The Omicron variant isn’t yet throwing up roadblocks to the new year’s big logistics shows. Organizers of industry conferences say they are moving ahead with their events in the coming weeks, the WSJ’s Jennifer Smith and Paul Berger write, even as the Omicron variant rips through the U.S. and snarls airline travel. The National Retail Federation’s annual show in New York City this month, the TPM maritime conference organized by the Journal of Commerce and IHS Markit in Long Beach, Calif., and the Modex material-handling show in March are set to go forward. The early trade-show season is already underway with the big CES electronics gathering in Las Vegas, although that will end a day early in a bow to the surge in Covid-19 cases. Organizers say they are going beyond local mandates in some cases to keep attendees safe as they seek to rebound from nearly two years on the sidelines.

The holiday hangover may prove expensive for U.S. retailers. Longer return windows and higher parcel costs mean unwanted items could end up taking a bigger bite out of retailers this year, the WSJ’s Jinjoo Lee writes in a Heard on the Street column. B-Stock Solutions says up to $114 billion in retail goods could be returned after the holiday season, up from $100 billion in 2020 and $95 billion in 2019. The surge in returns has become an entrenched part of the holiday season, and the stakes for merchants have grown as more shopping has moved online, where purchases are more likely be sent back. That has helped turn the discipline known as reverse logistics into a bigger business. It’s also gotten more expensive as both FedEx and United Parcel Service have raised prices in 2022, imposing the steepest rate increases in eight years.

Auto makers are pretty charged about their new vehicle lineups. The manufacturers and their suppliers turned the annual CES consumer technology conference into a virtual car show, the WSJ’s Mike Colias, Nick Kostov and Peter Landers report, in a sign of how money is pouring into the development of electric vehicles and battery factories at a pace that is upending the sector’s supply chains. General Motors showed off an electric Chevy Silverado at the event, the Chrysler brand is going to an all-electric lineup and even Japan’s Sony Group plans to jump into the fray with its own car unit. Sony’s announcement suggests the company plans to sell vehicles under its own brand rather than merely supplying its technology to other car makers. Electric vehicles have fewer moving parts than those running on gasoline, making it easier for electronics specialists to get into the business.

U.S. airlines have canceled more than 1,000 flights for 11 straight days. (WSJ)

Cushman & Wakefield says the overall vacancy rate for U.S. industrial space fell in the fourth quarter to a record low of 3.7%. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Supply-chain woes are prompting some companies to test whether the U.S. can regain some of the manufacturing output it has ceded in recent decades. (New York Times)

Regional authorities in China are trying to get truck transports connected to the Ningbo port moving despite Covid-19 lockdowns. (Lloyd’s List)

Alphaliner says Mediterranean Shipping Co. has overtaken Maersk Line as the world’s largest container line by capcity. (Bloomberg)

Seaspan completed financing for its $1.4 billion in container ship purchases. (Splash 247)

South Korea’s SM Line invested $14 million in larger rival container line HMM. (Maritime Executive)

Auto maker BMW is working with Seoul Robotics to automate the last-mile fleet logistics at its manufacturing facility in Munich. (Logistics Manager)

IKEA’s largest franchise owner says the retailer fulfilled more than half of its online orders through its stores in 2021. (Supply Chain Dive)

Walmart is expanding its InHome service delivering groceries straight into customers’ refrigerators. (CNBC)

Walmart reserved 5,000 electric delivery vans from GM subsidiary Brightdrop. (TechCrunch)

USA Truck says it intends to buy 10 Nikola electric trucks this year, with options for 90 more vehicles over the next two years. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Electric-truck maker Nikola is dropping its $2 billion patent infringement lawsuit against Tesla. (CNN)

Truckload rates from East Coast and Gulf Coast ports to Chicago are surging. (Journal of Commerce)

Japanese air-conditioning giant Daikin Industries is rolling out refrigerated truck shipping containers that reduce fuel consumption 20%. (Nikkei Asia)

Stoughton Trailers is adding a manufacturing site in Waco, Texas, to expand its production of intermodal chassis. (Heavy Duty Trucking)

Pallet-management company 48forty Solutions is buying its sixth rival in the past year. (DC Velocity)

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

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @jensmithWSJ, and @pdberger. and @LydsOneal. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.