Category: Coronavirus

Even as England enters a four-week lockdown and the rest of the UK operate under strict restrictions, consumer activity will continue to be strong, driving further air freight demand. Air freight rates from China continue to rise, as the peak season continues and distressed sea freight is incr... Read more

The start of the working week and the Port of Felixstowe is back in the news, for cancelling empty container restitutions (again), but the challenges facing shippers run much farther afield than Suffolk. The Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen has issued a customer notice stating that ... Read more

The UK’s supply chains are facing unparalleled challenges and some links are buckling under the strain. The following is a transcript of a customer advisory issued by Metro Shipping on Tuesday…….. The COVID pandemic continues to impact global and domestic freight in the most profound way... Read more

From today, England enters a new national lockdown, meaning that everyone who can work effectively from home must do so, excluding those working in essential services, including the supply chain, who may continue to go into work.  As in the earlier lockdown period, Metro will divide home ... Read more

The large numbers of empty containers stranded in Europe, due to blanked sailings, has led to equipment shortages in Asia, which is being exacerbated by shipping lines diverting empties to more profitable trans-pacific services. On the 10th September we reported how UK port operations had been... Read more

Container shipping rates from Asia to Europe have soared to a five year high, while reliability falls to the lowest ever level recorded. The rapid recovery in post-lockdown demand has driven up volumes on the trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades, with global volume rising for the first time th... Read more

Further to recent reports of increased demand for air freight from Asia and generally around the Globe we have seen a continued increase this week in demand from China and the Asia Region. There have been many launches of tech products by Apple, Samsung and Sony and most are running later than... Read more

All parts of the UK have been impacted, including ‘essential’ freight, logistics and supply chain sectors, but the container haulage industry has been hit particularly hard, with many challenges still to be overcome. Six weeks ago Metro wrote about container haulage operations and how it h... Read more

Metro has been providing internal and external training since inception, but never in such challenging circumstances. Traditional training in the current climate has simply not been possible and while the benefits that follow learning for the individual and the organisation make the effort of ... Read more

In light of the recent criticism and industry-wide complaints concerning delays and service levels, the Port of Felixstowe – the UK’s largest and busiest container port - introduced vehicle booking changes on Monday, to improve service and lessen the delays on its terminals. One of these c... Read more

The anticipated equipment shortages in Asia are spreading as importers in the United States and Europe struggle to return empty containers to Asian manufacturing hubs, with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh hit particularly hard. The container imbalance followed the spike in imports to the US an... Read more

After weeks of complaints from port users, shipping lines, hauliers and cargo owners, there is some hope that Felixstowe’s service levels may be improving, but similar challenges are now being experienced at other key container ports. After the recent well-documented service issues, delays,... Read more