News & Insights

With over 70 fires on container ships blamed on hazardous cargo, chemicals and batteries in the past five years and an onboard Li-ion fire contributing to the fatal crash of a UPS Flight in 2010, insurers are calling for improved regulatory clarity and the need to address transport safety issues ... Read more

A survey by the British International Freight Association (BIFA) confirms that freight forwarders are coming under increasing pressure from customers to show evidence of decarbonisation, while those same customers need to get ready for carbon emission audits now. The BIFA survey found that leg... Read more

According to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), UK car production rose for the fourth consecutive month in May, up almost a third on 2022. Domestic production volumes increased by 45.4% and exports rose 22.9%, with exports accounting for 80% of the p... Read more

We are pleased to see key carrier partners, Emirates, Qatar and Saudia commit more flights, with air freight capability, directly to our Birmingham Airport hub, from key Middle East and Asia origins. Birmingham International Airport (BHX), has underlined again its critical importance as our ai... Read more

Maersk took a sea fright market struggling with excess capacity by surprise a fortnight ago, when it announced its intention to impose a 49% freight all kinds (FAK) general rate increase (GRI) on the 1st August 2023. The carrier said that to continue offering a broad portfolio of high-quality ... Read more

Despite continuous efforts by air and sea carriers to increase direct shipper relationships beyond the largest volume (BCO) contracts, freight forwarders still control the vast majority of air freight and last month NVO’s like Metro handled over half of FCL’s sailing from Asia, suggesting tha... Read more

The rapidity of the collapse in air and sea freight rates has given carriers the same level of trauma and shock experienced by shippers when freight rates exploded in  2021 and while the turnabout in the market was anticipated, its intensity and extent is far greater than expected, with ship... Read more

As the effects of climate change intensify, the pressure on the food sector will increase over the coming decades, which is encapsulated by the FDF’s environmental ambition in creating a more sustainable food system.  Supply chain issues, labour shortages, threats to energy security and... Read more

On 22nd June the Bank of England surprised markets and the public with the size of their latest rate hike, increasing their Base rate to 5% from 4.5%, putting the rate at the highest level for 15 years, with implications for shippers and supply chains. Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, ... Read more

As Chinese car exports continue to rise and British car manufacturing continues its resurgence, orders for car and truck RoRo (PCTC) vessels are the highest since 2008. During the pandemic many PCTCs were scrapped and few built, as working from home depressed vehicle demand, but rising Chinese... Read more

Time-poor SMEs are being forced to outsource their post-Brexit paperwork, which is adding cost and time pressures, but Metro’s digital CuDoS platform offers an easy solution. The  Federation of Small Business (FSB) Customs Clearance report found SMEs are often forced into using high-cos... Read more

The UK freight industry’s only dedicated conference and exhibition – Multimodal – returned to Birmingham’s NEC centre last week and, being the largest forwarder in the neighbourhood, we popped in to catch the industry gossip and meet up with customers, partners and suppliers in the hall.&... Read more