Newsletter – April 12, 2021

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Boeing tells some 737 Max customers to address possible electrical issue

cbc.ca
Airlines pulled dozens of Boeing Max 737s out of service for inspections after the aircraft maker told them about a possible electrical problem, the latest setback for the plane.
Boeing said Friday that the issue affected planes used by 16 airlines, and that it recommended inspections before the planes fly again. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Port of Montreal labour relations worsen

splash247.com
The Maritime Employers Association (MEA) at Canada’s Port of Montreal on Saturday morning gave 72 hours’ notice to the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 375 – representing longshoremen at the port – of its intention to withdraw the income guarantee that the longshoremen enjoy. This step was taken after the port “suffered a substantial 11%-volume drop in March, caused by the uncertainty and anxiety triggered by the labour relations situation.” Read more here.

Suez blockage sparks box spot rate rally

splash247.com
Shippers have another reason to rue the Ever Given. The repercussions of the giant ship’s grounding on the Suez Canal late last month are now filtering into the container spot market. Box spot rates peaked in mid-January and had been gently cooling off in February and March until the huge Evergreen-operated 20,388 teu containership became lodged in the eastern banks of the key Middle Eastern waterway.
The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) rose for the first time in many weeks on Friday, up by 2.6% to 2,652.12 points. Read more here.

CMA CGM details its plans to rebuild Beirut port

splash247.com
France’s CMA CGM, whose founding family hail from Lebanon, has presented a plan to rebuild Beirut port within three years. A huge chemical explosion last August decimated the port and killed 200 people.
CMA CGM plans to rebuild Lebanon’s main maritime gateway are estimated to cost between $400m to $600m. Read more here.

Does the Ever Given herald a peak in boxship sizes?

splash247.com
Boxships have just about quadrupled in size in terms of carrying capacity since China joined the World Trade Organization at the start of the century – a neat allegory for how the West has become hooked on cheap Chinese products. Yet perhaps we’ve finally hit a plateau, both on sourcing from China and on the size of containerships. Read more here.