Category: Coronavirus

Metro’s Outsourcing teams in the UK, India and Malaysia provide critical commercial, compliance and financial documentation services to internal and external customers and had to remain operative through the national COVID19 lockdowns. The Business Process & Outsource (BPO) operations pr... Read more

Sky high air freight rates and the supply chain chaos in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic strengthened appeal of the China-Europe rail service for the many shippers. In March, when most train services from China to Europe resumed as factories reopened, a monthly record of 73,000 TEU was ca... Read more

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have released updated trade and growth forecasts, that are even more gloomy than earlier predictions, with global trade contracting 20% and global growth declining 5% in 2020. UNCTAD said yest... Read more

Data from April gave the container shipping industry its first glimpse of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, with April 2020 global volumes plummeting 16.9%, compared to April 2019. And while the financial implications of such a drop are serious for the lines, their effective volume reductio... Read more

When airlines grounded passenger services as the Coronavirus spread, they removed almost 50% of the world’s air freight capacity. Responding to the global need for PPE, many airlines subsequently redeployed passenger (PAX) aircraft to boost belly-hold cargo capacity, while others ripped out the... Read more

In spite of fears that container carriers could suffer catastrophic losses and go bankrupt en-masse, because of the Coronavirus pandemic impact on global trade, shipping lines are now enjoying the highest spot rates in 5 years on some trade lanes and could well end the year with big profits. J... Read more

The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent global lockdown has stalled and frozen international transport and the infrastructure that supports it, exposing vulnerabilities in the supply chains of raw materials, components and finished goods. The current global supply chains of many businesses are fr... Read more

The UK car industry's trade body says one in six jobs are at risk of redundancy without help from the government in restarting production. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) says that one in six jobs are at risk, without help from the government including emergency funding, ... Read more

Extensive business continuity plans are our bulwark against business interruptions, in a whole host of guises. In many ways the coronavirus outbreak is the test for which our team has been planning and preparing for years. Unlike any crisis we may have considered, though, this one has new e... Read more

Sea freight rates have held up strongly on the Asia–Europe trade in both directions despite weak volume, with export prices performing especially well for the shipping lines. Carriers have tightly managed capacity through the coronavirus pandemic, blanking an extensive number of sailings on ... Read more

Rail freight services from China to Europe have seen a massive increase in volumes, as PPE driven demand for air freight resulted in congestion, lengthier transits and disrupted air cargo supply chains. Rail cargo throughput from China to Europe during the recent peak increased by 40% over the... Read more

The bane of many a shipping manager, the Bunker Surcharge, BAF or Bunker adjustment factor, refers to a floating part of sea freight charges which represents additions due to oil prices. Which, on the petrol station forecourt, have fallen off a cliff - but not, apparently in shipping. With the... Read more