Category: Coronavirus

As 70% of England move to Tier 3 on Saturday and Wales announce strict new lockdown measures from the 28th December, we consider the impact of a further national lockdown on operational and freight infrastructure. The COVID pandemic has starkly highlighted our reliance on, and the fragility of... Read more

This year may become notorious for the global COVID pandemic, but its impact is having the most profound impact on global trade and supply chains, disrupting normal operations and tearing up the best-laid plans. This weekend the BBC reported how the Swedish furniture favourite, Ikea, was force... Read more

The rollout of COVID vaccines is slowly but surely restricting access to air freight services for other cargoes, at the same time that cargo handlers in the UK unveil massive price increases, that will directly impact the costs paid by air freight shippers. Just days into vaccine roll-outs and... Read more

Congestion at UK container ports which commenced in the Summer at Felixstowe, before filtering out to Southampton and London Gateway, is continuing despite all efforts, with Japanese carmaker Honda warning that production at its Swindon plant will be disrupted. Problems at the UK's container p... Read more

The container shortage that is currently impacting Asia supply chains, has led lines to stop accepting shipment bookings from Ningbo, while the suspension of Southern China feeder operations, because of COVID, will impact key ports until after Chinese New Year 2021. Due to the severe lack of c... Read more

The United States Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), the body responsible for the regulation of ocean carriers and intermediaries, is intensifying its monitoring of shipping alliance activity on the trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic trades. Citing market fluctuations, the FMC’s regulators are... Read more

Reuters report shows how global container shipping rates have surged to record levels due to spikes in restocking demand in the United States and Europe, container scarcity at export hubs, and changes in freight flows because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Freightos Baltic Global Container I... Read more

The lack of container equipment at Asian origins is so severe that carriers are leaving export cargo on the quay, to ship empty containers back from Europe and the United States. The container shortages are so acute, particularly at the Chinese ports of Qingdao, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai, t... Read more

As the first wave of the COVID pandemic took hold in March the International Road Transport Union IRU estimated a decline in global road transport activity of up to 20% and a global loss in operator revenues of up to $1 trillion. Despite maintaining supply chains, especially for essentials suc... Read more

With sea freight rates reaching some of the highest levels ever seen, along with equipment shortages, late vessels and still no guarantee of uplift, some shippers are starting to switch to air, driving up rates on a mode that had been enjoying some stability. The current lack of container line... Read more

With disruption at the Port of Felixstowe branded “a mess”, the national press is now also reporting on global port disruption, as retailers express concerns about product shortages in the run-up to Christmas.  As Metro has been reporting regularly in recent weeks, the impact at Felix... Read more

Container ships, including the world’s largest, are skipping UK ports entirely, or leaving only partially discharged and without collecting export containers, in what is fast becoming a daily occurrence. COVID-safe working practices and extensive deep-cleaning at shift handovers, continues t... Read more