Newsletter – August 5, 2021

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Europe’s airports and handlers ‘ditching cargo’ as passenger flights resume

theloadstar.com
Airlines are switching European airports as severe staff shortages keep freighters on the ground for hours, while others are having to fly before they are fully loaded.
German and Belgian airports were said to be among the worst affected according to carriers – who spoke to The Loadstar anonymously, fearing “vindictive” handlers would drop them altogether. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Forwarder angst as carriers switch vessels onto the best-paying tradelanes

theloadstar.com
Ocean carriers continue to shift tonnage from intra-Asia and north-south trades to more lucrative east-west routes, which is in turn driving freight rates up on these secondary trades, threatening the sustainability of global markets.
Alphaliner said its data showed transpacific routes between Asia and North America had attracted the most extra tonnage over the past few months. Read more here.

Dry Freight Box Prices Lead Container Equipment Surge

gcaptain.com
Prices of dry freight shipping containers have doubled over the past year to reach historic highs but will moderate over the next few years, according to Drewry’s recently published Container Census & Leasing Annual Review and Forecast 2021/22 report.
Dry box purchase prices rallied strongly in 2020 from the lows of the prior year to reach their highest level since 2011 by the fourth quarter, with a Year Over Year (YoY) gain of 75%. Then by the second quarter of this year (2Q21) 40ft high cube containers breached the $6,500 threshold, more than doubling over the year, to reach their highest value since Drewry started monitoring container equipment prices back as far as 1998. Read more here.

China-U.S. Box Rates Sail Past $20,000

gcaptain.com
Container shipping rates from China to the United States have scaled fresh highs above $20,000 per 40-foot box as rising retailer orders ahead of the peak U.S. shopping season add strain to global supply chains.
The acceleration in Delta-variant COVID-19 outbreaks in several counties has slowed global container turnaround rates.
Typhoons off China’s busy southern coast in late July and this week have also contributed to the crisis gripping the world’s most important method for moving everything from gym equipment and furniture to car parts and electronics. Read more here.

CANADA BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

CBSA workers plan to strike on Friday

insidelogistics.ca
About 9,000 Canadian Border Service Agency workers are preparing to begin job action across the country on Friday and say travellers should expect long lineups and lengthy delays at border crossings and airports.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada and its Customs and Immigration Union, which represent the workers, said that it served a strike notice to the government on Tuesday and is now readying its workers to up the ante. Read more here.

Guards vow to ‘shut the border down’ as tensions soar during Toronto Pearson Airport protest

toronto.ctvnews.ca
“We screened every traveller for COVID, we kept the border running, our employer won’t even speak to us at the bargaining table,” said Mark Weber, the national president of the Customs and Immigration Union.
That union, and the Public Service Alliance of Canada, say they have the right to strike as of August 6, just days before Canada reopens its borders to vaccinated U.S. travellers. Read more here.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

China typhoons create latest supply-chain threat as ports shut

ajot.com
Extreme weather in China is becoming the latest challenge to global supply chains, as a heavy typhoon season threatens to further delay goods stuck at some of the world’s busiest container ports.
Yantian port in southern China’s export and industrial hub of Shenzhen stopped drop-off services of containers on Tuesday night due to a typhoon alert, the port said on its official social media account. Just two weeks earlier, Shanghai’s Yangshan mega-terminal facility and nearby ports evacuated ships as Typhoon In-Fa slammed into the coast, bringing widespread flooding and toppling containers stowed in the hold of a bulk carrier traveling to the U.S. Read more here.