Newsletter – January 20, 2021

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

FAA approves unattended drone flights

insidelogistics.ca
American Robotics has received approval to operate drones without operators on site.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) no longer requires the company to station observers along the drones’ routes. With this approval, American Robotics’ Scout System is now the first drone allowed to continuously operate without this human requirement. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Port of LA bounces back

insidelogistics.ca
The busiest container port in the U.S. moved 9.2 million TEUs in 2020, the fourth highest number in the port’s history.
Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka said a late-year surge of pandemic-induced consumer spending helped boost volumes to near 2019 levels, making 2020 the fourth highest-volume year in the port’s history. Read more here.

China reaffirms attempt to cap box shipping rates

lloydsloadinglist.com
China said it is planning to release measures to tackle the thorny supply issues for shippers in the container shipping market, raising concerns about another round of clampdowns on freight rates.
Li Xingqian, head of foreign trade department at the Ministry of Commerce, told a press conference that solutions are being “brewed” in relation to the shortage of containers and the logjam in shipping and logistics. Read more here.

CANADA BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Wholesale sales rose in November, manufacturing sales down

insidelogistics.ca
Canadian wholesale sales grew for the seventh consecutive month in November to hit a record high, while manufacturing sales fell for the month.
Manufacturing sales dropped 0.6 percent to $53.7 billion in November, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. Read more here.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Consumers prefer paper for e-comm packaging

insidelogistics.ca
Online shoppers say they’d be more likely to shop from a store that shipped goods using paper packaging over those that use plastic. That just one finding of a recent survey of e-commerce habits and expectations conducted for packaging supplier Ranpak Holdings Corp. Read more here.

Despite losing momentum late, holiday sales surprise to the upside

freightwaves.com
Despite retail sales declining sequentially each of the last three months of the year, the 2020 holiday shopping season was one for the record books. Retail sales during 2020’s November-December holiday season grew an unexpectedly high 8.3% over the same period in 2019. The 8.3% increase was more than double the 3.5% average holiday increase over the previous five years, including 2019’s 4% gain. Read more here.

European Commission Working On Standard COVID Passports

simpleflying.com
The European Commission is exploring proposals to introduce vaccine passports, a move that will facilitate greater travel across borders within the EU. Member states will discuss the idea at a summit this week, with many already signaling their approval for a passport-style document. Read more here.