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%,...
Container spot rates from Asia may have eased slightly from their record highs, post-Chinese new year, but rates for backhaul and secondary trades continue to head north. According to today’s Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), the spot rate for North Europe is $7,684 per 40ft, down from more than $8,000 at the beginning...
Transport operators in Australia have warned of a coming “bloodbath” over spiralling fees levied by the country’s stevedores. In addition to rapidly escalating terminal access fees, previously known as infrastructure surcharges, a newly created “long-vehicle fee” by Patrick Terminals has been slammed as “a tax on productivity”. Introduced at Patrick’s Sydney and Brisbane...
The narrowbody freighter segment is moving closer to enjoying another aircraft type on the scene. Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), the joint venture of Airbus and ST Aero, has inducted an A320 and aims to obtain the supplemental type certificate (STC) for it in the first quarter of next year. Airbus has been accused of...
Countries should lift restrictions on air cargo operations in a bid to improve supply chain connectivity, according to ICAO. In a series of recommendations announced on Friday, following council approval, ICAO is pushing for wider adoption of seventh freedom traffic rights for cargo operators. The organisation’s recommendation 16 states: “Member states are encouraged...
Container spot rates from Asia to Europe remained virtually unchanged this week, despite softer demand, assisting carriers to lock-in shippers with huge contract rate hikes. On the transpacific, there was no let up in demand and BCOs are struggling to secure new deals with carriers. According to the Asia to North Europe component...
The UK port of Liverpool will see calls by the 2M transatlantic loop it won from Felixstowe at the end of last year suspended until mid-May, as Maersk and MSC grapple to improve schedule reliability. The 2M alliance said that, as a result of bad weather in the North Atlantic compounded by...
To improve schedule reliability, 2M partners Maersk and MSC are to avoid congested US west coast ports with two transpacific pendulum services. From this week, the AE1/Shogun and AE6/Lion loops from Asia will turn in North Europe instead of going on to the US. And to “facilitate the network adjustments”, the 2M said...
There are growing signs that the sky-high freight prices on the Asia-Europe trades may be beginning to structurally undermine it, as European importers begin to look for alternatives to sourcing from China. Keith Gaskin, group commercial director of Seko Logistics in the UK, said: “I am seeing importers in the UK and...
“Shippers shouldn’t let down their guards, just yet” – a phrase that could be true of any mode right now, but in this instance it refers to air freight. Bruce Chan, analyst for Stifel, warned shippers rates would remain inflated in air cargo, owing to “significant backlogs … in the entire freight...
