Container shipping enters 2026 facing a perfect storm: deepening geopolitical fractures, a historic vessel orderbook driving severe overcapacity, and the growing likelihood that services will soon return fully to the Suez Canal. Could this trigger a new wave of consolidation among smaller container lines?

For freight buyers, this creates both uncertainty and potential negotiating leverage.

In this episode, Mike King speaks with two voices from opposite ends of the shipping spectrum:

James Hookham - Director of the Global Shippers Forum, representing cargo owners worldwide and demanding carriers deliver "solutions, not surcharges"

Robbert van Trooijen - Founder of Inception Partners, former Maersk Regional President across Asia Pacific and Latin America for 15 years

This episode is produced in partnership with Dimerco Express Group, a global 3PL specialising in Asia-Pacific supply chains. If your sourcing or manufacturing runs through Asia, they’re worth a look:
https://www.dimerco.com

 

KEY INSIGHTS:

✅ Why geopolitics is now the #1 line item on shipper risk lists
✅ How US-China bloc competition forces countries like Indonesia and Panama to choose sides
✅ Suez partial reopening creating port chaos in China and Northern Europe
✅ Historic vessel orderbook (one-third of existing fleet) driving severe overcapacity
✅ "Gap between top 4 carriers and rest widening to uncomfortable size" - consolidation wave predicted
✅ Why Gemini's 90% reliability is great, but will it last and why aren’t other carriers doing better?
✅ How surcharges become carriers' profit protection tool when rates fall
✅ Contract strategy: 60/40 or 70/30 splits recommended, consider index-based deals
✅ Why APM Terminals earns 17% returns while carriers struggle with single digits
✅ Trade deal outcomes (USMCA, US-China, US-EU) will reshape 2026 freight flows

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Cold Open: Quote teases from James & Robbert
01:00 - Intro & Sponsor: Dimerco Express Group
02:00 - Guest Introductions: James Hookham & Robbert van Trooijen

ACT 1: GEOPOLITICS & SUPPLY CHAIN VULNERABILITY
03:00 - Is geopolitics the #1 line item on shipper risk lists for 2026?
03:45 - Robbert on "Choke Points" book and economic warfare
04:15 - "The Fractured Age" - Two-bloc world led by US-China
05:00 - Panama's forced choice: Rhetoric vs reality
06:00 - James: Supply chains as targets in great power competition
07:15 - "If you like your job unpredictable... being a freight buyer is the place to be in 2026"
08:00 - WTF acronym: "We got to day three, didn't we Mike?"
09:00 - Overcapacity "might just come to a head in 26"
10:00 - Post-de minimis world: What it means for e-commerce shippers

ACT 2: CONTAINER SHIPPING FUNDAMENTALS
12:45 - Pre-Chinese New Year rate bump: Seasonal or structural?
13:00 - "One third of existing fleet on order" - Historic overcapacity explained
14:00 - Choke points shifting from ocean to landside capacity
15:00 - Port congestion: China, Northern Europe, US infrastructure gaps
16:00 - Chinese port cranes controversy impacting US investments
16:45 - Has reliability actually improved? James' assessment
17:30 - Gemini alliance: Customer service "at the forefront of their thinking"
18:00 - Working capital tied up in inventory: Why reliability matters
19:00 - Gemini reliability: Hub-to-hub vs door-to-door - The crucial distinction
20:00 - "In the upper nineties of door-to-door reliability... that's what allows you to take inventory out"
21:00 - Partnership model: Sharing value creation vs vendor squeeze
22:00 - Why carriers use surcharges: "Complexity sometimes creates an opportunity"
23:00 - The 1.5X problem: "They thought they'd pay X, it comes in at 1.5X"
24:00 - "Shippers are price takers in this market. Always have been."
24:45 - "Where is the pushback by the carrier on the terminal?"
26:00 - "Shippers seen as the soft touch... there's nowhere else to go"
27:00 - "Surcharge of the Week" competition revealed
28:00 - Contract strategy: 60/40 or 70/30 contract-to-spot splits
29:00 - Spreading risk across different alliances
30:00 - Why alliance carriers less likely to blank sailings
31:00 - Index-based contracts: CTS vs Shanghai Freight Index

ADVERT BREAK - 31:30

ACT 3: TRADE POLICY, REGULATION & M&A
32:00 - 2026 as year of trade deal resolutions: USMCA, US-China, US-EU
33:00 - Supreme Court tariff ruling: "White House will just re-legislate"
34:00 - US-China negotiations and rare earth resources
35:00 - Front-loading effect: Stock still being wound down
36:00 - "Check your harmonized tariff code, ignore the tweets"
37:00 - Documentation requirements: The hidden tariff trap
38:00 - M&A outlook: "Not much activity" but conditions changing
38:30 - "Pandemic gave industry cash but not necessarily better ideas"
39:00 - "Gap between top 4 carriers and rest widening to uncomfortable size"
39:30 - Consolidation wave predicted: Smaller carriers must act now
40:00 - APM Terminals 17% ROI: Why carriers investing in ports
41:00 - Post-merger integration: "The secret sauce" challenge
41:30 - "If you pay 10 times EBITDA, you have to deliver that value"

FINAL ACT: GLOBALIZATION & RULES-BASED ORDER
42:00 - Robbert: Still believes in globalization despite rhetoric
42:30 - "60% of global GDP is trade - you can't undo 30 years"
43:00 - James: Rules-based order not dead, but "fraying around the edges"
44:00 - "Can't support 6 billion people growing everything in your backyard"
45:00 - Outro and thanks

 

 

RESOURCES MENTIONED: "Choke Points" by Peter Frankopan
"The Fractured Age" by Neal Shearing - https://www.amazon.com/Fractured-Age-Geopolitics-Splinter-Economy/dp/1639366822

ABOUT THE GUESTS:

James Hookham represents cargo owners worldwide through the Global Shippers Forum and advocates for "solutions, not surcharges" from carriers. GSF runs the famous "Surcharge of the Week" competition tracking creative carrier charges.

Robbert van Trooijen spent decades in liner shipping, including 15 years as Maersk Regional President, and now advises clients through Inception Partners on the very market dynamics he once managed from inside.

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