Did You Know That…

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…May box volumes hit all-time highs.

• Year-to-date traffic tracking 4.3% through the first five months of 2025 against last year

• Double-digit percentage gains witnessed on Asia-Europe trade, while headhaul transpacific numbers down markedly on 2024

• Latest liner industry numbers reveal volume shifts as market reacts to tariff uncertainty

Global container traffic hit a record 16.3m teu in May 2025, up 4.9% from April, driven by strong demand in Europe and from the emerging markets. US tariff policies continue to dent North American volumes, with Chinese imports notably down despite a healthy increase in traffic from Southeast Asian countries that has helped mitigate the impact.

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…Container carriers slash transpacific capacity as rates sink.

• Carriers cut transpacific shipping capacity by over 20% as spot rates drop sharply

• Expected peak season demand has failed to appear amid tariff uncertainty

• Shippers are holding back as US trade negotiations and deadlines remain unresolved

Transpacific shipping lines have slashed capacity as spot rates plunge and shippers pull back, with ongoing US tariff uncertainty disrupting peak season demand and clouding the outlook for global container trade.

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…This week we welcomed 3 new members in the South Europe / Balkan region:

TEU Shipping & Forwarding Group in Greece, Serbia and Romania — welcome on board!
Some other countries in the Balkan region are still work in progress. Attached find the latest update of our members list.

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…Yemen's Houthi rebels attack another ship in the Red Sea, killing 3.

New attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on cargo ships in the Red Sea have raised fears of a renewed campaign targeting a key maritime route for international trade.

An attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea killed three mariners and wounded two others, a European Union naval force said Tuesday, highlighting the danger of the group's renewed campaign targeting a key maritime route for international trade.

The attack on the Greek-owned Eternity C follows the Iranian-backed Houthis attacking another vessel, the bulk carrier Magic Seas, on Sunday in the Red Sea that they said subsequently sank. The assaults are the first Houthi attacks on shipping since late 2024 on the waterway that had begun to see more ships pass through in recent weeks.

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…Houthi attacks raise risk assessment questions for Red Sea transits.

Industry bodies and security analysts are urgently reminding ship operators to carry out ownership affiliation checks in the wake of recent Houthi attacks.

Two Houthi attacks on two ships with visible affiliations to recent Israel port calls have called into question the level of due diligence being invested in risk assessments for shipping entering high risk areas.

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…China is building an entire empire on data.

It will change the online economy and the evolution of artificial intelligence.

CHINA’S 1.1BN internet users churn out more data than anyone else on Earth. So does the country’s vast network of facial-recognition cameras. As autonomous cars speed down roads and flying ones criss-cross the skies, the quality and value of the information flowing from emerging technologies will soar. Yet the volume of data is not the only thing setting China apart. The government is also embedding data management into the economy and national security. That has implications for China, and holds lessons for democracies.

China’s planners see data as a factor of production, alongside labour, capital and land. Xi Jinping, the president, has called data a foundational resource “with a revolutionary impact” on international competition. The scope of this vision is unparalleled, affecting everything from civil liberties to the profits of internet firms and China’s pursuit of the lead in artificial intelligence.

Another big step is a digital ID, due to be launched on July 15th. Under this, the central authorities could control a ledger of every person’s websites and apps. Connecting someone’s name with their online activity will become harder for the big tech firms which used to run the system. They will see only an anonymised stream of digits and letters.

Chillingly, however, the ledger may one day act as a panopticon for the state. China’s ultimate goal appears to be to create an integrated national data ocean, covering not just consumers but industrial and state activity, too. The advantages are obvious, and include economies of scale for training AI models and lower barriers to entry for small new firms. Some of the disadvantages are equally clear, however. The state has a poor record of managing personal data: Shanghai’s police lost 1bn records to a hacker. If private firms lose control over the data they create, profits could suffer, diminishing the incentives to innovate.

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…My Freighter connects Tashkent and Hangzhou.

The Uzbek airline My Freighter has completed its first flight to Xiaoshan International Airport (HGH), which serves Hangzhou, thus strengthening its China–Central Asia cargo network.

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…As announced earlier, the 2026 AGM will be held in Istanbul from 24-27 March

It will be hosted by our friends from ES International and ROTA Transport. If not done already, mark the dates in your calendar. More news about the event will follow shortly.

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…Welcome to North Korea’s Benidorm.

The hermit kingdom’s new resort is for its own enjoyment, not foreigners’.

LESS THAN a decade ago the Kalma peninsula was still being used to test weapons. But on June 24th the Wonsan-Kalma Beach Resort was at last ready enough for Kim Jong Un to relax poolside. With his wife, daughter and cigarettes by his side, North Korea’s dictator looked on as a man shot out of a waterslide.

Wonsan-Kalma — which boasts of 5km beaches, cinemas, shopping malls, restaurants and 54 hotels — opened to North Koreans on July 1st. A Russian tour company plans to bring a group on July 7th. But those keen to visit shouldn’t pack their bags quite yet.

In 2019 about 350,000 Chinese tourists came to North Korea, according to calculations by NKNews, a South Korea-based outlet. With each Chinese visitor spending around $500, they estimated that the regime would net a tidy $175m in revenues. Some 4,000–5,000 Western tourists also visited every year, paying considerably more per head.

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…Trump hits 14 nations with higher tariffs.

The US President announced new import tariffs on 14 countries, mainly in Asia. EU readies for escalation as Trump puts 35% tariff on Canada.

US President Donald Trump has announced new tariffs against Canada from next month in a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney. The EU is expecting to receive a similar letter on Friday.

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…Peak season may have already peaked as Trump tariffs darken outlook.

• NRF predicts August–November US imports will fall 18% year on year and will be down 7% versus August–November 2023, when freight rates were particularly weak

• New tariff letters from US President Donald Trump have ‘only served to further increase supply chain uncertainty’ as importers confront ‘erratic policies’

• US imports from China are falling much faster than overall imports, given that total average tariffs on China are still around 50%

The main effect of Trump’s tariffs on container shipping in the first half was on timing — frontloading and pauses. During the second half, tariff impacts could be increasingly negative for volumes.

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…Gemini to reintroduce direct Asia–Europe calls at Aarhus and Gothenburg.

The first cracks in the Gemini partners’ philosophy of limiting direct calls on their Asia–Europe services to hub ports have appeared. Maersk has announced it would reintroduce direct calls at the Scandinavian ports of Aarhus and Gothenburg, in response to mounting congestion at Europe’s hub ports.

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…The American Senate passed Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”

A colossal piece of legislation containing trillions of dollars in tax reductions, billions in spending on border security and swingeing cuts to welfare programmes and clean-energy projects.

The dollar edged up against other major currencies, after falling to three-year lows as investors assessed the fiscal impact of the tax-cutting jamboree in the “BBB”…

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…We are developing a new functionality on the EAA website

A protected login for visiting the website features like the members directory. We expect that this new feature will be available within the next weeks.

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…Gazing at greenery has been proven to reduce stress levels — even if it's only on photos.

…Most kangaroos are left-handed.

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🌐 This DYKT news bulletin will be published on the website as well, go to www.eaanetwork.com

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Have a good day and weekend ahead!