Under the decision, May 6 each year will be officially recognized as Vietnam Logistics Day, while the week including May 6 will be designated as Vietnam Logistics Week.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the annual organization of Vietnam Logistics Day and Vietnam Logistics Week aims to raise awareness among government agencies, industries, and society about the important role of logistics services in socio-economic development, international integration, and enhancing national competitiveness.
At the same time, it is expected to promote the effective implementation of policies and legal frameworks to support the development of Vietnam’s logistics sector, with a strong focus on digital transformation, green logistics, and sustainable development.
The initiative also seeks to strengthen international cooperation, trade promotion activities, and investment attraction in logistics infrastructure and technology, while improving Vietnam’s logistics connectivity with regional and global markets and promoting the country as a dynamic and efficient logistics service hub.
In addition, it serves to recognize, encourage, and motivate the business community and workforce in the logistics industry for their contributions and continued efforts toward the development of both the sector and the nation.
Ultimately, this milestone is expected to create new momentum for the sustainable growth of Vietnam’s logistics industry, driving innovation, high-tech adoption, and workforce quality improvement to meet the demands of deeper global integration.
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With a total investment of nearly VND 3 trillion, the container vessel Haian Beta has officially become the new giant of Vietnam’s maritime transport industry.
• Deadweight of over 24,000 DWT
• Capacity of nearly 1,800 TEUs
• Height equivalent to a 15-story building
• Maximum speed of 18.5 knots
This vessel is part of the fleet expansion strategy of Hai An Transport and Stevedoring Joint Stock Company (HAH), a company currently holding around 68% of the country’s total container shipping capacity and ranked among the world’s Top 100 largest container fleets.
More than just a milestone for the company itself, this development marks an important step forward for Vietnam’s logistics and maritime industry on the global shipping map.
Under the new system, all vessels intending to transit the strait must first receive official guidance via email and obtain prior authorization before passage. Without confirmation from Iranian authorities, ships will not be allowed to proceed.
How the new system works
- Ships will receive an official email from Iran’s newly established regulatory authority
- The email contains navigation instructions and transit regulations
- Vessels must then apply for and secure a transit permit before entering the strait
The system is operated by a newly created authority called the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), which has been established to oversee all vessel movements through the Strait of Hormuz.
Why this matters
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most critical chokepoints in global trade:
- Around 20% of the world’s oil supply passes through this route
- It serves as a major shipping corridor connecting the Middle East with Asia and Europe
Iran’s tighter control could have major implications:
- Increased risk of supply chain disruptions
- Higher freight and insurance costs
- Greater uncertainty in global energy markets
Rising geopolitical tensions
This move comes as:
- Regional conflict involving Iran remains unresolved
- Vessel traffic through Hormuz has already declined significantly
- Shipping lines and logistics companies remain cautious about re-entering the area
Logistics perspective
For the international logistics industry, this is a clear signal that:
- The Hormuz route remains a high-risk corridor
- Companies should prepare alternative routing strategies
- Close monitoring of new regulations is now essential to avoid operational disruptions
In short, the “No Mail – No Passage” policy is more than just an administrative procedure. It reflects Iran’s growing control over one of the world’s most critical maritime routes — with direct consequences for global trade, energy flows, and supply chain stability.
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Specifically, MSC has launched the Europe – Red Sea – Middle East Express service, connecting European ports with the Middle East through an alternative route that completely bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, a region currently facing significant maritime security challenges.
A key highlight of this new service is its flexible, multimodal approach. Cargo is transported by sea to the Red Sea, then moved overland across Saudi Arabia, before being transferred onto feeder vessels in the Persian Gulf for final delivery. This integrated solution ensures continuous cargo flow even as traditional maritime routes face disruptions.
The Strait of Hormuz has long been considered a global energy chokepoint, with approximately 20% of the world’s oil and gas passing through it each day. Beyond energy trade, it is also a vital corridor for thousands of container ships and commercial vessels. However, rising tensions since early 2026 have significantly disrupted maritime operations in the region, leading to increased transportation costs and delays across global supply chains.
In response, MSC’s move reflects a broader trend within the logistics industry: companies are proactively restructuring their transport networks and accelerating the adoption of multimodal solutions to reduce reliance on strategic chokepoints. This adaptability is becoming essential to maintaining efficiency and resilience in an increasingly volatile global trade environment.
For import-export businesses, this development underscores the importance of building contingency logistics plans, closely monitoring geopolitical developments, and partnering with agile logistics providers capable of responding quickly to market disruptions.
]]>Maersk Group has officially welcomed the “Brisbane Mærsk” to its fleet of green methanol-fueled vessels – marking a significant milestone in its sustainable shipping strategy. This new step demonstrates Maersk’s strong commitment to reducing carbon emissions and aiming for net-zero emissions by 2040.
