Category: Supply Chain

Low speed containerships are propping up rates

Last year the shipping analyst Drewry’s forecast that the container shipping lines earnings would be down 64% for 2023, but added that there were strategic choices available to the carriers, to protect their revenues, with slow steaming a proven method of removing capacity, to protect rates and... Read more

Nhava Sheva congestion may last till November

The port of Nhava Sheva, is the second largest container port in India and repairs and replacement of gantry cranes are reducing terminal capacity by 50%, which is expected to possibly last until October or November. Container traffic through India's Nhava Sheva Port (JNPT) is facing bottlenec... Read more

Supply chains returning to just-in-time focus

The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply’s (CIPS) Procurement Futures conference brought together the most influential procurement professionals to figure out how to make supply chains more resilient, as buyers consider returning to just-in-time strategies, as port congestion eases. ... Read more

US West Coast volumes drift to South and Southeastern ports

Negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and West Coast port employers, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) began last May and while talks continue, both are hopeful of reaching a deal soon, as US importers continue to divert cargo to Eastern a... Read more

Supply chain shock absorber

The COVID-19 pandemic turned the public gaze towards supply chains and a previously unrecognised business sector became a household name, but after two plus years of navigating monumental challenges, supply chain executives, are faced with more challenges and need to secure their supply chains be... Read more

Brighter looking future for China and Asia

The sidewalk booths, where residents took compulsory COVID tests almost daily, have gone and queues are again forming outside restaurants, while face masks, which were omnipresent for nearly three years, have almost disappeared, but some challenges remain. China’s Centre for Disease Control ... Read more

Making visibility a strategic tool

Now in its 22nd year, the annual TPM conference, in Long Beach California, considers the pressing supply chain and freight challenges affecting shippers globally. TPM attracts the most senior-level audience in the industry, including an executive team from Metro and is considered to be the ‘Dav... Read more

US freight market round-up

There was no pre-CNY transpacific rush this year and with China re-opening, factories are expected to open again in the second half of February, which is why carriers have tried to maintain rates. The CNY has given US ports a respite and most are now clear, with hardly any ships waiting outside W... Read more

Asia blanked sailings, rolled cargo and detours

Shipping lines have cancelled almost 30% of pre and post Chinese New Year sailings from Asia, with THE Alliance cutting 36% to Europe and diverting backhaul sailings around the Cape of Good Hope, which adds two weeks transit time to China.  In a normal year, the weeks building up to China... Read more

Chinese New Year + COVID escalation = supply chain disruption in Asia

If travel for the Lunar New Year holidays increases COVID transmission, we will see large numbers of infected workers having to quarantine, which will delay their return to work and factories, hauliers, terminals and ports that would traditionally restart operations by mid-February could be shut ... Read more

The new logistics normal in 2023; Part 1

For almost three years shippers, forwarders and carriers, across all modes, have battled unparalleled global supply chain disruptions and, as the massive consumer driven volumes finally subsides, some suggest that the “new normal” is manifesting on a global scale. The desire for norma... Read more

Labour disputes in the global supply chain (a winter of discontent)

Strikes and industrial action continues to plague ports, airports, transport infrastructure and international and domestic supply chains and while much attention has been focused on UK, European and North American situations, the wave of disputes have been spreading to Asia, South Afric... Read more