Newsletter – January 15, 2019

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

US government shutdown hits 24 days and starts to impact air cargo

theloadstar.co.uk
The US government shutdown, now in its 24th day and the longest closure to date, has started to impact aviation.
Air traffic controllers, via the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), have filed suit against the government, claiming its members are being unlawfully denied wages. Read more here.  

Europe’s airports register a cargo decline for the first time in three years

aircargonews.net
The slowdown in cargo demand growth began to bite at European airports in November as hubs in the region recorded a decline in volumes for the first time in three years. Read more here.

Air France KLM sees cargo improve in 2018

aircargonews.net
The Air France KLM Group recorded an increase in cargo traffic for the second year in row in 2018, while it also improved its load factor. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

UK Customs expert moves to calm fears over Brexit port chaos

lloydsloadinglist.com
UK Customs technology expert Agency Sector Management (ASM) has moved to calm fears that the Port of Dover and other key ro-ro ports will face chaos in the event of a no-deal Brexit, revealing that plans are in place to continue handling the current volume of imports and exports – at least from a UK Customs perspective. Read more here.

Ultra large container vessel battle is over: Drewry

splash247.com
Major lines have sated their appetite for ultra large container vessels, with UK consultants Drewry slashing its projected boxship order forecasts from 2020 onwards. Read more here.

Ocean market set to tighten due to lowered capacity expectations

lloydsloadinglist.com
Leading container shipping analyst has Drewry “greatly reduced” its expectations of new orders for ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) as a result of an apparent change of focus among some of the major carriers towards broadening and deepening their involvement in the wider container logistics market, trends it believes will aide the overall container shipping supply-demand balance.  Read more here.