Category: Sea

The accurate weighing of a container is a legal requirement, that is critical for safe handling and correct vessel stowage, to avoid stability-related issues which may contribute to capsizing or sinking of the ship, with severe penalties for non-compliance. The Verified Gross Mass (VGM) declar... Read more

While The House of Representatives passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act this week, to overhaul regulation of the container shipping industry, its focus on detention and demurrage billing and the container lines’ responsibility to load exports, will have little impact on import congestion, or re... Read more

Global sea freight operations have struggled with disruptions since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic over two years ago, and this has continued into 2022, with a peak shipping season this summer that is likely to be very chaotic. China’s zero-COVID strategy lockdowns have slowed supply cha... Read more

As COVID lockdown measures are gradually relaxed in Shanghai it is uncertain how quickly export sea freight volumes will rebound, but many experts are anticipating a strong and sustained spike in demand creating a backlog of shipping containers, which could once again result in oce... Read more

As the country prepares to celebrate the Queen’s record-breaking reign, with an extended bank holiday, we consider the potential penalty traps waiting to catch out the unwary shipper during the break and how you can avoid demurrage, detention and port charges. Shipping lines and po... Read more

Shanghai is aiming to reopen the city and business operations, with normal life resuming from the 1st June, as all 16 city districts report acceptably reduced ‘zero-COVID’ cases. At a press briefing on Monday, Shanghai’s Vice Mayor announced that 15 of Shanghai’s 16... Read more

Across the major shipping trade lanes a total of 56 sailings have been blanked over the next four weeks - so far - representing an 8% cancellation rate. The halting of factory production, following the continuing lockdown in Shanghai, is resulting in a drop in export bookings from China, ... Read more

Despite talk of restarting manufacturing and a tiered reopening of Shanghai and the surrounding province, the situation remains challenging and delays are increasing in Ningbo as the volume of cargo diverted from Shanghai continues to grow. The Shanghai lockdown remains for a fifth week, ... Read more

As Shanghai enters the fourth week of an indefinite lockdown, container shipping lines are skipping calls at main Shanghai terminals, with more blank sailings anticipated as vessels waiting at Chinese ports double. Until the lockdown situation is resolved, which appears challenging when puttin... Read more

Reacting to fears of labour disputes and disruption at west coast ports, many US importers diverted cargo from Asia to the east coast – only to find that Atlantic congestion may be worse than on the Pacific. Importers on the west coast are getting their cargo quicker than their peers on the ... Read more

China’s economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, expanding 4.8%, but the risk of a sharp slowdown over coming months has risen as Shanghai’s lockdown is extended indefinitely and further COVID-19 curbs may follow.  Nearly all of Shanghai is now under lockdown, with most res... Read more

Since the early days of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global supply chains, creating shortages of goods, even though ships, trains, trucks and planes continued to run, to the best of their ability. The infrastructure that supports global supply chain operations has struggled to abs... Read more