Freightos is trying to defy challenges on multiple fronts as the online freight booking platform takes its business to public markets. The Israel-based company used a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company to start trading publicly on the Nasdaq in one of the few new stock offerings in the logistics sector in the past year. The WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes that Freightos is turning to public markets just as the booming shipping demand that helped fuel the digital startup’s growth shows signs of weakening. Skyrocketing spot rates and supply-chain disruptions have faded, raising pressure on the business to keep up its growth momentum in a more normal or even declining shipping market. The market for initial public offerings has cooled in recent months, and questions around the timing may have helped send Freightos shares on a roller-coaster ride in the first day of trading.

Bed Bath & Beyond’s financial situation is getting more precarious. Bank lenders have determined that the troubled home-goods retailer has defaulted on its credit lines, and Bed Bath & Beyond says it doesn’t have the funds to repay the banks. The WSJ’s Soma Biswas and Suzanne Kapner report the retailer’s notice indicates the growing financial constraints Bed Bath & Beyond is under as it tries to operate normally a month after it warned that it may file for bankruptcy. It also highlights the risk to suppliers who may have goods and transport bills at the retailer. The chain has had trouble stocking its stores after it fell behind on payments to suppliers following a failed effort to turn from name brands to private-label products. Bed Bath & Beyond has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and had $154 million in unrestricted cash and equivalents in late November.

• Kitchenware maker Instant Brands hired restructuring advisers as it copes with declining consumer demand. (WSJ)

Tesla is again trying to get its supply chain ramped up to meet growing demand. The electric-vehicle pacesetter says orders are coming in at nearly twice the rate of production, and CEO Elon Musk says it is seeing the strongest orders in its history so far in January. The WSJ’s Denny Jacob writes that Tesla is planning on 1.8 million vehicles for this year, although the company didn’t specify whether that target is for production or deliveries. A delivery target of 1.8 million would mark 37% growth from 2022, a step back from the 50% annual average growth investors have come to expect. It would also come with lower margins after Tesla cut its prices to boost sales. The tactic looks to be working, however, and may bolster the company’s efforts to expand its capacity at existing and new factories.

• Tesla and the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon have yet to reach a deal on building an electric vehicle assembly plant there. (Nikkei Asia)
• Electric-truck maker Nikola created a unit to manage production and distribution of hydrogen fuel. (Reuters)

The U.S. economy grew at a solid 2.9% annual rate last quarter. (WSJ)

Falling new U.S. unemployment claims suggest the labor market remains tight. (WSJ)

Orders for durable goods minus transport sales fell in December. (MarketWatch)

Airbus is recruiting over 13,000 new staffers to help accelerate its jet production. (WSJ)

Renault and Nissan are nearing a deal to reshape their 20-year-old alliance. (WSJ)

American Airlines’ fourth-quarter cargo revenue dropped 22.9% as passenger revenue surged 44.7%. (WSJ)

China is on track to surpass Japan as the world’s largest car exporter. (South China Morning Post)

Several truck-components suppliers say they are looking to shift production from Asia to North America. (Heavy-Duty Trucking)

Walmart’s Sam’s Club unit is adding five distribution centers this year under a multiyear plan to modernize its supply chain. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Strikes at Royal Mail have cost the U.K. operator nearly $250 million. (Financial Times)

Clarksons Securities says strong Chinese demand will make dry-bulk shipping “the best trade of 2023.” (TradeWinds)

Knight-Swift Transportation projects a rebound in the second half of this year after fourth-quarter net profit slumped 41.6% to $148.7 million. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Fourth-quarter profit at truckload carrier Covenant Logistics fell 35% to $11.5 million as freight revenue excluding fuel surcharges dropped 4.4%. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Food-products maker Amy’s Kitchen named Oksana Woloszczuk as its chief supply chain officer. (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 Twitter at @WSJLogistics.