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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New Developing Countries Trading Scheme
The UK government launched a new preferential trading scheme, The Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) last year, to provide tariff concessions for developing countries exporting to the UK market.
The DCTS replaces the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) and extends tariff cuts to hu...
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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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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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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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Suez and Panama Canal crisis could go either way
The danger to container shipping approaching the Suez Canal comes at a time when the other key maritime gateway, the Panama Canal has been restricting transit numbers and draught limits due to drought driven low water levels.
Due to the impact of the prolonged Panama Canal drought carriers hav...
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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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Container shipping lines to avoid Suez Canal
Following further attacks on merchant shipping, entirely unconnected to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, container shipping lines have suspended sailings through the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea with immediate effect.
MSC announced on Friday, after the MSC Palatium III was attacked and suffe...
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Supporting sustainable fuel for air and sea freight
As we move into our second year of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) investment, with Air France, KLM, Martinair, it is great to see the successful transatlantic flight, greater SAF availability and increasing options for green sea freight transport.
The first transatlantic flight by a large pas...
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The US market grows in size and opportunity
The United States of America is the UK's largest single trading partner, with the value of goods and services nearly five times the value of trade with Germany, the UK's second largest export market and hopes are growing of a breakthrough in US/UK trade negotiations.
Total US goods imported to...
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EU Emissions Trading Scheme surcharge
The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) extends to container shipping from the 1st January 2024, with significant legal, commercial and financial consequences for carriers and a new surcharges for shippers.
Under the EU ETS carriers will purchase a capped number of permits, known as ...
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Panama Canal situation may trigger wider supply chain issues
Following the driest year and October on record, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has been steadily cutting daily vessel transit numbers and draught levels across the canal, with some restrictions possibly staying in force until 2028, with wider supply chain ramifications.
With each transit of...
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