The “Brisbane Mærsk” is designed with state-of-the-art technology, using green methanol fuel to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions. In addition, its optimized engine system allows the vessel to achieve higher efficiency, save energy, and ensure superior safety throughout its international voyages.
The commissioning of the “Brisbane Mærsk” not only enhances Maersk’s shipping capacity but also reflects its commitment to sustainable development, contributing to the global logistics industry’s goal of reducing emissions. This is clear evidence of Maersk’s efforts to lead the trend of “greening” international shipping and supply chains.
This event marks a significant milestone on the path to clean energy transition, opening up a future of environmentally friendly shipping – where technology and responsibility go hand in hand to create sustainable value for the planet.
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Japanese container shipping line Ocean Network Express (ONE) is utilizing a portion of the profits accumulated in recent years to accelerate the development of its own global port network.
The Singapore-headquartered ocean carrier has officially announced the signing of a share purchase agreement to acquire a 30% ownership stake in Hutchison Laemchabang Terminal Limited (HLT) in Thailand. This strategic move comes swiftly on the heels of a recent stake acquisition deal at a terminal in Busan, South Korea. Currently, the financial value of the transaction has not been disclosed by the parties involved.
Commenting on this transaction, Hiroki Tsujii, Managing Director of ONE’s Global Network and Product division, stated: “By deepening our partnership with Hutchison Ports, customers can benefit from enhanced reliability and efficient solutions within this essential trade hub.”
ONE’s acquisition of the stake in Laem Chabang occurs against the backdrop of the Hutchison Group actively seeking to sell off its port terminals worldwide for over a year.
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Ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd has issued an official advisory regarding the implementation of a General Rate Increase (GRI) for shipments moving from the East Coast of South America (ECSA) to the West Coast of South America (WCSA).
According to the notice, this rate hike will cover all types of cargo, including dry, refrigerated (reefer), and special equipment containers. The specific surcharge quantum is set at $200 per container.
The new GRI regulation will officially take effect starting May 1, 2026, and will remain in place until further notice.
Explaining this move, a Hapag-Lloyd representative stated that the rate adjustment is necessary to accurately reflect current market conditions. This surcharge will be applied universally to all containerized shipments flowing on the designated trade lane.
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The cascading effects of the Middle East conflict have transformed routine aviation procurement and logistics into highly dynamic, risk-sensitive operations, demanding continuous coordination among suppliers, operators, and MRO service providers.
The Macro Picture of Operational Airspace
As of late March 2026, the central Middle East flight corridor has essentially ceased operations for regular commercial flights.
Following drone and missile incidents in the UAE and Qatar, the vast majority of regional airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Syria has been closed. Meanwhile, adjacent areas like Israel, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman are operating under varying degrees of restrictions, requiring conditional clearances or the use of contingency routing. Even where airspace remains technically open, flight operations are strictly controlled with limited entry and exit points, stripping away scheduling flexibility and forcing heavy reliance on approved flight corridors.
Consequently, air traffic and Asia-Europe transport flows are now heavily concentrated on two highly constrained routing strategies:
● The Southern Route (via Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman): Offers the most viable continuous flight path but increases distance, prolongs flight times, incurs higher fuel burn, and faces the risk of navigational interference (jamming/spoofing).
● The Northern Route (via the Caucasus and Afghanistan): Presents its own set of hurdles, including complex coordination requirements and limited air traffic services (ATS) in certain segments, necessitating extreme caution in flight planning and contingency procedures.
Both options add hundreds of miles compared to standard Gulf routings, directly driving up block times and operating costs across both passenger and freighter networks. Concurrently, major airlines have slashed or suspended services to key regional destinations, leading to tens of thousands of canceled flights.
For instance, Cathay Pacific has extended its suspension of passenger flights to Dubai and Riyadh until May 31, reallocating capacity to European long-haul routes. A slew of other major names – including Aegean Airlines, airBaltic, Air Canada, Air France-KLM, Delta, IAG, Lufthansa Group, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and Qatar Airways – have simultaneously announced flight cancellations, suspensions, or significant scale-backs of operations through this region spanning several months.
As a result, traditional commercial transport routes for aviation components have been forced to divert through longer, less efficient flight corridors, introducing delays and volatility into a network that was once optimized to the highest degree.
Fuel Price Shock Hits the Supply Chain Directly
The Strait of Hormuz, which previously saw around 20 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products pass through daily in 2025, is now largely closed to commercial shipping, slashing transit volumes by 70–80%. This disruption has sent global fuel prices skyrocketing.
