Peak Season

Hacebaga currently serves as POLB Chief Operating Officer. He has been at POLB for the last 15 years in various senior management roles, and in his current position he oversees daily operations, including commercial services, engineering, finance and administration, planning and environmental affairs, and strategic advocacy.  

Peak season used to feel like a mad dash, but DHL says the holidays don’t bring the same sense of chaos they once did. Thanks to years of planning, better forecasting, and rapid growth in robotics, the company is heading into the busiest stretch of the year with confidence instead of panic.

The state of the North American intermodal market could be described as somewhat bifurcated, based on a presentation at last week’s RailTrends conference in New York by noted intermodal expert Larry Gross, president of Gross Transportation Consulting.

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently interviewed Ali Faghri Chief Strategy Officer at Greenwich, Conn.-based national less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier XPO. Faghri provided Berman with a detailed overview of the LTL market, economic conditions, and how XPO is leveraging AI, among other topics, in the interview below.

October spot truckload volumes and rates were largely mixed again, according to the new edition of the DAT Truckload Volume Index, which was recently released by DAT Freight and Analytics.

A new report recently issued by DHL eCommerce, a subsidiary of global logistics services provider, Deutsche Post DHL Group, examined how both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce shippers are getting ready for peak season, in terms of their key objectives and priorities.

Greenwich, Conn.-based global contract logistics services provider GXO Logistics Inc. reported a company record for quarterly revenue, in its third quarter earnings announcement earlier this week. Revenue, at $3.4 billion, saw an 8% annual gain, with organic revenue up 4%, and net income, at $60 million, rose 42% annually. Adjusted earnings per share, at $0.79, was flat, topping Wall Street expectations, at $0.77.

Quarterly consolidated revenue, at $21.4 billion, fell 3.7% annually, and basic earnings per share, at $1.74 (topped Wall Street estimates of $1.29), fell $0.24, or 13.4%, annually. Total operating profit, at $1.8 billion, was off 9.1% annually. 

For the first half of 2025, Port Tracker said that total volume, at 12.53 million TEU, rose 3.7% annually, with calendar year 2025 expected to be down 2.9% annually, to 25.5 million TEU.

The firm said that based on its estimates it expects that 2.3 million packages will be delivered over this year’s peak, representing a 5% annual gain, attributing the expected increase to one more shopping day than there was in 2024.

Amazon Shipping will add peak season surcharges from Oct. 26 through Jan. 17, 2026, the company recently announced.

The feature examines the volatile ocean shipping landscape, highlighting how tariffs, geopolitical tensions, fleet overcapacity, and port congestion are reshaping trans-Pacific and global container markets. Insights from top carriers, including Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, and MSC, as well as analysts from Drewry and Freightos, reveal how shippers are navigating rate fluctuations, front-loaded cargo, and evolving peak season timing to optimize ocean freight strategies.

Top-level executives at Plantation, Fla.-based global express delivery and logistics services provider DHL shared their thoughts and expectations about the 2025 Peak Season this week, on a company-hosted call.

Quarterly revenue, at $22.2 billion, increased 3% annually, its highest annual growth rate since the pandemic, and operating income, at $1.30 billion, was up 7%. Earnings per share, at $3.83, beat Wall Street expectations, at $3.61.

POLA reported that total volume, at 958,355 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU), saw a 6% annual increase. The Port of Long Beach reported that August volume, at 901,846 TEU, was off 1.3% from its August 2024 record, while still posting its second-best volume August on record, as well as its sixth-busiest month in port history.