapore with certified bioethanol. “Apparently, the dead aren’t the only things being replaced. Now even the fuel is getting a new lease on life.”
- Ethanol is methanol’s lesser-known cousin. Both are alcohols, and methanol-ready engines can apparently accommodate a little family visitation.
- Everllence and WinGD have demonstrated ethanol compatibility, offering shipowners another potion when low-emission methanol becomes scarce or frighteningly expensive.
- Children of the corn! Ethanol already has an established production network. The United States and Brazil have been making the stuff for decades.
- But, OF COURSE, there’s a skeleton in our cornfield! Food crops compete for farmland, while production generates emissions. Waste-based ethanol may be cleaner, but even Frankenstein knew that creating something from scraps doesn’t guarantee a happy ending.
- Ethanol also releases CO₂ when burned. Its environmental credentials depend on the entire journey from feedstock to smokestack.
- Night of the living debt! Sustainable supply is limited, marine bunkering infrastructure immature, and shipping must compete with aviation and road transportation for fuel.
- Less than 1% of the merchant fleet currently operates on methanol, although alternative-fuel vessels are gaining ground in the orderbook.
- For shipowners, flexibility is the attraction. Multiple fuel options offer protection against changing prices, regulations, and availability. Nothing scarier than financing a ship that can’t find its preferred fuel.
- Apparently, shipping’s future involves replacing ancient spirits with distilled ones. The ghosts of bunker fuels past are not at all amused.
- After millions of years underground, our prehistoric friend finally found steady employment powering global commerce. Now he’s being threatened by corn. Talk about a grave injustice.
Frankenfleet!
- It’s alive! And apparently worth $62,500 a day.
- Somewhere in the dark laboratories of global shipping, Dr. Frankenstein has been working overtime. His latest creation? A 25-year-old containership brought roaring back to life by an electrifying charter market.
- Euroseas’ stout EM Corfu, a 2,556 TEU vessel built in 2001, just secured a charter at $62,500 per day for 12–14 months. That’s more than double its previous $28,000 daily rate. Forget bolts in the neck. This monster runs on cold, hard cash.
- But not every aging vessel gets a second life. Euroseas is selling the EM Corfu’s nearly identical sister ship, the sassy Evridiki G, for approximately $26 million. Same age, same size, different fate. One gets a new heartbeat. The other gets a handsome retirement package.
- The monster’s 25-year physical isn’t cheap, either. Vessels approaching their fifth special survey face expensive inspections, repairs, and dry-docking. Owners must decide whether to finance another resurrection or pull the plug.
- And the laboratory is getting crowded. COSCO reportedly committed to two other elderly vessels for three years at $35,000 per day apiece. Meanwhile, the global fleet welcomed 35 shiny new ships totaling 212,500 TEU in a single month. Apparently, nobody told the old monsters they were supposed to die.
- Nearly 2,000 containerships, representing more than 5 million TEU (about 15% of the global total), are at least 20 years old. That’s a potential graveyard of capacity, but strong charter earnings keep postponing the funeral.
- For shippers, the lesson is simple: New ships don’t automatically mean cheaper freight. Vessel sizes, charter commitments, and unpredictable retirements complicate the equation. Frankenstein’s fleet may be growing, but nobody knows when the monsters will finally die.
- It’s alive! It’s alive! It’s… still under charter?!
Trick or Treaty?
- The Section 301 vessel fees have spent nearly a year standing on America’s port-side porch, dressed for collection and waiting for somebody to open the door. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) may now tell them to wait a little longer.
- The USTR has proposed extending the suspension of its China-focused maritime actions for two additional months, from November 10, 2026, through January 9, 2027.
- The measures target Chinese vessel operators, operators using Chinese-built ships and certain cargo-handling equipment. They were created to counter China’s dominance of the maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors while encouraging investment in American-built vessels. Quite the haul for one policy bucket.
- The fees were originally suspended on November 10, 2025, following a U.S.-China economic agreement. That one-year pause ends at 11:59 p.m. on November 9, leaving Washington and Beijing with considerably less time than a last-minute candy run.
