The number of containers unable to move from south China because of a Covid-19 outbreak around Yantian Port has already surpassed the volume of boxes held up in March when the 20,388 teu Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal in Egypt, statistics that serve to underline the severity of the latest supply chain crisis hitting liner shipping.
Lars Jensen, CEO of Danish consultancy Vespucci Maritime, has crunched the numbers to compare the impacts of the two incidents.
Source: Splash 24/7
Imports at the nation’s largest retail container ports saw their busiest April on record and May could turn out to have set a new all-time record as vaccines allowed consumers to return to normal shopping patterns, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
“Vaccine rates are increasing, shoppers are back in stores and retail supply chains are working overtime,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “There’s no shortage of demand from consumers, but there continue to be shortages of labor, equipment and shipping capacity to meet that demand. Supply chain disruptions, port congestion and rising shipping costs could continue to be challenges through the end of the year.”
Source: AJOT
April’s uptick in air cargo volumes may have signalled a “false dawn” for the industry’s recovery: last month saw a 4% dip in demand.
Comparing May’s volumes with the pre-Covid levels of 2019, Clive Data Services and TAC Index said the continued market uncertainties and the month’s extended public holidays contributed.
Source: The Loadstar
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited (CSPL) are negotiating the purchase of a minority shareholding by CSPL in HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort GmbH (CTT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of HHLA.
CTT operates Container Terminal Tollerort, the smallest facility of the three HHLA container terminals in the Port of Hamburg, and is part of the HHLA Group's Container segment.
Source: Container News
China’s exports continued to surge in May, although at a slower pace than the previous month, fueled by strong global demand as more economies around the world opened up. Imports soared, boosted by rising commodity prices.
Exports grew almost 28% in dollar terms in May from a year earlier, the customs administration said Monday, weaker than forecast and below the pace in April, but still well above historical growth rates. Imports soared 51.1%, the fastest pace since March 2010, leaving a trade surplus of $45.5 billion for the month.
Source: AJOT, Bloomberg
The pandemic has decimated passenger airline networks, eliminating lots of flights to second-tier gateways, Lufthansa and United have been no exception to this effect.
But their transatlantic cargo joint-venture, which started three years ago, has softened the blow, they claim.
Both of the carriers’ transatlantic routes and frequencies are down. United’s schedule was reduced by 80%, which included the suspension of its flights to Germany last year.
Source: The Loadstar
German shipping group Hapag-Lloyd has announced the successful conversion of the 15,000 TEU-capacity Brussels Express to run on liquefied natural gas.
In completing the conversion, the ship becomes the first “large” containership to make the switch to LNG propulsion, the company says.
Source: gCaptain
Shmuel Yoskovitz, CEO of X-Press Feeders, owner of the stricken containership X-Press Pearl, has apologised for the environmental and economic damage caused by the fire onboard, which raged for 13 days.
Shipments of plastic pellets, called nurdles and used in the manufacture of goods, were among the cargo onboard and washed up on the beach in large quantities.
Source: The Loadstar
An empty containership has collided with a stationary vessel at the Port of Kaohsiung, completely collapsing a gantry crane (GC8) and severely damaging a second, adjacent gantry crane (GC6).
The M.V:OOCL Durban, chartered by Orient Overseas (International) Limited, was on its way toward its assigned berth Wharf No.66 when it knocked the M/V:Yung Hung docked at Wharf No. 70.
Source: Container Management
