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Topic of the week:
There has been a lot to catch up on this week with delays coming in from Mexico, Dubai, and Bangkok across both sea and air freight for multiple reasons. On the bright side, North Europe ports seem to be coping well with the surge in vessels arriving from Asia after delays, easing fears of a repeat 2021 Suez Canal blockage situation.
Freight movements both in and out of Mexico were disrupted for three days after a series of glitches in Mexico’s National Customs Agency (ANAM) system. ANAM announced that it was facing problems with sending out electronic import and export declaration documents, which affected both vessel ports and airports but, affected trucking movements worst. Trucker’s experienced delays at crossings at Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, as well as Nuevo Laredo, where all freight operations were suspended until 10pm last Wednesday, with warnings being sent out advising not to move cargo through this crossing until further notice. The Mexican National Chamber of Cargo Transportation has estimated losses of around $23 million of revenue per day due to the disruptions, and no reasoning for what caused the computer glitches has been revealed as of yet.
Bangkok Flight Services (BFS) has announced a temporary embargo on imports to Bangkok Airport after a surge in air cargo demand in Asia. This followed a similar situation in Dubai just 24 hours before. After a modal-shift caused by the Red Sea crisis spurred a spike in air freight demand, combined with Chinese New Year traffic, BFS announced that a backlog of cargo and built up for processing which has led to the suspension of processing general cargo imports. Qatar Airways warned customers that the embargo is scheduled to last until 18th February. It is worth noting that the embargo is only applicable to imported general cargo, and excludes perishables, pharma, dangerous goods and specialized freight movements. BFS have also announced that they are waiving product storage charges caused by the embargo. The embargo has since been lifted faster than expected but Colombo, Singapore and Dubai sea-air hubs have been experiencing large amounts of congestion. Whilst volume seems to remain high in certain areas “it is not at a magnitude likely to cause disruption, and it remains to be seen if it will be sustained past the lunar new year,” says Metro.
After vessels coming in from Asia caused by re-routing around the African coast, North Europe ports seem to be coping with the influx of ships. As well as having to deal with clusters of arriving vessels, Noth Europe ports experienced extreme weather conditions causing the temporary closure for larger vessels passing through the river Elbe, Hamburg. Benelux and Hamburg ports were also affected by trucking disruptions caused by industrial action of farmers blocking port access roads. This combination of disruptions led to fear that a repeat of the 2021 Suez Canal blockage, however ports seem to be coping well, eliminating any fears of severe congestion.
Sea:
- Over the last two weeks China/East Asia to North America West Coast spot rates have increased by 18.54% from $4,099/FEU to $4,859/FEU according to Freightos data.
- China/East Asia to North America East Coast spot rates have risen over the last two weeks, increasing by 8% to $6,588/FEU.
- Global container spot prices have risen over the last two weeks, and are now sitting at $3,392/FEU, a 0.55% increase over the last two weeks, and a 70% increase from spot rates this time in 2023 according to the Freightos Baltic Index (FBX)
- Unifeeder has announced its expansion in Latin America as it launches a new reefer-focused service that will connect Colombia and Panama. The service will use the Noah vessel and will provide 220 reefer slots to “specifically cater for export companies dealing with time-sensitive products, like fresh fruit.”
Air:
- Global Air Freight spot rates currently sit at $2.33, as rates continue to fluctuate according to the Freightos Air Freight Index (FAX)
- Europe to Northern America spot rates currently sit at $2.03 (100-3000kg), says FAX, increasing by 2.5%
- Europe to Central Asia spot rates have increased by 6% currently sitting at $2.11 (100-3000kg), says FAX
- Europe to Asia, Greater China spot rates currently sit at $1.29 (100-3000kg), says FAX
That’s all for this week’s update…
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