Danish shipping logistics company A. P. Moller-Maersk A/S has acquired a railway connecting seaports on both sides of the Panama Canal, limiting the U.S. presence on a key trade route. This is reported in a press release from Maersk.

As part of the deal, the port operator Maersk APM Terminals acquired the Panama Canal Railway Company from a joint venture controlled by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and the American Lanco Group.

From the point of view of APM Terminals, the railway "represents an attractive investment in the region's infrastructure as part of the provision of intermodal container transportation services."

The deal is aimed at optimizing CPKC's portfolio for the development of its core railway business in North America as part of a network connecting Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

For months, Donald Trump has opposed increasing Chinese influence in the Panama Canal, calling the transfer of control of the canal to the Panamanian government a "failed deal." In March 2025, BlackRock Inc. submitted an offer to acquire two ports on both sides of the Panama Canal from Hong Kong's C.K. Hutchison for $19 billion, but the proposed deal has faced opposition from the Chinese government and may be postponed.

The Panama Canal Railway Company operates a seventy-six-kilometer railway running parallel to the Panama Canal and connecting the seaports on both sides of the Panama Canal. The capacity of the railway is about 2 million TEU, taking into account the two-tier arrangement of containers. The headquarters is located in Panama.

Maersk is a Danish shipping company in the maritime cargo transportation and port terminal maintenance sector. The headquarters is located in Copenhagen (Denmark) with representative offices and subsidiaries with a staff of 100,000 employees in 135 countries. In 2024, Maersk ranked second in the world with a 14.6% share in the container shipping market.

China’s Jiangsu Qinfeng Shipbuilding has secured orders from Jiangsu Lvhang Logistics for up to six containerships.

The deal, with an undisclosed value covers one firm and five optional 1,138 teu newbuilds, with the first vessel expected for delivery by November 2026.

No further details have been divulged, except that the boxships have been designed to run on LNG.

The yard, established in 2007, won orders for 16 methanol-powered bulkers from Wuhan Innovation Jianghai Transportation last September. The 15,000 dwt and 19,600 dwt newbuilds are touted as the first Chinese coastal ships to run solely on the low-carbon fuel.

During last year's season, the company operated 13 voyages between Shanghai and Arkhangelsk, carrying more than 20,000 TEUs. In 2025, NewNew Shipping plans to employ larger container ships on the Arctic Express No. 1 service.

Within a few years, the operator expects to expand its June and December navigation window by launching five specialized ice-class container ships currently under construction at a Chinese shipyard.

The second Arctic container shipping operator, Safetrans Line, has not yet announced its plans for 2025.

The governments of South Korea and Japan plan to use maritime trade as a bargaining chip to avoid the unfortunate fates of Canada and Mexico, the first two U.S. allies hit by the White House's tariff proposals. Both Japan and South Korea have shown interest in a big-ticket LNG export project from the state of Alaska, and Korea is also pitching its shipbuilding capabilities as a way to build up American maritime power.

South Korea's trade and industry minister, Ahn Duk-Geun, met last week with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to talk about cooperation on shipbuilding and tech industry development. As an outcome of the discussion, Ahn's office said that Korea will be setting up a shipbuilding cooperation task force drawing on multiple government agencies, including foreign affairs and defense. The U.S. Department of Commerce will set up a similar working group.

Ahn told Korean media that the Trump administration is interested in accessing South Korea's sophisticated naval shipbuilding capabilities. The U.S. Navy is struggling to overcome cost and schedule issues with almost all of its major shipbuilding programs, in part because of supply chain and labor recruitment issues; South Korea has the world's second-biggest shipbuilding industrial base, and though it has labor issues of its own, it does have a much larger pool of skilled tradesmen to draw upon. One of its yards, Hyundai Heavy Industries, has built Aegis-equipped destroyers.

