Efforts to relieve a shortfall in shipping containers are stuck at sea and on the docks. Ship operators have been adding millions of boxes to international operations over the past two years, but the WSJ’s Costas Paris reports the added capacity is effectively trapped in congested distribution networks as shipping moves into its busiest period. An early start to the peak season is adding to the problem as importers order and ship goods early to get ahead of feared bottlenecks later this year. The result is that some 12% of the world’s container ships are backed up outside ports for weeks longer than normal while backups in inland distribution networks are growing. The average time boxes wait at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has surged recently, and reached 9.6 days in April, the highest level since July 2021, according to the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.

• U.S. shippers are coping with a deepening shortage of truck trailers. (Journal of Commerce)

Amazon’s decision to throttle back on its e-commerce operations is sending a shudder through the U.S. warehousing market. Analysts expect demand from other retailers to pick up the slack for now, the WSJ’s Peter Grant reports, but the sudden availability of a new swath of space through Amazon’s subleasing threatens to slow the growth of the hot market for distribution centers. There have been signs that the sector is cooling after several years of red-hot growth. Industrial-property sales volume fell to $6.5 billion in April, down 43% from last year, says MSCI Real Assets, and market players pin that partly on the impact of rising interest rates. But underlying supply-and-demand fundamentals are also changing. Retailers including Amazon are seeing e-commerce sales pull back as consumers emerge from pandemic lockdowns. And as one analyst put it, Amazon’s subleasing plan is now unleashing new supply into an increasingly cloudy market.

The European Union is taking aim at Russia’s fundamental ability to ship its oil to overseas markets. The new sanctions from Brussels include a phased-in ban on insuring European ships that carry Russian crude, a step that the WSJ’s Rochelle Toplensky writes will carry a bigger punch than the partial embargo that the bloc has agreed to. The global energy supply map is already being redrawn, and the embargo will cement the changes while effectively lengthening the supply lines that Russia uses to get crude to overseas markets such as India and Asia. The insurance bar will have a more meaningful impact on Russian exports as Moscow relies heavily on European insurers and carriers when transporting its oil around the world. The move seems likely to reduce Russian exports. But it also will push up global prices, blunting the hit to Moscow’s cash flows and exacerbating inflationary pressures.

• Some OPEC members are exploring suspending Russia’s participation in an oil-production deal to pump more crude. (WSJ)

Here are recent developments following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

Russian forces took parts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk in a continued push in the Donbas area. (WSJ)

Financial sanctions on Russia imposed following its invasion of Ukraine are having “collateral affects” on needy countries’ payments for food imports. (WSJ)

Russia cut off natural-gas deliveries to partially state-owned Dutch energy firm GasTerra after it refused to pay in rubles. (WSJ) 

For the latest updates from Russia and Ukraine, click here 

The decline in manufacturing and other economic activity in China eased in April. (WSJ)

Inflation in the eurozone accelerated to an annual 8.1% rate in May. (WSJ)

Canadian economic growth slowed sharply to 3.1% in the first quarter as declining trade volumes offset surging household income. (MarketWatch)

A survey of consumer confidence in the U.S. slipped to the lowest level in three months. (MarketWatch)

A measure of U.S. home prices rose to a record level in March. (WSJ)

Digital freight platform Freightos plans to go public through a merger with a special purchase acquisition company. (Dow Jones Newswires)

U.S. aviation safety regulators rejected Boeing’s request to perform certain regulatory tasks on its own for five years. (WSJ)

Contract manufacturer Foxconn raised its quarterly and annual outlook on improving supply-chain stability in China. (Nikkei Asia)

Food services supplier Sysco is shifting its workers, including truck drivers and warehouse staffers, to a four-day workweek to improve retention. (Transport Dive)

The White House named Stephen Lyon, a retired general who led the U.S. Transportation Command, as its port and supply chain envoy. (Supply Chain Dive)

Ocean Network Express ordered 10 mid-sized container ships to be powered by ammonia and methanol. (Maritime Executive)

Spot rates for liquefied natural gas tankers are up more than 50% over the past year. (Lloyd’s List)

Swedish tanker owner Stena cut its quarterly loss by about a quarter to $76 million. (TradeWinds)

Maersk Line became the first foreign carrier to move international shipping containers between ports in China. (Seatrade Maritime)

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

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