News & Insights

Current supply chain stresses and Christmas holiday dates are combining to create specific festive challenges, that may impact your supply chain, which is why we have compiled those most likely to have an operational or financial impact.  As we come towards the close of the year we are fa... Read more

Market data suggests that road transport pricing may be stabilising after record increases, but is likely to remain at elevated levels for some time, due to continuing shortages of freight transport HGV drivers and limited capacity. UK road freight prices appear to be stabilising after rising ... Read more

Yara Birkeland, the world's first all-electric and emission-free container ship has completed its maiden voyage in Norway, travelling nine miles, from Porsgrunn to the port of Brevik, in the Oslo fjord. The fully electric and self-propelled 120 teu container ship will cut 1,000 tonnes of ... Read more

UK manufacturers continue to face a challenging operating environment, with stretched supply chains, disrupted production schedules and increasing component and raw material prices. The manufacturing sector saw growth slow down last month, with surging material costs and staff shorta... Read more

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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