Newsletter – June 18, 2021

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Flying Penthouse: This 777X Concept Has A Fish Tank, Bathtub & Fireplace

simpleflying.com
The 777X is set to be the biggest commercial aircraft in production. The first iteration, the 777-9, will be 3.7 m (12 feet) longer than the A380, and a smidge longer than even the 747-8. With all that space, airlines will be able to seat 400 or more passengers in the cabins, even in a two-class configuration. But what if you don’t want that many people on the gigantic jet? What if you wanted to create a 777X for just a few discerning travelers? Boeing Business Jets, in cooperation with GDC Design, has done just that, with a concept for the 777X that is more like a luxury penthouse than anything that might be found in the sky. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

‘Yantian effect’ could cause shortage of goods as rates are set to stay high

theloadstar.com
Chronic congestion in Asia, particularly at Yantian, the US and Europe will force rates higher and will most likely lead to shortages of low-value goods no longer viable to transport, according to a senior European banker.
Yantian productivity, while on the increase, will see the backlog of cargo that has mushroomed take some months to clear.
And at the southern Chinese port complex that includes Shenzhen, Chiwan, Shekou and Nansha, productivity fell as a result of the shortage of staff at Yantian… Read more here (login required).

US ports ‘struggling to keep up’ amid more record imports

lloydsloadinglist.com
With consumer demand staying strong and with the traditional container shipping peak-season fast approaching, US west coast ports already handling record-breaking volumes “will continue to face massive amounts of pressure” and “will have to continue to run fast if they are to stand any chance of keeping up”, according to shipping association Bimco. Read more here.

More profiteering accusations fly at carriers as customer relations deteriorate

theloadstar.com
Carriers are being accused of “welching” on newly signed contracts to go after more lucrative premium business.
The Loadstar has seen evidence that some carriers are refusing to honour the MQCs of new contracts with shippers, forcing them to ship a percentage of their contracted volumes at highly elevated rates, plus premium fees and surcharges.
Indeed, a straw poll of LinkedIn shipper and NVOCC contacts this morning revealed carrier-customer relationships have deteriorated considerably in the past couple of weeks.
One UK-based NVOCC, which …Read more here (login required).

Liner congestion spreads across the planet, 304 ships queuing for berth space

splash247.com
The ebb and flow of record global liner congestion is neatly encapsulated in two maps provided below from Seaexplorer, a container shipping platform created by logistics giant Kuehne+Nagel.
As of 3.30 pm Singapore time today (see top map) there were 304 ships idle in front of ports around the world waiting for berth space to open up. Seaexplorer data shows there are 101 ports reporting disruption such as congestion. Officials at the Kuehne+Nagel digital offshoot report the number of ships forming queues hit 350 in the middle of this week before falling back to 304, the same level as this time last week (see lower map). Red dots in the enlargeable maps represent clusters of ships while orange ones mark out ports that are congested or suffering from disrupted operations. Read more here.

CANADA BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Scrambling for capacity

insidelogistics.ca
In March, 2021, Montreal-based forwarder AGO Transportation was spending a lot of time trying to organize shipments from New Zealand to Canada.
“We’ve been having issues with imports from New Zealand. It’s been a terrible time trying to get space from New Zealand, both air and ocean,” reported vice-president Sandra Faraj. Read more here.