News & Insights

“Trade isn't about goods. Trade is about information. Goods sit in the warehouse until data moves them.” On January 1st 2021 the United Kingdom begins a new trading relationship with the European Union and your data is needed now to keep your goods moving.  While lots of uncertainty a... Read more

Falling rates makes sea/air a very attractive commercial option, at 50% of the cost of pure air freight, from the main manufacturing areas within the Indian Subcontinent and Far East/China. Over the last few weeks Far East air freight rates have continued to harden, as capacity has reduced fro... Read more

The UK’s freight forwarders’ association, BIFA, has warned that the government had failed to recognise the practical constraints to building sufficient post-Brexit customs agent capacity in the industry which was still reeling from coronavirus. Industry experts agree that the proposed £50... Read more

The container ports and airports in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent are some of the busiest in the world. Their continuous growth underlines the strength of international trade enjoyed by both regions.  The Middle East and Indian subcontinent generate around £80 billion of the United... Read more

Wooden pallets carrying goods from outside the EU must be heat-treated or fumigated and certified before they can enter Europe, but the UK doesn’t have enough of these pallets to trade with the EU after the end of the year. International Standards For Phytosanitary Measures No.15 (ISPM 15) d... Read more

Supply chains between Europe and China continue to face significant pandemic-related disruption, leading to an upsurge in interest for rail freight solutions from the region. Reacting to expanding demand, we are increasing our rail freight coverage, to embrace all major China sourcing regions. ... Read more

As we begin the economic recovery from COVD-19 lockdown, the shipping lines are increasing vessel calls through service changes, merging services together and varying transit times to maximise utilisation, which is disrupting port and haulage operations.  The increased load factors (numbe... Read more

Metro solutions sit in four areas of expertise - forwarding, supply chain, outsourcing, technology - but there are no barriers between these areas, with our personnel working in multiple area simultaneously, to better serve their clients. Experienced freight forwarder Kerry Bate joined Metro i... Read more

In this unprecedented pandemic, trade is essential to save lives and livelihoods, which means supply chains need to operate at some level of normality, to keep that trade flowing. The OECD Interim Economic Outlook in March forecast global growth halved to 1.5%, but their most recent estimates ... Read more

Prior to the Coronavirus lockdown, Metro’s learning and development opportunities were expanding and a massive range of activity was in progress. Then bang! The Covid-19 grenade went off and other solutions were needed. As we went into March the Metro training team had a full calendar of act... Read more

On the 1st January 2021 - Brexit - no customs border posts will appear between the UK and the EU, but you may need to pay customs duty and import VAT when goods pass across the new ‘border’ and you'll need to submit customs declarations and pay administration fees for their completion and sub... Read more

Air freight rates from China are rising over the last two weeks, due to falling capacity as passenger-freighters are forced out of the market, due to unviable commercial return. Yield is just one of the reasons. The PAX carriers are also impacted by weak, if not nonexistent passenger demand, r... Read more