Mike Troy II, CEO of Troy Container Line, a Red Bank, New Jersey–based NVO has witnessed a lot of disruptions to the supply chain. And 2026 is no different with tariffs and geo-political upheaval in the Middle East. But from Troy’s vantage point the key to riding out the storm is communication.
Over this decade, disruptions to the global supply chain have become so frequent and varied that importers and exporters have developed a logistics version of trigger finger in reacting to the latest challenges such as tariffs and the conflict between the US and Iran.
In a recent interview with AJOT, Michael Troy II, CEO of the Red Bank, New Jersey–based Troy Container Line, a neutral NVO (Non-Vessel Owning Common Carrier), remarked about the seemingly endless string of supply chain disruptions, “I always say that really since the Hanjin Bankruptcy [in 2016] there always been one [disruption], whether it is the Suez Canal being blocked [Containership Ever Given Suez Canal grounding March 2021], COVID pandemic, port strikes, tariffs - there’s been different things in the market to make it swing extremely up or down.”
2026 Market Conditions
It’s been an uncertain market since the beginning of 2026 for shippers and not likely to improve. And shippers have to pull the trigger on finding solutions to the logistics problems that seemingly pop up out of nowhere. As Troy notes, “Shippers are all reacting to what they’re given …. You have a lot of ports that look like options until everyone in the world is sending their freight in that direction. And then the congestion starts, and the costs go up and then it’s no longer an option. So, I think the shippers are trying to keep up with whether it’s different ports in Saudi Arabia, whether it’s through India points — [they’re] waiting on the carriers to tell them what the options are.”
And in many cases NVOs like Troy Container Line are the conduits to the carriers for the information that enables the shippers to make those decisions, and to do it in an expedited fashion.
Communication: Evolving Role of the NVO
The rapid-fire challenges of the supply chain are also changing the role of the NVO. The NVO now has to be ready for the unforeseen events — to strategically plan for what might happen to enable the quick communication and an off-the-shelf solution to be available at a moment’s notice. This means already having the relationships in place to support the solution. For example, “A lot of the freight forwarding community might rely on one carrier 90% of the time, but in situations like these, you might need to be able to flex to four or five different options, depending on what different ocean carriers are doing. Some carriers suspended services for the region completely, others will give you options through India or Saudi Arabia or other points. So, if our shipper clients don’t have any relationships with any other carrier besides one or two, that’s where we can fill in that need to give them the options that they have the current setup with,” Troy said. Adding, “So, the NVO role is definitely one of communication. [And providing] flexibility, whether that’s from one carrier to another or from FCL to LCL. [Or] maybe the order volumes have changed to be able to flex from one mode to another or from one carrier to another carrier to another carrier, but the communication piece to go alongside of that is massive.”
No Single Right Way to Manage Disruptions
Troy hasn’t seen a “single proven right way” to hedge the ups and downs of the tariff buffeted marketplace. In the case of India, “We saw again with the significant tariffs that went in August from India. We had a lot of clients still procuring their freight and storing it in India, waiting for a tariff mitigation with a trade agreement to be made [between the US and India]. So, they were still buying, they were still acquiring, but instead of moving the product and storing it in facilities here [US] and warehouses here [US], they were storing it at origin [India]. But then we had other clients get into an inventory bind where then they had no choice but to move it. And there is now. Where there is some tariff relief with some trade agreements happening or the tariffs being overturned, they’re moving as much product as possible to keep longer inventory cycles on the ground here.”
NVO’s like Troy also have an information gathering capability because they “work across so many different verticals.” This is critical in understanding on a street level what is happening with vessel rotations and critical business intelligence. As Troy explains, “I’m on overseas calls and what everybody is saying, whether it’s the rotation of vessels in the Middle East due to the ongoing situation, whether it’s a realignment of vessel sharing agreements or certain carriers going out on their own and going away from the alliance structure, it’s the perfect storm from a supply side with the vessel rotations this year.”
As a result of the ever-changing situation with the ocean carriers Troy says, “We see a big reset happening on the rotations just because, from the Middle East standpoint, a lot of these containers are not landing where they’re supposed to. A lot of these vessels are getting delayed, not by a week or two weeks, but significantly delayed, not only to that next port of call, but the trickle-down effect after that…. Even if there’s a resolution in the short-term from a geopolitical standpoint, the impact on the vessel rotations this year is just going to be, we believe, tremendous.”
Still A People Business
The rapid-fire disruptions to the supply chain over the past year have had another secondary impact — they reinforce the need for people to communicate. As Troy notes, “But for us, we’ve been closer to our clients this past year than, I think, in a long time just because of the need to be able to flex from one situation to another, whether it be a tariff announcement, and there’s all this freight sitting in India waiting for a green light. And when you get that tariff mitigation or the Supreme Court decision, or anything like that, to be able to make a decision very quickly, in coordination with your client….”
And the people-to-people aspect of the business may seem counter intuitive in an era where tech and now AI are saluted as the path forward. But as Troy points out, a more nuanced approach in times of disruption, might be better to handling the challenges, “You could be efficient or as tech-forward as possible or have the best operating platform in the world, but when something like this happens; having the right phone numbers, having the right relationships overseas to be able to route cargo through this way or that way, or even just knowing what’s going on and knowing where your freight is and having a conversation with somebody. I think that’s the importance of pairing that great technology with the right relationships both here and around the world, a hybrid mix that is going to drive companies forward.”
