Shippers through Sydney have faced significant disruption for several months, due to bad weather, congestion and continuing industrial action by longshore workers, which has caused extensive delays to other ports in Australia and further afield in New Zealand. The ongoing congestion has stranded about 50,000 TEU of empty containers in Sydney and shipping lines have …
The large numbers of empty containers stranded in Europe, due to blanked sailings, has led to equipment shortages in Asia, which is being exacerbated by shipping lines diverting empties to more profitable trans-pacific services. On the 10th September we reported how UK port operations had been severely diminished and inland distribution massively disrupted by the …
All parts of the UK have been impacted, including ‘essential’ freight, logistics and supply chain sectors, but the container haulage industry has been hit particularly hard, with many challenges still to be overcome. Six weeks ago Metro wrote about container haulage operations and how it had been impacted by massive increases in demand, at a time …
Container shipping rates from Asia to Europe have soared to a five year high, while reliability falls to the lowest ever level recorded. The rapid recovery in post-lockdown demand has driven up volumes on the trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades, with global volume rising for the first time this year in August, up 1.5% on 2019. …
In light of the recent criticism and industry-wide complaints concerning delays and service levels, the Port of Felixstowe – the UK’s largest and busiest container port – introduced vehicle booking changes on Monday, to improve service and lessen the delays on its terminals. One of these changes is to the ports VBS (Vehicle Bookings System), …
The container shipping alliances help carriers lower operating costs and broaden service coverage through economies of scale. However, do the alliances restrict individual line’s ability to differentiate and innovate as services beyond the sea element is not always under a carrier’s control. Container-line profits exceeded expectations in Q2 2020, a period when volumes were weak …
After weeks of complaints from port users, shipping lines, hauliers and cargo owners, there is some hope that Felixstowe’s service levels may be improving, but similar challenges are now being experienced at other key container ports. After the recent well-documented service issues, delays, and industry frustrations surrounding the performance of the Port of Felixstowe, blamed on …
The anticipated equipment shortages in Asia are spreading as importers in the United States and Europe struggle to return empty containers to Asian manufacturing hubs, with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh hit particularly hard. The container imbalance followed the spike in imports to the US and Europe, after the reopening of their economies and now …
Container freight rates are at their highest levels in five years, Westbound Asia to Europe, driven by rocketing demand and the carriers manipulating capacity to create under or balanced supply, which allows the shipping lines to cherry-pick the best paying cargo and maintain rates at the strongest levels. With demand comfortably out-stripping supply, manufacturers, tech brands, …
High vessel volumes, spikes in container throughput and diminished operational capability due to COVID safe-working is creating high yard density at the port, resulting in terminal-wide congestion which means vessels are unable to complete empty loading or have diverted to other ports, not loading export containers. Import volumes at Felixstowe have been 30% higher than …