Category: Coronavirus

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

The HGV driver crisis, which has been gathering pace over the last two decades, has been largely hidden due, in no small part, to effective transport management by the freight forwarding community. But the situation has been exacerbated by Brexit and tax changes which encouraged 20 thousand Europ... Read more

The HGV driver shortage is hitting crisis level in the UK (and around the world) as demand for haulage services continues to increase and, while a potential strike within the industry has been averted, the threat of driver strike action continues at Tesco and Hanson, raising the possibility of fu... 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

In an effort to protect supply chains and essential services the government released a list of sectors where fully vaccinated workers may be exempt from isolation if they are told to quarantine after coming into close contact with a positive COVID-19 case. Many of these are within the supply chai... 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

Container carriers are injecting additional capacity into the critical Asia-North Europe trade as they prepare for a strong and prolonged peak season and elevated rates. With the massive consumer and inventory demand continuing, carriers are transferring capacity from other trades and deployin... 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

Demand for imports from Asia and the Indian subcontinent (ISC) continues to outstrip shipping line capacity, in a sign that with inventories low, second-half volumes are unlikely to let up, keeping pressure on a global supply chain infrastructure that is already buckling. The UK’s primary co... Read more