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.

Airport congestion stunting air cargo growth

Disrupted cargo handling and congestion on the ground muted air cargo’s growth in November, with volumes falling by -1.2% in a month that is traditionally one of the busiest, in the peak build-up to Christmas.  Last month’s fall in volumes compared to October 2021 came despite a +0.5%... Read more

Maersk ‘blanking’ Felixstowe until March from/to Asia

Delays in receiving and turning vessels around, apparently due to continuing land-side operational disruptions, has prompted 2M partners Maersk and MSC to extend Felixstowe’s omission from the AE7/Condor loop until next March. The world's largest container shipping alliance, 2M, has announce... Read more

Supply chains face Omicron challenge both in UK and globally…

The Omicron variant is likely to be another test of supply chain resilience and could pose a threat to global economic recovery, particularly if China enforces its ‘zero-COVID’ policy, to prevent cases entering. Yesterday evening’s announcement by the prime minister, Boris Johnson, of a ... Read more

Port congestion eases, but challenges will continue to remain

Asia’s largest ports are showing signs that congestion is easing ahead of the Christmas holiday season, with Shanghai traffic declining 0.2%, Hong Kong ship count dropping 10.4% and Singapore dropping 14.7% according to an analysis by Bloomberg. While any easing of volume is welcome, Bloombe... Read more

Mega Felixstowe DC offers so much more than space – it’s UNIque

With warehouse space becoming increasingly scarce, access to 100,000 pallet spaces would be welcomed by most shippers. The new group Mega Distribution Centre beside Felixstowe port, offers the smart executive access to plenty of space and the opportunity to cut costs, simplify processes and impro... Read more

GVMS, your new frontier control mechanism – January 1st 2022

On the 1st January 2022 the UK is imposing full border controls and many short-sea ports, including Dover and Eurotunnel have opted to use Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) as the frontier control mechanism. We have been using it since its launch at the beginning of the year, for GB-NI m... Read more

Foldable containers may be cure. Just not yet…

The bulk of the world’s trade is shipped in intermodal shipping containers, which have remained largely unchanged since IMO standardisation 50 years ago, but innovation may be the key to reducing supply chain congestion. Is this a new era of global container shipping? Few tools of the global... Read more

Experts warn the UK is running out of warehouse space

Leading commercial property agents have warned that the UK could run out of warehouse space within a year, following the surge in online shopping and supply chain disruption triggered by the COVID19 pandemic. Demand for warehouses and vacant space is being driven by eCommerce, manufacturing an... Read more

Ocean freight carrier profits grow as global supply chain woes continue

CMA CGM has published their Q3 results and in line with the other major Asia/Europe and trans-Atlantic carriers, they have made an extremely high degree of profit, due to the continued demand for space, exacerbated by global disruption diminishing the amount of vessel space available. The CMA ... Read more

Air freight airports and ground handling hubs grinding to a halt – and that’s everywhere

Sustained high demand, diminished capacity, COVID-safe work practices and apparent labour shortages, continue to place immense pressure on UK, European, US and global air freight hubs, creating congestion, from Heathrow to Azerbaijan. While there are different situations at different airports,... Read more

The impact of the COVID pandemic on global logistics

The pandemic has underlined the critical importance of the global supply chain, in meeting critical PPE and medical needs, as well as satisfying consumer demand and the challenges in keeping goods moving efficiently along it. The pandemic is creating new challenges for supply chains, as it kee... Read more

Supporting environmental transparency

Environmental reporting standards for business have been high on the agenda at the UN’s Climate Change Conference – COP26 – currently underway in Glasgow and Metro support the drive for businesses to be open about their impact on the planet, as transparency is an essential precursor for rea... Read more