Red Sea, garments and eCommerce among factors driving up airfreight rates
Traditionally airfreight rates would soften at this time, as the start of the airline passenger summer season adds significant amounts of belly-hold airfreight capacity on long-haul routes, but pockets of high volumes are pushing rates up.
Globally, the air cargo market is experiencing rising ...
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The Gemini Cooperation
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...
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General Red Sea Update
The US and UK carried out eight strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Monday, as the Iran-aligned armed group continues to target commercial shipping in the Red Sea, with no sign that the conflict will de-escalate anytime soon.
While many hoped that the situation in the Red Sea might be a shor...
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Economic impact of Suez Canal diversions
For the UK and Europe fears are growing that any prolonged denial of access to the Suez Canal could impact faltering economies and derail plans to start cutting interest rates later this year.
Despite the confidence of European and UK central banks, uncertainties about the Red Sea crisis' impa...
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The real impact of diverting ships round Africa
Following the sharp escalation of attacks on container ships in the Bab-al-Mandeb strait off the coast of Yemen last week, major container shipping lines are diverting vessels around the southern tip of Africa, rendering the Suez routing unavailable for an unknown period.
With the Suez route c...
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Sea freight shippers opt for air and sea/air alternatives
With the container shipping lines diverting around Africa until the Red Sea maritime security situation improves, the uncertainty and unpredictability that surrounds schedules could fuel demand for air cargo as shippers seek stability of services and certainty of transit times.
Air cargo deman...
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Supply chain; a year in review
2023 was supposed to be the year that global supply chains bounced back from pandemic lockdowns and factory shutdowns, trade wars, tariffs and war in Europe, but now container shipping is disrupted by attacks in the Red Sea and restrictions on the Panama Canal.
The COVID pandemic and its after...
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Customs failures inhibit cross border eCommerce
A Reuters report has revealed that nearly two thirds of manufacturers and retailers are currently conducting cross-border eCommerce, or planning to within the next year, with over 90% of them experiencing delays due to incorrect documentation, that are negatively impacting customer experience.
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