Category: Sea

The record-breaking sea freight rates, driven by restricted volumes, equipment availability and service disruption is pushing increasing quantities of ‘distressed’ ocean cargo to air freight solutions. Metro have advised and updated regularly on the dynamic air freight market, which has re... Read more

We are in a new world of shipping. There have been spikes in demand and freight rates before, but never for such a long time and never on such a continuously upward trajectory. The challenges we face are unique. Even with demand levels increasing on the most popular trades, equipment availabil... Read more

Container shipping lines are becoming ever more inventive with the names they apply to the surcharges they keep adding to already over-loaded FAK rates. The latest example is Hapag-Lloyd’s ‘value-added surcharge’ of $5,000 per 40ft, from China to the US and Canada. The carri... Read more

Demand for imports from Asia and the Indian subcontinent (ISC) continues to outstrip shipping line capacity, in a sign that with inventories low, second-half volumes are unlikely to let up, keeping pressure on a global supply chain infrastructure that is already buckling. The UK’s primary co... Read more

The early start of the sea freight peak season and its likely extension through 2021 and possibly up to the Lunar New Year in 2022 means the chance of current market rates softening significantly are slender, particularly as disruption in any region creates more congestion and... Read more

Containers continue to be in short supply - particularly in the places where they’re needed most - with wait times varying region to region, country to country and port to port. And even the world’s biggest shipping lines are not sure when their containers will be available, or where. Desp... Read more

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), the official body responsible for representing and assisting Indian exporters, has submitted a formal request to the Indian government to invest in developing its own shipping line, in response to ‘exorbitant’ freight rates. As we have ... Read more

Economists are convinced that global sea freight demand will continue to outstrip container shipping capacity for the rest of this year and into next year, which is good news for the shipping lines’ bottom line, but not so much for shippers, who continue to pay premiums in order to get their pr... Read more

Vessel schedule reliability continues to struggle, falling to 38.8% in May, with the lines blaming congestion for the average 5.86 day delay of late vessels The latest schedule reliability statistics continue to reflect an ocean freight infrastructure that has struggled under the weight of inc... Read more

There cannot have been many weeks when we were either warning of impending rate increases, highlighting recent increases, or explaining why further rises were likely. And while we have protected our customers from the worst excesses of the lines, this article by Mike Wackett for The&nbs... Read more

The new containership order-book has been in decline since 2008 but, driven by new carrier confidence, activity increased significantly in the fourth quarter of 2020, with a further surge of nearly two million teu of orders in early 2021, meaning that new ships on order equal 18% o... Read more

Sea freight spot rates have surged further on the trans-Atlantic trade and routes ex-Asia, as a month of port restrictions, congestion and disruption across south China ports diminishes container shipping’s already severe global capacity and equipment shortages. Shortages of space ... Read more