Newsletter – September 7, 2021

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Mazda shuts down plants as cargo flights from Shanghai dry up

freightwaves.com
Cargo operations continue to deteriorate at Shanghai Pudong International Airport after the detection of another COVID case, as a key terminal operator functions with a skeleton crew and freighter airlines cancel more flights, logistics industry professionals say.
Many freight forwarders have stopped accepting bookings for Shanghai and are trying to divert flights under their contractual control to other airports, some of which have their own pandemic restrictions in place, adding to transit times. Read more here.

KLM Increases Canada Services As Travel Restrictions Ease

simpleflying.com
KLM has announced it will increase its services to Canada after the country opened up to vaccinated travelers. The airline will offer daily flights to Toronto and Calgary, flights to Vancouver and Montreal four times a week, and a twice-weekly service to Edmonton via Calgary. Read more here.

Labor Day Brings Passengers Back But September Remains Crucial

simpleflying.com
The Labor Holiday is nearing its end in the United States. On Friday, September 3rd, over two million passengers took to the skies. While numbers remained low on Saturday, September 3rd, and Sunday, September 4th, those dips were expected given the federal holiday on Monday, September 6th. While Labor Day numbers have come back strong, overall, September will remain a crucial month for gauging the recovery. Read more here.

HKIA reaches milestone in 3RS project

aircargoweek.com
Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) today held a ceremony to mark the completion of runway pavement works for the new Third Runway, a major milestone of the Three-runway System (3RS) project at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Shipping chaos gives top importers ‘massive competitive edge’

freightwaves.com
The Asia-U.S. container market is now in a class by itself, with the trans-Pacific eastbound trade pricing differently than any other route in the world.
Because stimulus-driven demand is so high compared to capacity — not just capacity of ships and boxes but of ports, trucks, rail and warehouses — the high-low spread of trans-Pacific spot pricing has ballooned.  Read more here.

Box lines face US probe over hazardous goods restrictions

lloydsloadinglist.com
CONTAINER lines serving the US market face more regulatory scrutiny following complaints they are refusing hazardous goods.
Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel has urged the FMC to broaden the scope of the Vessel-Operating Common Carrier Audit Program to include a review of whether there have been any moves by carriers to discriminate against hazardous cargo transport. Read more here.

Maritime booking surge suggests capacity could get tighter this fall

freightwaves.com
Maritime bookings represented by the Inbound Ocean TEUs Volume Index (IOTI) show a 40% increase over the past two weeks, the strongest spike in activity since early spring. This movement breaks the slow downward trend that had been in place since late April and could mean this cycle of tightened transportation capacity may have yet to peak.
The IOTI is an index with a base value of 100 starting on Jan. 1, 2019. The current value of 222 indicates that there is over twice as much order volume (222%) with an estimated departure date of Aug. 26 as on Jan. 1, 2019. The biggest takeaway, however, is the most recent spike.  Read more here.

MGT To Increase Receiving Window For Export Reefer Containers, Effective September 7

ciffa.com
Montreal Gateway Terminals announced that “in light of its continuous effort to respond to industry concerns, in light of the understandable allocation concerns and the evident logistical challenges on the supply chain of managing a 2 day receiving window for outbound (export) reefer containers, effective September 7th, MGT terminals (Section 77 and Section 62) will increase the receiving window from 2 to 3 days. As outbound reefer equipment will follow the same ERD and receiving window as dry cargo, consult MGT for related receiving dates.

Port of New Orleans reopens following closure from Hurricane Ida

freightwaves.com
The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) reopened late Wednesday following a three-day closure from Hurricane Ida, which hammered the area with heavy rain and wind gusts of 172 mph.
Breakbulk operations resumed Thursday, Jessica Ragusa, Port NOLA spokeswoman, told FreightWaves. Read more here.