The world’s largest cash buyer of ships for scrap is setting its sights on shadow tankers that ferry illicit oil from Iran, Russia and Venezuela. The WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes that GMS filed a request this month with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for a license to buy sanctioned ships.

GMS’s founder and CEO, Anil Sharma, says if OFAC grants the license, it will help the U.S. slash the size of the shadow fleet by allowing sanctioned vessel owners to exit the industry. Shipowners under sanctions can’t easily dispose of vessels. 

GMS argues that a legal mechanism for sanctioned owners to scrap ships would benefit the U.S. because it reduces the number of vessels that can carry illicit cargoes, provides revenue for U.S. banks and related industries and makes the oceans safer.

The Trump administration, however, has so far shown no desire to help dark fleet operators. OFAC didn’t respond to requests for comment. A former OFAC compliance official says it is unlikely the White House would authorize a mechanism that provides payments to shipowners under sanctions.

• Halliburton’s CEO expressed confidence in quickly expanding operations in Venezuela, citing strong interest and the company’s historical presence since 1938. (WSJ)

The world’s largest owner of industrial real estate says demand for warehouse space is coming back after years of weakness, the WSJ’s Liz Young and Nicholas G. Miller report. 

Prologis CEO Daniel Letter said customers are making long-term decisions with greater conviction, as the company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $2.25 billion, up 2% from a year earlier. Letter took over as CEO this month as company founder Hamid Moghadam retired. Consumer-goods sellers and e-commerce companies are in the market for more space, Letter said in an interview, while companies focused on the housing and automotive sectors are still slow to sign new deals.

Letter said Prologis leased 228 million square feet globally in 2025, its highest annual activity since 2021. Prologis has a portfolio of 1.3 billion square feet of industrial real estate in 20 countries, and has been building more data centers as demand grows for infrastructure to power the AI boom.

• The RealReal has implemented an AI program called Athena to authenticate items, suggest pricing and generate descriptions, processing 27% of the luxury resale platform’s items by late September. (WSJ)

President Trump said he wouldn’t impose tariffs on several European nations after he reached the “framework of a future deal” on Greenland and the Arctic region with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

In an address in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said the U.S. needs to take control of Greenland purely for security and not for access to minerals, but he said he wouldn’t deploy the military to take control of the Danish-controlled island. 

Earlier, the European Parliament suspended work on the legal implementation of the U.S.-EU trade agreement in response to President Trump's tariff threat. The decision puts the European Union's plan to slash tariffs on a range of U.S. industrial products on hold.

• European Union lawmakers voted to send the EU-Mercosur trade deal for judicial review, delaying its ratification. (WSJ)
• Ontario Premier Doug Ford and auto executives warned that Canada's trade truce with China puts Canada’s auto sector at risk. (Bloomberg) 

• The U.S. pending home sales index unexpectedly fell 9.3% in December to 71.8, contrary to economists’ forecast of a 0.7% rise. (WSJ)
• The International Energy Agency raised its forecast for global oil-demand growth on an improved economic outlook and lower crude prices, but said supply was expected to outpace consumption. (WSJ)
• Knight-Swift Transportation posted a drop in quarterly revenue, after an expected seasonal lift in demand didn't materialize until late in the period. (WSJ)
• Geothermal company Zanskar privately raised $115 million in its latest funding round to find and develop overlooked geothermal fields. (WSJ)
• Rio Tinto’s copper output increased by 11% in 2025, reaching 883,000 metric tons, exceeding its forecast. (WSJ)
• Smithfield Foods agreed to acquire hot dog brand Nathan’s Famous in a deal with a total enterprise value of $450 million. (WSJ)
• A federal judge dismissed a constitutional challenge to the Jones Act brought by a Hawaiian distiller, ruling that the cabotage law remains valid. (WorkBoat)
• Echo Global Logistics acquired third-party logistics provider and drayage company ITS Logistics for undisclosed terms. (Journal of Commerce)
• Japanese automakers plan to work with chipmakers to share information on semiconductors for cars to strengthen the industry’s supply chain against geopolitical risk. (Nikkei Asia)
• United Parcel Service plans to build a $6.1 million, 42,000-square-foot cooler for biotech company Amgen at a facility in Louisville, Ky. (Louisville Business First)
• Canadian Pacific Kansas City ordered 65 new locomotives from Progress Rail and 70 Evolution Series locomotives from Wabtec as part of an $800 million fleet renewal. (TrainsPRO)

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.