From Hormuz to the Amazon: A Market Under Pressure

Ocean freight this week is a study in divergence: Pacific rates are splitting by coast, Asia-Europe spreads are widening, and a new blockade declaration just widened the Middle East risk map. Even Lars's connection from France needed a reroute this week: his audio came through rough enough that part of the episode runs on AI voiceover instead. Turns out signal disruption isn't just a shipping lane problem.
In this episode, Lars Jensen and Caroline Weaver cover:
• Why Northeast Asia is pushing USWC rates up 14.6% while pulling USEC rates down 1.6%, in the same week
• The Houthis' newly declared blockade on Saudi Arabia, and why it threatens the last working bypass route around the Strait of Hormuz
• Rising bunker costs, a new 25% Section 301 tariff on Brazil, and a US inventory picture that Lars calls "walking on a knife edge"
• Low water surcharges now hitting the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Rhine, and the Amazon, all at once
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