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Amazon to Slash USPS Shipments; Tesla, LG Bet on U.S. Batteries With $4.3 Billion Michigan Plant By Mark R. Long | WSJ Logistics Report

Amazon is planning to sharply cut the number of packages it ships through the U.S. Postal Service, a move that could cost the agency billions of dollars of much-needed revenue, the WSJ's Esther Fung writes.

Long the Postal Service's biggest customer, Amazon has already begun ratcheting down its postal volume

and wants to reduce it by at least two-thirds by this fall, when its current contract with the agency expires, according to people familiar with the matter.

USPS delivered more than a billion packages for Amazon last year, close to 15% of all the packages it delivered in the U.S. Amazon disclosed the plan to the Postal Service in a confidential bidding process for its last-mile delivery service . USPS solicited bids for the service for the first time, aiming to help it determine the true market value of the last-mile service.

Results of the last-mile bidding competition will be released in the second quarter, and contracts will be finalized by the end of the third quarter. That left Amazon concerned that it would have little time to make changes to its network if its bid weren't accepted, the people said.

Amazon delivered 6.7 billion packages last year, while USPS delivered 6.6 billion, according to ShipMatrix. It was the first year Amazon's parcel volumes exceeded the Postal Service's volumes.

Amazon said it was rolling out one-hour and three-hour delivery

services across the U.S., as it moves to fend off a growing threat from Walmart and faces intensifying shipping competition. (WSJ) CONTENT FROM: PENSKE Gain Momentum. Gain Ground With Penske Logistics.

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Maritime Security

Ship movement across the Strait of Hormuz remains very limited, with only three tankers and a handful of general cargo vessels

crossing since the weekend, the Journal's Costas Paris writes.

Marine tracking and intelligence firms Windward and Kpler said the seven-day average ship crossings were around two a day, compared with more than 100 transits in peacetime. The few tankers leaving the Persian Gulf through Hormuz are mostly China-bound, though the oil volumes flowing out are substantially lower than normal.

Despite the tension, Kpler estimates that 12 million barrels of crude have moved to China since the end of February-mostly from Iran, but also from other countries in the region. Some 1,100 ships are currently trapped in the Persian Gulf, according to ship brokers Clarksons and Braemar.

Iraq is in talks with Iran to secure the passage of some of its oil tankers

through the Strait or Hormuz, the country's oil minister said. (WSJ) The Pentagon wants to mass produce a kamikaze attack drone

called Lucas, an American-made copy of Iran's Shahed drones. (WSJ) Major air carriers are offering a first look into how they are planning to outpace the rising cost of jet fuel

as uncertainty lingers in the Middle East conflict. (WSJ) British Airways, Air France, KLM and other European airlines extended their suspensions of flights

to Dubai and other major Middle Eastern travel hubs amid the conflict in the region. (WSJ) Number of the Day Manufacturing

A Michigan battery factory once meant for General Motors' electric vehicles has a new partner: Tesla.

South Korea's LG Energy Solution said it would produce battery cells for Tesla's energy-storage business

at a new factory in Lansing, Mich. Those cells will eventually power utilities and AI data centers, the WSJ's Christopher Otts writes.

LG once planned to make batteries for GM's EVs at the factory, but as the automaker pulled back on its electric ambitions, it sold its stake in the venture to LG last year. The new $4.3 billion LG-Tesla tie-up was part of a Trump administration announcement on Tuesday, among dozens of other deals, as part of its "energy dominance agenda."

Chinese EV-battery makers' global market share topped 70% last year , up from less than 50% in 2021. (Nikkei Asia) In Other News President Trump said his planned summit in Beijing with leader Xi Jinping will take place in about five or six weeks , after the meeting scheduled for March 31-April 2 was delayed. (WSJ) The number of homes going under contract

in the U.S. rose 1.8% in February, defying economists' forecast for a decline. (WSJ) New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority sued the Trump administration

for withholding about $58.6 million earmarked for the Second Avenue Subway extension. (WSJ) Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest contract electronics maker, posted double-digit annual-profit growth and said shipments of AI server racks

could grow exponentially this year. (WSJ) Boeing's finance chief said margins will take a hit this year as executives wrestle with higher-than-expected costs

at recently acquired supplier Spirit AeroSystems. (WSJ) Audi expects its operating margin to improve to 6%-8% in 2026 , up from 5.1% in 2025, through cost cuts and efficiency improvements. (WSJ) South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Power Systems signed an early agreement to supply $1 billion worth of boilers

for a proposed 1.25-gigawatt coal-fired power plant in Alaska. (Politico) A.P. Moller-Maersk's APM Terminals unit and Vietnamese partner Hateco Group won a 50-year concession

to develop the $1.8 billion Lieu Chieu container terminal in Da Nang. (Journal of Commerce) The U.S. is seeking court approval to sell

the seized shadow-fleet tanker Skipper and its cargo, because the costs of holding the tanker and its oil will be greater than the cargo's value. (The Maritime Executive) Oregon stopped issuing non-domiciled CDLs and learner's permits, amid concerns over the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's threat to pull federal funding. (Transport Topics) About Us

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at [mark.long@wsj.com]. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long , Liz Young and Paul Berger .

This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 18, 2026 07:02 ET (11:02 GMT)

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