- USTR says another two months would allow negotiations to continue. During the proposed extension, affected parties would not accrue liability or be required to pay the covered vessel fees and duties. That would be the treaty.
- The trick is that the extension is not final. Unless USTR formally modifies the action, the existing fee schedules could come knocking on November 10.
- And these are not fun-sized charges. The schedules impose fees based on vessel net tonnage or containers discharged, with rates that increase over time. Carriers could respond through vessel deployment, routing, capacity or surcharges, allowing the cost to wander far beyond the vessel operator’s doorstep.
- Interested parties have until 5 p.m. ET on October 30 to comment. Apparently, even international trade policy waits until the night before Halloween to decide what it is wearing.
- For importers and exporters, another suspension would offer temporary protection from a new layer of ocean-freight uncertainty. It would not repeal the underlying action or guarantee that the fees remain in the bowl indefinitely.
- For now, the vessel fees are still waiting outside. Whether Washington and Beijing answer with a trick, a treaty or two more months of “not yet” remains to be seen.
Beware the Full Moon
- Washington has written a tariff werewolf into law. The good news? For now, it remains safely chained to a waiver.
- On October 16, President Trump issued Executive Order 14436, formally implementing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which was signed into law on September 18.
- The Executive Order establishes an additional 500% duty on goods from Russia. It also establishes 100% duties on goods from the five largest countries knowingly making new purchases of Russian oil or natural gas and the five largest facilitators of Russian oil sanctions evasion.
- Those claws look rather sharp. Then Section 4 arrives with the chains.
- The President immediately waived the new duties and most of the Act’s sanctions and restrictions after determining that the waivers were in the national interest. As a result, none of the new Graham Act tariffs is currently being collected.
- Existing Russia-related sanctions remain in place. The waiver applies to the new measures created by the Graham Act and Executive Order; it does not erase restrictions imposed under earlier authorities.
- There is also no fixed expiration date for the waivers. They remain effective until the President or Secretary of State, in consultation with other officials, determines that further action is appropriate.
- Meanwhile, the USTR and other agencies must monitor Russian energy purchases and sanctions-evasion activity and report circumstances that may warrant a change. So, the moon may not be full, but somebody is at least checking the calendar.
- Importers, energy traders, financial institutions and logistics providers with exposure to Russian goods or Russian-origin energy should therefore treat the duties as dormant, not dead. A future decision could activate an already established tariff structure with significant consequences.
- The tariff wolf is not prowling tonight. But the claws are written into law, Washington controls the moon, and a waiver is no silver bullet for long-term planning.
Witch Way for Airfreight?
- Something wicked this way flies.
- The airlines have been brewing a nasty little potion: higher fares, fewer passengers, and considerably less enthusiasm for filling every seat. With jet fuel prices nearly doubling since February, apparently flying lighter is the new black magic.
- And the spell is working! America’s six largest carriers collected roughly $8.8 billion more in third-quarter passenger revenue, an 18% increase, while passenger traffic barely budged. Who needs more customers when you can charge the existing ones a goblin king’s ransom?
- But there’s a freight-sized toad in this cauldron. Passenger aircraft carry substantial cargo in their bellies, and airlines increasingly favoring yield over volume could mean less pressure to add flights. Fewer flights mean fewer cargo opportunities, particularly on routes already starved for lift.
- Meanwhile, Gulf Coast jet fuel has climbed from $2.43 to $4.63 per gallon. Cargo shippers can expect that particular curse to materialize in fuel surcharges, even if their freight never sees a passenger flight.
- The real witching hour arrives in 2027. Major US carriers are planning 3.8% domestic capacity growth in Q1, but some are already threatening to trim their schedules. For freight forwarders, published flight schedules may prove about as reliable as a broomstick purchased on Temu.
- Airlines have discovered the magic of charging more to carry less. Air cargo customers may soon discover the horror of paying more to ship less.
- Double, double, freight and trouble. Fuel prices burn, and surcharges bubble.
The Strait of the Living Dead
- Some shipping routes refuse to stay buried.
