The Freight Buyers' Club

Hosted by Mike King

Business News Commentary

Website RSS feed

Episodes

163

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

About the show

The Freight Buyers’ Club podcast is a new home for anyone with a professional interest in international trade, container shipping, procurement, logistics and air cargo. Each episode your host, award-winning journalist Mike King, will be speaking to leading decision-makers, analysts, journalists, operators and shippers to get their take on current freight and logistics markets and the challenges and opportunities ahead. You can subscribe to receive each episode direct to your inbox at: thefreightbuyersclub.com

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 15, 202658 min

Is Global Trade Fragmenting for Good? Customs, Tariffs and the New Rules of Importing: What Freight Buyers Need To Know

A year ago, we asked whether global trade was entering an era of chaos. A year on, it looks less like chaos and more like a new, fragmented normal: the US has built a new, stacked tariff regime out of four separate legal authorities, the EU has ended its duty-free threshold for cheap parcels, and customs authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are quietly redefining what it means to import something legally. In this episode: The US’s new tariff regime, stacking four separate legal authorities, including fresh forced labour tariffs on sixty trading partners The EU’s flat €3 customs duty on parcels under €150, and its impact on Shein, Temu and AliExpress US Customs and Border Protection’s purge of millions of importer records The EU’s Customs Data Hub and where European customs reform stands WiseTech’s VerifyWise, built in part on its newly acquired FRDM.ai, and how it maps suppliers and minimises risk Is this a genuinely new global trading order, or the same old protectionism with a new label on it? Featuring: Stephen Tracey, General Manager for Customs Product Europe, WiseTech Global Cindy Allen, CEO, Trade Force Multiplier Roel Gevaers, Professor, University of Antwerp / Academic Director, Antwerp Management School Chapters: 00:00 Coming up, cold open and introductions 03:00 Opening salvo: fragmentation, data as the new border, and economic security 07:00 Cindy: trade as a “team sport” 12:00 Cindy: this summer’s tariff changes, explained 17:00 Stephen: where fragmentation bites hardest for European traders 19:00 Stephen: the EU’s three euro parcel duty 21:00 Stephen: the Customs Data Hub and EU reform timeline 23:00 Stephen: where AI actually helps in customs 25:00 Stephen: VerifyWise, FRDM.ai and supplier risk 27:00 Cindy: are the forced labour tariffs genuine, or IEEPA relabelled? 31:00 Roel: Europe’s view on the forced labour tariffs, and risk to Shein and Temu 35:00 Roel: is there a precedent for this pace of change? 36:00 Roel: China’s response, and how the e-tailers adapted 40:00 Roel: the European carmakers analogy, and whether this is good policy 43:00 Roel: where next for the WTO and WCO? 44:00 Cindy: SME importers, refunds and the cost of compliance 48:00 Stephen: how CargoWise responds to a sudden rule change 51:00 Five years out: can trade stay connected as policy diverges? 55:00 Final thoughts: the one thing to get right next year 57:00 Thanks and goodbyes #GlobalTrade #Customs #Tariffs #ForcedLabour #SupplyChain #Logistics #FreightBuyersClub

October 13, 202659 min

Advantage Carrier: John McCown, Nick Bailey and Jimmy Suroto on $6bn Carrier Profits, 49.9% Reliability and a 2027 Overcapacity Warning

