Container shipping lines are feeling the pain from their own version of supply chain’s bullwhip effect. Shipping and logistics giant A.P. Moller-Maersk is cutting more than 10,000 jobs after profits plummeted to $521 million from $8.88 billion last year. The WSJ’s Dominic Chopping and Costas Paris report revenue at the core Maersk Line container also fell 56% from last year, but the most troubling signal was that the main Ocean division posted a loss for the first time in several years. The results point to troubles beyond the sector’s roller-coaster cyclical trends. Like retailers that pulled in too much inventory during the pandemic, container lines have dug themselves into a hole by ordering too many ships, which has helped drive down freight rates. Carriers can’t easily burn off overcapacity the way retailers pare back goods stockpiles, however, and Maersk’s cutbacks suggest the company is bracing for a sustained period of imbalance.

• Linerlytica says Maersk Line has been chartering vessels in recent weeks as it tries to close a capacity gap with rival Mediterranean Shipping. (Container News)
• China’s Yangzijiang Shipbuilding says its orderbook for new vessels is at a record high. (Lloyd’s List)
• South Korea’s HMM struck a deal to charter four bulk vessels as it diversifies beyond container shipping. (Korea Economic Daily)

China may have reopened its ports to Australian steelmaking coal in January, but that doesn’t mean all the ships are coming back. Australian coal exporters have cultivated new markets since standoff with a major trading partner began more than two years ago. The WSJ’s Rhiannon Hoyle reports that the experience of steelmaking coal exporters and some other industries targeted by China suggests the trade relationship has suffered lasting damage. A little over 37% of Australia’s total exports currently head to China, down sharply from a high around 45% in 2021. Some of that decline may be the result of China’s lackluster economic recovery. But it may reflect a reluctance by Australian exporters to bet as big again on China. Cotton growers and barley farmers are among those that have found new markets, a sign that punitive trade restrictions may be easier to implement than they are to unwind.

The shipping world and traditional economic measures tell very different stories about globalization. A broad consensus has developed that global trade is in retreat, with trade’s share of global economic output shrinking since 2008 as businesses seemingly hunker down. The WSJ’s Josh Zumbrun reports that a study by two economists contradicts that view, pointing to shipping-sector figures that show more goods are traveling greater distances than ever. The gap is because economists measure trade using its dollar value, but transportation operators prefer the ton-kilometer: total distance traveled by freight, multiplied by its total weight, a measure widely used with some variation across transport modes. The researchers found that although the trade share of GDP peaked in 2008, ton-kilometers of trade surged 49% from 2008 to 2019, outpacing global-inflation adjusted GDP growth. It is a crucial difference for freight carriers plotting their future on the prospects for global trade.

Hiring in the U.S. slowed sharply in October. (WSJ)

Ford factory workers have started voting on their new contract agreement and General Motors and Stellantis workers are expected to start voting soon. (WSJ)

European Union rules aimed at stopping deforestation threaten widespread disruption for Southeast Asia's rubber farmers and exporters. (Nikkei Asia)

Nippon Steel dropped its lawsuit against Toyota over a patent for a technology used in electric motors. (Associated Press)

Bunge lifted its 2023 outlook on stronger vegetable oil demand at the world’s largest oilseed processor. (Grainnet)

The Biden administration will direct more than $653 million to port projects aimed at speeding the flow of goods. (The Hill)

Swedish dockworkers say they will refuse to handle imports of Tesla vehicles starting Tuesday. (Wired)

Key Flexport customers are concerned about public drama and service failures at the tech-focused freight forwarder. (Bloomberg)

Nikola took 277 nonbinding orders for its hydrogen-fuel cell trucks as it reported a sharply higher third-quarter net loss of $425.8 million. (Reuters)

C.H. Robinson CEO Dave Bozeman expects to see more freight brokers going out of business in a weak freight environment. (Journal of Commerce)

Bicycle parts maker Fox Factory is coping with a components glut​ after some bike manufacturers canceled orders. (Dow Jones Newswires)

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.