Luke Vargas

Postal Service is turning to fuel surcharges for the first time in an effort to try and stabilize its budget amid soaring fuel and transport costs.

The 8 percent fee will apply to packages only and kicks in next month.

Both FedEx and UPS, which have imposed surcharges for years, dramatically raised theirs in recent weeks amid turmoil in the Middle East.

Coming up, how the shipping industry is managing one of the biggest crises since the pandemic, and a diamond mine once preferred by Harry Winston loses its luster after the break.

German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd is telling investors to brace for an earnings slump this year thanks to disruptions caused by the Iran war and sharply rising costs.

It's just the latest such message from container shipping operators who've been forced to suspend routes and send boats on longer journeys to try and avoid fighting, including direct attacks from Iran.

With commercial shipping under threat, I spoke with the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization, Arsenio Dominguez, and began by asking how the industry's faring.

These seafarers can't dock at a nearby port.

I mean, presumably they're at risk when they're at anchor just as much as they are in port.

I know you're leading efforts to try and create a safe corridor through the strait.

What might that look like?

Does an outcome of this war need to be a new arrangement for the Strait of Hormuz going forward?

Though a potential legacy, if this doesn't end well, or even if it even were to end today, I guess, is that this demonstrates how effective it is to use commercial shipping as a pawn in geopolitical conflict.

We're here at the Wall Street Journal.

A lot of global trade, the price of commodities is often a reason things get done, right?

It almost seems like every day we look at a new industry and see how it's affected by the continued closure of the straight helium at the end of last week.

Is there more to come if this keeps playing out?

We've been hearing in particular some countries in Southeast Asia really needing some of the products coming out of the Persian Gulf to keep their economies ticking.

Would the IMO be involved in, I don't know, helping redirect other global maritime traffic to countries in need if some of the concerns you're talking about worsen?

Arsenio Dominguez is the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization.