Category: Sea

Turkey, Qatar, and the UAE are joining with Iraq to develop a new land corridor - Development Road Project - which will connect the Gulf to Europe. The Development Road Project is a multi-billion dollar land corridor that will stretch 750 miles from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, e... Read more

The Asia export trades are now as challenging as it was during the pandemic, with extremely tight vessel space, equipment shortages and port congestion colliding leading to a surge in spot rates, with analysts speculating it could reach USD 20,000/FEU on the Asia-Europe trade before too long. ... Read more

Significant and sustained terminal congestion in major Mediterranean and Asian ports is soaking up available capacity, which directly impacts freight rates and results in substantial delays to vessel schedules, with reliability dropping and the likelihood that delays will persist through the summ... Read more

Between the start of April and last week, average spot rates from the Far East into North Europe increased by 31%, the US West Coast 30%, Mediterranean 25% and US East Coast 22%, with spot rates to Europe currently $6,000-$7,500 and analysts suggesting they may hit $10,000. Market demand reach... Read more

The Red Sea crisis and the much longer sailing distances triggered by the diversion around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope (COGH) soaked up existing market overcapacity, which was just enough to cope with the extended COGH transit times, provided there were no additional disruptions to maritime supp... Read more

This summer, a number of large-scale sporting events are likely to create some supply chain disruption, with the Olympic and Paralympic Games taking place in Paris between the 26th of July to the 11th of August, and the 28th of August to the 8th of September. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games, whic... Read more

Container shipping lines have announced significant rate hikes on all ex-Asia trade lanes, due to increased demand and increasing equipment challenges in more origins and it would be prudent to expect more of the same. Effective capacity to North Europe has decreased by 5% compared to a year a... Read more

The rapid escalation of transpacific ocean freight spot rates is reminiscent of the spike experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the air freight surge from Asia to the United States, that began late last year, looks likely to continue through the traditionally quiet summer months and int... Read more

The mass diversion of container ships away from the Red Sea since December has raised fears of congestion across west Mediterranean container ports, as carriers from Asia drop boxes destined for the eastern Mediterranean. Instead of entering the Mediterranean Sea dead end, created by the effec... Read more

For years India has been looked to as the next global manufacturing powerhouse and it now appears to be finally becoming the manufacturing power and sourcing alternative to China that it has long promised to be. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi inherited an economy that was teetering on ... Read more

The ongoing impact of vessel diversions as a result of the Red Sea conflict continues to absorb available capacity at a time when demand is rapidly increasing. Container volumes are already higher than many predicted and there is a possibility that we have already entered a peak season market env... Read more

Managed well, supply chains reduce costs and enhance profitability, but the impact of climate change has highlighted the importance of sustainability and the need to improve supply chains to protect our ecosystem and preserve natural resources for future generations.   The supply chain plays ... Read more