Covid Slows China Port Volume Growth, as Tianjin Enters New Lockdown

Covid Slows China Port Volume Growth, as Tianjin Enters New Lockdown

Wednesday 25/05/22

Container volumes at China’s ports increased slightly during January-April, despite the impact from widespread Covid restrictions, including another lockdown in Tianjin.

According to China’s ministry of transport, port volumes increased 1.7% year on year during the period, to 91m teu, with 23.6m handled in April alone.

The Covid-related disruption is continuing at ports across the country and a freight forwarder has noted that Tianjin was the latest major port city to go into lockdown.

The forwarder said: “Carriers have cancelled ...

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Supply Chain Stakeholders Enter ‘Uncharted Waters’

Supply Chain Stakeholders Enter ‘Uncharted Waters’

Wednesday 25/05/22

As Shanghai slowly prepares to open, the attention of supply chain stakeholders turns to the potential manufacturing and congestion aftershocks from the two-month Covid lockdown.

Shipping lines have been regularly updating customers on the status of empty-container depots and the availability of line haulage, but have little visibility of how intermodal capacity will look when the lockdown ends.

“We are in unchartered waters, and I think it will be a ‘suck it and see’ situation we will have to ...

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Ship Captain Charged Over WA 320kg Cocaine Plot

Ship Captain Charged Over WA 320kg Cocaine Plot

Tuesday 24/05/22

The AFP has charged the 51-year-old Master of an international bulk shipping carrier for his alleged role in the plot to import 320 kilograms of cocaine into Australia via regional Western Australia.

The Montenegrin national, is expected to face South Hedland court today (Tuesday, 24 May 2022) after he was arrested on the cargo vessel Interlink Veracity yesterday and later charged with importing a commercial quantity of border controlled drugs.

The AFP arrested the man after a forensic examination ...

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Australians Customs and Border Force Notifications

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320kg of Cocaine Seized and Two Arrested in Western Australia

320kg of Cocaine Seized and Two Arrested in Western Australia

Wednesday 11/05/22

A NSW man and a German national with suspected links to organised crime have been charged by the AFP for allegedly importing 320kg of cocaine into Western Australia.

A multi-agency investigation led to the arrest of the men, aged 37 and 49, in Port Hedland in the Pilbara on Sunday morning.

The older man was arrested in a campervan where investigators allegedly found the illicit drugs, which were in 320 individual blocks, each weighing about one kilogram. Those blocks ...

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Industry News

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‘Unreasonable Fees’ send Australian Shippers into Multi-Billion Dollar Frenzy

‘Unreasonable Fees’ send Australian Shippers into Multi-Billion Dollar Frenzy

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 ...

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Victorian Man Sentenced for Illegal Importation of 10 Million Cigarettes

Victorian Man Sentenced for Illegal Importation of 10 Million Cigarettes

Wednesday 04/05/22

On 11 January 2019, the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce (ITTF) led investigations which identified a sea cargo container that held about 10 million illegally imported cigarettes. The contents of the container had been declared as “office furniture”. 

The illegal cigarettes had a potential duty evaded value of more than AUD $8.5 million. 

On receipt of the goods, the man was arrested and charged with tobacco smuggling offences under section 233BABAD of the Customs Act 1901 after accessing the container.

The man ...

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Industry News

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China Covid Crisis Continues

China Covid Crisis Continues

Thursday 28/04/22

Mass testing is now underway in Beijing, the latest mega city to face to tough wrath of the country’s zero-Covid policy.

Port and hinterland snarl-ups across the world’s most populous nation are wreaking havoc for manufacturers and logisticians alike.

While Shanghai has been grabbing the most headlines for its near-month-long lockdown, similar municipal closures are widespread across the People’s Republic. Data from research company Gavekal Dragonomics shows that as of April 20 57 out of China’s top ...

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Industry News

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Cargo Diversions from Shanghai Start to Clog-up Other Major Chinese Airports

Cargo Diversions from Shanghai Start to Clog-up Other Major Chinese Airports

Thursday 21/04/22

Airfreight diverted from lockdown-hit Shanghai Pudong (PVG) is clogging up China’s other major airports, causing a shortage of pallets for exports.Forwarders have singled out Zhengzhou Airport (CGO), in the central Henan province, as the hardest-hit, given the large amount of cargo diverted there from Shanghai.

Adding to the difficulties, Zhengzhou was itself began a two-week lockdown over the weekend that including the economic zone, with restrictions on travel and vehicle permits.

“It’s not a real lockdown, but more ...

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Industry News

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Harsh Reality of Shanghai’s Lockdown and the Supply Chain

Harsh Reality of Shanghai’s Lockdown and the Supply Chain

Wednesday 20/04/22

Since March 27, authorities in Shanghai began a snap lockdown of the city’s roughly 26 million residents after a mass testing revealed “large scale” Covid-19 infections.

Since then, stories of desperate citizens struggling to find food have spawned rare protests in the city—and viral videos of residents screaming from their high-rise apartments to share their frustration. But despite the outrage, President Xi Jinping said last week that China’s zero-COVID policy “cannot be relaxed.”

That’s bad news for supply chains that are already feeling the stress of ...

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Supply Chains Remain In Chaos as Shanghai Lockdown is Extended Indefinitely

Supply Chains Remain In Chaos as Shanghai Lockdown is Extended Indefinitely

Monday 4/04/22

The Shanghai lockdown has been extended indefinitely, a move that casts further uncertainty over Chinese supply chains, as new data is published showing the impact on China’s ocean freight volumes.

The severe restrictions in the eastern half of the city, including Pudong, were due to be lifted on Friday, but nearly all areas remain under lockdown and local authorities have given no timeframe for its end, other than saying it would be done “in stages”.

And one forwarder said: ...

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