Newsletter: February 4, 2022

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Airport services company Swissport hit by ransomware attack

freightwaves.com
Swissport, one of the largest airport services companies in the world, quickly notified customers Thursday that its cargo services division was the target of a ransomware attack early in the morning.
The company said the intrusion was promptly detected by its IT security team and “the impact was largely mitigated.”
But the situation could be worse than management has indicated so far. The company’s website was inaccessible Friday after being available on Thursday. Visitors to the site receive a blank page with the following message: “Back-end server is faulty or not available.” Read more here. 

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Italy gets a new containerline

splash247.com
European forwarders creating dedicated containerline subsidiaries are becoming a trend during the pandemic-induced supply chain crisis. Yesterday, Splash reported that the UK’s largest private forwarder Uniserve has created a new shipping line called Ellerman City Liners. Read more here. 

Viewpoint: ‘Disruption indicator’ blames US ports for 80% of global inefficiency

freightwaves.com
Solving the congestion issue at the Port of Los Angeles has been on the to-do list of the Biden administration for months. Yet despite the victory of saving Christmas, the congestion problems at the nation’s largest port have not improved.  Read more here. 

Maersk boxship refloated off Germany

splash247.com
The 399m long giant containership Mumbai Maersk was refloated at high tide in the early hours of Friday morning after it ran aground on a shallow patch off the German island of Wangerooge in the North Sea late Wednesday.
Sailing from Asia, the 2018-built vessel had its last stop in the port of Rotterdam before grounding outside of port of Bremerhaven. The vessel was on its way to discharge the cargo meant for Bremerhaven, along with cargo destined for the Scandinavian countries. Read more here. 

Soaring bunker prices tipped to clear out older tonnage

splash247.com
Bunker prices, already the highest they’ve been since 2012, are widely tipped to remain at severely elevated levels all year, leading to a greater swathe of the world merchant fleet deciding to slow steam where possible and forcing the hand of many vintage units towards demolition. Read more here (login required).

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS- GOVERNMENT UPDATES

CIFFA Issues Paper: 10 Best Cybersecurity Practices in 2022

ciffa.com
CIFFA’s Technology Committee has issued a guide for Canadian freight forwarders, 10 Best Cybersecurity Practices in 2022.
The committee drew on the expertise of several members, as well as significant research, to compile this top 10 list. Members that put some or all of these practices in place should significantly increase their cybersecurity.
Find the paper on