Freight Industry Briefing: Maersk Returns to Suez, Intermodal Surge, and AI Reshaping Supply Chains

## Freight Industry Briefing: Maersk Returns to Suez, Intermodal Surge, and AI Reshaping Supply Chains ### Maersk Restores Suez Canal Service Amid Q1 Losses Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk is returning another headhaul service to the full Suez Canal-Red Sea route, according to FreightWaves, in a move that signals cautious optimism about security conditions in the waterway. The announcement comes just days before the carrier is due to report second-quarter earnings, and follows a significant first-quarter loss attributed in part to the prolonged Cape of Good Hope diversions that added cost and transit time to Asia-Europe trades. Maersk confirmed the change is a structural adjustment to one of its Gemini Cooperation services, operated in partnership with Hapag-Lloyd. The return to the shorter Suez routing is expected to improve schedule reliability and reduce operating costs, though analysts will be watching closely to see whether the security situation in the Red Sea remains stable enough to sustain the change. ### Intermodal Rail Eating into Trucking Volumes Trucking volumes are declining, but FreightWaves reports the cause is not economic weakness — it is a deliberate modal shift toward intermodal rail. Driven by inventory rebuilding cycles and a meaningful cost advantage over over-the-road transport, shippers are increasingly routing freight via rail-based intermodal services. SONAR data cited by FreightWaves illustrates the scale of the transition, with implications for capacity pricing and carrier strategy across both modes. ### Cargo Theft Losses Top $304 Million in Q2 Cargo theft losses across the US supply chain surged to more than $304.6 million in the second quarter of 2026, even as the total number of reported incidents declined, according to CargoNet data highlighted by FreightWaves. The divergence between incident volume and financial loss points to increasingly sophisticated, high-value theft operations. FreightWaves also reported on a separate fraud case involving Little Debbie snack brand shipments, underscoring the growing threat of identity and broker fraud within freight networks. ### AI Delivering Measurable Supply Chain Gains Artificial intelligence is moving from pilot programmes to proven operational impact in logistics. Adrian Smith, CEO of supply chain technology firm Ripple, told FreightWaves that one client achieved a 95% reduction in manual processing effort following deployment of the company's AI platform. Smith outlined how automation is freeing logistics teams to focus on exception management and strategic decision-making rather than routine data handling — a shift with significant implications for workforce planning and operational efficiency across the industry. ### Industrial Growth Underpins Freight Demand Outlook Underpinning much of the sector's activity is a robust US industrial economy. FreightWaves reports the ISM manufacturing index has registered 55.6 for a seventh consecutive month, with growth driven by AI data centre construction, tax incentives, and resilient consumer spending. Analysts caution that risks remain, but the sustained expansion provides a constructive backdrop for freight demand through 2027.