The U.K. government is drawing up a plan to postpone new border checks on food imports from the European Union to reduce the risk of disruption to supplies this summer.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s officials are reviewing the timetable for the introduction of the paperwork rules, which are due to come into force from April 1, as he seeks to address what he called “teething problems” with Brexit.
Britain has so far taken a light-touch approach to imports from the EU since it left the bloc’s market at the start of the year, waiving customs requirements and allowing goods to enter freely. In contrast, the EU imposed full border controls on trade going the other way on Jan. 1, causing delays to shipments and a decline in freight volumes.
Source: AJOT, Bloomberg
Shippers have been urged to get creative as capacity shortages and high rates in air cargo and other modes are expected to continue.
In the latest Baltic Exchange airfreight rate newsletter, Bruce Chan, vice president of global logistics at investment bank Stifel, said that over the next few months capacity could become tighter as demand continues to recover.
Source: AirCargo News
While supply-chain experts are stepping up talk about moving manufacturing to new sites, container ship operators are putting down big bets that the world’s factory floor will remain in China.
Shipping lines have placed, or have in the wings, orders for dozens of new ultra-large box ships designed to move massive amounts of cargo on each voyage. Vessels like the six behemoths capable of carrying 23,000 containers apiece that Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd AG recently ordered are meant for the world’s big trade lanes between China and Europe.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
The world’s largest emissions trading scheme (ETS) kicked off last month, and shipping has been warned today it could be included in it.
While shipping has been focused on the European Union’s bid to include shipping in its emissions trading scheme, further east, China has got its own scheme underway from February 1 and has outlined criteria for other industries to be included.
To begin with, the new nationwide scheme is focused on the thermal power sector, something that makes up nearly half of the nation’s carbon discharge and 14% of the world’s total, according to data from the International Energy Agency.
Source: Splash 24/7
PortMiami, one of the top ports in the U.S., processed 113,835 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in January 2021, an increase of 21.02 percent from the 94,064 TEUs processed in January 2020, the most active month ever recorded. Between fiscal year to date, October 1, 2020, through January 31, 2021, PortMiami processed a total of 420,838 TEUs representing the busiest four-month period for cargo activity in its history.
“I am so proud that despite the challenges of a worldwide pandemic, PortMiami is setting a record for the strongest cargo activity in its history,” said Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “Miami-Dade County is a major global hub for trade and commerce, and cargo continues to create jobs and expand opportunities across our community. As we look to rebuild an even stronger, more resilient economy, the seaport is critical to our long-term sustainable growth and prosperity.”
Source: AJOT
The air cargo industry has officially recovered from the depths of the pandemic, with volumes in January 1.1% above the 2019 level. The bad news, according to the International Air Transport Association, is that freight capacity lost ground for the first time since April, dropping 5% on a monthly basis, because passenger airlines pulled back on flight activity in response to COVID outbreaks and widespread travel restrictions.
The amount of available airlift for cargo in January was 19.5% less than 2019, according to IATA’s monthly market report. That’s the bottom line from the 49% plunge in international bellyhold cargo capacity combined with a 29% hike in freighter capacity.
Source: FreightWaves, American Shipper
The driver shortage crisis will continue to plague the road freight industry this year, according to new research from the International Road Transport Union (IRU).
The Geneva-headquartered organisation yesterday published the results of its latest survey, of around 800 trucking firms in more than 20 countries, which shows that while driver shortages eased in some parts of the world last year, elsewhere they grew.
Source: The Loadstar
Despite a shortage of empty containers in international export markets, empties are continuing to pile up in the UK, with the excess of containers at UK ports even higher now than last year, according to the latest data from Container xChange.
The UK’s leading container terminals struggled to cope with the pandemic-driven surge of imports last year resulting in lengthy delays for hauliers and vessels and an excess of containers building up in ports, Container xChange highlighted, with forwarders reporting that concerns about post-Brexit supply issues had added to the import demand and hence congestion late last year.
Source: Lloyd´s Loading List
There’s no let up in the port congestion plaguing North American gateway ports.
Changed buying patterns brought about by the pandemic have brought extreme consumer demand into North America. This combined with Covid outbreaks at local dockworking forces and a shortage of container equipment have created what many liner executives have described as the perfect storm in recent weeks.
Splash has surveyed the 10 largest container ports in North America today using vessel tracking site MarineTraffic and picked out the four ports with the biggest vessel backlogs.
Source: Splash 24/7
Nearly two months after losing hundreds of containers overboard in the Pacific Ocean, the Maersk-operated containership Maersk Essen is finally discharging its cargo at its original destination at the Port of Los Angeles.
Maersk reports that Maersk Essen arrived at its berth at APM Terminals Pier 400 Los Angeles on March 4 to discharge all cargo. An update on Tuesday said a number containers bound for inland destinations have already departed on rail while others remaining local have been picked up from the terminal.
Source: gCaptain
