The owners of 60,000 cargo ships are bracing for tighter emissions rules that are forcing them to make a multibillion-dollar choice: Start buying cleaner-burning fuel or invest in a device that treats the ship’s exhaust before letting it out.

It's a normal weekday at the Port of Vancouver. That means by noon, piles of steel slab cover the work yard at the docks on the Columbia River.

Companies that ship and handle goods moving through supply chains have a problem: they don’t often know where their shipments are in far-flung freight networks or when they will arrive.

As the Arabian Gulf region aims for a larger role in the global logistics market, which it is estimated will be worth $15.5tr by 2024, Saudi Arabia is upping its own logistics game and becoming a credible competitor to Dubai in the process.

Some of the Chinese ships U.S. authorities allege have helped North Korea evade trade sanctions sailed from ports like this, in Linhai, China, a depressed shipbuilding town.