Newsletter – June 6, 2023

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Everyone must pay the billions needed to reach net zero in air

theloadstar.com
Cutting emissions from aviation will cost hundreds of billions of dollars – and companies and governments are going to have to accept that they must pay for it.
Money currently pledged is but a drop in the ocean: FedEx, for example, pledged $100m to help establish the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture. In 2020, it said it would spend about $2bn “over the next several years” on sustainability. Read more here (login required).

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

ILWU Canada threatens strike at Vancouver, Prince Rupert

joc.com
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Canada on Monday threatened to strike at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, telling its rank-and-file to vote later this week on whether to issue a 72-hour notice for a work action.

The threat against Vancouver and Prince Rupert, both major gateways for US cargoes with direct intermodal rail services to Chicago, comes as ILWU Canada’s US counterpart slows cargo flow for a fourth day. The prospect of labor disruptions on both the US and Canadian West coasts is unprecedented. Vancouver is Canada’s largest container port and Prince Rupert ranks third.

ILWU Canada’s negotiating committee said in a statement it had authorized a vote for Thursday and Friday on whether to strike. A week before the five-year contract was set to expire at the end of March, ILWU Canada asked the Canadian federal government for help in reaching a new contract with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association, citing a lack of “meaningful” progress.

ILWU Canada is seeking significant wage increases, while the potential for automation of cargo-handling equipment at a planned Vancouver marine terminal is also raising labor’s ire.

In May 2019, an impasse in contract negotiations spurred employers to lock out ILWU workers at Vancouver for less than 24 hours before a tentative agreement was reached.

More disruptions feared from cyber attacks

splash247.com
The majority of maritime professionals expect cyber attacks to disrupt ship operations in the coming years, with more than three quarters believing an incident is likely to force the closure of a strategic waterway.
A survey of 801 industry professionals by class society DNV found that more than half also expect cyber incidents to cause ship collisions, groundings, and even result in physical injury or death. Read more here.

Biden administration urged to intervene as threat of port strikes spreads north of the border

splash247.com
The Biden administration is coming under renewed pressure to intervene and resolve labour issues across US west coast ports as industrial action stretches into a fifth day, and the threat of strikes north of the border emerges.
With employers and employees into their 13th month of negotiating new contracts, the tense situation broke down on Friday with many terminals from southern California to Washington state forced to shut down, and sporadic industrial action set to continue today. Ship queues have yet to emerge unlike in previous incidents along the west coast such as in 2015. Read more here.

‘Unprecedented drought’ forces changes along the Panama Canal

splash247.com
“We could not have predicted exactly when the water shortage would occur to the degree that we are experiencing now.” A stark warning yesterday from Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, the administrator of the Panama Canal on the worsening drought creating traffic issues for ships transiting the Central American nation, likely to be one of the recurring main shipping news stories of 2023. Read more here.