2026 Freight Outlook: Suez, China+1 and the Big Shipping Decisions Ahead

It’s the Freight Buyers’ Club Holiday Special — a festive wrap-up of a year that delivered more plot twists than a Christmas soap marathon. From tariff shocks to China+1 shifts, Red Sea detours, booming Vietnam factories and air cargo refusing to behave “normally”… 2025 kept shippers on their toes. To make sense of it all, Mike King is joined by a top-tier panel of industry heavyweights: • Kathy Liu, VP Global Sales & Marketing, Dimerco Express Group • Nils Roche, Founder, Solvens Advisory (ex PIL-Maersk, CMA CGM) • Peter Sand, Chief Analyst, Xeneta Together they break down the winners, losers and big surprises of 2025 — and offer a straight-talking look at what freight buyers must prepare for in 2026. Expect sharp insights, a bit of humour, and just enough holiday spirit to take the edge off another volatile year in global logistics. In this special we cover: • Tariffs, Trump and the year’s biggest policy whiplash • China+1 shifts: what moved, what didn’t and why Vietnam won big • Air cargo’s strange but spectacular 2025 • Suez, Red Sea and the looming capacity reset • Carrier behaviour: orderly alliances, chaotic markets • Contracting for 2026: reliability, risk and when to go short vs long • Why “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” might be the perfect theme for freight next year If you're planning your 2026 strategy, pour yourself a holiday drink and plug in — this is your end-of-year sanity check. Special thanks to Dimerco Express Group [https://dimerco.com/] for supporting this holiday edition of The Freight Buyers’ Club. 📘 Download Dimerco’s China+1 Logistics Playbook Master International Growth A Legal and Logistical Playbook for Global Expansion Success, with Expert Legal Insight From Addleshaw Goddard https://dimerco.com/ebooks/global-bus... #FreightBuyersClub #2026FreightOutlook #SupplyChain #Logistics #ContainerShipping #SuezCanal #ChinaPlusOne #China1 #Tariffs #AirCargo #VietnamManufacturing #GlobalTrade #FreightRates #Dimerco #ShippingIndustry #SupplyChainStrategy #MaritimeLogistics