Today's newsletter was written by WSJ Logistics Report's Jennifer Smith.

Global hunger for chips is driving strong results for semiconductor suppliers. Qualcomm, Intel and other chip-makers are forecasting bullish growth this year, the WSJ’s Meghan Bobrowsky writes, as demand outpaces supply and inflationary pressures help push up prices. Qualcomm plans to expand beyond its core market of mobile-phone makers and is making big bets on the growing use of chips in cars, with automotive sales advancing 21% in the most recent quarter. The company generated $3.4 billion in quarterly net income and projects up to $11 billion in revenue for the current quarter. CEO Cristiano Amon says supply shortages are improving but he expects bottlenecks that have slowed production of everything from cars to appliances to persist. Rival Advanced Micro Devices says that revenue from chips that go into servers will propel some 31% in top-line growth this year and projects higher sales across all its businesses.

Europe may avoid a winter energy crisis after all. Tankers are ferrying in a record influx of liquefied natural gas while milder, windy weather helps ease the crunch and slow withdrawals from the region’s heavily depleted underground gas-storage caverns, the WSJ’s Joe Wallace reports. Tight gas supplies have made countries like Germany wary of imposing sanctions in the growing crisis between Russia and Ukraine in case Moscow retaliates by cutting energy exports midwinter. But concerns are abating as temperatures warm and winds pick up, raising renewable-power generation. U.S. exporters drawn by rising prices in the region are also delivering additional LNG supplies. Almost half of last month’s record 9.5 million metric tons came from the U.S. and another 30 vessels are set to arrive in February. Natural-gas futures in the Netherlands dropped 16% over the past week.

Coffee prices are getting a jolt. Extreme weather and supply-chain disruptions are driving up costs for coffee sellers and roasters who are passing the pain on to consumers, the WSJ’s Hardika Singh reports. Arabica coffee futures finished 2021 up 76%, the largest annual percentage gain since 2010, after a year when drought, then frost, hammered Brazil, the world’s top coffee-growing region. The surge in prices is dripping down to local coffee shops where higher costs for beans, syrups and to-go cups are prompting menu markups. Nestlé expects to raise prices this year and J.M. Smucker says the disruptions pushed it to boost prices for coffee it sells through the Dunkin’ Donuts, Café Bustelo and Folgers brands. Higher shipping and freight costs are also a factor in the coffee rally, with the Baltic Dry Index up 62% in 2021, its biggest percentage gain since 2016. 

U.S. consumers are spending more on dining and travel after loading up on goods for much of the pandemic. (WSJ)

Eurozone inflation rose to a record high in January. (WSJ) 

China is building barriers along its southern border that could hamper trade. (WSJ)

General Motors expects to ship 25% to 30% more vehicles to dealers this year. (WSJ)

TuSimple will use autonomous trucks to haul freight for Union Pacific starting this spring. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Americans consume more than $2 billion of seafood caught in illegal or unregulated waters annually. (WSJ)

A blockade of Canadian truckers is delaying some freight moving from the U.S. into the province of Alberta. (Journal of Commerce)

Amazon workers at a second warehouse on New York’s Staten Island have filed a petition to form a union. (CNBC)

U.K. trucking companies can’t hire enough drivers. (The Guardian)

Freight broker C.H. Robinson’s quarterly profit rose 55.7% to $230 million while employment costs rose 35.8%. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

The Teamsters union wants companies including Best Buy and Urban Outfitters to track whether companies in their supply chains are underpaying workers. (Reuters)

New container storage yards at West Coast and Southern cargo hubs may help ease congestion across freight networks. (DC Velocity)

A study says the Port of Rotterdam is Europe’s top carbon-polluting gateway. (gCaptain)

Maersk Tankers, Cargill and Mitsui are launching a shipping fuel efficiency service. (Ship & Bunker)

Sam’s Club is deploying inventory-tracking robots across its nearly 600 U.S. locations. (Grocery Dive)

Old Dominion Freight Line’s less-than-truckload tonnage per day rose 14.3% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. (InvestorsObserver)

The Alabama Port Authority is building an inland intermodal transfer facility in Montgomery to extend rail service from the Port of Mobile. (Railway Age)

Lowe’s is among the largest importers of shipping containers into the U.S. on an annual basis, CEO Marvin Ellison says. (Bloomberg)

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

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