News & Insights

Our alerts, news and guides embrace all transport modes and explore global developments across all aspects of the supply chain, to keep you informed and guide decision making.

Carriers blank Golden Week sailings

The cancellation of multiple October sailings from Asia to Europe is an attempt by the carriers to push capacity down and raise rates, but if they fail, they may not have another opportunity to significantly raise prices before Chinese New Year, next February.  Container shipping lines ac... Read more

EU’s carbon border initiative threatens 40% tariffs

The introduction of the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) places reporting responsibilities on companies trading with the bloc in carbon-intensive products from the 1st October 2023 and businesses will have to buy certificates to cover emissions embedded in products from 2026. With ... Read more

Air freight demand recovery still a way off

Weak summer demand saw air freight chargeable weight move down 1% and while the fall was minor, it is the fourth consecutive month of falls, which suggests that we may require another few quarters before we see more demand pick up on a global level. According to the latest market analysis from... Read more

Risk of Panama Canal disruption rising

Unpredictable weather patterns and drought for most of 2023 have driven the Panama Canal Authority to impose numerous draft restrictions, reducing vessel transit numbers, and cutting vessel booking slots for lock usage, due to low water levels. The Panama Canal consists of the man-made lakes o... Read more

Taking Metro technology to the next level

Metro has been a technology first company for decades, becoming one of the earliest paperless forwarders almost 20 years ago and innovating leading-edge supply chain management, tracking and business-process technology ever since. As a result, we have become increasingly integrated with many o... Read more

UK moves up export rankings

The UK has overtaken France as the world’s eighth largest manufacturer, while government backing has persuaded a major automotive manufacturer to invest £600 million in the production of a popular model, with the government setting aside a further £1 billion to spur investment in battery tech... Read more

Bespoke motor racing team support

Metro has confirmed a strategic partnership with motorsport logistics specialists, Bespoke Handling, to provide UK and European racing teams with complete logistics support.  The partnership with classic, vintage and racing car specialists, Bespoke Handling, is an exciting extension to ou... Read more

HMRC to phase export transition to CDS

HMRC announced last week that after listening to industry leaders they had decided to move away from the planned hard start on the 30th November 2023, in favour of a phased transition to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) from the current Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) p... Read more

Road freight review; August 2023

Despite the European road freight sector largely showing a picture of weak recovery, amidst an uncertain, challenging and complex market environment, our European operations are expanding and the team continues to grow. The market moderation seen in the second half of 2022 has spilled over int... Read more

Food border checks delayed for 5th time

The UK was set to roll out new health certification requirements for medium and high-risk goods originating in the EU, such as meat and dairy, from October, but there is now official confirmation from No 10 that last week’s Financial Times report was correct and the government is postponing bor... Read more

Metro short-listed for two industry awards

We are very proud to be short-listed, with a prestige car brand client, for Logistics UK’s ‘Partner of the Year’ at the Logistics UK Awards, with a second short-listing for a ‘Supply Chain Innovation Award’, at the Supply Chain Excellence Awards, in association with a technology pa... Read more

BRICS; irrelevant or irresistible

The fifteenth annual BRICS summit, attended by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, took place in Johannesburg last week, with members committing to expansion, in a significant development, that will have a major impact on the global economy. The addition of six new members, includi... Read more