Newsletter: April 1, 2022

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

AirBridgeCargo fleet starts to break up as lessors demand their aircraft back

theloadstar.com
The sad dismantling of a cargo airline is under way, as lessors circle AirBridgeCargo’s fleet.
The carrier is treading a fine line between the demands of Russia’s aviation authority to keep the aircraft, while also attempting – in part – to satisfy lessors instructed to retrieve them. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Long-term box freight rates up almost 100% year-on-year: Xeneta

splash247.com
Long-term contracted ocean freight rates climbed by 7% in March, pushing shipping prices up 96.7% year-on-year, even though spot rates continued their long decline.
“A combination of relentless demand, port congestion, equipment shortage and Covid disruption have driven the rates trendline to new heights – facilitating huge profits for carriers and worrying times for shippers,” a release from Xeneta explaining the long-term rates stated. Read more here (login required).

Liner pricing investigations multiply across the globe

splash247.com
Liner pricing investigations are spreading around the world as carriers report record, multi-billion dollar profits while schedule reliability remains at historic lows.
Splash reported earlier this week that Maersk, CMA CGM and German-controlled United Africa Feeder Line are being investigated by an African competition watchdog, the Comesa Competition Commission (CCC), for allegedly coordinating in raising freight charges. Read more here. 

Can accordion-style folding containers unclog crowded ports, distribution centers?

freightwaves.com
Local union freight workers were among those New Jersey-based Staxxon approached for initial feedback on its shipping containers that fold and bundle for space-saving storage.
After examining the containers, the workers offered an unexpected response. Read more here. 

How supply chain, drayage have evolved through the pandemic

freightwaves.com
The coronavirus pandemic both created new problems and highlighted existing issues across the supply chain. This has been especially evident at the ports. Unrelenting port congestion — coupled with equipment shortages — has made importing goods an irritating headache at best and an expensive nightmare at worst. Read more here.

GROUND AND RAIL FREIGHT UPDATES

Just 3 years after 2019’s trucking bloodbath, another is on the way

freightwaves.com
After two years of COVID-induced havoc in global freight markets, volatility has started to abate. FreightWaves’ view of the market has become clearer, and the picture isn’t pretty. We think another sharp, painful downturn in the U.S. truckload market is imminent, and it could be as bad as 2019.
March has been unusually soft in the truckload freight market, according to the SONAR Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI). Because this index measures actual truckload tenders in the contract market, it provides a very reliable indicator of market direction. Read more here. 

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Shanghai extends lockdown timeframe

splash247.com
Authorities at China’s commercial hub were forced into a humiliating U-turn yesterday in their battle with Covid-19. Having placed the eastern side of Shanghai, Pudong, into lockdown at the start of the week for what was planned to be five days, officials have decided to keep Pudong citizens in confinement, while the western side, Puxi, went into lockdown as planned today in the original two-stage zero-Covid crackdown strategy hatched last weekend. Read more here.

Warehouses will be a tough find through 2023

freightwaves.com
The industrial real estate market will likely see low vacancies and high rents for at least another two years, according to a report from commercial real estate services firm JLL Inc.
On the demand side, companies are taking on larger inventory positions to avoid future supply shocks and stockouts, which have been prevalent throughout the pandemic. Further, e-commerce platforms require incremental inventories positioned closer to the end consumer in order to meet tight delivery schedules. Read more here.