Category: Sea

Many US companies, including big retailers, were successful over the course of 2023 in clearing out the stockpiles of inventory, that they built up during the pandemic to cope with shipping disruptions and changing buying patterns. During the pandemic many retailers and manufacturers flipped f... Read more

Although there was market speculation that a member of the OCEAN Alliance might be tempted to leave and join THE Alliance in 2027, a new agreement by the remaining members makes it very unlikely this decade. Seeking to send a clear message of stability, after Hapag Lloyd’s defection to the G... Read more

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) is already reporting multiple new Houthi attacks on vessels, following two missile strikes on the British registered general cargo vessel “Rubymar” on Sunday, which the crew had to abandon on Monday. The Rubymar attack was followed by a merchant ves... Read more

If we were to try and define a single factor that defined transpacific container shipping (along with most other routes) in 2023, it would probably be shipper complacency brought about by the rebalancing and normalisation of supply chains, following the unprecedented disruption of the COVID years... Read more

We have been supporting bi-lateral UK/USA trade, with air and sea freight services, for over four decades, which is why we are so excited by our in-house shipping line, Ellerman City Liners, transatlantic capacity deal with the world’s biggest shipping line, MSC. Ellerman’s weekly sailing ... Read more

Transpacific container shipping lines are imposing surcharges and higher freight rates due to the ongoing Suez and Panama Canal disruptions, with the cost burden felt most by small volume shippers, but the biggest cargo owners are also feeling the heat.  Since the major container shipping lin... Read more

In addition to fast-rising ocean freight rates and extended transit times, as the container shipping lines divert around Africa, shippers have been struggling to understand what (if any) insurance is in place, with insurance companies massively increasing war risk premiums and no longer willing t... Read more

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... Read more

The large scale shift of finished cars to container shipping, due to roll-on/roll-off (Ro/Ro) capacity restraints may be faltering as the Red Sea diversions have sent Asia-Europe spot rates surging and increased transit times by 10-14 days.   The disruption of the container shipping option th... Read more

The British International Freight Association (BIFA) is the trade association for the freight, logistics and supply chain management sector. Their annual Freight Service Awards are the industry’s most contested and highly sought trade awards, because peer recognition is the ultimate accolade. ... Read more

Carmakers had been struggling with a lack of car carrier RoRo capacity before the Houthi attacks began in the Red Sea and now with NYK and K Line suspending sailings via the Suez Canal nearly all big car car-carrier operators are diverting round the Cape of Good Hope, further reducing already squ... Read more

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... Read more