SoCal Ports to charge carriers if containers linger
Faced with massive backlogs of containers at the ports in the San Pedro Bay, the operators of the two ports announced a new plan to charge new daily fees to the ocean carriers that permit containers to linger in the ports. Saying that the significant increase in dwell times experienced in ports is making it difficult to clear cargo off the terminals and bring in ships at anchor, the new measure is the latest effort to speed the movement of cargo at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Beginning November 1, the ports will charge ocean carriers $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day, when cargo lingers at the terminals. Under the new policy, the surcharge is for containers scheduled to move by truck that remain in the port for more than nine days. For containers moving by rail, the surcharges begin if the container has dwelled for three days or more.
The Maritime Executive
Singapore storms back toward pre-virus levels of air traffic
Airlines in Asia are bringing back international capacity as the region gradually follows North America and Europe in reopening borders, led by the city-state of Singapore, whose economy depends on open access.
By January, Singapore is poised to reach 84% of the weekly flights to Europe as it had in March last year, before the clampdown on travel. And there’ll be 1,519 flights from the financial hub to elsewhere in Asia, compared with only 194 in May 2020, data from aviation analytics firm Cirium show.
Australia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia are among others ditching Covid-Zero policies and announcing plans to allow fully-vaccinated visitors from certain places to enter without having to quarantine. That’s inevitably resulted in a significant shift in airline schedules in the coming months.
AJOT, Bloomberg
'Mayhem' as alliances offer different schedules for the same containership
Shippers from Asia to North Europe are being given conflicting information on vessel ETAs by carriers in the same alliance, and for the same ship.
It seems decisions on port call omissions in North Europe are not being communicated to freight booking desks and, as a consequence, shippers are being offered space on sailings for which cargo may only arrive at the original destination port several weeks after the advertised date.
One UK forwarder contacted The Loadstar today to highlight the discrepancy between schedule information given by 2M partners Maersk and MSC.
The Loadstar
ATA chief economist pegs driver shortage at historic high
Today, American Trucking Associations’ Chief Economist Bob Costello said the current driver shortage has risen to 80,000 – an all-time high for the industry.
“Since we last released an estimate of the shortage, there has been tremendous pressure on the driver pool,” Costello said. “Increased demand for freight, pandemic-related challenges from early retirements, closed driving schools and DMVs, and other pressures are really pushing up demand for drives and subsequently the shortage.”
A one-page summary of Costello’s estimate, said based on driver demographic trends, including gender and age, as well as expected freight growth the shortage could surpass 160,000 in 2030.
AJOT
ZIM Kingston fire under control, firefighters on board to eliminate remaining hot spots
Following the permission by the Canadian Coastguard, all the firefighters and seven members of the crew have now boarded the 4,253TEU ZIM Kingston, which on 22 October lost around 40 boxes at sea and suffered a fire incident off the Canadian coast.
The Expert’s Master, in Victoria, Canada is coordinating with the firefighters on board with respect to the assessment of the fire and the elimination of the remaining hot spots, according to a latest update from Danaos Shipping, the owner of the ship.
Container News
Ports in China see significant growth in box volumes during 2021
China ports have registered noteworthy increases in container volumes during the period between January and September.
The container throughput of China ports has reached 211 million TEU, representing a significant growth of 9.5% compared to the first nine months of the previous year.
During the same period, the cargo volume of China ports completed 11,548.4 million tons in total, which translates to a year-on-year increase of 8.9%
Container News
Port of Hamburg honored as ‘Best Seaport – Europe’
The readership of the trade journal Asia Cargo News made the decision. The Port of Hamburg won an Asian Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain Awards 2021 as ‘Best Seaport – Europe’.
The 15,000 readers of Asia Cargo News and subscribers to its E-News have again voted the Port of Hamburg ‘Best Seaport – Europe’. After three endorsements as such in 2015, 2016 and 2020, as well as the ‘Best Global Seaport’ in 2018 and 2019, this is now the Port of Hamburg’s sixth award. Anne Thiesen as the Representative of Port of Hamburg Marketing accepted the award at the official prizegiving ceremony. “For us, this is the sixth award. That is a great honour and shows that the Port of Hamburg continues to enjoy a great reputation in Asia,” said Thiesen.
AJOT
European road freight recovering well from pandemic
The European road freight market is recovering well from the pandemic but also struggling with some serious dysfunctions brought about by supply chain disruption following Covid-19, labour shortages and Brexit, according to a report by Transport Intelligence (Ti).
Meanwhile, rapid changes continue to transform the market as digitalisation gathers pace among the market leaders.
Ti’s latest market forecasts show that, while the European road freight market will have nearly recovered fully from the pandemic by the end of 2021, it will still be 1.5% smaller than it was in 2019. But the market did record a growth rate of 4.7% in 2021. By 2025 the market is expected to be a full 10.1% larger than in 2019 and to reach a total size of €378.1 billion.
Lloyd´s Loading List
Cargolux launches SAF program
Cargolux has announced the launch of its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) program. The introduction of SAF in the airline’s services takes Cargolux’s sustainability engagement one step further, cementing the company’s commitment to decarbonizing its operations.
This new milestone is an additional step in the company’s endeavor to reduce CO2 emissions and lays the foundation for a customer sustainability program, that will offer more sustainable options for their transportation requirements.
“Our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility is intrinsic to our business model and the introduction of SAF in our operation is a significant step forward for Cargolux. We are pleased to be part of an industry-wide initiative to make our business, our industry and our world more sustainable”, says Richard Forson, President & CEO.
AJOT
Singapore opens mega-port storage early to ease container bottlenecks
Singapore’s new mega-port is just months away from full operations, but it has opened its storage area early to help alleviate the supply chain bottlenecks plaguing container shipping.
Congestion has caused ships to arrive late, resulting in logjams of containers in major ports around the globe.
Ship arrivals at Singapore are now 7.5 days late, on average, after schedule reliability fell to an all-time low of 33.6% in August, although this has since improved to 40%.
The Loadstar