In the aviation industry, where fuel accounts for roughly 20–35% of operating costs, this impact is particularly severe. Jet fuel prices have surged over 60% since late February 2026 (from approximately $87 to $150–200 per barrel), inflicting immediate financial pressure on operators.
The fuel shock is also dictating maintenance decisions. Airlines are deferring shop visits for non-critical maintenance items to preserve liquidity, attempting to maximize the time-on-wing for engines and components.
Rerouting only exacerbates this challenge. Adding two hours of flight time on long-haul sectors translates to burning roughly 20% more fuel, all while paying an 80–100% premium per gallon. This risk is especially brutal for airlines without fuel hedging contracts, who are forced to procure fuel at exorbitant spot prices.
The Fracture of Transit “Mega-Hubs”
The Middle East has long been the nucleus of the global aviation system, serving not only as a transit corridor but also as a centralized “mega-hub” for both cargo operations and MRO services.
Cargo Network Congestion: On the freight front, the Asia-Europe corridor accounted for 21.5% of total global air cargo volumes in 2025. International airports like Dubai and Hamad (home base to Qatar Airways Cargo’s fleet of thirty Boeing 777F freighters) play a pivotal role. Disruptions at these hubs reduced global air freight capacity by approximately 22% in mid-March, while freight rates quadrupled compared to pre-conflict levels.
The capacity slump has intensified the competitive heat for belly-hold space and dedicated freighter payloads. For aviation parts suppliers, consolidating shipments, prioritizing high-value components, and establishing forward-stocking locations have become matters of survival. Transit times for aviation parts have increased by an estimated 20–40%, directly impacting time-critical shipments such as engine rotables, life-limited parts (LLPs), and avionics systems. Even a minor delay can result in Aircraft on Ground (AOG) situations or deferred maintenance.
MRO Infrastructure Under Extreme Pressure: Simultaneously, the region’s MRO infrastructure – valued at approximately $10.55 billion in 2026 with 25–30 Tier 1 providers such as Emirates Engineering, Etihad Engineering, Sanad, and Joramco – has been heavily impacted. Due to prolonged transit times and the fracturing of inbound component flows, MRO providers face immense difficulties in planning workloads and meeting Turnaround Time (TAT) commitments.
Faced with this predicament, some operations are gradually shifting to lower-risk regions such as Turkey and specific territories in Saudi Arabia. This immediately overloads these alternative locations, extending wait times and pushing turnaround schedules into future maintenance cycles.
Stranded Fleets and Materials: The Dual Cost Puzzle for Airlines
In this highly constrained environment, the phenomenon of stranded fleets and materials is becoming increasingly prevalent. Aircraft, engines, and components, rather than undergoing maintenance cycles to quickly return to service, are sitting in storage or trapped at MRO facilities for extended periods due to logistical, regulatory, and geopolitical barriers. Controlled preservation and storage consume thousands of dollars per unit, not to mention insurance and facility management costs.
Concurrently, airlines are under pressure to source alternative capacity at escalating rates, creating a dual cost burden. The situation is further aggravated by war risk insurance premiums, which have shockingly spiked by 50–500% in areas adjacent to the conflict zone.
Even when opportunities for recovery arise, repositioning fleets and materials remains incredibly costly and complex due to squeezed air freight capacity and limited routing options.
Proactive Adaptation Strategies
Even before the conflict escalated, operators were grappling with immense pressure regarding parts supply, MRO capacity, and supply chain reliability. The current geopolitical landscape is truly testing the endurance of the entire industry.
Core priorities right now include: establishing real-time inventory visibility, forward-stocking critical rotables and consumables, consolidating shipments, and optimizing dynamic routing across multiple hubs. To realize this, the adoption of digital supply chain management platforms is no longer optional; it is the vital “key” enabling operators to pivot flexibly and mitigate risks to the absolute minimum amidst the eye of this volatile storm.
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In the event of a federal government shutdown, most essential freight operations are not expected to be affected. This is because the agencies operating these programs are often funded by separate mechanisms such as the Highway Trust Fund, or their employees are considered “essential” and will continue working.
However, this year, the Trump administration has threatened to use the shutdown as a pretext for further federal staff cuts, creating uncertainty about the extent of the impact on government employees, including those working at agencies under the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
Jameson Rice, a transport attorney and partner at the law firm Holland & Knight, said: “The Department of Transport’s specialized agencies are largely responsible for safety functions, so whenever you cut from there, you risk reducing safety. That might not be felt immediately, but it will be in the long run.”
Essential Operations Remain Ongoing
According to the latest contingency plans, short-term safety functions related to domestic freight transport will continue, including:
- Road inspections conducted by the Federal Motor Transport Safety Administration (FMCSA).
- Rail accident investigations and safety recommendations by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
- The U.S. Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) ship and port infrastructure security programs will continue to utilize “remaining budget balances.”
