India’s container imports came roaring back to life in the fourth quarter, but booming demand out of China means there’s still a shortage of export containers.
According to Maersk’s Q4 India trade report, container volumes grew 13.2% year on year, with exports “stabilising at a high level” and imports bouncing back 36.3%, compared with the previous quarter.
The carrier described it as “making solid strides towards returning to normalcy”.
Source: The Loadstar
Spot rates on the Asia-Europe trade lost further ground this week, in a sign that supply chain disruption could finally be easing on the east-west routing.
Cargo backlogs, port congestion and equipment shortages have caused havoc on deepsea routes since the end of the past year, driving freight rates to historical highs on numerous trades.
The post-Chinese New Year period, a notorious slack season for container shipping, was earmarked as an opportunity to readdress these supply chain imbalances.
Source: Lloyd´s Loading List
It has now been more than a year since the air cargo sector first began to feel the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A quick search through the Air Cargo News archive reveals that the first reports of the outbreak having an impact on the industry were in January.
At that stage reports centred on airlines cutting services to the city of Wuhan — the epicentre of the outbreak — and wider Hubei Province and the effect this would have on supply chains.
Source: AirCargo News
Dozens of vessels are stuck, waiting for rescue boats to free the 400m-long (1,312ft) ship, which was knocked off course by strong winds.
Egypt has reopened the canal's older channel to divert some traffic until the grounded ship can move again.
The blockage sent oil prices climbing on international markets.
About 12% of global trade passes through the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe.
The Ever Given, registered in Panama, was bound for the port city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China and was passing northwards through the canal on its way to the Mediterranean.
Source: BBC
Unvaccinated seafarers are threatening to tip the global supply chain into deeper crisis as countries introduce vaccine requirements at their borders, The Financial Times reports quoting international shipping industry sources.
Of the world’s 1.7 million seafarers, 900,000 are from developing nations, where vaccines might not be available for all until 2024, according to trade association, the International Chamber of Shipping, a trade association.
Source: Lloyd´s Loading List
Israeli ocean carrier Zim has posted its first annual profit for three years – and the biggest in its 75-year history – recording a net income of $524m for 2020 and claiming it is a “revitalised company”.
Zim carried an-above industry par 0.7% more containers last year than in 2019, at 2,841,000 teu, and revenue jumped 21%, compared with the previous year, to $4bn, for an ebitda of $1.04bn, up from $399m in 2019.
Source: The Loadstar
The U.K. government is considering whether to include the shipping industry in its new carbon market as it seeks ways to eliminate transport pollution by 2050.
Maritime Minister Robert Courts said the U.K. may follow the European Union’s proposal to include shipping in its Emissions Trading System, where pollution limits are imposed on utilities, factories and airlines. Britain has developed its own emissions market as a result of leaving the bloc in January.
“We want to work with international partners, and collaboration and co-operation is key to progress in this sphere, across EU partners and the wider world,” he said in an interview.
Source: gCaptain, Bloomberg
