Newsletter – January 30, 2023

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Early Chinese New Year impacts global air cargo demand

aircargoweek.com
This year’s early Lunar New Year has interrupted air cargo’s normal January recovery, with falling tonnages to and from China and Hong Kong pulling down overall worldwide volumes into a mid-month deficit.
In the third full week of January 2023, global air cargo tonnages fell back into a slight decline, following the delayed post-holiday upswing that WorldACD reported last week. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Maersk Plans Unified Identity Ending Hamburg Sud and Sealand Names

maritime-executive.com
Maersk announced its intentions to move to a single brand identity as it works to integrate recent acquisitions and its multiple brands as the corporation continues the move toward its vision of a global logistics provider. Read more here.

Boxport congestion back to pre-covid levels

splash247.com
Boxport congestion is now back to pre-covid levels according to one UK index. A key lever in the last couple of years of record earnings for liner shipping has disappeared, according to the latest data from Clarksons Research.
Clarksons containership port congestion index closed on Friday at 31.5%, a similar number to the pre-covid (2016 – 2019) average of 31.6%. Friday’s figures represented the lowest daily average since October 2019. Read more here.

Carriers cough up as complaints rain in at the FMC

splash247.com
The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has received more than 200 charge complaints since the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA) was enacted in June 2022. More than 70 of those complaints met the FMC’s threshold requirements to be referred to investigators.
Commission staff reported at a meeting on January 25 that the charge complaint process is proving successful at promoting informal settlements as well as waivers of demurrage and detention billings. Staff estimate that more than $700,000 in charges have been refunded by carriers since June. Read more here.

GROUND & RAIL FREIGHT UPDATES

EV makers put China on course to overtake Japan as the world’s top car exporter

scmp.com
China’s automotive industry has a reason to cheer surging exports, as the growing manufacturing and technological heft of home-grown electric vehicle (EV) makers could soon see the nation unseat Japan as the world’s largest car exporter, analysts said.
“Rising exports are a clear sign that Chinese carmakers’ development and manufacturing capabilities have largely improved following four decades of efforts,” said Chen Jinzhu, CEO of consultancy Shanghai Mingliang Auto Service. “Chinese companies like BYD and Geely will become strong contenders in the global automotive market.” Read more here.