FIATA, the world freight forwarders' association, has issued a statement calling on shipping lines to review the current free periods for container use and return to pre-pandemic levels.
Shanghai, which is the location for China’s largest container port, has just embarked on a further round of restrictions, with mass testing, business closures and movement restrictions. In the past such measures have led to serious disruption at both ports and airports, with truck-traffic in particular unable to drive through the city.
Climate change and international trade are combining to put the very existence of life on Earth at risk. That is not a crazy unfounded risk assessment by a dogmatic green activist, but the considered opinion of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Another typhoon has prompted the ports of Shanghai and Ningbo to close for the second time in 10 days. We expect that this will have a “ripple effect” on shipping delays.
A combination of improved labour availability, due to the end of the school holidays and a reduction in Asian imports, has eased congestion at North Europe’s container hubs.
Low water levels resulting from a lengthy heatwave across Europe have forced the closure of the Rhine to barge operations for the first time in four years.
Heatwaves have sent prices skyrocketing for container moves along northern Europe’s inland waterways and, with little sign of rainfall, things are likely to get worse.