2020 was an incredibly tough year for the shipping industry.
This week we’re going to reflect on the past year, as well as looking ahead to the future.
In 2020 we saw higher fuel costs triggering increases in ocean carrier bunker surcharges, as well as a massive spike in freight rates. Feeder prices rose, and there were hikes in haulage and terminal costs.
UK Ports saw congestion, haulage delays, vessel offloading delays and more. This stemmed from the backlog of cargo arriving after the China shutdown combined with the impact of COVID-19 on Port operations.
Few corners of the global container supply chain were left unscathed by severe congestion at terminals last year. According to IHS Markit, congestion was the defining feature of operations at the UK gateway of Felixstowe, where the average vessel time in port increased by 34%, to more than 92 hours for ships exchanging 6,000 boxes or more.
“Restrictions imposed by Covid-19 saw a huge increase in port delays last year, costing time and money for cargo owners and ship and terminal operators, increasing emissions and heavily disrupting supply chains,” said Turloch Mooney, associate director at IHS Markit.
In 2021, however, we are seeing ocean freight rate reductions as we move into March, April is set to be further reductions and fewer space issues on services. Congestion in Ports is slightly easing, as we have noticed less of a delay than we saw previously with box unloading at Ports, and short-term rates from Asia appear to be holding steady despite high levels. Road freight capacity is also expected to recover within the first quarter of 2021 so its important to plan ahead in your transport planning.
Whilst the initial impact Brexit caused delays and additional costs for many, the team here at IFE Global Logistics now have the infrastructure and knowledge in place to ensure you can continue business as usual.
In other good news, the 14,000 teu ONE Apus, which suffered a catastrophic container collapse in November losing over 1,800 containers overboard and thousands of others damaged, may be resuming its journey to the US west coast by mid March. Meanwhile the Maersk Eindhoven, which lost around 260 containers en route from Xiamen to Los Angeles in February after an engine failure during heavy weather, finally set sail once again on 2nd March from APM Terminals Yokohama after cargo operations and vessel repairs had progressed smoothly.
With these forecast of improvements for the year ahead, make 2021 a much better year for your shipping requirements by partnering with a trusted and reliable freight company. We offer:
• Sea, air, rail, and road freight
• Support for navigating customs clearance
• Fulfilment logistics
• Supply chain logistics
• Global Duty Management under CFSP
• Full-service solutions
For assistance with all this and more, get in touch with our expert team here at IFE Global Logistics on (0)1268 286999 or enquiries@ifeuk.com so you can plan ahead.
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Alternatively contact our road freight team directly today on +44 (0)1268 286999 / enquiries@ifeuk.com to plan ahead!
