NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 11, 2022

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Major US Airports Hit By DoS Cyber Attacks

simpleflying.com
According to a senior official, some United States major airports have been targeted in a series of cyber attacks. The attacks did not target any critical systems but caused inconveniences.
ABC News spoke to a senior official briefed on the attacks, who confirmed that the cyber-attacks came from someone within the Russian Federation. The source said that the attacks were an inconvenience but that no airport operations were impacted. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

FMC proposes tighter container billing standards

freightwaves.com
Ocean carriers and marine terminals would be subject to stricter — and potentially costlier — billing requirements when they charge shippers for late containers under a proposal by the Federal Maritime Commission.
The FMC’s 58-page proposed rule on demurrage and detention billing requirements, scheduled to be posted in the Federal Register next week, “seeks to bring more clarity, structure, and punctuality” to the billing practices of vessel operating common carriers (VOCCs), non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOCCs) and marine terminal operators (MTOs), the agency stated on Friday. Read more here.

Forwarders hit by huge D&D bills as Pakistan floods prevent box returns

theloadstar.com
Shippers and forwarders operating in Pakistan, often to landlocked Afghanistan, that can’t move their boxes because of the floods, are facing detention & demurrage (D&D) bills of hundreds of thousands of dollars as shipping lines refuse to waive the fees. Read more here.

West Coast Dockworker Talks Are ‘Fluid,’ US Labor Chief Says

bnnbloomberg.ca
(Bloomberg) — The talks to broker a deal for 22,000 dockworkers on the West Coast are moving along, despite dragging longer than anticipated, according to US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.
“I stay in close contact with both the employer side and the unions in the West Coast ports, and both sides expressed to me they are still moving forward,” Walsh said in an interview on Bloomberg Television Friday, adding that the negotiations are “fluid.”  Read more here.

MSC’s orderbook breaks multiple records

splash247.com
With Yangzijiang Shipbuilding recently confirming Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has ordered a dozen LNG dual-fuelled 16,000 teu ships, the orderbook at the world’s largest carrier now stands just shy of 2m teu, a figure so large that analysts are struggling to find the right scale of charts to highlight this extraordinary expansion. Read more here.

GROUND AND RAIL FREIGHT UPDATES

Don’t scoff at parcel general rate increases, experts say

freightwaves.com
The annual general rate increases (GRI) published by parcel-delivery carriers FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc. are perceived by many as noise. The tariff rates don’t directly apply to contracts, which govern all shipper-carrier relationships. If anything, GRIs serve as a marker from which rate discounts are negotiated.
The 2023 GRIs may be a little more than noise, however. After years of keeping its GRI between 4.9% and 5.9%, FedEx (NYSE: FDX) hit the market last month with a 6.9% increase, higher than many had expected and the largest year-over-year increase in its history. Read more here.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

US imports sink in September, suffer steepest drop since 2020 lockdowns

freightwaves.com
First came the pullback in spot shipping rates from their historic peak. Then came reports of plunging Asian bookings and mass retail order cancellations, with spot rates falling even faster. Now, all of this is finally showing up at America’s ports.
According to Descartes, which aggregates U.S. Customs data, inbound volumes to all U.S. ports totaled 2,215,731 twenty-foot equivalent units in September. That’s down 11% year on year and 12.4% from August. Read more here.