Articles

Monday 16/05/22

May 20 has been given as the first official deadline for Shanghai, China’s largest city, to open up.

The metropolis, home to the world’s largest container port, entered lockdown in late March for what was meant to be 10 days as part of China’s strict zero-covid policy.

Most of the city’s 25m population have been living in lockdown ever since with a deleterious effect on local transport.

Up until last Friday, Shanghai authorities had been unwilling to give a firm ...

Thursday 12/05/22

Australian Police and the Australian Border Force are investigating a bulker vessel that arrived in Newcastle over the weekend after the body of a diver was discovered along the shoreline near packets believed to be cocaine. Authorities said the port had been under observation as a point of risk for drug smuggling but they are puzzled by the odd circumstances of this situation leading them to believe it is part of a larger smuggling effort.

The 60,000 dwt ...

Monday 9/05/22

Covid lockdowns in China have wreaked havoc at Shanghai, the world’s biggest container port, and are now causing shipping delays at other major ports around the world. Some Chinese cities, including Shanghai, have started easing Covid restrictions in recent days, but experts say that the damage has already been done, and global shipping will suffer in the coming months. That could exert even more pressure on global supply chains already reeling from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and keep inflation running hot.

Data from Project44, ...

Thursday 05/05/22

Australian shippers are battling a double-whammy of spiralling supply chain inflation, container detention fees and delays to manufacturing in China.

Not shy of criticising the “foreign-owned” shipping lines serving Australia, today the Freight & Trade Alliance (F&TA) has again called for greater regulation of the shipping industry, because of “unreasonable fees”.

It said: “Australians are paying more than one billion dollars a year in unreasonable international shipping fees, in addition to record high freight rates and a spate of ...