Rates are climbing again, and the biggest carriers are not hiding their satisfaction. Today’s briefing runs from a fresh Kuehne+Nagel bet in Cambodia to Maersk’s bumper quarter, with warehouse fraud, humanoid robots and a tungsten squeeze in between. A wide morning, in other words.
Operations & 3PL
Kuehne+Nagel is building a new Container Freight Station in Phnom Penh, due for completion in June 2027. The site will offer more than 20,000 square metres of warehouse space and more than triple the group’s existing CFS capacity in Cambodia. Its position near Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville ports, the international airport and road links to Thailand and Vietnam points to a play for cross-border regional volumes. Source: Container News
DHL Express has finished a $204 million expansion of its Shenzhen gateway, its largest mainland China investment yet. Daily processing capacity at the Bao’an airport site now reaches roughly 900 tons, three times the previous figure, and the project adds more than 1,000 jobs. A new daily Boeing 767 freighter rotation will link Shanghai, Bangkok, Bahrain and Brussels, adding up to 50 tons of daily capacity. Source: Logistics Management
Not every logistics balance sheet is thriving. SF Reit, the Hong Kong trust controlled by SF Holding and focused on logistics property, posted first-half distributable income of HK$110.7 million (US$14.11 million), down 7.3% year on year. Revenue slipped 4.6% to HK$219.3 million, though occupancy held steady. A reminder that warehouse yields are under pressure even where sheds stay full. Source: SCMP Business
And a cautionary tale from New Jersey. A former Williams-Sonoma vice president pleaded guilty to fraud after taking $16.3 million in kickbacks from vendors supplying warehouse equipment. Eric Marsiglia oversaw racking, forklifts and facility leasing across US sites over roughly four years to 2022. Procurement governance, it turns out, still matters. Source: American Shipper
Technology & Automation
Volvo Trucks says over-the-air software updates are paying off. Drivers can trigger updates overnight or during breaks, which the manufacturer credits with cutting unplanned stops by 24% and saving fleets an estimated $60 million in avoided downtime. Fleet uptime, increasingly, is a software problem. Source: American Shipper
Acepillar, a Qisda unit, has pushed its industrial PC and motion-control platform into humanoid robotics as demand shifts toward high-compute, low-latency control. The company says its integrated computing platform has cleared overseas customer validation, entered mass delivery, and is now running in humanoid robot deployments across Europe and the US. Source: DIGITIMES
Further upstream, Nvidia is already aligning its supply chain for the Feynman generation targeted at the second half of 2028, even as Vera Rubin enters mass production. The push is set to drive upgrades at TSMC’s A16 node and its co-packaged optics roadmap, with knock-on orders likely across the equipment and materials chain. Source: DIGITIMES
Sustainability & Energy
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach plan to raise the financial incentives paid to ocean carriers that send their lowest-emitting vessels through the San Pedro Bay complex. Sweetening the reward for cleaner ships is a familiar lever, and one the two largest US container gateways are leaning on harder. Source: SupplyChainBrain
Malaysia’s Port of Tanjung Pelepas has commissioned the country’s first fleet of electric prime movers. The first 21 units, supplied by Terberg Tractors Malaysia, entered service on 11 August; a further 31 will follow in stages by the end of September, for a planned 52. The terminal reports a 48% cut in emissions from the switch. Source: Container News
On the fuels front, Lloyd’s Register’s Maritime Decarbonisation Hub and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping have released a suite of safety and training resources for ammonia-fuelled vessels. The toxicity of ammonia makes crew competency and safety management the gating factor, not the engines. Source: Hellenic Shipping
International Markets
Maersk had a quarter to remember. Q2 revenue reached $15.8 billion, up from $13.1 billion a year earlier, and operating profit nearly doubled to $1.6 billion as spot rates surged and demand held across segments. The carrier lifted its full-year guidance. Volatility, for now, is working in the incumbents’ favour. Source: SupplyChainBrain
DP World echoed the theme, posting first-half revenue of $12.7 billion, up 13.1% year on year. Growth across logistics, marine services and its international ports and terminals network offset softer activity at Jebel Ali, as the operator worked around trade disruption in the Middle East. Source: Hellenic Shipping
A quieter squeeze is building in critical materials. Tungsten prices have jumped 666% year on year as China’s export controls bite and the US Commerce Department restricts exports of tungsten scrap and battery black mass. The metal feeds semiconductors, aerospace and defence, so the pinch reaches well beyond one commodity desk. Source: DIGITIMES
In Korea, SK Shipping and H-Line Shipping, both owned by private equity firm Hahn & Co., will swap tankers and contracts to build one of the world’s largest LNG carrier operators. Consolidation in gas shipping continues, and this one keeps the assets inside a single owner’s stable. Source: gCaptain
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Updated daily — your morning briefing on global supply chain.
