News & Insights

2021 should be a year of celebration for Metro, as it was officially our 40th birthday since commencing trading, but unfortunately, it also sees us dealing with the COVID pandemic and all its associated challenges. The continued home-working of many colleagues and the unprecedented supply chain d... Read more

Container shipping rates from China to the US and Europe continue to rise, as reduced capacity, high consumer demand and equipment shortages across China and Southeast Asia escalate. While container freight rate increases on the transpacific trade from Asia h... Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed key differences between “fit” and “fragile” supply chains, says advisors Gartner, and how businesses deal with the disruption may provide competitive advantage across market verticals and specific industries. While the most fragile focu... Read more

Spot market shippers have seen continued rate spikes this week and the shipping lines are preparing for further rate elevation, as excess demand leads to cargo-rolling increases at many origin and transhipment ports. Shippers using the spot market for consignments from Asia to Euro... Read more

This stunning article from The Grocer highlights the massive impact that the post-Brexit free trade agreement has had on one of our most vital business sectors. Food exporters have spent a total of 58 years filling out export health certificates so far this year as a result of the new post-Bre... Read more

China's exports have surged, driven by post-lockdown demand from the US and Europe, while factory gate pricing has risen at the steepest rate for more than three years. China's economy grew 18.3% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter in 2020, in its biggest GDP jump si... Read more

European container ports survive the post-blockage Suez surge, but container equipment is out of position and remains scarce. Europe’s container terminals have been struggling to handle increased import volumes since Q3 2020. Keeping recurring congestion at bay has been their biggest chal... Read more

The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) has released their Air Cargo Sustainability Report - Accelerating the sustainable transformation of air cargo - which is the first comprehensive study undertaken on the sustainable transformation of the air cargo industry.   As part of TIACA... Read more

Sixty five years ago saw the beginning of containerisation, with the inaugural voyage of the first container ship, the Sea Land Ideal X on the 26th April 1956. Today, despite its best efforts, the container shipping industry is swamped by the continuing deluge of pandemic and lockdown related ... Read more

Port operations at Montreal resumed on Sunday after legislation was passed by the Canadian Parliament to end the industrial action by longshoremen, however it will take several days, or probably weeks, to return operations to anything like a normal situation. About ten ships are currently en-r... Read more

Finding an empty container in Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian or any other major Chinese gateway port, is becoming a major problem, yet again, as Asian container availability is tightening, and purchase and rental costs are soaring, and equipment will become even scarcer as demand builds through May in... Read more

The global air freight market is accelerating rapidly, with massive rate increases impacting many trade lanes, with Asia & Europe to the US particularly affected. Volumes out of China have been increasing weekly, with higher yields to the US attracting carriers to the routes and reducing d... Read more