Newsletter – September 22, 2022

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

China’s Aviation Regulator Has Been Discussing The 737 MAX With Boeing

simpleflying.com
Last week, China’s aviation regulator met with Boeing about the return of the 737 MAX to Chinese aviation. The MAX fleet has not flown in China since 2019 after two fatal crashes grounded the aircraft worldwide.
Will the MAX be in China anytime soon?
On Tuesday, China’s aviation regulator said that last week it had a meeting with Boeing about the return of the MAX aircraft to China. Read more here.

Lufthansa Cargo prepares to add capacity to portal CargoAi

aircargonews.ent
Lufthansa Cargo has launched a pilot project in three countries as it prepares to add its capacity to online booking portal CargoAi.
As part of the pilot, marketplace users in the Netherlands, Italy and Spain will have access to routings and capacity information on all Lufthansa Group airlines serving those countries. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Container shipping lines suddenly a lot less interested in renting ships

freightwaves.com
The cost to transport containerized goods peaked at unprecedented levels in late 2021. That cost has been falling ever since. In contrast, the cost to rent ships that carry containerized goods held up much longer. Even as freight indexes slid month after month, charter indexes stayed near record highs into this summer. Read more here.

GROUND AND RAIL FREIGHT UPDATES 

US rail workers showing unhappiness with working conditions

insidelogistics.ca
A last-minute deal prevented a railroad strike for now, but many rail workers remain unhappy with working conditions, including some who protested outside their workplaces Wednesday ahead of votes to approve the new contracts.
Handfuls of workers gathered outside railyards across the country in pickets organized by a newly formed workers group separate from the 12 unions that negotiated the deals last week with the major U.S. freight railroads. The protesters expressed dissatisfaction with the deals, just as the unions are trying to explain the potential benefits they negotiated to their roughly 115,000 members ahead of contract votes. Read more here.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Lawmakers Are Setting a Tight Schedule to Avoid a Government Shutdown

govexec.com
Congress is teeing up a tight series of votes to fund the government past Sept. 30, with lawmakers giving themselves little time to avoid a shutdown ahead of the looming deadline.
The Senate—which is expected to act first on a short-term stopgap spending bill to fund federal agencies at their current levels for around 10 weeks—will not take up the shutdown-averting bill until just days before current appropriations expire…  Read more here.

New blow to Bangladeshi shippers as forwarding charges leap 57%

theloadstar.com
Freight forwarders in Bangladesh have raised forwarding charges by 57% for each import bill, blaming fuel oil prices in the domestic market.
Importers are the primary payee of the additional forwarding costs, which will raise the price of imported goods at a consumer level, while the export industry will also suffer, as raw material sourcing will cost more. Read more here (login required).

War, fuel prices and all things green: shipping’s top concerns in 2022

splash247.com
What keeps shipowner CEOs up at night? Attempting to find out is a survey carried out by the Global Maritime Forum, Marsh, and the International Union of Maritime Insurance. The Global Maritime Issues Monitor 2022 has just been published, based on a survey conducted between April 4 and May 10 this year among a diverse set of maritime stakeholders with shipowner CEOs as the largest demographic. Read more here.