Logistics players, hubs and trade lanes, trends 2024 to 2026, and how to crack the cases
Who the players are, how Gulf and Singapore hubs and free zones work, the main trade lanes, the Red Sea and Hormuz disruptions, regulation basics, prompts, traps and drills.
Industry brief, with a one-minute summary: Logistics and shippingFirm processes and online tests change from year to year and differ by office. Use this to prepare, and confirm the exact current steps on the firm's own careers page.
Key takeaways
- Logistics cases usually ask how to cut cost to serve, where to put a warehouse or hub, how to grow a logistics business, or how to respond to a disruption.
- Common traps: Mixing up TEU and containers (a 40-foot container is 2 TEU).
- Asia to Europe: via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, or around the Cape of Good Hope when the Red Sea is unsafe.
- Transpacific: Asia to North America, one of the highest value lanes.
- Intra-Asia: many short routes; together among the largest flows by volume.
Key idea
Logistics cases usually ask how to cut cost to serve, where to put a warehouse or hub, how to grow a logistics business, or how to respond to a disruption. Start with the flow: what moves, from where to where, how often, and what the customer values most (cost, speed or reliability).
| Segment | Examples |
|---|---|
| Container shipping | MSC (the largest carrier by fleet capacity), Maersk, CMA CGM, COSCO, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Evergreen; Alphaliner tracks fleet sizes, and SAFETY4SEA reported that MSC grew its fleet 2.9 percent in the first half of 2026 |
| Freight forwarding and contract logistics | DSV (which completed its purchase of DB Schenker in April 2025), Kuehne+Nagel, DHL, Expeditors, CEVA (part of CMA CGM) |
| Ports and terminals | PSA International (Singapore), DP World (Dubai), AD Ports (Abu Dhabi), APM Terminals, Adani Ports (India), Hutchison Ports, COSCO Shipping Ports |
| Parcel and last mile | Aramex (Gulf), Delhivery and Blue Dart (India), J&T Express and Ninja Van (Southeast Asia), DHL Express, UPS, FedEx, Amazon |
| Africa | Transnet (South Africa), national port authorities, Africa Global Logistics (owned by MSC), regional truckers |
So-what
Many carriers now also own terminals, forwarders and warehouses, so a shipping line can be a customer, a competitor and a supplier at the same time.
Hubs, free zones and trade lanes
Singapore and Dubai are transshipment hubs: containers arrive on one ship and leave on another for a different destination, so these ports serve whole regions, not only their own cities. Singapore handled a record 44.66 million TEU in 2025, up 8.6 percent (Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore). DP World reported that origin and destination volumes at Jebel Ali in Dubai grew about 9 percent in 2025. A free zone is an area where goods can be stored, processed and re-exported without paying import duties, often with simpler rules and full foreign ownership of companies. Examples are the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) in Dubai and KEZAD in Abu Dhabi. Free zones attract regional distribution centers that serve the Gulf, India, East Africa and Central Asia.
Main trade lanes
- Asia to Europe: via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, or around the Cape of Good Hope when the Red Sea is unsafe.
- Transpacific: Asia to North America, one of the highest value lanes.
- Intra-Asia: many short routes; together among the largest flows by volume.
- Asia, the Gulf and the Indian subcontinent: served through hubs such as Jebel Ali, Singapore, Colombo and Salalah.
- Links to Africa and Latin America: growing, with fewer and less frequent services.
Trends 2024 to 2026 (checked 28 September 2026)
- Red Sea: after attacks on ships from late 2023, many carriers sailed around the Cape of Good Hope instead of using the Suez Canal. This added time and absorbed ship capacity. ING described a return of container services to the Red Sea as a key event to watch in 2026.
- Strait of Hormuz: from 28 February 2026, a military conflict involving Iran, Israel and the United States sharply reduced traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. According to Al Jazeera's analysis (August 2026), about five vessels a day passed between 15 July and 23 August 2026, almost 95 percent below pre-war levels. Port calls fell by about two thirds or more in Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq and Bahrain, while Saudi Arabia's fell about 15 percent, helped by its pipelines and Red Sea ports.
