Category: Supply Chain

The United States Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), the body responsible for the regulation of ocean carriers and intermediaries, is intensifying its monitoring of shipping alliance activity on the trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic trades. Citing market fluctuations, the FMC’s regulators are... Read more

The case for sustainability depends on debunking false mindsets around cost, outlining the value it brings to the business and clarifying the benefits to supplier relationships. Metro helps shippers reduce the environmental impacts of their logistics activities. One of the big myths to overcom... Read more

Reuters report shows how global container shipping rates have surged to record levels due to spikes in restocking demand in the United States and Europe, container scarcity at export hubs, and changes in freight flows because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Freightos Baltic Global Container I... Read more

The lack of container equipment at Asian origins is so severe that carriers are leaving export cargo on the quay, to ship empty containers back from Europe and the United States. The container shortages are so acute, particularly at the Chinese ports of Qingdao, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai, t... Read more

With sea freight rates reaching some of the highest levels ever seen, along with equipment shortages, late vessels and still no guarantee of uplift, some shippers are starting to switch to air, driving up rates on a mode that had been enjoying some stability. The current lack of container line... Read more

With disruption at the Port of Felixstowe branded “a mess”, the national press is now also reporting on global port disruption, as retailers express concerns about product shortages in the run-up to Christmas.  As Metro has been reporting regularly in recent weeks, the impact at Felix... Read more

Container ships, including the world’s largest, are skipping UK ports entirely, or leaving only partially discharged and without collecting export containers, in what is fast becoming a daily occurrence. COVID-safe working practices and extensive deep-cleaning at shift handovers, continues t... Read more

Singles' Day is an unofficial Chinese holiday celebrating people who are not in relationships, with the unmarried commemorating the occasion by treating themselves to gifts, making Singles' Day the largest online shopping day in the world, by quite some margin. With 1.9bn products ordered in 2... Read more

Sea freight rates and surcharges continue to rise on all the primary trade-lanes, up 10% from Asia in the last week, with no signs of softening in the coming weeks, or months. Even with some blanked capacity over Golden Week, capacity on the Asia-Europe trade  increased 14% year over year... Read more

We reported last week how shipping lines were diverting empty containers away from the Asia-Europe trade-lane, to ply the more lucrative trans-Pacific services, with all the signs that demand could continue well into 2021. With massive and unanticipated demand, the capacity crunch from China t... Read more

Even as England enters a four-week lockdown and the rest of the UK operate under strict restrictions, consumer activity will continue to be strong, driving further air freight demand. Air freight rates from China continue to rise, as the peak season continues and distressed sea freight is incr... Read more

The start of the working week and the Port of Felixstowe is back in the news, for cancelling empty container restitutions (again), but the challenges facing shippers run much farther afield than Suffolk. The Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen has issued a customer notice stating that ... Read more