Newsletter: April 8, 2022

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Maersk Air Cargo launches

splash247.com
A.P. Moller-Maersk has decided to heap its aviation offerings into a new brand, Maersk Air Cargo, folding the Star Air branding in the process.
At the same time Maersk has choosen Denmark’s second largest airport, Billund, as its air freight hub for Maersk Air Cargo. Read more here.

WFS cargo handlers to hold Heathrow strike vote

aircargonews.net
Unite the union will hold a strike ballot for its members employed by Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) over a pay dispute.
The union alleged that WFS’ cargo workers were facing a pay freeze for the pay year starting January 2021 while competitors based at the airport were offering pay increases. Read more here. 

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

East Coast container ship queue overshadows West Coast logjam

ajot.com
Ocean carriers looking to avoid logjams at the U.S.’s busiest container gateways on the West Coast are now facing even longer queues out east.
As of Wednesday, there were ships with more container capacity stuck outside U.S. East Coast ports than off the busiest sea-cargo gateways in the west, data compiled by maritime-analytics firm MarineTraffic showed. Read more here. 

More blank sailings as spot rates tumble and China’s lockdowns take their toll

theloadstar.com
There is a distinct feeling of déjà vu about the current lockdowns in China, with spot rates declining as carriers scramble for export cargo from shuttered manufacturing.
But rates could spike again when the flood gates reopen for the delayed orders.
“It’s almost like a traffic jam,” said Container xChange CEO and cofounder Christian Roeloffs. Read more here (login required).

CMA CGM buys GEFCO

splash247.com
Rodolphe Saadé has helped out his friend Emanuel Macron ahead of Sunday’s presidential election in France.
The CMA CGM chairman has moved to acquire nearly 100% of GEFCO, an automotive logistics firm whose future had become clouded with uncertainty following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more here. ​​​​​​​

GROUND AND RAIL FREIGHT UPDATES

Cargo backlog ripples beyond Shanghai as lockdown stops trucks

freightwaves.com
Rerouting freight to avoid the extended lockdown in Shanghai, where daily confirmed COVID cases topped a record 17,000 this week, is becoming more difficult and expensive as cargo facilities in other Chinese cities become overcrowded, logistics companies and carriers warn.
The logistics challenges for ocean and airfreight in Shanghai are extreme. Read more here. 

Trucking industry will be in trouble if demand drops to pre-COVID levels

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