Contract talks at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports have gotten combative and the negotiations haven’t even started. The dockworkers’ union sent a clear warning to employers by canceling today’s opening bargaining session and renewed a strike threat aimed at some of the country’s biggest seaports. The WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes that the cancellation marks a harsh start to negotiations aimed at securing a contract covering more than 45,000 dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas ahead of the current agreement’s expiration Sept. 30. The International Longshoremen’s Association is anxious to rein back any moves toward automation at container terminals, and it cited an automated tool for clearing trucks at the Port of Mobile, Ala., in withdrawing. The potential for a standoff carries political implications: the current contract expires shortly before the presidential election, and a walkout could deliver a blow to the American economy.

• The union representing Canada’s border agents extended their strike deadline for a second time as negotiations assisted by a federal mediator continue. (WSJ)
• Workers at Germany’s Port of Hamburg staged a one-day strike at container terminals and are threatening a walkout at Bremerhaven. (ShippingWatch)

Tougher restrictions on some commodity imports have scientists mapping the unique chemical fingerprints of trees from Russia. The project led by Washington-based nonprofit World Forest ID is aimed at helping stop illegal wood from seeping into timber supply chains. The WSJ’s Dylan Tokar reports that the focus on complex, difficult-to-police networks of logging companies, sawmills, wood manufacturers and traders could also give companies and governments new tools to vet corporate supply chains for other sanctioned commodities. That’s increasingly important as sanctions become more entrenched in global trade and countries enforce restrictions on commodities deep in the components of manufactured goods. Furniture seller IKEA has used the timber database to vet suppliers for sanctioned timber and Belgian authorities have employed it to seize more than 260 tons of illegally shipped Russian timber. World Forest ID has already started collecting samples of two other commodities: soy and cacao.
 

Activist Elliott Investment Management is seeking to overhaul Southwest Airlines’ leadership to boost its financial and stock performance. (WSJ)

Volvo is shifting its production of electric vehicles from China to Belgium as the European Union prepares tariffs on Chinese imports. (South China Morning Post)

Turkey is raising tariffs on automotive imports from China by 40%. (Bloomberg)

Washington is pressuring the electric-vehicles sector to build a new non-Chinese supply chain​ for graphite anodes, a crucial component in EV batteries. (Financial Times)

Mongolia is expanding its exploration for minerals critical to EV battery production. (Nikkei Asia)

Samsung Electronics filed a complaint with U.S. maritime regulators over 96,000 disputed charges imposed by container line HMM. (Journal of Commerce)

Costs to charter containerships have at least doubled since December. (Lloyd’s List)

A federal judge dismissed a proposed class-action suit accusing Amazon of failing to meet its promised delivery date for some orders. (Reuters)

U.K. grocery chain Tesco launched an online marketplace that includes goods from third-party suppliers. (Logistics Manager)

California regulators say sales of new zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the state are two years ahead of schedule. (Commercial Carrier Journal)

British electric-truck manufacturer Tevva Motors entered the U.K. version of bankruptcy after failing to gain new funding. (Motor Transport)

All Nippon Airways pushed back its planned acquisition of Nippon Cargo Airlines for a fourth time. (Air Cargo News)

The maker of sriracha hot sauce is suspending production until after Labor Day because of a shortage of chile peppers. (Supply Chain Dive)

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.