Red Sea Crisis; Situation Report, Wednesday 17th Jan
Despite coalition military action, Houthi rebels continue to attack commercial shipping and with container shipping line’ schedules showing Cape of Good Hope routing for vessels into early February and beyond, it is clear that they do not expect short-term access through the Suez Canal and Red ...
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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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Metro’s new LCL guru
With over 20 years' experience in freight and logistics, the majority of which has been in the ocean freight environment and specifically the LCL product, in the UK and overseas, we are pleased to introduce our new Senior LCL Commercial Manager, Jane Kenny, who is leading this critical service ar...
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China/Hong Kong update; cross-border trucking capacity cut
Increasing COVID case numbers in China are cutting cross-border trucking capacity, prompting carriers to drop calls at Hong Kong, raising fears that the city is losing shipping line favour as a transhipment hub.
With almost one million people in lockdown in Wuhan, where COVID was first detecte...
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Air freight market more than challenging
Despite the massive challenges, our air freight team continue to find solutions for critical cargo and our Sea/Air services are invaluable for time-sensitive shipments. With options from across Asia, via a choice of hubs including Singapore, Colombo and Dubai, we offer the widest choice of servic...
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September Update: Air cargo under serious and sustained pressure – and it has only just begun….
Industry data released today shows that international demand for air cargo capacity versus a shortfall in supply pushed average global air cargo rates up 112% beyond their pre-COVID level, as lockdown in Vietnam and the closure of cargo handling terminals at Shanghai highlighted the fragility of ...
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China overtakes US as EU’s biggest goods trading partner – but for how long ?
China is now the EU's biggest trading partner, overtaking the US, as volumes of goods grew in both directions, propelled by sustained pandemic demand.
As business with Europe's major partners fell due to the COVID-19 pandemic, trade with China (import and export) was worth €586bn last year, ...
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Hong Kong X-ray costs and delay fears
Starting in November (UPDATE: NOW JANUARY 2020), in phased deadlines set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, 100% of all air freight shipments from Hong Kong International Airport must be X-ray screened by March 2021.
Shippers using Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) could se...
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