International Maritime

Commercial transit through Hormuz has now effectively halted, Crane Worldwide Logistics said in a Middle East update April 14. While an estimated 17 vessels transited the strait on April 11— the highest post-ceasefire volume— traffic fell to near zero the following week.

“ Major operators have confirmed they will not attempt passage without full insurance cover, citing mines in the main channel and enforcement risk,” Crane noted.“ More than 3,200 vessels, including over 800 tankers, remain stranded across the Gulf, with charter and insurance markets rehardening sharply and all ceasefire-era relief erased.”

Less capacity, predictability

Carriers say they are still able to find the bunker fuel they need, but it is not always in the locations where it is needed. Some carriers are topping up ships in Europe where VLSFO is available, and at a lower cost to Singapore, and transporting the fuel to Asia.

Montrone said feedback from the major carriers is that they expect to see challenges if the distribution of fuel and bottlenecks in the Middle East continue for another two to three months.

“ Any changes in deployment would be based on overall network requirements, not just on fuel availability.”

In preparation, Kuehne + Nagel has been poring over visibility data on its SeaExplorer tool to consider ways to manage potential bunker shortages of certain fuel types.

“ Eight years ago, in SeaExplorer, we classified ships by fuel type and by scrubber or non-scrubber, and it was not that useful in the past,” Montrone said.“ We have at our fingertips, loop by loop, what is LNG, what is VLSFO and what ships have scrubbers.

“ We are now looking at all these details to ensure that we have the right flexibility and capacity to be able to get in front of a potential issue, and we believe we are fairly well prepared,” he added.

Jacob Moe, global head of full container load( FCL) and trade management at DHL Global Forwarding, said emerging shortages in bunker supply would bring the network resilience of maritime supply chains into the spotlight. With Hormuz closed and replenishment constrained in Asian hubs, he added, less flexible operations would result in less capacity, modifications in port calls, longer lead times, and cost pressures.

“ Cargo will continue to move, but with materially less predictability, and that is usually the first thing customers feel,” he added.

email: greg. knowler @ spglobal. com

Hesitation from port authorities slows automation in Southern California

By Peter Tirschwell

It has become difficult, if not impossible, for Southern California terminals wishing to automate to gain the necessary approvals from port commissions to proceed. This is despite the terminals’ right to automate being guaranteed since 2008 in the collective bargaining agreement between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union( ILWU) and employers represented by the Pacific Maritime Association( PMA).

As a result, the largest port gateway in North America is being denied the easiest route to capacity expansion to mitigate bottlenecks that for years have bogged down flow during periods of surge demand.

A knowledgeable observer of longshore labor in Southern California said that the contracts are irrelevant.

“ The ports are not going to agree to any redevelopment that supports automation and goes against the will of the ILWU,” they said.

The long-term consequences are limits on effective capacity able to handle US container flows, increasing the potential for bottlenecks and delays given limited new terminal acreage coming online.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, throughput at automated terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach was 44 % higher than at non-automated terminals, according to a recent study cited by the PMA. Further, longshore employment rose faster than at non-automated terminals, countering the union’ s argument that automation is a job killer.

“ Technological advancement, including automation, is essential to maintaining the competitiveness, efficiency and long-term viability of West Coast ports,” the PMA said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce.

Two scenarios demonstrate the snail’ s pace of automation progress in South California.

A manning agreement at TTI, the largest terminal at the Port of Long Beach, struck three years ago between the port and the ILWU to further automation at the former Hanjin terminal— now owned by Terminal Investment Limited( TiL), the terminal arm of Mediterranean Shipping Co.( MSC)— has produced no announcements on automation that would increase throughput nor approvals from the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners. This is despite concessions to the union that would undermine the financial case for automation by increasing labor costs.

Similarly, no application has been filed to automate CMA CGM’ s Pier 300 Fenix terminal at Los Angeles, according to the port, despite the terminal allowing

14 Journal of Commerce | May 4, 2026 www. joc. com