ITS Logistics
“We continue to see a decline in import and export volumes through the fourth quarter [of 2025], attributed to tariff-related frontloading and changes in sourcing strategy,” ITS Logistics Vice President of Global Supply Chain Paul Brashier said on Dec. 11 during the release of the company’s December U.S. Port/Rail Ramp Freight Index. “While there are no major demand-side pressures on the immediate horizon, significant supply-side regulatory enforcement and trucking capacity reductions are affecting inland transportation.”
ITS Logistics, a Nevada-based third-party logistics (3PL) firm, publishes a report each month forecasting 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.
According to ITS Logistics, a member of California’s Punjabi trucking community on Nov. 28 “reported an extensive workplace audit by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with agents requesting multiple years of the carrier’s I-9 documents and conducting employee interviews.” The U.S. Transportation Department “is also threatening to withhold earmarked infrastructure funding and decertify CDL programs from multiple states it has deemed as noncompliant with federal licensing regulations,” ITS Logistics reported, and most recently “an unpublished memo from the DOT reveals the agency is strategizing ways to go after ‘chameleon carriers,’ or small companies who dodge compliance requirements by repeatedly shutting down and reopening operations under new names.”
ITS Logistics reported that states also continue “taking enforcement action into their own hands, citing a desire to maintain compliance with federal regulations, as well as shared interest in highway safety.” In what the 3PL firm called “a landmark case, California has introduced what is expected to be the first AB5 enforcement action against a trucking company.” AB5, the state’s independent contractor classification law, went into effect in 2020 and “is now being used for the first time to bring enforcement action against companies in the trucking industry,” according to ITS Logistics. The case, it said, “cites not just a carrier but two major shippers, aligning with previous statements from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy that companies should be held liable for the drivers they hire as a means of enhancing compliance.”
ITS Logistics reported that “multiple states are also conducting their own roadside enforcement stings, revoking thousands of incorrectly issued CDLs en masse, and even phasing out non-domiciled CDL programs.” It noted that “[t]hese concerted efforts, in combination with rising rates of financial insolvency among carriers, are culling the 2026 capacity pool of both inland and drayage providers, which will likely result in swift capacity crunches as demand returns.”
At the ports, ITS Logistics said, container volumes for November totaled 2,183,048 TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units), down 5.4% month-over-month “but aligned with typical seasonal trends.” Of note, it said, China-origin imports saw the sharpest dip at 11.3% over October numbers. “With the exception of October, China-origin imports have seen consistent volume pullback since August,” ITS Logistics reported. “This decrease in volume aligns with the latest of the [POTUS 47] Administration’s tariffs against China’s biggest import categories, with the most recent being furniture.”
According to ITS Logistics, U.S. shippers and importers in response to tariffs “have been shifting sourcing away from China and toward Southeast Asia and India.” That migration, it said, “has pushed trans-Atlantic ocean capacity to a 28-month high, with the average vessel size also increasing to nearly 6,200 TEUs to accommodate growing demand.”
“In addition to reduced drayage capacity, shifts in global supply chain sourcing could place pressure on shippers in 2026,” Brashier said. “At countries of origin, regional challenges such as limited container availability and lack of deep-water ports should be of concern. Domestically, a combination of the post-tariff sourcing adjustments and the reopening of the Red Sea to containerized cargo could also drive a paradigm shift where the East Coast overtakes the West as the preferred gateway, fundamentally changing U.S. supply chain strategy.”
Further Reading:
- ITS Logistics Issues November Supply Chain Report
- ITS Logistics Releases November US Port/Rail Ramp Freight Index
GPA
The Appalachian Regional Port in November moved 3,876 containers, up nearly 35% from the prior-year period, GPA reported Dec. 11.
The roughly 1,000-container gain, it said, “underscores the inland terminal’s expanding role as a logistics hub.” The rail facility provides daily service, with seven outbound and seven inbound trains per week to and from the Port of Savannah. Set near the town of Chatsworth, Ga., about an hour and a half north of Atlanta and less than an hour from Chattanooga, Tenn., the rail-served terminal connects directly to Savannah via CSX.
The Appalachian Regional Port handled more than 41,000 containers in Fiscal Year 2025, which ended June 30, 2025, according to GPA. Through the first five months of FY 2026, it has processed 20,030 containers, up 20% from the same period a year earlier.
“We have a 48-hour rail transit with daily service from the Appalachian Regional Port connecting to our 35 ship calls a week in Savannah,” GPA Chief Operating Officer Ed McCarthy said. “With easy access to Interstate 75 and U.S. 411, the Appalachian Regional Port is ideally located to generate business opportunities and drive economic growth for Northwest Georgia.”
According to GPA, its Blue Ridge Connector is under construction in the Gainesville, Ga., area. To be served by Norfolk Southern, it is expected to open in spring 2026. The Blue Ridge Connector will serve a manufacturing and logistics corridor in Northeast Georgia with a regional population of more than 2 million people.
“In North Carolina, importers and exporters tap into a faster supply chain through a direct rail connection between Savannah and Rocky Mount, N.C., via the CSX Carolina Connector intermodal terminal,” GPA said. “The Carolina Connector service provides seven-day-a-week CSX rail departures from Savannah, with three-day transit time from vessel to cargo arrival.”
