The trucking boom appears to be tapping the brakes. The strong freight demand that has delivered bumper earnings for truckers looks to be waning, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Lydia O’Neal writes, as shipping demand falls more closely in line with the supply of trucks. That’s a steep change from the past year and a half, when the rush by retailers to restock depleted inventories sent shippers scrambling for capacity in a tight freight market. Now, spot rates are tumbling and several indicators suggest freight volumes are slimming. Inflation may be taking a toll on underlying demand, but ongoing supply-chain bottlenecks also could be winnowing shipment counts. Some truckers say the market is only weaker by comparison to last year’s historically strong demand, and they’re still expecting healthy growth this year. But the downshift suggests that in a notoriously cyclical business, market leverage may be turning decidedly toward the shippers.

The war in Ukraine is delivering an oversize blow to global air cargo services. The war has removed some of the world’s biggest freighters from service, the WSJ’s Benjamin Katz reports, with some of the hulking Antonov freighters prized by heavy-lift market destroyed and others effectively grounded. The most visible of the planes, the singular, six-engine An-225, was demolished in bombing outside Kyiv early in the Russian invasion. Ukraine’s Antonov Air is now using the five An-124 it evacuated from Ukraine mostly to move humanitarian supplies. And Russia’s Volga-Dnepr’s An-124s are effectively idled by sanctions and flight bans. That’s a blow to the specialized shippers that send oil-industry gear, aerospace components and other big items on the four-engine jets. General Electric says it will likely have to split its engine shipments apart to move products, and satellite maker Maxar Technologies says it expects to switch to ground transport.

Here are recent developments following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

The White House is significantly expanding the intelligence it is providing to Ukraine’s forces and stepping up support with new supplies of heavier weaponry as Russia masses forces in the eastern part of the country. (WSJ)

Germany’s top economics think tank says the country would enter a recession if Russian natural-gas deliveries are cut off. (WSJ)

Ukraine says Russian forces are taking ship crews trapped in ports including Mariupol since the fighting began. (Maritime Executive)

Australia sanctioned Russian businesses including shipping company Sevmash, United Shipbuilding, truck maker Kamaz and Russian Railways. (WSJ)

French retailer Leroy Merlin is facing criticism for closing its Ukraine operations, including payments for suppliers, while keeping its Russian stores open. (WSJ)

Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser plans to exit Russia, becoming the first major household-staples maker to depart the country. (WSJ)

For the latest updates from Russia and Ukraine, click here

Russia’s energy supply chain is backing up with oil. The fallout from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is leaving storage space brimming with crude, the WSJ’s Joe Wallace and Anna Hirtenstein report, leading to a cutback in production that is undercutting Moscow’s efforts to use oil to fuel its economic engine. Refiners are trimming output and in some cases closing down because of falling demand at home and abroad. The head of Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil company, says the firm has had to redirect fuel oil to power plants to avoid shutting refiners. The losses so far are modest, but traders and analysts expect the problems of getting crude from the ground to end users are likely to mount in the coming months as sanctions fracture a longstanding crude supply chain. Reduced production would have big implications in oil markets since Russia was, until recently, the world’s biggest exporter.

Texas Gov. Greg Ab­bott will stop state po­lice in­spec­tions of com­mer­cial trucks at one U.S.-Mexico border crossing that has been hit by massive delays. (WSJ)

U.S. producer prices rose 11.2% on an annual basis last month in the fourth straight double-digit gain. (WSJ)

The World Trade Organization lowered its forecast for global economic growth this year to 2.8% on growing signs of a pullback in global trade. (WSJ)

Annual inflation in the U.K. hit a three-decade high in March. (WSJ)

Natural gas prices hit a 14-year high. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Delta Air Lines says strong travel demand is offsetting rising fuel costs following a first quarter that included a 51% jump in cargo revenue. (WSJ)

Bed Bath & Beyond’s quarterly sales fell 22% as supply-chain delays cost the retailer $175 million in lost sales. (WSJ)

Some grocery chains say consumers so far are accepting higher prices as retailers try to pass along rising costs to shoppers. (WSJ)

U.S. freight railroads are trying to resolve big service problems that shippers and others say are the result of steep cutbacks in the name of efficiency. (Associated Press)

Union Pacific plans to limit customer-owned railcars on its network starting next week to ease bottlenecks in its system. (Bloomberg News)

The head of the U.S. West Coast dockworkers’ union says ports and employers will likely reach an agreement when their current contract expires this summer. (Long Beach Press-Telegram)

Deadly flooding has knocked out operations at the Port of Durban, South Africa’s largest port. (Splash 247)

Singapore connected Glencore to supplies of contaminated bunker fuel that affected dozens of ships. (TradeWinds)

Japan’s JGC Holdings and Kawasaki Kisen plan to turn old liquefied natural gas tankers into floating offshore LNG production bases. (Nikkei Asia)

Freighter orders have been growing on expectations that airfreight expansion will stay strong over the long term. (Los Angeles Times)

Lineage Logistics acquired Canada’s VersaCold and its 24 temperature-controlled facilities. (Journal of Commerce)

Freight forwarder AIT Worldwide plans to evaluate two or three possible acquisition targets to expand its e-commerce services this year. (Air Cargo World)

Direct-to-consumer bedding retailer Brooklinen plans to triple its physical store footprint this year. (Retail Dive)

McDonald’s is testing an electric Class 8 truck for deliveries to its outlets in the Montreal area. (Transport Dive)

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

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @pdberger. and @LydsOneal. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.