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3.3 point drop between September and November, the average has reached its highest level since January 2019. Boxship shortages push up charter rates Ian Matheson, from Impress Communications, reviews some recent news that might impact on Members’ business
The UK government has offered contracts worth £34.5 million to companies to train new lorry drivers as it battles to alleviate an ongoing supply chain squeeze caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit. The move has been widely welcomed by the industry, which has seen driver numbers shrink by a quarter since 2019, with reports suggesting that the new funding could provide training for up to 11,000 drivers. Maritime Transport has launched a new intermodal service hauled by GB Railfreight (GBRf), connecting its Birmingham Intermodal Freight Terminal (BIFT) with the port of Felixstowe, running five days per week with a capacity of 87 teu in each direction. It is Maritime’s third train to run from Felixstowe to BIFT, increasing the company’s capacity between Felixstowe and the West Midlands by 40%. The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced that it will continue its relaxation of drivers’ hours rules, which will now run until midnight on 10 February 2022. However, any business that made use of the previous relaxation will have had to complete and submit the follow-up notification form by 16 January 2022. IN THE WAREHOUSE Industrial occupiers are in a race for space with the UK experiencing the lowest level of supply ever recorded, according to research from Colliers. Only 18.1 million sq ft are available, due to demand for units continuing to be driven by the structural change in consumer spending patterns. The company added that take-up in 2021 of industrial distribution warehouses greater than 100,000 sq ft in size reached 50.7 million sq ft, up 3.6% year-on-year, a record for the sector.
ON THE OCEAN Containership charter markets entered 2022 on a strong footing with rates firming across the board and long-term charters remaining the order of the day, as a result of a dearth of vessels coming open in 2022. This is forcing container shipping lines to fix several months ahead of delivery in order to secure tonnage. Two major freight indexes, SCFI and Ningbo Containerized Freight Index (NCFI), reached record high figures on the last day of 2021 – a year marked by skyrocketing container freight rates. The SCFI surpassed the US$5,000 per teu mark for the first time in history on 31 December 2021, whilst on the same date, the NCFI reached an all-time record high of US$4,264 per feu. January saw reports of the first container stack collapse at sea in 2022, this time on board Madrid Bridge, a 13,900 teu ship run by Ocean Network Express (ONE) which was on its way to New York across the Northern Atlantic. This follows a chain of box losses at sea in 2021, which reportedly more than doubled in the period from late 2020/2021, compared with an average of 1,382 containers lost annually in 2018 and 2019. The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) in the USA has taken a more aggressive stance, encouraged by a July 2021 executive order from the White House regarding ‘Competition in the American Economy’. This gave the FMC a remit to look closely at the anti- competitive practices of liner carriers – with “demurrage and detention” practices on containers attracting particular scrutiny. It has
now issued Orders of Investigation into the ONE Alliance and Wan Hai Lines. ON THE QUAYSIDE Containers are now moving in and out of China at record speeds as shippers desperately source capacity. However, port congestion in Europe and the US continues to slow the return of boxes to Asia and is stymying the recovery of global ocean supply chains, according to a joint report conducted by Container xChange and Fraunhofer CML. There was a first for the Port of Tyne when a containership of goods coming directly from China to the UK unloaded at one of the port’s terminals in South Shields. The ship was carrying a range of goods for various retailers, with the arrival marking a ‘turning point’ according to the port authority. IN THE AIR IATA has updated its lithium battery guidance document in line with the 63rd (2022) edition of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR). Its document outlines the
definitions, classification, exceptions and prohibitions, and includes frequently asked questions (FAQ), whilst providing information to manufacturers and users of these active devices, as well as operators that must approve the carriage of active devices in cargo. Data released by IATA in mid- January for global air cargo markets showed slower growth in November 2021, with supply chain disruptions and capacity constraints impacting demand, despite economic conditions remaining favourable for the sector. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTK), was up 3.7% compared with November 2019, significantly lower than the 8.2% growth seen in October 2021 (9.2% for international operations) and in previous months. OVERLAND The average price-per-mile for haulage and courier vehicles increased by 5.3 points between November and December 2021,
according to the TEG Road Transport Price Index. After a
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February 2022
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