A decade-old dispute is testing the armor of one of the shipping sector’s most powerful labor unions. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union says it is continuing normal operations “throughout the restructuring process,” the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes, after filing for bankruptcy protection to fend off financial damages from a lawsuit over job actions at Oregon’s Port of Portland. The union says it has $9.5 million on hand, and plans to pay most of that cash to International Container Terminal Services Inc. to resolve the dispute over work at Portland. ICTSI has already rejected a $19 million payment that was reduced from $93.6 million. One bankruptcy expert says the filing could lead the union to move cautiously toward future work slowdowns. Still, port employers say the Portland case so far hasn’t stopped the union from continuing its tactic of slowing and stopping operations in disputes.

China’s efforts to create a “Polar Silk Road” are heating up thanks to geopolitics. Russia’s resistance to Beijing’s expansion plans is thawing as Moscow turns to China for help developing the Arctic as Western energy companies try to withdraw from projects. The WSJ’s Austin Ramzy reports the newfound cooperation is most evident in surging shipments of crude through the Northern Sea Route, which traverses the Arctic from northwestern Russia to the Bering Strait. The volume, while still small compared with that on southern routes, has shot up in recent weeks. Russia says the demand has driven it to permit larger tankers without so-called ice classification—stronger hulls and other reinforcements to sail the ice-filled waters—raising fears of spills in the remote region. The first of two larger tankers arrived at a Chinese port in recent days, each carrying more than one million barrels of oil.

The strike against Detroit carmakers is reaching into supply chains tied to automotive manufacturing. Steel prices that were already pressured by weakness in manufacturing and commercial construction sectors have tumbled since steel automotive-related buyers began slowing their purchasing as the potential for a strike rose. The WSJ’s Bob Tita reports the spot-market price for benchmark coiled sheet steel has fallen 40% since April, leading U.S. Steel to idle one blast furnace and steelmakers Nucor and Steel Dynamics to forecast declining profits. The strike’s impact highlights the long reach of auto manufacturing across the U.S., with materials and parts suppliers shipping large volumes through industrial distribution channels to factories and assembly plants. S&P estimates the strike has knocked out production of 6,030 vehicles a day that consumed about 5,982 tons of steel. Hefty dealer inventories are expected to leave enough vehicles on hand to sell in the short term.

• UAW-represented workers at five Mack Trucks factories reached a tentative contract agreement that averts strikes at the plants. (Barron’s)
• A measure of U.S. factory activity contracted in September for the 11th month in a row. (MarketWatch)

The dollar has risen nearly 6% on world markets since mid-July, and more when measured against some emerging-market currencies. (WSJ)

Tesla’s global automotive deliveries fell 6.7% in the latest quarter. (WSJ)

Extremely low water levels on the Mississippi River threaten to hamper U.S. grain exports. (Reuters)

The Panama Canal again cut the number of ships allowed through the passageway daily. (Associated Press)

Amazon plans to close its European air hub at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport. (The Loadstar)

Trucker Estes Express Lines suffered a widespread system outage that included its website and application program interfaces. (Journal of Commerce)

Mediterranean Shipping is buying a 50% stake in Italian passenger rail operator Italo. (Splash 247)

Bulk vessel operator Delta Corp. Holdings expects to complete a public listing through a reverse merger by the end of the year. (TradeWinds)

Pitney Bowes CEO Marc Lautenbach stepped down and the shipping services firm named Jason Dies as interim CEO. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Indiana-based coal carrier Elmer Buchta Trucking will seek to restructure its operations in bankruptcy. (Trucking Dive)

Shipping services providers GlobalTranz, Unishippers and Worldwide Express will cooperate on business​ through a common technology platform. (Logistics Management)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on X at @WSJLogistics.