Supply Lines

Container Shipping Worries on Supply Crunch From Iran War Congestion

This was supposed to be the year of ample capacity and lower shipping rates.
The MSC Emma container ship on the dockside at the Port of Felixstowe in Felixstowe, UK, on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
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An annual conference we’ve dubbed “Davos on the Docks” kicked off this week in Long Beach, California, amid worries that a war in the Mideast causing logistics snarls and an energy price spike will last long enough to become a global economic problem.

S&P Global’s TPM26 agenda was supposed to center around how the container shipping industry manages through its next wave of overcapacity. US-Israeli attacks on Iran and the regional retaliation that started over the weekend quickly changed the script.