Container Bytes: Weekly Ocean & Air Freight Intelligence for Supply Chain Pros
Ten minutes. Everything moving in global freight. Container Bytes delivers weekly ocean and air cargo market data, rate trends, and forecasts, all designed for supply chain professionals who need signal, not noise. Brought to you by Freightos, the global freight booking platform and starring Judah Levine, Freightos' market analyst. Serious freight updates from people who don't take themselves too seriously.
Episodes
44 episodes
Container Bytes #43: The Oman Deal Collapses and the Resilient Transpacific Peak
Welcome to this week's edition of Container Bytes! I'm Judah Levine, Head of Research, hosting solo this week as Julia takes a well-deserved vacation. 📍In this episode, we unpack why the anticipated Oman-Iran agreement to reopen the Stra...
Container Bytes #42: The Iran-Oman Framework and the Transpacific Rate Rebound
Welcome back to Container Bytes! 📍 We hope you didn't miss us too much during our one-week hiatus—we are back in action.In this episode, Julia Frohwein and Judah Levine examine a potential new diplomatic development: a proposed bilateral...
Episode #41: The Saudi Red Sea Squeeze and the July 24th Tariff Transition
Welcome back to Container Bytes! 📍 Just a reminder that we are taking a one-week hiatus next week (July 29th), but we will be right back the following week.In this episode, Julia Frohwein and Judah Levine tackle the newest dimension of m...
Container Bytes #40: The Ceasefire Collapse and July's Record-Breaking Volume
Welcome back to Container Bytes! 📍 We are hitting Episode #40, and the Strait of Hormuz has officially circled back to square one. The fragile June ceasefire has disintegrated into a high-stakes operational standoff. While the US asserts the wa...
Container Bytes #39: The Oversupply Paradox and Far East Port Gridlock
Welcome back to Container Bytes! 📍 It’s July, and the Strait of Hormuz is locked in a dangerous pattern of starts, stops, and serious military escalations. Yet, the energy market is throwing a complete curveball: crude oil prices have unexpecte...
Container Bytes #38: The Sovereign Chokepoint and the July 1st BAF Reset
Welcome back to Container Bytes! I’m Julia Frohwein, joined as always by our resident freight expert, Judah Levine. 📍 It’s July 1st, and while it feels a bit like a broken record to talk about the Strait of Hormuz, the dynamics on the water hav...
Episode #37: The Minefield Hotline and the UK’s E-commerce Backdoor
Welcome back to Container Bytes! I’m Julia Frohwein, alongside our resident freight expert, Judah Levine. 📍 Let's get "Strait" to it. (Yes, it's a bad joke, but things are moving too fast to pass up a pun). Following the historic US-Iran Memora...
Episode #36: The Sixty-Day Peace Clock and the June Rate Monster
Welcome back to Container Bytes! 📍 This week, Julia Frohwein is riding that post-birthday glow alongside our resident freight expert, Judah Levine, to break down a massive, chaotic turn of events. Headlines are screaming about a historic US-Ira...
Episode #35: The June Peak Shift and the $6,000 Rate Breach
Happy birthday to me! 🎂 I’m Julia Frohwein, celebrating my special day by powering through another intense session with our resident freight guru, Judah Levine. The headlines are full of escalating US-Iran and Iran-Israel naval fire, but the bi...
Episode #34: The July BAF Panic and the $166 Billion Liquidity Twist
Welcome back to Container Bytes! I’m Julia Frohwein, powering through being a bit "under the weather" this week alongside our resident freight expert Judah Levine to unpack a highly volatile session. 📍 The Persian Gulf conflict is intensifying,...
Episode #33: The July BAF Cliff and Amazon’s Prime Day Curveball
Welcome back to Container Bytes! I’m Julia Frohwein, joined by our resident freight guru Judah Levine to unpack another high-velocity week in global shipping. While rumors of a negotiated end to the war have ships in the Persian Gulf optimistic...
