Category: Sea

Key Metro partner Emirates SkyCargo and DP World have launched a sea/air product, increasing the range of services we can offer, ahead of a likely post-lockdown demand surge. The Dubai-based companies are offering complementary sea/air services, which can expedite the transfer of containers fr... Read more

While the world’s biggest shipping lines grow weary of Felixstowe and the UK’s primary ports, due to continuing congestion wrecking their vessel schedules, Europe’s hub ports are strengthening their market positions through giant mergers, in moves that may actually benefit UK shippers. O... Read more

After a massive spike in fuel prices, in the run up to IMO 2020, marine fuel prices collapsed as the COVID pandemic took hold, but have been increasing rapidly in recent weeks, raising fears of BAF increases. The IMO’s global emissions regulations - IMO2020 - which impacted the global contai... Read more

The shortage of container ships and record-breaking freight rates has prompted some carriers to come up with new and creative alternatives. The continued demand for sea freight space, that started last May, and the ensuing volume crisis, caused by a shortage of vessel availability and empty co... Read more

The economic turmoil triggered by the continuing pandemic, has disrupted global container shipping through 2020, with port congestion battering the shipping lines’ schedules and wiping out reliability. Port congestion began in Asia, as the first Coronavirus waves passed last May and factorie... Read more

Shanghai and Yantian port disruption, refusal of heavy weight containers onto quay and the serious issue of drivers returning home ahead of CNY, due to Government enforced covid related travel restrictions are bad enough, and now the signs are the shipping lines will do everything possible to mai... Read more

2M’s Maersk and MSC will cancel four sailings from Asia during Chinese New Year, while THE Alliance will skip three Asia–Mediterranean services in late March and early April, in an effort to restore schedule integrity. The lines are insistent that the measures are necessary, with Maersk sa... Read more

Mounting container losses at sea are raising concerns about the effectiveness of current lashing practices and the likelihood of vessel loads being restricted on larger container vessels, reducing market capacity even further. More than 2,650 containers have been lost overboard in two incident... Read more

Even if ‘one swallow does not a summer make’ we fervently hope that one container index’s ‘positive trend’ really does signify a turning point in container shortages. The container selling and leasing platform Container xChange, track and compare the global availability of containers... Read more

Massive and continuing post-lockdown consumer demand has resulted in a lack of available space on vessels, shortage of empty shipping containers in Asia and congestion at destination ports, driving freight rates to levels never before experienced. Taking issues that have perplexed shippers sin... Read more

Optimism in signs that the equipment shortage crisis might improve after Chinese New Year, have been dealt a blow with the surprise announcement of blanked Asia to UK sailings, despite it being widely reported that carriers would not be using this tactic this year. 2M alliance members Maersk a... Read more

In a customer advisory last week we outlined the current situation and challenges in relation to the inbound ocean freight container trade from Asia (China, Far East, South East Asia and The Indian Subcontinent) into The UK and Europe. We highlighted the unprecedented challenges in Asia regard... Read more