News & Insights

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) is already reporting multiple new Houthi attacks on vessels, following two missile strikes on the British registered general cargo vessel “Rubymar” on Sunday, which the crew had to abandon on Monday. The Rubymar attack was followed by a merchant ves... Read more

The ramping up of air cargo demand in Asia has led to ground handlers in Bangkok and Dubai announcing temporary embargoes on imports, with delays still being experienced.  The unprecedented volumes of air cargo are largely due to modal shifts from sea to air and sea/air because of the Red Sea... Read more

If we were to try and define a single factor that defined transpacific container shipping (along with most other routes) in 2023, it would probably be shipper complacency brought about by the rebalancing and normalisation of supply chains, following the unprecedented disruption of the COVID years... Read more

The United States is voicing increasing concerns that Chinese manufacturing overcapacity will hit world markets, while the EU launched an anti-dumping investigation into China’s EV industry last year. Senior US Treasury officials told the Financial Times this week that a visiting US delega... Read more

With over ten years in commercial management, we are very pleased to welcome our new Business Development Director, Emiliano Muco BSc (Finance). Since graduating from the University of Hertfordshire Emiliano has held a variety of roles with some of the biggest names in freight forwarding and brin... Read more

We have been supporting bi-lateral UK/USA trade, with air and sea freight services, for over four decades, which is why we are so excited by our in-house shipping line, Ellerman City Liners, transatlantic capacity deal with the world’s biggest shipping line, MSC. Ellerman’s weekly sailing ... Read more

Shippers’ concerns about Red Sea supply chain delays, plus an early Lunar New Year, pushed up air cargo volumes by 10% in January, but the availability of capacity has kept a lid on spot rates on most routes. While there has been no definitive immediate increase in air cargo demand due to th... Read more

Transpacific container shipping lines are imposing surcharges and higher freight rates due to the ongoing Suez and Panama Canal disruptions, with the cost burden felt most by small volume shippers, but the biggest cargo owners are also feeling the heat.  Since the major container shipping lin... Read more

In addition to fast-rising ocean freight rates and extended transit times, as the container shipping lines divert around Africa, shippers have been struggling to understand what (if any) insurance is in place, with insurance companies massively increasing war risk premiums and no longer willing t... Read more

On the 17th January 2024, the 33rd day of the Red Sea crisis, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announced that they were forming a new shipping alliance - The Gemini Cooperation - in a major shake-up to the container shipping market on the East-West trade lanes. Industry analysts have been predicting tha... Read more

The large scale shift of finished cars to container shipping, due to roll-on/roll-off (Ro/Ro) capacity restraints may be faltering as the Red Sea diversions have sent Asia-Europe spot rates surging and increased transit times by 10-14 days.   The disruption of the container shipping option th... Read more

The British International Freight Association (BIFA) is the trade association for the freight, logistics and supply chain management sector. Their annual Freight Service Awards are the industry’s most contested and highly sought trade awards, because peer recognition is the ultimate accolade. ... Read more