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Updated September 22, 2026
September is providing several key signals for those working in planning, procurement, inventory, and logistics.
Diesel prices have hit record highs, tensions in the Middle East continue to disrupt energy routes, the Panama Canal is once again facing water-related restrictions, and congestion at Asian ports continues to add uncertainty to transit times.
At the same time, less immediate but equally important shifts are taking place: companies continue to regionalize their supply chains, India is accelerating its development as a semiconductor manufacturing hub, and artificial intelligence is moving from experimental use cases to concrete applications within warehouses and operations.
We have selected 10 supply chain news stories from September 2026 worth following from Latin America, and we explain what they mean for those making decisions regarding demand, inventory, purchasing, and procurement.
One of the events with the greatest potential for cross-cutting impact on supply chains this month is taking place in the energy market.
International diesel prices have reached record levels due to a combination of refinery outages, supply constraints, and supply issues related to conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Diesel has surpassed USD 6 per gallon in the United States and USD 210 per barrel in Europe, while inventories remain at low levels and global refining capacity struggles to offset the disruptions, according to an analysis published by Reuters on the record surge in diesel prices.
This situation is particularly significant because diesel has a much broader impact than just the direct increase in fuel costs.
It is present in a large portion of land transport, machinery, agriculture, construction, and logistics operations. When its price rises steadily, the impact begins to trickle down into transport and distribution rates, and ultimately into the cost of goods.
For procurement and planning teams, the risk is that the cost assumptions made a few months ago may quickly become outdated.
Some variables worth monitoring include:
Fuel is once again becoming a variable capable of significantly altering the total cost to serve a product.
The second major energy risk is directly related to maritime routes.
Disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz and other energy infrastructure in the Middle East are forcing regional producers to use extraordinary measures to maintain the flow of oil.
One of the responses has been to increase ship-to-shipoperations, where oil is transferred from one vessel to another near Oman.
According to Reuters, these operations increased from approximately 1.4 million barrels per day in August to 2.5 million in September. At the same time, the cost of transporting oil on large tankers reached over USD 30 per barrel.
The vulnerability of alternative routes was also exposed in September. Three pumping stations of the Saudi Arabian East-West Pipeline, infrastructure used to transport oil to the Red Sea while bypassing Hormuz, were affected by attacks. The pipeline normally moves between 4 and 5 million barrels per day, equivalent to approximately 4%-5% of the global supply.
Because a global energy crisis does not remain isolated in the Middle East.
It can end up affecting the following simultaneously:
For Supply Chain, the risk is not just that oil prices rise. It is the volatility it introduces into virtually every decision related to transportation.
The Panama Canal is under pressure again.
Low rainfall between May and August and the arrival of conditions associated with El Niño led the Canal Authority to reduce daily transits and limit the draft of some vessels during September.
The tension reached a striking point this month: an LPG carrier paid more than USD 5 million to reserve a transit slot through the Canal, a sign of the growing competition for capacity, according to a Reuters analysis on the pressure facing the Panama Canal.
The infrastructure project for Río Indio, designed to increase the system's water availability, could resolve many of these limitations in the long term, but it would take about five years to complete. In the short term, new restrictions could still be implemented if rainfall does not allow for sufficient reservoir recovery. Reuters explained the project and its timeline in September.
The Panama Canal is especially relevant for supply chains connecting Asia, North America, the Caribbean, and various Latin American markets.
When its capacity decreases, the following may occur:
For a planning team, this means that working only with an average lead time may be insufficient.
In high-uncertainty scenarios, lead time variability becomes just as important, if not more so, than the average.
Supply chains importing from Asia are also facing problems at the source.
More than five typhoons since July have contributed to severe congestion at several major Chinese ports.
The Freightos September Global Freight Outlook notes that weather events are exacerbating an ongoing issue: port volumes in some markets are growing faster than available new capacity.
This phenomenon is particularly relevant for Latin America, as China remains a primary source market for machinery, electronics, industrial supplies, consumer goods, and a wide range of finished products.
Not just the estimated time of arrival.
When there is congestion at the origin, it is also advisable to check:
Congestion is also occurring in an ocean freight market that continues to show high prices.
The Drewry World Container Index rose 1% to USD 4,500 per 40-foot container on September 17, 2026.
Trans-Pacific routes saw larger increases. Shipping between Shanghai and Los Angeles rose 5% to USD 7,712 per container, while Shanghai-New York increased 7% to USD 10,394. This data can be consulted directly in the weekly update of Drewry's World Container Index.
At the same time, shipping lines are using blank sailings, which are scheduled cancellations of departures, to control available capacity ahead of China's Golden Week.
Drewry recorded nine blank sailings announced for the week following its September 17 update.
Although these indicators primarily correspond to major international routes and do not directly represent every rate to Latin America, they serve as a signal of the existing pressure on global maritime capacity.
Golden Week is always an important date for teams purchasing products from China.
But when it coincides with:
the risk of delays increases.
It is a good time to identify critical purchases with replenishment dates falling between late September and early October.
Latin America has not been free of local disruptions either.
