Newsletter: April 6, 2022

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

China Wants To Build A 12-Seater Plane That Could Fly To New York In 2 Hours

simpleflying.com
According to CNN, a Chinese company by the name of Space Transportation has announced plans to develop vehicles capable of hypersonic flight for civilian use. The proposed aircraft would complete a journey from Shanghai to New York in just two hours, traveling more than twice as fast as the iconic Concorde. Read more here. 

Air Canada Cargo joins CargoAi’s eBooking & eQuote platform

aircargonews.net
Air Canada Cargo has selected CargoAi’s eBooking & eQuote platform to accelerate e-booking adoption with freight forwarders.
The Air Canada Cargo product will effectively be launched on www.CargoAi.co and available to registered freight forwarders starting mid of April, in a progressive regional rollout. For CargoAi users, this rollout plan means extra capacity from North America, followed by all regions worldwide to be added by the end of next year. Read more here. 

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Vietnam’s former ‘white elephant’ port, Cai Mep, set for major expansion

theloadstar.com
The expansion of Vietnam’s busiest deepwater container port, Cai Mep, could pave the way for additional Asia-Europe calls.
Once dubbed a “white elephant” for its poor utilisation, South Vietnam’s Cai Mep, in Ba Ria–Vung Tau province and 50km from Ho Chi Minh City, is set for an upgrade, following recent years of rapid volume growth. Read more here (login required).

Chittagong inland container depots hit capacity as apparel exports grow

theloadstar.com
Inland containers depots (ICDs) in Chittagong are choked with additional handling orders for export boxes, while forwarders are frequently are facing increasing demand to take more.
Exporters have attributed the rise in demand to a shift away from competing countries in apparel, such as China, Vietnam and Cambodia, owing to Bangladesh’s comparative reliability. Read more here (login required).

Containers being unloaded so Ever Forward will float

insidelogistics.ca
After two unsuccessful attempts to free the grounded Ever Forward in the Chesapeake Bay, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that containers will be removed to lighten the load before another try.
Salvage experts determined they wouldn’t be able to overcome the ground force of the more than 305-metre Ever Forward, loaded with nearly 5,000 containers, the U.S. Coast Guard, Maryland Department of the Environment and Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine Corp., the ship’s operator, said in a news release. Unloading the ship offers the best chance to refloat it, officials said. Read more here. 

Contract talks between ILWU and employers on USWC to start May 12

seanews.com.tr
THE International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and West Coast employers will start contract negotiations on May 12, the two sides said, with the talks coming against a backdrop of vessel backlogs, congested marine terminals, and inland supply chains struggling to handle near-record cargo volumes.
The pending negotiations also come amid fears from shippers that an impasse could result in further disruption in a market that can ill afford it. Some cargo owners have already begun to shift their volumes to the East and Gulf coasts to avoid any potential problems, reports IHS Media. Read more here.

GROUND AND RAIL FREIGHT UPDATES

Trucking spot rates are way up, but so are operating expenses. What does this mean for carriers?

freightwaves.com
“Demand is just falling back to pre-pandemic levels.” I’ve heard this rebuttal to my earlier articles about a 2022 trucking “bloodbath” (here and here) for the past week. If “demand falls back to pre-pandemic levels” turns out to be true, the situation for truckers will actually be much worse than even I have predicted. Read more here.