Social distancing and stricter rules aimed at preventing the further spread of coronavirus are reducing the efficiency of air cargo handling, adding time into supply chains and in effect limiting overall available capacity, according to leading forwarders.The upshot is that the slew of passenger planes now being deployed as cargo-only options are having little impact in terms of lowering freight r...
1.On April 8, Ye Weilong, deputy general manager of COSCO SHIPPING Group, died in Beijing early this morning at the age of 57. 2.Major ports in coastal areas of China have restored their operations to roughly the pre-COVID-19 level. 3.Japanese owner Nisshin Shipping has returned to Chinese yard Nantong Xiangyu Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering for the construction of two 63,500 dwt ultramax bu...
CHINA – UK – WORLDWIDE – Court cases which decide on matters of law with regard to incidents at sea or in port are often of much wider interest due to the points raised or clarified, and of which other vessel owners or operators might otherwise remain ignorant, placing them in a situation where they themselves may one day be adversely affected. Such a case was decided recently in the Court of Appe...
Medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and perishables are keeping air cargo markets afloat, supporting freight rates and charter prices even as demand for many consumer products and manufacturing supplies nosedives due to economic shutdowns in many parts of the world. But the air freight market is also evolving rapidly and dramatically, with the demand and supply dynamics changing so fast that one of ...
1.Investors breaking trading records on Chinas commodities exchanges are looking to metals and energy futures products such as stainless steel, tin and crude oil. 2.On 3 April 2020, the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) issued a media release on “Additional Measures to Minimise Further Spread of COVID-19”. 3.On March 29,COSCO SHIPPING donated 975 protective overalls with a total value of 100,000 ...
Cargo owners are seeking alternative transport modes such as sea-air and intermodal rail freight for shipments from China, to avoid production and supply chain delays, aas high demand for personal protective equipment and recovery of production in China meets growing air freight capacity constraints, forwarders report.Despite an accelerating drop in overall global tonnages carried by air at the en...
Freight forwarding as we know it is dead. Long live freight forwarding. That is one of the essential conclusions reached by logistics analyst Cathy Roberson, founder of Logistics Trends Insights, which today launched its annual ‘Global Freight Forwarding Report’. The report examines the current state of the sector and provides a guide as to what the future holds for forwarders – a subject of rene...
Following the loss of two thirds of passenger bellyhold cargo capacity in recent weeks, freighters are now providing 75% of air cargo capacity on all major global trade lanes compared with less than 50% before the coronavirus crisis, according to forwarder Agility’s latest air freightupdate on the impact of COVID-19 published today, causing average air freight prices to surge.Quoting data from ana...
UK – EUROPE – The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has put its case for a couple of the matters of most importance to the logistics industry at the moment, and it will be no surprise they both emanate from the current pandemic.Firstly the FTA has expressed a similar view which Robert Keen of the British International Freight Association (BIFA) put forward recently, and is petitioning government...
UK forwarding representative body the British International Freight Association (BIFA) has joined calls for an extension beyond the end of this year to the UK’s Brexit ‘transition period’ following the UK’s departure from the EU, and hence an extension to its current trading arrangements, because of the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.BIFA director general Robert Keen said that it “in ...
With demand in key markets increasingly devastated by coronavirus lockdowns as governments around the world attempt to stem the loss of life, the outlook for container shipping is turning grimly bearish.“The near-term outlook for the containership industry has deteriorated rapidly following the spread of COVID-19 cases worldwide and subsequent efforts to limit the number of deaths and cases,” note...
The China shipping prosperity index (CSPI) sank to an historic low in the first quarter of 2020, as the shipping industry runs to a ferocious turbulence amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an industry report. The report also forecast that the grim outlook will continue into the next quarter.According to a report from the Shanghai International Shipping Institute, the CSPI in the...
Cargo owners should expect significant further ocean freight service disruptions this year with more blank sailings and likely service suspensions, Drewry highlighted today, as volatility linked to the coronavirus pandemic continues or worsens.In its latest Container Insight briefing, the container shipping analyst also suggested that shippers “should consider adding a few ‘backup carriers’ to the...
AUSTRALIA – Maritime union representatives are up in arms at what they claim are blatant breaches of the anti-virus precautions guidelines prescribed by the Federal government. The argument arises as three more container ships arriving from Asian ports are scheduled to discharge with no quarantine measures in force.Singapore-flagged Kota Haru, which departed Hong Kong on March 25, will dock in Dar...
While overall air cargo volumes carried last month fell significantly, year on year, demand for freighter capacity remains strong as the market has turned to freighter charters to compensate for the loss of bellyhold space due to the mass cancellation of scheduled passenger services in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, air freight sources confirm.That increasing reliance on freighter aircraft has al...
Air freight volumes transported collapsed in the final week of March, falling by almost 50%, amid massive cuts in global bellyhold cargo capacity and lockdowns in large parts of the world.Overall air cargo volumes transported in March fell by 23% versus the same four weeks of 2019, but the decline in demand accelerated week upon week throughout the month, according to the latest air cargo market i...
1.Chinese shipyard Hudong-Zhonghua has launched a floating storage and a regasification unit (FSRU) for Greek shipping company Dynagas. 2.China’s PMI rose to 52 in March, indicating that while manufacturing grew compared to February, it remains far below January levels. 3.Cruise ships carrying passengers infected with the novel coronavirus are ordered to stay off U.S. shores indefinitely and prepa...
WORLDWIDE – In these unprecedented times the concern is that many companies, faced with strains put on their businesses through no fault of their own, may well go to the wall. The organisation which represents the international freight forwarding community has therefore put a proposition to all shipping lines, ports and terminals to exercise restraint in their levying of demurrage and detention ch...
Despite the challenges the COVID-19 crisis presents, freight firms and their suppliers and customers are advised that they must still explore “all reasonable options” to fulfil their contractual obligations, advises freight transport specialist insurer TT Club, instead of relying on a ‘force majeure’ defence in the event of a dispute.TT Club noted that over the coming weeks, there will be consider...
CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping Company, a Hong Kong-based ship leasing firm, released it full year financial results for 2019, boasting a 26.3% increase in net profit to HK$892.24m (US$115.87m) compared to last year’s HK$706.55m. Full year revenue amounted to HK$2.29bn. Operating profit showed the strongest growth at 45.5% to HK$847.65m.In 2019, the Group embarked on 29 leasing contracts, completed 13 ...
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