Importers & Exporters Top 100 2026
At the same time, shippers of estate-bottled wine are taking smaller consignments to reduce their risk of holding too much inventory at a time of changing tastes, resulting in more demand for less-thancontainerload and consolidated shipments.
“ We see a lot of movement in bulk shipping, and more wine and spirits are moving in bulk,” Leavitt said.“ It’ s wine clubs bringing it in, and the largest chains are definitely looking into more private labels.”
The distilled spirits market faces a similar dynamic. Along with offering low-cost, private label brands, US spirits shippers are contending with the rising popularity of the prepackaged, ready-to-drink cocktail. Those products, along with malt-based seltzers, are steering drinkers away from individual bottles and further driving bulk alcohol shipments.
“ There’ s a huge amount of inventory we are still working through.”
Although wine and spirits shippers have no trouble securing space on ships, Leavitt said network and schedule changes by ocean carriers can still impact the industry.
Faced with weaker trade volumes, the Ocean Alliance and Ocean Network Express combined two jointly operated, trans-Atlantic services into one at the start of 2026, which also reduced the number of ships in the services from 11 to seven. Mediterranean Shipping Co. also restructured its US East Coast network by dropping the trans-Atlantic leg of an around-the-world service.
That effectively reduced some capacity and service frequency between Northern Europe and US East Coast ports at a time when the wine and spirits industry is moving to more just-in-time shipments, Leavitt said.
Schedule reliability and consistency is also a factor on services shipping between Oceania and the US, which are serving Australian and New Zealand wine shipments. While a few direct Oceania services are available, many importers still rely on transshipping, and dealing with resulting delays in reaching the US.
Despite last year’ s import decline, Leavitt said the industry might be finding a floor in demand. Import bookings for the early part of 2026 appear healthy. The US and Europe have a trade truce that should avoid further tariff-driven volatility. And newer types of products, whether private label or ready-to-drink, continue to gain traction with drinkers.
“ We see a lot of news about declining consumption, and the phrase‘ neo-prohibitionist’ has come up as the trend toward no- and low-alcohol has picked up speed,” Leavitt said.“ However, alcoholic beverages continue be consumed, and the volumes are not that different year on year for imports.”
‘ Cascading costs’
Middle East fuel shock exacerbates rising US ag export costs
By Bill Mongelluzzo
The war in the Middle East will further increase the cost of US agricultural exports— and diminish global demand— after a 2025 in which growth slowed despite shippers’ efforts to replace a rapidly vanishing Chinese market.
War-linked bunker fuel surcharges, as well as soaring diesel prices for inland truck and rail movements, could“ add tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars to our costs,” according to Mike Symonanis, director of strategic network at Louis Dreyfus Company and chairman of the American Cotton Shippers Association.
“ Generally, costs are going up and will continue to go up until there is an end to the war.”
Symonanis said agricultural exporters are closely scrutinizing the surcharges, which will be most significant for small and midsize shippers, to determine whether they accurately reflect higher fuel costs borne by container lines.
Agricultural exports still growing amid higher tariff costs
Containerized US agricultural exports, in laden TEUs, with year-over-year change
TEU volume
200,000
150,000 100,000 100,000
50,000
0 L Apr Jul Oct Jan 2025 Apr Jul Oct Jan 2026
TEU Year-over-year % change
Agricultural products
EXPORTS
1,588,431 TEUS
↑2.9 %
Change from 2024
↓1.3 %
5-year compound annual growth rate
30 % 25 % 20 % 15-40 % 10 % 5 % 0 %-5 %
Year-over-year % change email: michael. angell @ spglobal. com
Source: PIERS, S & P Global © 2026 S & P Global www. joc. com May 4, 2026 | Journal of Commerce 41