Container shipping has become "advantage carrier", according to John McCown of The McCown Report. US demand on the transpacific has been flat for a second year, yet spot rates have soared, and by John's count carriers made around $6bn in net income in the second quarter, seven times the first. So what can shippers actually do about it? In this container shipping special, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, Mike King is joined by three people who track this market more closely than most: John McCown, publisher of The McCown Report and author of Giants of the Sea Nick Bailey, co-founder of The Signal House and former lead analyst for logistics and services at A.P. Moller-Maersk Jimmy Suroto, founder of Nava Analytics & Research and a PSA veteran We cover: Why rates have climbed so sharply while US demand stays flat, and what John calls "gotcha surcharges" Schedule reliability falling to 49.9% in August, the lowest since 2022 according to Sea-Intelligence, and why Nick says a global average hides your real exposure Port congestion in Asia, a typhoon season John calls the worst in a decade, the Middle East war, and why he believes carriers have learned to profit from disruption Why Asia-Europe and transpacific spot rates have gone in opposite directions Nick's argument that supply chains are now constrained by architecture, not capacity, and how to separate customer, defensive and distortion demand The long shift from West Coast to East and Gulf Coast ports, Jones Act waivers and US maritime policy COSCO, the FMC and the 9 November deadline for US port fees on China-linked ships Jimmy's 2027 forecast of 2% to 5% trade growth against BIMCO's forecast of 9% fleet growth, and what that wave of new ships could mean for rates Mentioned in this episode: ▶️ EXCLUSIVE: FMC Chair Laura DiBella on Trump's Maritime Dominance & Global Enforcement Powers https://youtu.be/GlZPTBKUzA4 Produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group (https://dimerco.com/), your trading partner connecting Asia with the US and beyond. If you enjoy the show, please like, subscribe and leave a comment telling us what you'd like us to cover next. We're working towards 10,000 YouTube subscribers this year, and every subscribe helps. Chapters: 00:00 Coming up 00:49 Welcome: Jimmy Suroto, Nick Bailey and John McCown 05:03 John McCown: flat US demand, soaring rates and "gotcha surcharges" 08:06 Nick Bailey: connected, cascading and compounding risk 11:04 Jimmy Suroto: what most container forecasters miss 12:10 Reliability falls to 49.9%: who is on time and who isn't 15:34 Port congestion hotspots and how carriers profit from disruption 18:40 Why transpacific and Asia-Europe spot rates split 21:27 Nick Bailey: architecture, not capacity, and why a bigger fleet won't save you 24:13 Customer, defensive and distortion demand on the transpacific 27:11 Efficiency or protection, and the headline rate trap 31:50 John McCown: advantage carrier, and the long shift to East Coast ports 34:27 Peak season, tariffs and chaos from the White House 37:30 Will container lines ever lose money again? 39:13 Jones Act waivers and the gap in US maritime policy 43:58 COSCO, the FMC and shots across the bow 47:30 Jimmy Suroto: back to baseline on the transpacific 49:25 Asia-Europe's new growth path 50:28 The Gulf and a 2% to 5% forecast for 2027 51:18 Why listen to Jimmy? His forecasting track record 51:58 A 9% bigger fleet: when does overcapacity bite? 53:35 John McCown on the 9 November port fee deadline 57:55 Nick Bailey: resilience versus efficiency in 2027 1:00:00 Thanks and goodbye #ContainerShipping #FreightBuyersClub #OceanFreight #Suppl...

October 8, 20265 min

Brandon Fried: 45 Years in Air Cargo, the Pan Am 103 Legacy, and Retiring as 'VP of Lunch'

In this extended interview from Air Cargo Unpacked, retiring Airforwarders Association Executive Director Brandon Fried looks back on a career that started almost by accident: a relative in the forwarding business, warehouse work, fine art logistics, legal document delivery, and eventually his own operation in Washington DC before joining AfA. Brandon reflects on what he's most proud of: helping build the modern cargo security framework in the wake of the Pan Am 103 bombing, working with the TSA and Customs and Border Protection to create the Known Shipper Program and canine screening. Neel Jones Shah, who worked alongside Brandon from both the airline and forwarder side, pays tribute to his impact on the industry. Brandon also shares his biggest concern for the future of air freight forwarding (uncertainty and poorly informed regulation, "you're either at the table or you're on the menu"), and his message to whoever succeeds him: stay engaged with companies of every size, not just the big ones. And yes, he confirms his next title: Vice President of Lunch. From The Freight Buyers' Club Podcast. #AirCargo #FreightForwarding #AviationSecurity #Logistics #SupplyChain

October 6, 202615 min

Intra-Asia Container Trades, Port Congestion and Rising Rates, with Elaine Low, Area Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Maersk

Mike King travels to Maersk's Southeast Asia head office in Singapore to talk with Elaine Low, Area Managing Director for Southeast Asia at A.P. Moller-Maersk, about the intra-Asia container trades. It's the world's biggest container trade, and one that rarely gets the attention it deserves, even with Drewry's Intra-Asia Container Index at three-year highs. Elaine explains how manufacturers expanding across the region and fast-growing Asian consumer markets are driving demand. She highlights automotive and EVs, electronics and the semiconductor ecosystem as key industries. She also argues that the real constraint is landside infrastructure at Southeast Asia's many smaller ports, and says every port in the region is effectively full. The conversation also covers how Maersk's Gemini hub-and-spoke network has helped it deal with typhoons and geopolitical disruption, the balance between contract and spot demand, how surcharges have been passed on, and what Maersk's integrator strategy offers shippers in Asia. #Maersk #IntraAsia #ContainerShipping #PortCongestion #SoutheastAsia #FreightBuyersClub #Logistics

October 1, 202618 min

Reimagine Your Supply Chain First, Then Add the Technology, with e2open's Pawan Joshi

