Newsletter – April 15 2021

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Air Canada Cargo Adds Flights to and from Basel, Taipei and Chicago

aircanada.com
Air Canada has added cargo-only flights to provide additional capacity on international routes with new flights serving Basel, Taipei and Chicago and additional flights to and from Asia, Europe and South America. Read more here.

Volcanic Eruption Causes Caribbean Flight Chaos

simpleflying.com
The eruption of a volcano on the island of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean is causing chaos for flights. Following four straight days of eruptions, flights to and from the island have been canceled since Friday. The large ash cloud has been moving east and is now causing disruption for other Caribbean islands. Read more here.

ANA continues drone trials for hard-to-reach deliveries

aircargonews.net
Japanese airline group ANA Holdings is collaborating with drone manufacturer Wingcopter on a new aircraft as the number of unmanned aerial vehicle projects ramp up.
ANA said that the two partners were conducting trials with the electrical fixed-wing VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft developed by Wingcopter, with the aim of building a drone delivery network capable of serving needs across Japan. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Port of Montreal: Why it matters and what a full strike could mean

freightwaves.com
These are troubling times for the Port of Montreal.
On Tuesday, longshoremen at Canada’s second-busiest port began a partial strike, refusing to work overtime on weekends. It came in response to a move by their employers to stop providing a guaranteed base pay regardless of hours worked. Read more here.

FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei: Port Congestion Likely to Last Through Summer

ttnews.com
Lingering congestion at the nation’s major ports is likely to continue throughout the summer and possibly later into the year, said Daniel Maffei, the new chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission.
“I am extremely concerned by it, partly because it’s not going to go away,” Maffei, a former two-term congressman, said on Transport Topics Radio on SiriusXM in his first broadcast interview since becoming chairman, “Yes, it’s gotten a little bit better and I expect and hope it won’t get as bad as it was, when 60-plus ships at the worst, lined up. Read more here.

Panama Canal Authority postpones planned price hike

splash247.com
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has postponed by six weeks price increases on canal transit fees which were due to come into effect today.
The announcement follows a joint letter sent by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the Asian Shipowners’ Association (ASA), and the European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA), expressing concerns over the speed of price increases that were expected to begin from today. Read more here.

This could be the hottest summer ever — for freight

freightwaves.com
The Inbound Ocean TEU Volume Index (IOTI), which measures maritime bookings for twenty-foot equivalent units for U.S. imports, is set to hit an all-time high this week. The IOTI starts in January 2019 but covers one of the most active periods in maritime shipping thanks to the pandemic. With imports being tied more closely than ever to surface freight volumes and transportation demand, this could be a signal of an extremely active summer for domestic surface transportation providers. Read more here.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Canada-U.S. trade faces ‘critical moment’, businesses warn

insidelogistics.ca
North American trade is facing a “critical moment” in the ongoing aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, say Canadian business leaders as they embark on a concerted campaign to fortify ties with the United States.
The new Canada-U.S. “road map” partnership is the ideal platform to start reinforcing existing relationships and confronting some long-standing irritants – but time is of the essence, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce argues in a new lobbying effort launching Tuesday. Read more here.