Category: Supply Chain

Since the early days of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global supply chains, creating shortages of goods, even though ships, trains, trucks and planes continued to run, to the best of their ability. The infrastructure that supports global supply chain operations has struggled to abs... Read more

Leading container shipping line MSC is reducing Indian ports of call, in order to sustain a weekly sailing frequency on major commercial routes. As the shipping line struggles to sustain a weekly sailing frequency on major commercial routes, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) is reducing Indian p... Read more

Negotiations for a new labour contract with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), are due to start on the 12th of May and shippers are already sourcing products from Asia earlier than normal and directing more cargo to US East Coast and Gulf terminals, to avoid potential port ch... Read more

The lifting of COVID restrictions in parts of Shanghai this week has been postponed after nearly 20,000 new cases were reported on Monday. While the primary port terminals and airport remain open, most workers are in locked-down neighbourhoods and the impact on production and inland logis... Read more

China to Europe rail freight services have grown massively since the advent of the COVID pandemic, with volumes surging 29% last year. But with services transiting Russia and Belarus sanctioned and the Ukraine route halted, the equivalent of 1.46 million TEU needs alternative solutions.... Read more

The container shipping lines have been increasing their capacity out of Asia, based on strong demand expectations through 2021 and while the increase of deployed capacity has extended, at least through the first few months of 2022, lines are now reacting to short-term demand fluctuation with canc... Read more

Despite key Chinese ports, including Shenzhen and Shanghai, operating normally, land-side logistics disruption, in the wake of the latest Covid-related lockdowns is inevitable and vessel queues are growing. Queues of container ships outside major Chinese ports are lengthening, despite por... Read more

Following their seven-day lockdown, Shenzhen has reopened for business, but it could take weeks for cargo flows to recover, with vessels queuing and Yantian port throughput down 40%, amid concerns that COVID surges in other regions will affect supply chains, as strict controls, restrictions... Read more

Fuel prices were already on the way up before Russia decided to invade its neighbour and the additional volatility and uncertainty created by the conflict in Ukraine are significant enough to drive oil and fuel prices to levels not seen before. Or at least since the 1970’s relatively. ... Read more

Earlier today authorities in Langfang, which borders Beijing and Dongguan in the southern province of Guangdong imposed immediate seven-day lockdowns, joining Shenzhen, which started a seven day lockdown on Sunday, while the entire province of Jilin has been placed in complete lockdown and Hong K... Read more

Capacity from Asia has shrunk by 22% in a week, as cargo planes that provided much needed capacity and capable of transporting heavy goods, are either sanctioned, grounded or destroyed, while airlines consider longer and more expensive cargo flights from Asia. The European Union joined the Uni... Read more

Effective planning for the receipt of inbound ocean cargo, requires accurate arrival dates, but with schedule reliability at all time lows, the effective management of imports has never been more challenging. Metro’s new ‘Vessel Tracking’ tool links directly with transceivers on b... Read more