Last year witnessed a massive shift in sea freight capacity towards lucrative East-West routes at the expense of other trade lanes and while capacity on the Asia to Europe trade increased by 10.2%, space remains extremely tight.
January freight market update
The first freight market update of the year and 2022 is starting very much as last year finished, with freight operations challenges and continuing demand for capacity.
UK border changes off to shaky start
The 1st January 2022 imposition of customs declaration for imports from the EU, got off to the rockiest of starts when HMRC’s new IT system, the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS), crashed on day one, with trucks stuck at Calais for four days.
2021; a year of supply chain challenges, set to continue
The pandemic driven supply chain disruption, that began last year, looks set to continue into 2022. Our teams across the UK and Asia will continue to help our customers overcome these challenges and share critical information, so that they are always informed and prepared for whatever may come.
December market report and Omicron threat to supply chains
Global supply chains have been under intense and sustained pressure for close on two years, with every likelihood of no let up, until well into 2022….and now the Omicron variant may pose even more challenges.
Surveyors warn UK is running out of warehouse space
The amount of available warehouse space has fallen to the lowest level since commercial property agents started tracking such data back in 2009, with the FT warning that the UK could run out of warehouse space within a year.
Full UK border controls from EU apply from 1st January
From the 1st January 2022 UK customs authorities will need full customs declarations completed to allow shipments from the EU across the border, yet there are indications that many firms in the UK and EU are not ready for the January 2022 deadline.
MARKET REPORT NOVEMBER : Supply chains continue to struggle with impact of pandemic
The impact of the COVID pandemic has shone a spotlight on the global supply chain and the challenges in keeping goods moving efficiently along it, with disruption likely to continue well into 2022 and some expectation that its impact may be felt into 2023.
Ports stop accepting empty containers
The UK’s most important container ports continue to struggle with the vast volumes they are processing and with unclaimed imports building up, because of the HGV Driver crisis container stacks are reaching crisis levels.
Megaships and the ports challenge
The supply chain disruption triggered by the pandemic has revealed the problems caused by megaships and the chronic state of many of our most important container ports.