Note to readers: The Logistics Report newsletter won’t publish Monday, Jan. 15, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday, Jan. 16.

A U.S.-led coalition took its first military steps to make the crucial shipping channel leading into the Red Sea safe for commercial vessels. More than a dozen strikes were aimed at Houthi rebel targets in Yemen early Friday morning, targeting radar systems and drone and missile sites that have been used to attack ships in the pathway to the Suez Canal. The WSJ’s Nancy A. Youssef, Benoit Faucon, Costas Paris and Saleh Al-Batati report that Houthi officials reported explosions in several provinces and in the capital, San’a, which hosts the Houthis’ missile stockpiles. The Houthis said they wouldn’t be deterred. One official threatened to hit U.S. bases if the coalition strikes more targets. U.S. officials also believe the Houthis may continue striking ships to demonstrate their resolve. But a British official said after the strikes, “Early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping…has taken a blow.”

• The Iranian Navy says it seized an oil tanker off the coast of Oman that has been at the center of a dispute between Iran and the U.S. (WSJ)
• Tesla will suspend most car production at its factory near Berlin for two weeks, citing a lack of components due to shipping shifts because of attacks in the Red Sea. (Reuters)

The Red Sea is one of the most important shipping waterways in the world, but it’s also one of the most dangerous. A WSJ video report looks at how cargo vessel operators are responding to try to guard against attacks from the Houthis in Yemen.

New consolidation in the energy sector marks a big bet that booming liquefied-natural-gas exports will only keep growing. The merger of Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy in an all-stock transaction valued at $7.4 billion would create the largest natural-gas producer in the U.S. The WSJ’s Benoît Morenne and Sabela Ojea report the deal extends a wave of consolidation that has swept across the U.S. energy industry and is by far the biggest U.S. gas tie-up since at least 2017. The combined company would be well-placed as a natural-gas exporter. It would hold big shares of gas production in Appalachia and in the Haynesville Shale of East Texas and Louisiana, the basin best placed for LNG exports because it is near liquefaction terminals. That puts the business in a good position to ship more of its product to Europe, Asia and other global markets craving American fuel.

• The Biden administration is considering whether to toughen the climate criteria it uses to approve new liquefied-natural-gas export facilities. (Politico)

U.S. consumer inflation accelerated slightly in December. (WSJ)

New U.S. unemployment claims fell to the lowest level since mid-October to start the year. (MarketWatch)

Cummins will pay $1.675 billion to settle federal and California state charges that the truck engine maker installed devices designed to cheat emissions control. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Federal regulators formally notified Boeing that the plane maker is under investigation following an incident with its 737 MAX 9 jet. (WSJ)

Airbus smashed a near-decade-old record with 2,319 gross orders for aircraft last year. (WSJ)

Hertz is selling about a third of its global electric-vehicle fleet. (WSJ)

BMW will spend about $712 million to retool its flagship factory in Munich to make only fully electric vehicles. (Bloomberg)

U.S. importer Visual Comfort is seeking $2 billion in damages from Cosco Shipping over what it says was unfair application of detention and demurrage charges. (The Loadstar)

Maersk Line will switch a Panama Canal transit for service between Oceania and the U.S. East Coast to a rail crossing across Panama. (Journal of Commerce)

German farmers blocked the Port of Hamburg to protest plans to end agriculture subsidies. (Deutsche Welle)

Container volume at Belgium’s Port of Antwerp-Bruges fell 7.2% last year. (Port Technology)

Cosco Shipping and partner Fratelli Cosulich of Italy are buying trucking and logistics operator Trasgo. (Splash 247)

U.S. soybean production was up 5.4% in November and 8.3% higher than the long-term average. (Baking Business)

Alibaba logistics arm Cainiao will start allowing U.S. consumers to consolidate orders to cut cross-border delivery times. (South China Morning Post)

Amazon plans to open its first distribution center in Hawaii in April. (Hawaii News Now)

Werner Enterprises named Nathan Meisgeier as president and said Derek Leathers would retain his CEO position. (Trucking Dive)

U.S. cargo airline Amerijet is offloading six 757 freighters and setting up new financing as part of a broad restructuring. (Air Cargo News)

Canada Post is selling its SCI Group contract logistics operation to Toronto-based Metro Supply Chain. (CBC) 

• Retailers say more goods are coming back as fraudulent returns, including items that have been outright stolen.
• Retail executives say a growing wave of theft is cutting into profits that were already under pressure. But theft is just one contributor to so-called shrink in the industry.
• Sustainability and ethics are boosting the appeal of lab-grown diamonds. And they cost less.
• Biotechnology venture capitalists and entrepreneurs aim for a turnaround after two years of declining venture investment and few IPOs.
• 🎧 Listen to Morgan Stanley’s Jeremy Beal discuss how private fund managers are courting individual investors in search of new streams of capital.

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.