Newsletter – October 22, 2020

  • 22

    Oct

    Newsletter – October 22, 2020
    OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES
    Bangladesh authorities agree cost-saving round-trip container use
    theloadstar.com
    After calls from shippers, the Bangladesh government has approved the round-trip use of containers, which is expected to cut lead times and transport costs significantly.
    Lead times remain a major concern for Bangladeshi shippers, especially in the apparel sector with their main destinations being western countries. Bangladesh is the second-largest apparel exporter in the world. Read more here.
    Container slots sell out, risking holiday ‘shipageddon’
    freightwaves.com
    “The ships are 100% full. The containers are 100% full. You can’t get a container built. You can’t pick up a ship from the spot market. The whole container-shipping cycle is at absolutely full pelt,” exclaimed Jeremy Nixon, CEO of Ocean Network Express (ONE), the world’s sixth-largest container line.
    October’s ocean container market is “unbelievable,” said Nixon during an International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) virtual event last week. “We are sold out,” he revealed. Read more here.
    Dangerous goods may have caused Maersk Honam blaze
    maritime-executive.com
    Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau has concluded its inquiry into the deadly fire aboard the boxship Maersk Honam in 2018. While the bureau was not able to conclusively determine the cause, its forensic investigators ruled out electrical faults, fuel tank heating, misdeclared goods and non-IMDG cargo ignition sources, leaving one possibility: a giant block stow of an oxidizing compound called sodium dichloroisocyanurate dihydrate (SDID). Read more here.
    INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES
    Global Trade Is Closing the Gap With Its Pre-Crisis Level
    bnnbloomberg.ca
    (Bloomberg) — Global trade is staging what the United Nations termed a “fragile recovery,” as economies battered by the pandemic claw their way back to full activity.
    UN trade body UNCTAD’s assessment for the latter half of 2020 was shared by the chief executive officer of Swiss freight forwarder Kuehne + Nagel International AG, which recorded sea freight volumes in September that were close to the previous year’s level.  Read more here.
    Post-pandemic peak, is freight still flowing into cities?
    freightwaves.com
    A Pew Research Center survey found that 22% of Americans moved or knew someone who moved because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, Axios reported that rents in Manhattan were falling while people searching for new homes across the U.S. on the Compass Real Estate website were up 40%.
    The mass exodus from major cities like New York was underway, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But that exodus may not be complete, and in some places in the U.S., it’s not even certain there is an exodus happening. Read more here.

    Comments are closed.