In early September, workers from the Chilean Port Union carried out a total work stoppage for three shifts.
The mobilization began on September 1st and affected ports from the north to the south of the country, amid a conflict regarding disability pensions for port workers. Previous mobilizations linked to the same conflict had already impacted at least 28 vessels, according to the operational alert published by Komex Chile.
The incident does not necessarily imply a structural or prolonged disruption of the Chilean port system, but it once again highlights a common supply chain risk: dependence on specific logistics nodes.
What happens to operations if a critical port stops functioning for two, three, or five days?
Companies should be able to quickly identify:
Resilience does not necessarily consist of doubling inventory, but rather in being able to quickly understand which products are truly exposed to a disruption.
Not all the news from September is about disruptions.
A structural transformation continues to advance within Latin America: the regionalization of supply chains.
In its September 2026 update for Latin America, Maersk highlights that companies are increasing manufacturing, sourcing, and distribution within their own regions to reduce dependence on distant suppliers and increase resilience.
Mexico continues to be one of the main beneficiaries of nearshoring, but the trend is spreading.
According to Maersk:
For years, many supply networks were optimized primarily around cost.
The logic is beginning to evolve toward a combination of:
cost + resilience + speed + diversification.
This can create new opportunities to develop regional suppliers, reduce lead times, and position inventory closer to consumer markets.
Artificial intelligence remains one of the most mentioned trends in supply chain, but an interesting signal appeared during September: the focus is shifting from experiments to operational applications.
On September 16, Gartner identified four AI trends that are transforming warehouse operations:
Use cases include workforce planning, route and slotting optimization, inventory management, task allocation, exception handling, picking, packing, and material movement.
The most interesting change is likely the third one.
The semi-autonomous agents can analyze information, identify problems, recommend actions, and execute parts of multi-stage processes while maintaining human oversight.
The evolution of AI in the supply chain can be summarized as follows:
Data → alert → analysis → recommendation → action.
Traditionally, a large part of a planner's time is consumed between those steps.
The opportunity for AI lies not just in producing a more accurate forecast, but in reducing the time needed to detect deviations, understand their causes, and decide what to do.
Another major transformation is taking place in one of the most strategic sectors for the global economy: semiconductors.
During September, the Dutch manufacturer Nexperia announced a partnership with Tata Electronics to produce and package chips in India.
The agreement includes manufacturing Nexperia chips at Tata's facilities in Dholera and performing assembly and testing processes in Jagiroad, according to Reuters.
The news was accompanied by another significant investment. Applied Materials announced plans to invest approximately USD 5 billion in India over the next ten years, primarily in research, supply chain development, and talent. The Indian government has already committed over USD 21 billion in incentives to develop its semiconductor industry.
Because chips are present in far more supply chains than you might think:
The semiconductor crises of recent years demonstrated the risk of having an industry that is highly concentrated geographically.
Expansion into India is part of a larger trend: diversifying critical production hubs in the global supply chain.
For strategic procurement teams, the global supplier map continues to shift.
Finally, September is providing an interesting signal regarding how some companies are reacting to uncertainty.
The Port of Los Angeles recorded 2.9 million TEUs between June and August, the highest volume moved during a three-month period in its history.
In August alone, it processed approximately 956,000 TEUs.
Part of the increase is explained by U.S. retailers pulling forward imports for the holiday season to reduce their exposure to new tariffs, higher fuel costs, and potential logistics disruptions, according to Reuters.
This strategy is known as front-loading: importing products before they are actually needed to mitigate future risks.
Pulling forward inventory can reduce the risk of stockouts, but it comes with consequences: it ties up working capital, increases storage needs, raises the risk of overstocking, and can lead to higher obsolescence.
That is why there is no one-size-fits-all answer.
The decision depends on the expected cost of a stockout versus the cost of carrying additional inventory.
This month's news highlights something that planning teams have been experiencing for several years now: uncertainty is no longer an exception; it has become a permanent operational condition.
This month, we are seeing risks emerging from very different sources.
Geopolitical conflicts are impacting fuel and maritime transport. Weather conditions are causing congestion at Asian ports and putting renewed pressure on the Panama Canal. Labor disputes can disrupt local hubs. And inventory decisions made by major importers can end up altering the availability of logistics capacity in other regions.
At the same time, companies are taking action.
They are regionalizing suppliers, pulling forward inventory, diversifying production sites, and beginning to use artificial intelligence to detect and manage exceptions more quickly.
For Supply Chain teams in Latin America, the most important takeaway is likely that planning no longer just means estimating how much we are going to sell next month.
It also means understanding how vulnerable the plan is when its assumptions change.
A supplier might be delayed. A port might shut down. Fuel prices might rise. A shipping route might change. Demand might spike early.
The difference lies in how quickly the organization can detect that change, assess its impact on inventory, and respond.
In today's environment, visibility, scenario planning, and responsiveness are just as important as forecast accuracy.
Laura Ramírez is a business and operational planning supply chain strategist with more than 15 years of experience helping companies make better decisions based on data.
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