Category: China

The suspension of trucking services in several parts of China’s Zhejiang province, followed a COVID outbreak just over a week ago and has slowed the movement of cargo through one of China’s biggest and most important ports, Ningbo. Strict controls were imposed on lorries moving goods to or... Read more

All around the world, companies have been impacted by supply chain challenges in 2021. With the pandemic’s disruption exacerbated by ‘Black Swan events', from Brexit, to the Suez Canal blockage, we have been working tirelessly to help our customers overcome these challenges and share critical... Read more

The Chinese government has implemented strict controls on the use of electricity that will seriously affect production in factories across ten critical provinces and could see US$120 billion of trade flows delayed. With severe disruption throughout the supply chain from China, this adds a new ... Read more

Despite the massive challenges, our air freight team continue to find solutions for critical cargo and our Sea/Air services are invaluable for time-sensitive shipments. With options from across Asia, via a choice of hubs including Singapore, Colombo and Dubai, we offer the widest choice of servic... Read more

Industry data released today shows that international demand for air cargo capacity versus a shortfall in supply pushed average global air cargo rates up 112% beyond their pre-COVID level, as lockdown in Vietnam and the closure of cargo handling terminals at Shanghai highlighted the fragility of ... Read more

Peak Season for air cargo traditionally arrives in the latter half of September. It’s predictable although always a pain to negotiate and ensure that product, raw materials and components are available for the busy back end of the year, including the traditional retail festive season. This y... Read more

Just two weeks since the Ningbo-Zhoushan containers terminal closed after a worker tested positive for COVID-19 and container port congestion has spread across China and many other regions. Data from consultancy eeSea highlights how global container port congestion has grown over the past... Read more

Ningbo Meidong Container Terminal will open tomorrow, having suspended all operations early last Wednesday morning after a port worker tested positive for COVID-19. Local sources now advise that the Meishan Island container terminal will restart operations from 18th August. Despite the Ningbo ... Read more

The delta variant has broken through virus defences across the Indian Subcontinent and the whole of Asia and reached nearly half of China’s 32 provinces in just two weeks, threatening more supply chain disruption. Developments are raising the threat of delays at ports and airports as authori... Read more

The record-breaking sea freight rates, driven by restricted volumes, equipment availability and service disruption is pushing increasing quantities of ‘distressed’ ocean cargo to air freight solutions. Metro have advised and updated regularly on the dynamic air freight market, which has re... Read more

We are in a new world of shipping. There have been spikes in demand and freight rates before, but never for such a long time and never on such a continuously upward trajectory. The challenges we face are unique. Even with demand levels increasing on the most popular trades, equipment availabil... Read more

Container shipping lines are becoming ever more inventive with the names they apply to the surcharges they keep adding to already over-loaded FAK rates. The latest example is Hapag-Lloyd’s ‘value-added surcharge’ of $5,000 per 40ft, from China to the US and Canada. The carri... Read more