Global shipping costs shift amid capacity shocks and new tariffs

This cluster tracks rapidly changing freight markets across air, ocean, tanker, and trucking as 2026 begins. Air cargo is facing a sharp capacity shock from Gulf airspace closures, while VLCC oil shipping rates are unexpectedly surging and container shipping is resetting prices, capacity, and contracts. Structural shifts—new carrier strategies, tariff changes, and law-and-order pressures in trucking—are unfolding alongside benchmark data like the deep sea freight PPI. Together, these signals point to a more volatile but potentially higher-rate environment that shippers, carriers, and investors must navigate carefully.