Volatility has stopped being the exception. The 2026 State of Logistics narrative is bleeding into daily operations: a fresh wave of trucking failures in the United States, more 3PL consolidation, harder questions about how humans and robots actually work together, and energy moves redrawing the map for European shippers. Here is what mattered overnight.
Operations & 3PL
LRT Group has acquired Chattanooga-based F2F Transport, folding the carrier into its growing portfolio of transportation businesses. Fort Payne, Alabama-based LRT framed the deal as a way to widen dedicated freight access for F2F’s network of owner-operators and broaden service offerings. Source: American Shipper
Rhenus named Scott Dudley managing director of Air & Ocean operations in the UK. Dudley first joined the German forwarder in 2019 and has run air and ocean desks across Germany, the US and the UK. He brings close to two decades in the sector to a market where forwarders are fighting hard for volume. Source: The Loadstar
CMA CGM is moving to acquire Crystal Aero Solutions to support its expanding freighter fleet and the wider air-cargo build-out under CEVA and the group’s aviation arm. Bringing maintenance capability in-house signals how serious the carrier is about scaling air freight rather than buying it on the open market. Source: Supply Chain 24/7
The distress keeps spreading. A new wave of Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 filings hit trucking companies, dealers, repair shops and logistics providers between 5 June and this week, with hundreds of jobs cut. Elevated operating costs and tight financing are still squeezing carriers that survived the last downturn. Source: American Shipper
Technology & Automation
Workers paired with robots do better when they keep switching partners. New research from Erasmus University in Rotterdam found warehouse pickers hit higher productivity when they rotate dynamically among several autonomous mobile robots instead of being tied to one. A small finding with real implications for how goods-to-person fleets get deployed. Source: DC Velocity
European road transport groups want to kill the paper waybill. A coalition has launched a technical expert group to accelerate uptake of eCMR, the digital protocol to the UN’s 1956 CMR Convention governing international road freight contracts. Harmonised digital documents would cut friction at borders and in dispute handling. Source: DC Velocity
Demand for AI skills in supply chain jumped 387% from Q1 2023 to Q1 2026, according to Gartner, which analysed more than 35 million job postings. The talent gap is widening faster than companies can hire their way out of it, the firm warned. Source: Logistics Business
And the basics still leak time. A new L2L survey found many manufacturing supervisors burn roughly four hours per shift on manual data work, even as investment in software and AI tools climbs. The automation spend is real; the floor-level payoff is lagging. Source: Supply Chain 24/7
Sustainability & Energy
WinGD passed a milestone on ammonia propulsion. The engine builder completed Factory Acceptance Testing of its first X72DF-A ammonia-fuelled engine, witnessed by Lloyd’s Register, ABS and the China Classification Society. It will power a 210,000 dwt bulk carrier built for CMB.TECH. Source: Container News
Hiab is expanding its MULTILIFT demountables plant in Raisio, Finland, modernising production and adding a showroom. Sustainability sits at the centre of the investment: the site will move off district heating toward energy-efficient solutions and heat recovery to support its climate targets. Source: Container News
Brussels tightened the screws on Russian oil logistics. The EU sanctioned the shipping subsidiaries of Gazprom and Lukoil, extending its crackdown on the so-called shadow fleet moving Russian crude. Charterers and insurers will be reading the fine print closely. Source: gCaptain
CATL is about to start production at its Hungary plant, a facility executives say will reach up to 100 GWh a year, the largest battery factory in Europe. It lands as the gap between Europe’s domestic cell output and battery imports keeps widening. Source: DIGITIMES
International Markets
Bangladesh scrapped its cap on foreign ownership of inland container depots and off-dock facilities, effective 1 July, to pull in foreign direct investment. Announced in the national budget on 11 June, the move opens a fast-growing logistics market to outside operators. Source: The Loadstar
Chinese containerised exports to the US surged 35% year on year in May, the strongest since March 2021, after IEEPA tariffs were lifted. Solar and AI-related goods led the rebound and pushed transpacific rates higher. Source: The Loadstar
The Port of Los Angeles is budgeting for a 7% drop in container volumes next year. Its FY2026/27 plan assumes 9.3 million container units against a more cautious trade outlook, even as the port pushes a $3.4 billion budget with higher spending. Source: DC Velocity
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