In this extended clip from The Freight Buyers' Club, Pawan Joshi, Chief Strategy Officer at e2open, digs into how far AI has actually taken supply chains, and where the real opportunity still sits. Pawan explains that a lot of supply chain processes and company structures were designed decades ago, in a world before the internet, before cell phones, when even desktop computing was limited. Technology has moved on dramatically since then. His point is that the real opportunity isn't just adding AI on top of existing processes. It's rethinking them with today's connectivity and compute in mind. He walks through a real example: monitoring temperature in real time on a refrigerated shipping container. Catching a broken cold chain early gives a business weeks of lead time to plan around a shortage, rather than finding out only when the container arrives. He calls this closing the loop, a concept borrowed from control systems. His argument is that closing the loop matters more than which specific technology, AI included, does the work. Pawan also explains the logic behind e2open and WiseTech's CargoWise coming together. He breaks the supply chain into three groups: the people who make products, the people who sell them, and the people who move them. CargoWise was built for the movers, e2open for the makers and sellers, and bringing them together aims to connect the whole chain rather than stopping at the handoff points. Finally, he addresses what actually blocks companies from sharing supply chain data across their networks. His answer: not a lack of standards, but a lack of trust.

September 29, 20269 min

Can Dubai's Ports Ever Recover From the Hormuz Crisis?

an Dubai's ports ever recover from the Hormuz closure? Mike King and Drewry port specialist Eleanor Hadland analyse the region's shifting maritime landscape. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced a rethink of logistics across the Middle East. With global trade routes under constant pressure, this episode examines how Middle Eastern logistics are adapting to new geopolitical realities. Eleanor Hadland joins the show to break down the massive capital expenditure currently flooding into the region, including the new 434 million dollar terminal in Jeddah and the wider scramble for infrastructure investment. Beyond the Gulf, we look at the feasibility of alternative overland routes and the long-term outlook for Dubai's port sector. If you are tracking the future of global supply chain capacity and regional port investment, this analysis provides the expert perspective you need on where the money is going and why. This is a clip from the full episode of The Freight Buyers' Club. Check us out on YouTube and all podcast platforms. Thanks to Dimerco Express Group (https://dimerco.com/) for sponsoring the show. Can Dubai's ports ever recover from the Hormuz closure? Mike King and port specialist Eleanor Hadland analyse the region's shifting maritime landscape. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced a rethink of logistics across the Middle East. With global trade routes under constant pressure, this episode examines how Middle Eastern logistics are adapting to new geopolitical realities. Eleanor Hadland joins the show to break down the massive capital expenditure currently flooding into the region, including the new 434 million dollar terminal in Jeddah and the wider scramble for infrastructure investment. Beyond the Gulf, we look at the feasibility of alternative overland routes and the long-term outlook for Dubai's port sector. If you are tracking the future of global supply chain capacity and regional port investment, this analysis provides the expert perspective you need on where the money is going and why. This is a clip from the full episode of The Freight Buyers' Club. Check us out on YouTube and all podcast platforms. Thanks to Dimerco Express Group (https://dimerco.com/) for sponsoring the show. #StraitOfHormuz #PortInvestment #ContainerShipping #SupplyChain #FreightBuyersClub

September 21, 202613 min

The Professor Exposing What AI Vendors Won't Tell You

Nada Sanders, Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University and author of The Human/Machine, has spent decades studying how businesses forecast risk, and years serving as an expert witness in cases involving AI vendors. In this clip she explains what that experience has taught her, and it isn't flattering to the industry. Her clearest warning is about hidden costs. She says she can "almost guarantee" that any company buying an AI package will hit costs it didn't see coming, sometimes for things as basic as querying the algorithm a different way. Before that, she lays out concrete practices for moving from reacting to risk to actually anticipating it. That means looking past transactional data like past orders and shipments, which only tell you what already happened, and tracking external signals instead, supplier behaviour, port congestion, weather, geopolitical events. It means building a handful of plausible future scenarios rather than betting on one forecast. And it means predefining trigger points in advance, so that when lead times jump or a supplier's reliability drops past a set threshold, the response is automatic rather than argued over after the fact. She also walks through what her book's central argument, that this was never a contest between humans and machines, looks like in practice. At Unilever, AI handles high volume, early stage hiring screens while humans keep the final call. At Maersk and Amazon, AI tracks far more shipments, demand shifts and supplier issues than any person could process, flags anomalies and possible bottlenecks, then hands the decision, reroute or don't, to the human who understands the customer relationship. The harder question, she says, is what changes with agentic AI, where the system doesn't just recommend, it acts. That means deciding in advance where humans still need to check in, what level of uncertainty is acceptable before escalating to a person, and just as importantly, when the AI should stop acting altogether. Watch the full episode of The Freight Buyers' Club for more from Nada Sanders, alongside Andre Simha (former digital transformation chief at MSC) and Pawan Joshi (Chief Strategy Officer, e2open), on forecasting, resilience and the future of human and AI collaboration in supply chains.

