The May Port/Rail Ramp Freight Index reports “elevated status across the Atlantic and Gulf port regions, with additional outbound capacity and container termination challenges at key West Coast gateways,” according to ITS Logistics, a Nevada-based third-party logistics (3PL) firm. “As the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz pushes fuel costs higher, disrupts ocean carrier operations, and reshores energy exports, global supply chain uncertainty and domestic transportation challenges are converging to create one of the most operationally volatile freight environments in recent history.”
ITS Logistics, an Echo Global Logistics company, released its latest monthly index on May 14. Each report forecasts port container and dray operations for the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf regions; ocean and domestic container rail ramp operations are also highlighted for both the West and East inland regions.
“The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to disrupt ocean carrier networks and cause surges in ocean container rates,” ITS Logistics Vice President of Global Supply Chain Paul Brashier said. “East Coast and Gulf Coast ports are seeing activity increases as they pick up additional export volumes from goods previously sourced in the Middle East.”
With Middle Eastern supply constrained, the United States has become “a backup provider of global oil production, generating record export activity along the Gulf Coast,” ITS Logistics reported. “According to Bloomberg, U.S. exports of oil products reached a weekly record of 8.2 million barrels per day in early May. The Port of Corpus Christi posted its busiest first quarter in history, with oil exports up 30% since February.”
According to ITS Logistics, while energy exports “are supporting positive trade activity, the Strait’s closure is also causing far-reaching consequences as ocean carriers are forced to reroute operations and absorb layered price increases.” Transpacific spot rates have increased 22% since the beginning of April, the 3PL firm said, and trans-Atlantic lanes running from North Europe to the East Coast are up 46%. Ocean carriers, it noted, are also now “forced to compete for limited alternative routings: PBS reported that increased Panama Canal traffic has triggered bidding wars for last-minute transit slots, with auction prices reaching into the millions.”
Total U.S. containerized imports came in at 2,277,965 TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) for April, which ITS Logistics said were “down 3.2% from March and modestly lower year-over-year, per Descartes.” The month-over-month decline, it noted, “diverges from the typical spring trajectory, with West Coast gateways seeing the bulk of the softness as China-origin imports fell and transpacific rates rose.” The Port of Los Angeles was the exception, reporting its second-best April on record, it said.
“The isolated success of the Port of Los Angeles this month is possibly due to ocean carriers increasing blank sailings and consolidating import activity to a single West Coast gateway as a means of combating rising costs,” Paul Brashier pointed out.
“Inland, the fuel shock is compounding existing capacity strain,” ITS Logistics reported. “The average retail diesel price reached $5.639 per gallon as of May 11, a jump of nearly 29 cents since the end of April and one of the sharpest short-window increases in recent history. May 12 also marked the start of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s annual International Roadcheck, bringing additional enforcement activity to the roads. Day one of the 2026 inspection period produced 1,580 inspections with an out-of-service rate of 31.4% for inspected vehicles. Carriers placed out of service—as well as those who remain off the roads during the increased enforcement period—contribute to tighter capacity and upward rate pressure. FTR Transportation Intelligence reported that spot market rates approached all-time highs during the week of May 8, driven by the combination of fuel cost pass-through and tightening capacity, with prices likely to remain high through this week.”
ITS Logistics reported that the cost difference between modes “is now wide enough to prompt strategic shifts.” It noted that “[a]ccording to the Journal of Commerce, rising diesel prices are now pushing some shippers to convert drayage operations and long-haul truckload moves to rail.”
“We will monitor the effects of trucking cost increases on intermodal rail demand,” Paul Brashier concluded. “As shippers change modes from trucking to rail to find relief from higher fuel costs, we could start to see congestion at inland rail ramps that challenge key entry points for many ocean containers in North America.”