Maritime risk dominated the wires overnight. A fragile US-Iran deal hangs over the Strait of Hormuz, freight rates keep climbing, and insurers are bracing for the bill. Away from the water, robotics deals and warehouse automation kept their own pace. Here is what mattered in the last 24 hours.
Operations & 3PL
CLdN has cleared the last conditions to absorb Samskip’s quay-to-quay and door-to-door freight business between the Continent and the UK and Ireland. The services fold into the CLdN network on 29 June, covering the container routes Samskip runs out of Dutch ports. Source: Hellenic Shipping News
AD Ports Group opened an integrated Iraq-UAE corridor linking Khalifa Port with Umm Qasr. A weekly direct connection now carries container and Ro-Ro cargo, with the wider aim of feeding trade across Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the GCC, Türkiye and Europe. Source: Container News
Gebrüder Weiss wrapped up a sizeable project move, shipping a full Doppelmayr cable car system to Penang Hill in Malaysia. More than 60 containers travelled from Wolfurt, Austria, by truck, rail and sea, with the provider handling customs and final delivery on the ground. Source: Container News
Poczta Polska is modernising its fleet with 230 cash-in-transit vehicles built on MAN chassis, with armoured bodywork from consortium partner Interplay. The operator framed the investment as strategic to its cash logistics operations. Source: Post & Parcel
Technology & Automation
DHL has moved its Zelostech autonomous shuttles out of pilot mode. At the Advanced Regional Center in Singapore, fully electric driverless vehicles now run point-to-point transfers around the clock. Each carries up to three pallets or 1.5 tons, averaging 40 trips and 28 kilometres a day, at roughly half the running cost of a diesel truck. Source: American Shipper
Samsung Electronics is reportedly weighing an investment in Boston Dynamics, the robotics firm held by Hyundai Motor Group. The interest lands as the humanoid robot race draws in more of Asia’s electronics heavyweights. Source: DIGITIMES
Techman Robot brought lightweight collaborative robots and AI vision systems to the ME Assembly & Automation show in Bangkok, courting automotive, electronics and food processing manufacturers across Thailand. Factory automation is picking up as the region reworks its supply chains. Source: DIGITIMES
And the chips behind all that compute are in demand. Taiwan’s memory designers are heading for a sharply stronger 2026, with rising prices and AI workloads pulling the industry toward data centre applications. One forecast points to a 245% revenue jump. Source: DIGITIMES
Sustainability & Energy
Braemar joined the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, signing on to its Commercial Pathways to Transition workstream. The shipbroker’s market read is meant to inform how commercial and financing structures can speed up maritime decarbonisation. Source: Container News
Nuclear propulsion is creeping back onto shipping’s strategic agenda. Speaking at Posidonia, Lloyd’s Register’s Panos Mitrou said the technology is re-emerging as owners hunt for realistic decarbonisation routes. Whether the economics follow is another question. Source: Hellenic Shipping News
Athens-based EMA Group used the same stage to push CarbonFit, its onboard carbon capture system. The group reported growing interest from shipowners in carbon capture, utilisation and storage as a practical near-term lever. Source: Hellenic Shipping News
International Markets
Chubb launched a $400m Hormuz war risk consortium at Lloyd’s. The move could add as much as $1.4bn of capacity to a market already wrestling with overcapacity, a sign of how much underwriters expect the Gulf to stay volatile. Source: Lloyd’s List
Analysts are not betting on a quick recovery. Even if this week’s US-Iran truce holds, full container volumes through Hormuz are at least three months out, according to ocean and air freight intelligence sources. Backlogs have built up for months. Source: DC Velocity
In US trucking, the recent tightening is being read as supply-driven, but that misses half the picture. Looking at SONAR’s accepted volume and rejection indices together, carriers are the variable that shifted most. How long the cycle runs is the open question. Source: American Shipper
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