- The Strait of Hormuz has become a maritime graveyard. Since February’s outbreak of war, Dubai’s mighty Jebel Ali has watched its Q2 container volumes plunge 90%. The cranes stand like gallows. The shipping lanes are haunted by vessels that never arrive.
- But cargo doesn’t die. It crawls ashore somewhere else. At Khorfakkan, weekly container volumes have risen from 8,000 to 65,000 TEUs. Oman’s Sohar is feasting too, with container traffic up 40%.
- The living are piling up outside the gates. Ships wait up to 10 days at Khorfakkan, breakbulk vessels languish for weeks, and desperate shippers hunt for trucks like survivors searching for the last helicopter out of hell.
- Then comes the bloodletting. A container that once sailed from India to Jebel Ali for $275 now costs roughly $5,800 to reach Khorfakkan, plus another $1,800 for the final truck ride. That’s nearly 28 times the old ocean rate, with a truck ride thrown into the nightmare. Count Dracula would blush.
- Meanwhile, hundreds of millions are being invested in terminals beyond the strait. Even if Hormuz reopens, these emergency escape routes may survive as permanent alternatives.
- The deadliest thing about a shipping nightmare? Sometimes you wake up, and the nightmare has become your new routing guide.
The Waiting Dead
- At America’s loading docks, nobody can hear you scream.
- Somewhere in America, a truck driver is still waiting at a loading dock. His coffee has fossilized. His children have grandchildren. The forklift operator vanished in 2019. Authorities found only a clipboard and a large suspicious puddle of red hydraulic fluid.
- The American Transportation Research Institute estimates truck detention cost the industry $3.6 billion in direct expenses and another $11.5 billion in lost productivity in 2023. Nearly 95% of fleets charge detention fees, but fewer than half their invoices get paid. The invoices apparently disappear into a crypt marked ‘Accounts Payable.’
- Washington has summoned a possible remedy from the grave. In 2027, FMCSA plans a four-month pilot allowing approximately 256 drivers to pause their 14-hour duty window for up to three hours of qualifying non-driving time, including detention. More flexibility, yes. Less waiting? Not necessarily. Even the Grim Reaper charges by the hour.
- Meanwhile, New York and New Jersey truckers are rattling their chains, demanding that the FMC establish enforceable rules for returning empty containers. Their terrifying demands include knowing WHERE to return them, whether anyone will ACCEPT them, and who pays when the container yard slams its gates shut. Apparently, the empties are possessed, and nobody wants them back.
- Two agencies. Two species of detention. Billions in losses. Somewhere, a skeleton grips a steering wheel, staring into the darkness. His dispatcher’s final message still glows on the dashboard: “Shouldn’t be much longer.”
The Monster Port Mash
- The ports are expanding. The dockworkers are restless. Somebody cue the creepy organ music.
- From Savannah to Baltimore, America’s ports are digging up billions to build the terminals of tomorrow. Wilmington, Virginia, Philadelphia, and the Gulf Coast have joined the macabre procession. It’s a waterfront graveyard party, and everybody brought a shovel. And possibly a body.
- Savannah’s latest monstrosity is a $2.3 billion terminal with room for 3.5 million TEUs annually, helping push eventual port capacity toward 12 million. Construction won’t begin until 2028. Even the undead apparently need years of permitting before they can rise from the grave.
- But out West, a bloodcurdling shriek echoes across the docks. Los Angeles voters face a November 3 measure requiring workforce-impact disclosures for certain port leases and projects. Industry critics fear another weapon against automation. The ILWU, meanwhile, isn’t exactly doing “The Robot.”
- The union’s coastwide contract expires July 1, 2028, just two weeks before the Los Angeles Olympics. Imagine a waterfront labor showdown with the entire world watching. Michael Jackson’s Thriller meets Friday the 13th, with longshoremen playing the zombies and negotiators hiding behind the tombstones.
- Bigger terminals. Smarter machines. Restless workers. Billions buried in concrete. The ghouls are grooving, the skeletons are rattling, and America’s waterfront has invited everyone to the Monster Port Mash. But when the music stops, somebody’s getting buried. And the robots? They’re still waiting for permission to slash in.
