Newsletter – February 1, 2021

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Thousands of New York Area Flights Canceled Ahead Of Snow Storm

Simpleflying.com
Airports across New York have canceled the majority of flights this Monday as a major snowstorm approaches the region. John F. Kennedy Airport and Newark International Airport have canceled over 300 flights thus far, while LaGuardia Airport has called off all commercial flights. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Big ships to access Hong Kong as Tsing Ma Bridge air draft increases

shippingazette.com
THE Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association (HKLSA) welcomed the HK Marine Department’s decision a promising step in the right direction to increase allowable air draft under the Tsing Ma Bridge from 54.6 to 57.0 metres. Read more here.

South China ship service suspensions continue to clog ports

seanews.com.tr
THE suspension of Pearl River Delta’s barge and feeder services have left carriers struggling to meet demand from south China’s ports, reports IHS Media.
EU and US shippers are already swamping the carriers, but the suspension addition linking the hubs of Hong Kong and Shenzhen to China’s inland manufacturing centres is hurting the regional supply chain even more. Read more here.

Empty boxes still ‘gold’

Lloydsloadinglist.com
An acute lack of available empty containers in key export locations is continuing to be a major challenge for shippers and their suppliers, with senior industry forwarders and analysts split on how long the problem will persist – and whether Chinese New Year this month will be a turning point. Read more here.

Containership schedule reliability at lowest level since records began

theloadstar.com
Global container service scheduled reliability has declined to its lowest levels since records began, according to new data from SeaIntelligence Consulting.
The analyst’s latest schedule reliability data for December shows just 44.6% of vessels arriving on time, “which means that for the fifth consecutive month, global schedule reliability has been the lowest across all months since Sea-Intelligence introduced the benchmark in 2011”.  Read more here.

Carriers claim ‘sliding’ services will help them recover shattered schedules

theloadstar.com
More ships are being held at departure ports in Asia for a week or more, as carriers wrestle with the recovery of their shattered schedules.
They have drawn a blank in their attempts to secure additional capacity to mitigate the impact of port congestion, and are warning shippers to expect more sailings to be delayed. Read more here (login required).

Biggest gateway for US imports hit by record ship bottleneck

ajot.com
Ship congestion around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach hit an unprecedented level, worsening the bottleneck at the busiest gateway for U.S. imports.
A record 38 container ships are awaiting berth space—36 at anchor and two more that were directed to wait in designated areas at sea until anchorages are available, the Marine Exchange of Southern California said in a note late Thursday. It’s the first time since 2004 that so-called drift zones have been used to manage traffic into the neighboring ports. Read more here.

Hapag-Lloyd revises charges to and from North America and Asia

container-news.com
Hapag-Lloyd has announced new rates and surcharges to and from Asia and the Middle East, the US and Canada, effective from March. Read more here (login required).