United Parcel Service is rolling out technology to more closely track the billions of small packages that move through its U.S. network each year, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Liz Young writes. The parcel-shipping giant on Tuesday said it has invested $100 million so far to set up radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology across its network, with plans to spend more.

UPS is embedding RFID tags into shipping labels and has installed RFID sensors on all its U.S. delivery trucks, at its more than 5,500 retail stores and in its final-mile delivery centers. It plans to start adding the sensors to its middle-mile facilities later this year. UPS said the tagging system gives customers a more up-to-date, accurate picture of where packages are, though it doesn’t include real-time location tracking.

UPS’s chief commercial and strategy officer, Matt Guffey, estimates that the RFIDs will cut about 20 million manual scans per day, trimming labor costs. He declined to provide an estimate on how many jobs could be cut as part of the change. UPS has cut tens of thousands of positions and rolled out additional automation as part of a restructuring.

European countries are assembling a plan for a broad coalition to help free up shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, including sending mine-clearing and other military vessels. However, the plan would only come after the war and may exclude the U.S., The Wall Street Journal’s Max Colchester, Noemie Bisserbe and Bertrand Benoit write.

The goal is to give shipping companies confidence to use the strait after the fighting has ended, which officials say could be some time away. The plan is likely to include Germany, which had been reluctant to get involved militarily. On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host an online meeting of several dozen countries to discuss how best to police the strait once hostilities end.

• U.S. Central Command said no ships out of Iranian ports went through the U.S. blockade within its first 24 hours, with six merchant vessels obeying directions to reverse course and re-enter an Iranian port. No interdictions had been reported, while more than 20 commercial ships passed through the strait, according to two U.S. officials.
• Benchmark U.S. crude futures slid 7.9%, to $91.28 a barrel—the lowest settlement since March 25—on renewed hopes for peace talks.
• The International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecast to 3.1% from 3.3% in January, warning a prolonged Middle East conflict could slash growth to 2%. (WSJ)

The Trump administration is expected to start accepting claims next week for refunds from tariffs the Supreme Court ruled illegal, the WSJ’s Lydia Wheeler writes.

In an order Tuesday, Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade said the government confirmed earlier in the day that it was on track to begin processing claims for refunds, with interest, on April 20 for some importers. The government said it can start accepting refund claims amounting to about $127 billion of the $166 billion the government collected in tariffs that were invalidated by the high court in February.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been working to build a system to handle refunds after Eaton directed it to begin the repayment process on March 4. He ultimately gave the Trump administration more time after it said its system wasn’t capable of reimbursing for more than 53 million imports affected by Trump’s tariffs.

• U.S. wholesale inflation reached a three-year high in March, with the 12-month producer-price index rising 4%, the Labor Department said. (WSJ)
• China's exports rose 2.5% in March from a year earlier, marking a sharp deceleration in growth from the 22% expansion in January and February, signaling how the Iran war is weighing on global demand. (WSJ)
• The European Union approved a plan to cut the amount of tariff-free steel imports by almost half to 18.3 million metric tons a year, and to double tariffs on imports above that quota to 50%. (WSJ)
• Amazon is buying satellite operator Globalstar in a deal the companies estimated at about $10.8 billion, snapping up the biggest rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink service. (WSJ)
• EV maker Lucid Group said it secured $750 million in fresh funding commitments from Uber Technologies and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund. (WSJ)
• Electric-vehicle startup Rivian is joining with Redwood Materials—a battery-recycling firm started by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel—to reuse EV batteries for energy storage. (WSJ)
• BMW said group overall sales fell 3.5% in the first quarter, as deliveries to the U.S. and China continued to drop. (WSJ)
• Green steel startup Stegra secured $1.65 billion in new funding, led by Wallenberg Investments, for a Swedish plant to be fueled by renewably produced hydrogen instead of coal. (WSJ)
• French carrier CMA CGM agreed to acquire Beirut-based warehousing and distribution company Fattal Group. (L’Orient Today)
• The delivery this month of the MSC Migsan containership made Mediterranean Shipping Co. the first carrier to operate 1,000 ships. (Splash247)
• Hong Kong International was again the world’s busiest cargo airport last year, followed by Shanghai Pudong and Alaska’s Ted Stevens Anchorage International, according to Airports Council International. (Air Cargo News)

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.