Container spot rates between Asia and North Europe have tumbled by around 18% since the beginning of the month, as the peak season gives way to weaker demand months.
The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) recorded a further 6.7% decline on the trade this week, to $766 per teu, and there was also a 5.6% drop in rates to Mediterranean ports, to $804 per teu.
Asia to Mediterranean spot rates have fallen about ...

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DFDS has announced plans to shake-up its service network connecting the UK, Norway and continental Europe.
The revamp will, effectively, merge its Brevik-Immingham and Brevik-Ghent services into one triangulated loop.
And it will replace the service’s 19-year-old con-ro ship Lysbris Seaways, which has container capacity of 160 teu and side-loading capacity for ro-ro traffic, with the much larger ro-ro vessel Finlandia Seaways (pictured).
DFDS said the new vessel would allow the company to attract other cargo types beyond its ...

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Air charter brokers are bracing for an uncertain fourth quarter, uncertain whether this year’s peak season will match that seen 12 months ago.
Jamie Peters, director of air charter provider Hunt & Palmer, told The Loadstar he expected a strong close to the year.
“This is linked to the fact that shippers look to conclude orders or projects before the end of the year,” he said.
“And this year we have witnessed more forward bookings, as ...

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Forwarders must protect themselves from the risk of shipping counterfeit goods, trade in which is forecast to increase.
The business of fakes is expected to get a boost from the next round of tariffs on $200bn-worth of Chinese goods, including handbags, leather and silk.
“A tariff on a genuine bag is a subsidy for a fake,” Susan Scafidi, a New York fashion lawyer,” told the Washington Post this week.
In June, six US trade associations wrote ...

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Maersk Line today confirmed it would wrap its three intra-regional brands, MCC Transport Seago and Sealand, into one operating unit.
Maersk said the new entity, branded Sealand – A Maersk Company, would continue to operate independently and the three teams in three locations, Singapore, Copenhagen and Miami respectively, would remain unchanged.
“Our customers will continue doing business with the same dedicated, experienced and passionate people in our local offices, as we continue with our current regional ...

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There comes a point in every peak season when western importers, especially retailers desperate to get their goods onto the shelves to catch the Christmas shopping frenzy, have to ask themselves: “When, exactly, is the last boat from China?”
Let’s work backwards. To make it for Christmas, goods need to be at point of sale by mid-December at the latest. A container supply chain would commonly require around a week for ...

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To add to what is now becoming a really quite lengthy list of businesses that may be screwed in the event of a no-deal Brexit – which is looking increasingly likely after the EU’s rejection yesterday of the UK’s ‘Chequers’ deal – comes airports. This interesting article from the Irish Times claims that airports all over Europe will face costs of hundreds of millions of euros and will result in a “highly degraded ...

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The US’s domestic beer industry is seeing profits fall as it struggles with higher transport costs. According to this article from Brewbound, the beer industry has been “disproportionately” affected by higher trucking costs than other industries because of its greater need for domestic shipping. Last year, US beer companies moved almost three billio cases of the drink, and in quarterly earnings calls all cited rising freight costs. Fuel prices and trucker shortages ...

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The co-founder of a digital invoicing start-up has told CNBC he does not believe blockchain technology is mature enough to fully support the global supply chain. Christian Lanng who co-founded blockchain portal Tradeshift, warned the US news network about the hype surrounding the technology. While he believes blockchain is the perfect platform for managing the flow and integrity of data, he adds that it is not yet capable of connecting businesses and processes digitally – at ...

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Containership charter rates are “stable but depressed”, according to London shipbroker Braemar ACM.
A weakening of post-peak season forward demand and ocean carriers cancelling service upgrades has resulted in fewer enquiries according to a broker source.
“We would normally expect it to be a bit busier on our container desk by now,” one broker told The Loadstar.
“This year, September has been quite flat for cargo so far and owners are beginning to get ...

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