Episode #32: The Golden Week Race and the Middle East Air Squeeze
Welcome back to Container Bytes! I’m Julia Frohwein, joined as always by our resident freight expert Judah Levine, ready to break down another high-stakes week in global logistics. 📍 The Strait of Hormuz remains tenser than ever, with a planned...
Episode #31: The Hormuz Toll Authority and the Section 122 Shocker
The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, but it officially has a new "manager." 📍 This week, Julia Frohwein and Judah Levine dive into Iran’s creation of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority—a move that signals a permanent intent to entrench au...
Episode #30: Project Freedom and the UAE Airspace Whiplash
Welcome back to Container Bytes! I’m Julia Frohwein, and I’m back with Judah Levine to break down a week that felt like a decade. We’re diving into the rapid-fire timeline of Project Freedom—the US-led effort to force transit through the...
Episode #29: The Jet Fuel Sharing Plan and the "Quiet Crisis"
Welcome to a very special episode of Container Bites! If you’re wondering why Eytan suddenly has long brown hair and a British accent—don’t panic. 📍 I’m Julia Frohwein, and I’m thrilled to be taking over the mic. This week, Judah and I dive int...
Episode #28: Lufthansa’s 20,000 Flight Cancellations and the "More Closed" (Dire) Strait
Get your freight emergency kits ready, because the fuel market is bordering on absolute chaos. Between the IRGC boarding container ships in the Strait of Hormuz and Lufthansa slashing 20,000 flights due to fuel concerns, capac...
Episode #27: The Blockade Paradox and Your Missing Tariff Refunds
Get your freight Christmas sweater on (yes, even in April), because the Straits of Hormuz are getting chilly🥁. We’re diving into why the Hormuz blockade(ish) your ocean rates are staying surprisingly grounded while jet fuel prices a...
Episode #26: Strait Talk And The Air Cargo Hit
Better late than never. Hope your supply chain is holding up better than my audio equipment. The ceasefire news is hogging the headlines, but don't let the noise fool you;the Straits of Hormuz are still effectively a "no...
Special Episode: Getting Your IEEPA Tariff Refunds (Eventually)
The Supreme Court tossed IEEPA tariffs out, but don't pop the champagne just yet. The White House pivoted with a (temporary-ish) 10% global tariff under Section 122 just four days later. It's currently sitting well below the 15% to 20% ra...
Ep. 24: Fuel Surcharges Ahead and the Middle East Starting to Come Back Online
The Middle East isn't exactly "business as usual," (you knew that) BUT the cargo heart is starting to beat again. We’re moving past the total shutdown and into the "creative logistics" phase. That's a polite way of saying everything is moving b...
Episode #22: Strait to It, Creative Surcharges and Supreme Court Wins
Welcome back to the pod! This week, I (Eytan) and Judah (not me) dive into why the Straits of Hormuz is the latest headache for your bottom line, even if your containers aren't actually in the Gulf. We’re tracking "Emergency Conting...
Unfiltered Freight Episode 10: The Vibe Coding Revolution
Special edition for you independent forwarders out there.SMB forwarders are tired of being told they’re "dinosaurs" by Silicon Valley. They’re tired of waiting for ERP roadmaps that never arrive. And they're tired of being to...
Episode #21: Tariff Whiplash
Welcome back to another "uneventful" week in Global Freight. 📍 This week, Eytan opens with a dad-joke for the ages: What is the White House's favorite craft beer? An IEEPA. 🍺 (International Emergency Economic Powers Act). It’s a bitter brew tha...
Episode #20: The $4,000 Port Fee Gamble and the "Out-of-Office" Index
They never thought we'd make it, but here we are: Episode 20. We’ve been talking about Lunar New Year for six weeks, but we were still blindsided by the reality of it this week. Forget the traditional benchmarks—Judah’s inbox is currently the w...
Episode #19: Flower Power and the $2 Billion Coin Flip
We’re back for episode 19, and with Lunar New Year just days away (Feb 17th), the "Gear Down" is officially here. Manufacturing is slowing down, and for the first time this year, we don't have a major geopolitical change to talk about. It almos...