Hanwha Ocean is talking with federal, state and local officials about opportunities to expand capacity and storage property in the region around its shipyard in Philadelphia, where capacity is limited to meet booming demand.

The WSJ’s Timothy W. Martin writes that the historic Philly Shipyard, bought by South Korea’s Hanwha just over a year ago, is central to President Trump’s goal of reviving American shipbuilding and bolstering the U.S. Navy’s fleet. The company has vowed to plow $5 billion into upgrades and to expand the workforce.

Michael Coulter, who heads the U.S. unit of Hanwha that makes ships and military hardware, says the company is in talks with the Trump administration and Pentagon about potential deals to make surface, subsurface and unmanned vessels.

But he said it appears the manufacturing need will exceed the capacity of its two Philly docks. Possible opportunities under discussion include gaining access to unused or underutilized docks there that it doesn’t own. Hanwha is also considering a purchase of a second U.S. shipyard in another region within the next several years.

Why do Trump administration officials think American refineries need Venezuelan crude? While the shale-drilling boom has unleashed a flood of U.S. oil, that light, sweet crude often isn’t the right kind for American refiners, the Journal’s Ryan Dezember and Drew An-Pham write.

Refineries from Puget Sound to the Texas coast were designed decades ago to run the types of heavier and more sour grades of crude that the U.S. imports from Venezuela, Canada and Mexico. About 70% of U.S. refining capacity runs most efficiently with heavier crude. Those plants are concentrated on the Gulf Coast, where nine of the country’s 10 largest refineries are located.

• The seizure of tankers under an embargo is meant to warn adversaries aiming to gain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere, and to boost Washington’s influence in Latin America, U.S. officials say. (WSJ)
• Trump called for a $1.5 trillion defense budget, more than $500 billion more than the Pentagon is expected to receive this fiscal year. (WSJ)
• Chevron, the only U.S. oil major permitted to operate in Venezuela, is loading oil onto tankers at the fastest rate since May. (Bloomberg)

Environmental concerns and a White House push to boost domestic raw-materials output have turned attention to America’s waste stream, which is full of valuable commodities. Sorting out those materials can be a foul job for humans, and the cost of pulling them out can be similar or greater than their value.

Now, recyclers say that AI will allow them to efficiently mine trash for treasure, the Journal’s Ryan Dezember writes. Devices use AI to identify recyclables, flag food-grade material, gauge items’ mass, assess market value and calculate points at which a robotic claw might best clasp each piece.

A big breakthrough in recycling technology has been combining vision recognition systems with pneumatic blocks. Using puffs of air to separate items has proved much faster and more accurate than robotic pickers, one recycling-company executive says.

• The U.S. trade deficit shrank in October to its lowest level since 2009, the Commerce Department said. (WSJ)
• U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.2% in October from the previous month, driven by nondurable goods, after jumping by 0.5% in September. (WSJ)
• New U.S. unemployment claims rose to 208,000 in the week through Jan. 3, up from 200,000 the previous week. (WSJ)
• Canada recorded a merchandise-trade shortfall in October of 583 million Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about $421 million. (WSJ)
• German manufacturing orders jumped in November, with large-scale orders once again boosting the factory sector as tariff uncertainty subsides. (WSJ)
• GM said it would book a $6 billion charge on its shrinking, money-losing EV business. (WSJ)
• China auto giant Zhejiang Geely Holding Group is eyeing an expansion to the U.S. (WSJ)
• Glencore and Rio Tinto have resumed preliminary talks about a potential merger. (WSJ)
• The Department of Transportation said it would withhold $160 million in federal funding from California for failing to cancel more than 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses held by non-U.S.citizens. (KTLA)
• The Port of Oakland received two new ship-to-shore cranes built by Liebherr in Ireland, the first European-built cranes on the West Coast. (American Journal of Transportation)
• France’s Fatton & Lyseo merged operations with Bolloré Group-operated digital forwarder Ovrsea. (Journal of Commerce)
• DHL Supply Chain completed a one-million square-foot distribution hub for medical products and pharmaceuticals in Pennsylvania. (SupplyChain24/7)
• Refrigerated shipping firm Seatrade has taken a 50% stake as a long-term strategic investor in JR Shipping. (Lloyd’s List)
• Ship broker Clarksons acquired shipping-technology firm Zuma Labs for an undisclosed price. (TradeWinds)

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.