Newsletter – March 13, 2018

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Indian antitrust body fines airlines over cargo price-fixing

source: atwonline.com

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has penalized three of the country’s airlines for what it says was concerted action in fixing and revising fuel surcharge (FSC), a component of freight charges. Read more here.

Air Canada Computer Outage Disrupts Flights

source: airwise.com

Air Canada said it had resolved ‘computer-telecommunications issues’ that affected operations on Monday, but delays and some cancellations were still expected due to the outage.

“The computer and telecommunications issues affecting our operations have been resolved and we apologise for any inconvenience this situation has caused,” the airline’s president of passenger airlines Benjamin Smith said in a statement. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

APM Terminals unveils investment plan to become port services integrator

source: theloadstar.co.uk

The direction of APM Terminals’ move into hinterland container logistics services became clearer this week, after it announced plans to invest in warehouse facilities to serve shippers and freight forwarders. Read more here.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

New US tariffs could trigger trade war retailer body warns

source: lloydsloadinglist.com

New tariffs on steel and aluminium imports imposed by the US last week could spark an international trade war and also result in a negative impact on containerised imports in the longer term, according to the US National Retail Federation (NRF)

Retaliation against the tariffs, which are due to come into force within 15 days, are expected from rival steel producers including the EU.

“With steel and aluminium tariffs already in place, new tariffs on goods from China being threatened and the ongoing threat of NAFTA withdrawal, we could very quickly have a trade war on our hands,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy.

“The immediate impact would be higher prices for American consumers that would throw away the gains of tax reform and put a roadblock in front of economic growth.

“But in the long term we could see a loss in cargo volume and all the jobs that depend on it, from dockworkers on down through the supply chain.” [Excerpted from lloydsloadinglist.com]