News & Insights

Our alerts, news and guides embrace all transport modes and explore global developments across all aspects of the supply chain, to keep you informed and guide decision making.

Shipping lines fighting to protect rates

In an attempt to recover operations back into the black and jettison unprofitable cargoes, the container shipping lines have deferred FAK freight rate increases from Asia until December, after their planned November GRIs failed. The Asia-North Europe rate increases, that were due to be valid f... Read more

Reviewing the India opportunity

As a UK-India Free Trade Agreement draws closer new research confirms India’s strategic importance, with 73% of UK business leaders identifying the country as a target growth market and Metro’s senior executives are preparing local infrastructure to support any acceleration in bilateral trade... Read more

Positive developments at our Birmingham hub airport

Metro have worked in a strategic partnership with Birmingham Airport for almost 10 years and its importance as an air cargo hub and global gateway for the Midlands, has been further underlined by critical ground-handling investments and pending China freighter services. Metro’s partnership w... Read more

Metro is officially a Great Place to Work

Every member of our team has a critical role in building the trust, confidence, and satisfaction that creates the customer relationships which have seen us thrive for almost 50 years. Being certified a ‘Great Place to Work’ demonstrates that we care about our employees and support them, while... Read more

Unleashing creativity and collaboration

In an ever-evolving business landscape, staying ahead of the curve requires constant innovation and foresight, and a crucial step in achieving this is through internal workshops that challenge the status quo and stimulate new ideas. Metro’s Technical Solutions leadership team recently hosted... Read more

Metro shortlisted for two freight industry awards

The British International Freight Association (BIFA) have revealed the finalists for the 35th Freight Service Awards, with Metro shortlisted in the Sustainable Logistics and Specialist Services categories. BIFA is the trade association for the freight, logistics and supply chain management sec... Read more

Air cargo delays and ocean carriers announce Israel war risk surcharge

While sea freight traffic is largely operating without significant issues, the conflict in Israel is impacting airfreight to the country and the surrounding region, with many carriers’ services subject to cancellation and delay. Many airlines have suspended direct flights to and from Israel,... Read more

Major system upgrade deployed

Industry leading operating system CargoWise is now in place, with Metro recently completing a three year project to transition to the new core freight forwarding operations platform. Headed by our Business Process Solutions (BPS) team of 12 the project’s success is testament to the remarkabl... Read more

eBills have same legal recognition as paper bills of lading

The UK’s Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA) came into force on the 20th September, providing an electronic bill of lading (eBill) the same legal status as a paper bill of lading. This is a major step forward in the modernisation of international trade and is anticipated to boost the UK ec... Read more

UK business welcomes steel action

Anti-dumping and countervailing measures on imports of Hot Rolled Flat and Coil steel will be kept until 2027, to protect the UK’s steel industry from the damage caused by low-priced steel and competitive products that have benefited from government subsidies in their country of origin. The ... Read more

Businesses face 24 legislative and policy supply chain changes

The Institute of Export & International Trade has issued a report highlighting the volume of regulatory change facing UK traders over the next 18 months and called for support for businesses through this turbulent period. The report – The Border Target Operating Model and Beyond: Navigat... Read more

Air freight may have turned a corner

Airfreight rates, as measured on the Baltic Air Freight Indices*, ticked up through September on major Asia-outbound lanes, giving credence to the possibility of a peak season in 2023, with rates ex Hong Kong up 7% and ex Shanghai a whopping 34%. According to the most recent reading of the BAI... Read more