September 19, 20269 min

Container Shipping's Real Problem Is Trust - Andre Simha (ex-MSC)

In this clip from The Freight Buyers' Club, Andre Simha, who chaired the Digital Container Shipping Association for seven years, explains why container shipping's real problem isn't technology. It's trust. Andre explains that getting fiercely competitive shipping lines to agree on basic data standards was hard, but achievable. Getting the industry to actually adopt those standards afterward has been much harder. He calls it a vicious circle. Everyone wants visibility, but sharing information means trusting other companies with it. He also compares today's AI evangelists to the blockchain evangelists who pitched him the same ideas a decade ago, in some cases the same people. His test for any new technology is simple. Does it remove a real, specific manual task. If not, he's not interested. Andre closes with the electronic bill of lading as proof of the problem. Years after the pandemic pushed hard for it, adoption still sits at only 10 to 20 percent. Andre Simha spent nearly 39 years at MSC, the world's largest container shipping line, the last five and a half as its digital transformation chief, before stepping down this spring. #ContainerShipping #ShippingIndustry #Logistics

September 15, 202640 min

Air Cargo Unpacked: Liege E-commerce Forum Takeaways, Miami Disaster, Freighter Orders, Oman Air's Mike Duggan

Reporting live from the EU Cross-Border E-commerce Forum in Liège this month, Mike King and Neel Jones Shah break down why EU e-commerce demand has stalled following new de minimis rules, drawing on conversations with regulators and industry figures at the forum, plus fresh data from Rotate. They also cover a new US Customs and Border Protection disclosure proposal and a companion trade crimes bill working through Congress, a fresh wave of freighter orders from Ethiopian Airlines, Afcom and MSC Air Cargo, and the runway accident involving an Amazon Prime Air flight at Miami International. Neil Wilson of TAC Index, calculating agent for the Baltic Air Freight Indices, joins with his monthly rates analysis and peak season outlook. In the second half, Mike Duggan, Head of Cargo at Oman Air, joins to talk through rebuilding Oman Air's cargo business after a turbulent year in the Gulf, Muscat's rise as a logistics hub, and his read on where the market goes next. Comes packed with new graphics, maps and animations to help make sense of it all. #SupplyChain #Logistics #AirCargo #AirFreight #OmanAir

September 9, 20261 hr 19 min

Agentic AI and Supply Chain Resilience, with e2open's Pawan Joshi, Northeastern's Nada Sanders and Andre Simha (ex-MSC)

Disruption is now the baseline for global trade, not the exception. This episode looks at what real resilience takes on the ground, how technology fits in as decision infrastructure, and covers agentic AI, including who's accountable when it gets the call wrong. Mike King speaks with three guests who bring experience and insight from different perspectives across the industry. Guests Pawan Joshi is Chief Strategy Officer at e2open, which became part of the $2 billion WiseTech Global group last year, after more than two decades building the company's supply chain platform. Nada Sanders is Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business, ranked among the top 2% of scientists worldwide by Stanford, and author of The Humachine. Andre Simha spent nearly 39 years at MSC, the world's largest shipping line, the last five and a half as its digital transformation chief, and chaired the Digital Container Shipping Association for seven years. 0:00 Why Disruption Is Now the Baseline for Trade 2:02 Meet the Panel 4:35 Firefighting vs Preventing Supply Chain Risk 7:05 Planning for a Range of Futures, Not One Plan 9:20 Inside the Ocean Shipping Index 11:15 The COVID Lead Time Failure 14:05 Supply Chain Visibility vs Early Warning 17:00 Three Practices for Earlier Risk Detection 19:05 The Human Machine and the Unilever Example 23:30 AI Vendor Promises and Where the Human Role Shifts 28:35 Supply Chains Built for a 50 to 70 Year Old World 32:10 The Cold Chain Example and Closing the Loop 36:50 Why e2open and CargoWise Came Together 44:30 Trust, Not Standards, Is the Real Barrier 47:10 Digital Supply Chain Standards and the Adoption Problem 52:00 Agentic AI vs the Blockchain Evangelists 56:00 Agentic AI and the Football Match Maturity Question 62:00 Who's Accountable When Agentic AI Gets It Wrong 69:00 What's Not Being Taken Seriously 73:10 Closing Predictions, Reasons for Optimism #SupplyChain #Resilience #Logistics #GlobalTrade #Disruption #SupplyChainManagement #DigitalTransformation #FreightBuyersClub #AgenticAI #ArtificialIntelligence #ContainerShipping