- Rerouting in the Gulf: Arab News reported in June 2026 that some food flows to the Gulf were rerouted through Omani ports outside the strait, such as Salalah and Duqm, and through overland corridors via Saudi Arabia, with air freight used for perishables at higher cost.
- Freight rates: Drewry's World Container Index was about USD 4,470 per 40-foot container on 24 September 2026. Rates change weekly, so always check the latest.
- Consolidation: DSV completed its acquisition of DB Schenker in April 2025, creating one of the largest logistics groups. Carriers also reshaped alliances, such as the Gemini Cooperation between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd from 2025.
- Hub growth: Singapore reported record volumes in 2025, helped by rerouting and transshipment demand.
Regulation basics
- Customs and trade rules: duties, product standards, sanctions and paperwork decide how fast goods move across borders.
- Shipping rules: the International Maritime Organization (IMO) sets global rules on safety and emissions, such as the limit on sulphur in ship fuel. The EU emissions trading system has covered shipping emissions since 2024.
- Cabotage: many countries limit domestic transport (between two of their own ports or cities) to local companies.
- Road rules: driver working hours, vehicle weights and emissions zones in cities.
- Free zone and port concession laws: governments grant long concessions to terminal operators and set free zone rules.
Typical case prompts and how to crack them
| Prompt | Structure hint | First driver to check |
|---|---|---|
| An online retailer in India wants to cut delivery cost per order | Cost per order = warehouse + line haul + last mile; last mile = cost per route divided by drops | Drops per route and failed delivery rate |
| Where should a consumer goods company put its Gulf distribution center? | Network: demand by country, transport cost and time, duties, free zone benefits, risk | Landed cost and delivery time to the largest markets, plus route risk |
| A container line's profit collapsed | Volume x (rate minus cost per TEU); utilization; fuel | Freight rate change on its main lanes |
| A port wants to handle 20 percent more without new land | Little's law: throughput = yard capacity divided by dwell time; berth and crane productivity | Dwell time and the slowest step (berth, yard or gate) |
| A manufacturer's supply chain was hit by a shipping disruption | Map critical flows, alternative routes and suppliers, stock buffers, cost of each option | Which products and customers are at risk first |
So-what
Ask what the customer values: the cheapest route, the fastest one, or the most reliable one. The right answer changes with it.
Mixing up TEU and containers (a 40-foot container is 2 TEU). Treating today's freight rate as permanent. Adding capacity when the real problem is dwell time or a slow step. Looking only at transport cost and forgetting stock, duties and delays in a network decision. Ignoring the return leg, which is often empty or cheap. Forgetting that a route disruption also removes capacity from the whole market. Assuming one hub is always best without considering route risk.
Capacity, supply chain, and footprint; Operations and process improvement; Cost reduction and cost cutting; Mergers, acquisitions, and due diligence; Market entry.
A port says: "Our yard is full and ships wait days to unload." Handling per crane is normal. What should you check first?
Why can a longer route (for example around the Cape of Good Hope) raise freight rates across the whole market?
What is the main advantage of a free zone for a regional distribution center?
A last-mile company wants to cut cost per drop. Which lever usually matters most?
Sources for this lesson (8)
- Drewry, World Container Index
- Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, "Singapore posts record port performance in 2025"
- DP World, 2025 results
- DSV, "DSV completes acquisition of Schenker", April 2025
- SAFETY4SEA, "Alphaliner: the fastest-growing container shipping lines in 2026"
- ING Think, analysis of a Red Sea return for container shipping in 2026
- Al Jazeera, "How a 95 percent drop in Hormuz traffic changed global shipping", 27 August 2026
- Arab News, "Clock ticking as Hormuz standoff threatens Gulf's food supply"
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