Flexport founder Ryan Petersen is touting a return to freight-sector fundamentals as he tries to get the tech-focused business back on a growth track. Petersen is coming off a highly public breakup with his chosen CEO, former Amazon executive Dave Clark, and the WSJ Logistics Report’s Liz Young writes the hard part of executing on the Silicon Valley-style disruption that Ryan Petersen has promised is still ahead. He’s trying to reset the business at a time of dramatically declining shipping volumes and crumbling freight rates. Petersen says he believes the broader downturn in freight markets is just an excuse for a lack of “customer engagement,” however, and blames Clark for missteps that have left the company unprofitable. Flexport’s latest effort is a distribution tool alongside stepped-up supply-chain financing services. Petersen says the company strategy now is to “make better decisions,” but what it needs is more freight.

India is upgrading its notoriously rickety infrastructure and the impact is already reaching the country’s economy. The International Monetary Fund said capital spending and productivity growth will be the biggest drivers of India’s expansion in coming years. The WSJ’s Jason Douglas and Vibhuti Agarwal report that foreign investment from companies including Apple and Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, has more than doubled in the past 10 years. Most significant for those businesses, a significant part of the construction is going to logistics infrastructure tied to India’s ambitious manufacturing and exporting goals. A rail-freight corridor stretching from Mumbia to New Delhi is expected to cut the time it takes to ship goods along the 870 miles to 14 hours—from 14 days. Zarir N. Langrana of Tata Chemicals says India’s smaller ports need improvement, the overall result is an economy better equipped to handle growing volumes of international trade.

• India is dropping its cabotage laws prohibiting foreign carriers from operating in domestic coastal shipping networks. (Splash 247)

The packaging sector is getting a bigger box. E-commerce and industrial supplier Smurfit Kappa and WestRock reached a merger agreement, creating a global paper and packaging powerhouse worth some $20 billion. The WSJ’s Ian Walker reports the combination could bolster the companies at a time of weakening demand and declining prices for containerboard, the material used to make corrugated shipping boxes and industrial packaging. The companies are at the center of a sector that has been on a roller-coaster in recent years, with business surging rapidly under the e-commerce boom during the pandemic and then diving as online sales waned. Packaging Corp. of America has reported declining sales and profits. Dublin-based Smurfit Kappa makes packages for consumer companies, e-commerce operators and industrial products. Atlanta-based WestRock makes packaging for everything from medicine to pizza and home-and-garden products.

Americans’ inflation-adjusted income fell in 2022 for the third straight year. (WSJ)

The United Auto Workers union is bending on its pay-increase demands as the deadline for a potential strike against Detroit automakers nears. (WSJ)

United Parcel Service says its new labor contract will raise costs at a compound annual cost of 3.3% over five years. (Dow Jones Newswires)

The U.S. projects the country’s 2023 corn crop will be second-largest on record. (WSJ)

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon says the retailer is “feeling pretty good” about American consumers. (Barron’s)

Mediterranean Shipping is bidding to buy a nearly 50% stake in German container terminal operator Hamburg Hafen und Logistik. (Reuters)

A.P. Moller-Maersk is selling dollar-denominated bonds to finance or refinance its green assets. (Bloomberg)

A U.S. judge accepted Yang Ming’s settlement with an importer over the Taiwanese container line’s alleged failure to honor capacity commitments in 2021. (Journal of Commerce)

The dark fleet of tankers hauling Russian oil has soared to 530 vessels, most of which have no insurance. (Lloyd's List)

Japan’s MOL Chemical Tankers is buying chemical carrier Fairfield-Maxwell and its 36 vessels. (ShippingWatch)

Logistics software provider Logility acquired Belgium-based artificial intelligence-focused demand forecasting business Garvis. (Logistics Management)

Estée Lauder named Quentin Roach as the cosmetic giant’s chief procurement officer. (Supply Chain Dive)

European online fashion retailer Zalando named former H&M supply chain executive Pascal Brun as vice president of sustainability, diversity and inclusion. (Retail Gazette)

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.