Global Trade Disruption: What’s Happening with Shipping, Rail, and Trucking?
28.04.2025
We all knew this was coming, right??
If you want to spot global trade trends early, just watch shipping, air cargo, rail, and trucking — the four pillars of the supply chain.
- Shipping: the workhorse moving containers packed with everything we buy.
- Air cargo: the VIP lane for critical, high-value goods.
- Rail: the heavy hauler, moving massive volumes inland from ports to distribution hubs.
- Trucking: the unsung hero that ties it all together on the ground.
Right now, we’re seeing early signs of disruption:
👉 West Coast ports like LA and Long Beach handle most U.S. imports, feeding goods into intermodal rail networks, especially through hubs like Chicago.
👉 Any sustained rail slowdown = major national bottlenecks.
👉 Alarming development: Seattle has no international vessels docked right now. Normally, we'd expect a slowdown a few weeks out — not immediately.
Are you starting to see signs at secondary ports or in the rail network yet?