- Inspection of imported goods at land and sea borders is handled by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), with approximately 93% of personnel retained.
- Ship inspections and port security are performed by the U.S. Coast Guard, with approximately 95% of personnel retained.
Risk of Delays from Other Agencies
While most CBP personnel are considered essential, this may not be true for other agencies that also oversee cargo inspections, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Activities such as on-site investigations, product testing, and recalls by the CPSC could be halted, potentially disrupting the supply chain.
Cindy Allen, an international trade consultant and former CBP executive, shared: “What is sometimes not considered essential is that additional inspections of shipments may be required and carried out by government agencies other than CBP.”
“So, products subject to government oversight may require additional review or inspection which could be affected, meaning there is a potential for slowing down the flow of goods,” she added.
Specific Impact on Regulatory Agencies
- Federal Maritime Commission (FMC): Will be heavily impacted. According to the plan, all “work aimed at advancing the agency’s mission to ensure a competitive and reliable international shipping supply system, support the U.S. economy, and protect the public from unfair and fraudulent practices” will be halted.
- Surface Shipping Board (STB): Activities related to processing applications, filing legal documents, and most litigation are likely to be suspended. This could impact the timeline for reviewing the $85 billion merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern.
Container Shipbuilding Orders Exceed Historical Limits
According to the latest data from Linerlytica, the number of new container shipbuilding orders globally has reached 10.4 million TEU. This is an unprecedented figure in the history of the container shipping industry, pushing the orderbook-to-fleet ratio to 31.7% – the highest since 2010.
This means that for every three container ships currently in operation, one new ship will be delivered in the next few years. This rapid fleet growth raises the question: will the market have enough demand to absorb this enormous amount of capacity?
Comparisons from other sources show discrepancies, but all revolve around record highs:
- Clarksons Research and Alphaliner recorded a total of approximately 9.87 million TEU in orders.
- Clarksons added that, this year alone, the number of new contracts signed reached 275 vessels, double the average of the past 10 years.
These figures indicate that shipping lines are still aggressively expanding their fleets, despite the less-than-optimistic global demand outlook.
Concerns about a cycle of oversupply
Linerlytica issued a rather clear warning:
“The last time the order rate exceeded 30% was during the period 2004–2009. As a result, the container shipping industry experienced a prolonged period of overcapacity for a decade.”
This scenario is at risk of repeating itself. Besides the vessels already under contract, over 1 million TEU from pending orders will join the fleet before the end of the year. This further exacerbates the supply-demand imbalance.
Market data illustrates this discrepancy:
- The global container fleet currently stands at 145 points, compared to 100 in 2019.
- Container transport demand during the same period only reached 113 points, and even including the impact of many ships having to detour around the Cape of Good Hope, the figure only increased to 130 points.
- This means that transport capacity is increasing more than twice as fast as actual demand. Unless there is an unexpected boost in global trade, this surplus will persist in the market until at least 2029.
Freight rates face heavy pressure
One of the most direct and obvious consequences is that freight rates are unlikely to remain stable. The Xeneta freight analysis platform indicates that, although freight rates may fluctuate upwards due to geopolitical factors (e.g., tensions in the Red Sea forcing many ships to take longer detours), the core issue remains global oversupply.
- Supply: continuously expanding due to a surge in new orders.
- Demand: recovering slowly, insufficient to absorb the added capacity.
In this context, shipping companies are forced to consider cutting operating capacity or accepting fierce price competition to retain customers. This leads to the risk of a new “freight price war”—something the entire industry wants to avoid but is very difficult to control.
The Challenge for Leading Shipping Companies
The top 12 largest container shipping companies in the world (as of August 2025) currently control the majority of global capacity. With the continuous addition of new vessels, they face a double challenge: expanding their network to utilize resources while simultaneously adjusting capacity to avoid further exacerbating the oversupply situation.
Financially strong shipping companies can weather the storm in the long term, but smaller companies or those heavily reliant on short-term freight rates will be severely affected. This could lead to a wave of restructuring or mergers in the coming years, similar to what happened after the 2008-2009 crisis.
Conclusion
The record number of container shipbuilding orders brings optimism to shipyards and reflects the confidence of shipping companies in long-term demand. However, behind this boom lies an undeniable reality: supply is exceeding demand at an alarming rate.
Without an effective balancing act, the container shipping industry could fall into a vicious cycle: overcapacity, plummeting freight rates, and eroded profits. These developments will continue to have a profound impact on the entire global supply chain for years to come.
Interlink will continue to monitor and update on major fluctuations in the container shipping market, helping businesses and customers proactively respond and optimize their logistics strategies in the current volatile environment.
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