According to Business Korea, Ahn offered priority access to newbuild slots at Korean shipyards for package orders of warships, tankers and icebreakers - in return for guaranteed safety from U.S. tariffs. Those slots are hard to come by, as the orderbooks at Korea's Big Three yards are booked through 2027-8 in a hot commercial newbuild market.

"At this point we don’t know how the Trump administration will play out its trade policies in the long term. So what’s most urgent now is to secure a communication channel and keep negotiating in favor of our firms," Ahn said.

The other big offer on the table is the prospect of Asian investment in the long-stalled Alaska LNG project, a proposed pipeline and export terminal that would commercialize vast quantities of natural gas from the remote North Slope. The terminal near Anchorage would liquefy up to 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG for export, but at an eye-watering construction cost of $44 billion.

"Currently, our country's energy supply is heavily skewed towards the Middle East, and imports of U.S. energy are important for energy security, so we are actively reviewing this," Ahn said. "We are also considering ways for private businesses to diversify energy import channels."

Japan is also in the running for a role in Alaska LNG, which had been all but defunct until the new flurry of diplomatic activity. In February, President Donald Trump described an agreement with Japan to offtake "historic" amounts of gas from the as-yet-unbuilt terminal.

"The administration is working on a gigantic natural gas pipeline in Alaska, among the largest in the world, where Japan, South Korea and other nations want to be our partner with investment of trillions of dollars each," President Donald Trump said in his recent joint session address.

In response to the growing challenges of illicit trade and supply chain security, a new industry alliance is being launched to drive the adoption of cutting-edge smart container technology. Known as the Smart Container Alliance, the group reports its goal is to unite industry leaders in a collective effort to enhance cargo traceability, fortify maritime trade, and support global enforcement agencies in the fight against criminal networks.

Announcing the formal launch of the initiative they pointed to geopolitical instability and climate-related disruptions which they said are posing increasing risks to global trade. Cargo theft, smuggling, and drug cartels have become an increasing focus of the authorities around the globe. As a result, the Alliance says shipping companies must ensure the highest levels of security and efficiency.

The Smart Container Alliance is dedicated to advancing industry standards, advocating for policy change, and fostering collaboration between technology providers, shipowners, customs authorities, and international regulatory bodies, including the European Union and the World Customs Organization. The launch of the Alliance aligns with the broader industry commitment that calls for increased investment in customs operations, digital transformation, and enhanced public-private partnerships to address the growing complexity of global trade.

“Smart Cargo and Container Telematics are the foundation for the 21st Century Supply Chain with revolutionary new solutions for our society, authorities, governments, and businesses to structurally reduce illicit trade, cargo contamination, cargo waste, theft and supply chain carbon footprint while simultaneously enhance product authentication, on-time delivery commitments, asset productivity and cargo integrity and quality,” said Charles Vincent, CEO of ARVIEM, a technology company focusing on real-time end-to-end cargo monitoring services, and one of the founders of the Alliance.

According to the group, over the past four years, smart container technologies have played a crucial role in enabling customs authorities and shipping companies to detect and intercept illicit goods, leading to multiple successful drug seizures. The Alliance will leverage this experience to push for greater adoption and regulatory support.

The launch of the Smart Container Alliance comes at a pivotal moment, coinciding with the most ambitious reform of the EU Customs Union since its inception in 1968. Smart containers are set to play a key role in the shift towards a data-driven approach to customs checks, reinforcing security measures across European ports and beyond.

The Alliance will advocate for the economic and technological benefits of smart container solutions, championing concrete use cases that demonstrate their transformative potential. With its headquarters in Brussels, it will engage with policymakers, industry leaders, and enforcement agencies to support a harmonized approach to trade security. A key focus will be aligning efforts with the European Port Alliance to counter criminal infiltration and reinforce supply chain integrity.

Arviem, Globe Tracker, ORBCOMM, Hoopo, Traxens, and Nexxiot are the founding members of the Smart Container Alliance. The group is seeking other stakeholders to join as it looks to build the focus on technologies and the role it can play in the supply chain.