Trendwatch: Trump Could Add 25 Percent Tariff on Chinese Goods to Get Leverage on Iran; Maersk container ship makes second Red Sea transit; China’s 2025 record export surge expected to slow in December

Maersk container ship makes second Red Sea transit

The Maersk Denver has become the second vessel from the world’s second largest container line to transit the Red Sea after a nearly two-year hiatus due to the threat of Houthi attacks.

Maersk said the transit by the US-flagged Maersk Denver of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait was made successfully on 11 – 12 January. As with the previous transit by the Maersk Sebarok on 18 – 19 December 2025, the Maersk Denver is deployed the MECL service which connects India and the Middle East with the US East Coast, which has been transiting via the Cape of Good Hope.

China’s 2025 record export surge expected to slow in December

China's record run of exports, driven by diversification in shipment destinations, is expected to have slowed in the final month of 2025, and the outlook for the coming year depends on manufacturers' ability to expand further into new markets.

Beijing's resilience to renewed tariff tensions since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last January has emboldened Chinese firms to shift their focus to Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America to offset U.S. duties, despite resistance from import markets concerned about Chinese overcapacity.

French farmers target food imports as Mercosur protests continue

Farmers stopped lorries at France's largest container port and on the main motorway north of Paris on Monday, conducting symbolic checks on imported food in protest at an EU-Mercosur trade deal they say will lead to unfair competition.

Farmers in France, the European Union's largest agricultural producer, have been protesting for weeks over grievances including the proposed trade pact with South America’s Mercosur bloc.

U.S. Cargo Imports Expected to Tick Up in January

Major U.S. ports are expected to see their first month-to-month increase in imported cargo volumes since mid-2025 in January, as retailers look to stock up on inventory ahead of February's Lunar New Year holiday in Asia.

According to Global Port Tracker data released on January 9 by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, U.S. import volumes are forecast to come in around 2.1 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) for the opening month of 2026, which would be a 6.6% increase over December 2025's total. However, that would still represent a 5.3% year-over-year dip, with additional declines expected in each of February (-4.6%), March (-12.4%), and April (-8.1%), driven in part by the ongoing economic uncertainty brought on by the Trump administration's tariff policies.

JAL Cargo launches new rail-air service to speed up transit times

JAL Cargo has partnered with rail operator JR East to accelerate domestic shipment transfers in eastern Japan, targeting time-sensitive commodities such as seafood.

The new service, branded JAL de Hako-byun, will launch on 13 January and will leverage JR East’s Shinkansen high-speed rail network to move cargo more rapidly from regional production areas to international gateways.

JAL said the rail-air combination would deliver significantly shorter lead times, high punctuality and enhanced network connectivity.

Cyberattacks on Logistics Are Set to Double in 2026, Report Finds

A new report from Everstream Analytics finds that cyberattacks targeting logistics companies are expected to double in 2026, following several years of sharp growth. The research tracks incidents affecting carriers, ports, 3PLs, and other logistics providers and shows attacks are up nearly 1,000% since 2021.

In 2025 alone, cyber incidents tied to logistics jumped 61%, climbing from 132 cases to 213. Hackers are moving away from hitting individual companies and instead going after shared transportation networks, where a single breach can ripple across thousands of businesses.

Airbus Expects Supply Woes to Drive More Engine Shortages in 2026

Airbus SE expects aircraft engines to remain in tight supply this year, suggesting that the bottlenecks that have complicated output in recent years show no signs of abating any time soon.

The timing of engine deliveries on its bestselling A320 narrowbody continue to be an issue, Christian Scherer, the outgoing chief executive officer for Airbus commercial aircraft, said on a media call on January 12. The company is still in discussions with Pratt & Whitney, one of the two suppliers of engines on the A320, about future volumes, Scherer said.