Jan 12, 2021
— The impact of Brexit on the European road freight market has been immediate, according to new data from Transporeon’s Transport Market Monitor (TMM). Today’s TMM, recording pricing and capacity levels for December, shows a Europe-wide decline in capacity of some 164% on November and 16% year on year.
Jan 12, 2021
— Lufthansa Cargo has imposed security charges for all cargo departing the UK on road feeder services (RFS) for onward flights out of its European hubs. Lufthansa told customers their cargo departing the UK via RFS would be subject to ‘security charges for unknown cargo’ of £0.15/kg ($0.20), or a minimum of £17.25.
Jan 8, 2021
— Major forwarders are engaged in fierce bidding wars in China, in order to secure equipment and space to North Europe. And several carriers are reported to have opened first- and second-round tenders with the highest bidders for guaranteed shipment this month.
Jan 6, 2021
— The UK government has confirmed that freight and logistics industry staff will be considered “essential workers” as the country enters its third national lockdown.
Jan 5, 2021
— United Van Lines released the company’s 44th Annual National Migration Study, revealing in 2020, Americans continued to move westbound and southbound – and the COVID-19 pandemic factored into and accelerated many of those decisions to move.
Jan 5, 2021
— As Asia-Europe container spot rates continue to skyrocket, shippers and freight forwarders are accusing carriers of breaching short- and long-term contracts to “charge whatever they want”. In a joint letter to the Competition Directorate of the European Commission (EC), the European Freight Forwarders Association (CLECAT) and European Shippers’ Council (ESC) have protested about the “damage” the carriers’ behaviour is “causing to trade growth at a time of economic recession”.
Jan 5, 2021
— An Evergreen Marine containership lost 36 containers over the side after the vessel encountered severe weather off the coast of Japan last week. The container loss incident took place on Wednesday, December 31, after as the MV Ever Liberal sailed Busan, South Korea bound for Los Angeles, California.
Jan 4, 2021
— The final Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) for 2020, published on 31 December, recorded a staggering 190% gain on the year. The biggest spot rate increase on its major tradelanes was recorded between Asia and North Europe, which saw the SCFI component leap by almost 300% to finish the year at $4,091 per teu.
Dec 21, 2020
— Following UK industry calls for a parliamentary inquiry into the port congestion currently strangling container supply chains, senior UK MPs have also called on the government to intervene.
Dec 21, 2020
— WorldACD said November saw a fairly typical (for 2020) volume decline of 12.6%, year on year – but rates rose at their fastest since “the crazy months of April and May”. November rates were up 79% year on year and up 11.2% on October – a more ‘normal’ rise between October and November would be 4%. Volumes, however fell 2% month on month, capacity rose 1% from October and, although freighter capacity fell 1%, belly capacity rose 3%.
Dec 21, 2020
— The British Association of Removers (BAR) today received government confirmation that moving companies can continue their activities despite tighter restrictions introduced in London and South East England.
Dec 18, 2020
— After another week of eye-watering freight rates breaking into new territory, forwarders have slammed shipping lines for “diabolical” service levels and accused them of “shameless profiteering”. Asia-Europe rates have reached as high as $14,000, including surcharges, according to some forwarders, while this week’s Shanghai Containerised Freight Index set new records for spot rates on six deepsea trades.
Dec 18, 2020
— Notwithstanding further rate spikes this week, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) is still understating the prices shippers are paying carriers, according to a senior analyst. However, the SCFI’s comprehensive index, reading 2,411.82, is 167% higher than a year ago, reflecting huge spot rate increases across all export trades from Asia.
Dec 7, 2020
— The car carrier sector has staged a more swift recovery than initially projected in the early stages of the pandemic, but still remains under pressure for the coming 12 months, according to new research from Clarksons Research.
Dec 4, 2020
— Families joining troops on accompanied tours to overseas assignments could be a thing of the past in the proposed shift away from maintaining permanent bases in other nations, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said Thursday. Milley said he was concerned about military families living in overseas locations where they could be at risk.
Nov 30, 2020
— As carriers continue to leave import containers stranded at North European ports and charge exporters more than $5,000 to ship a box to Asia, the pressure is growing for regulatory intervention. Ocean Alliance members have decided to divert five vessels from Felixstowe to Zeebrugge. Cosco Shipping Azalea, Ever Goods, Ever Globe, CSCL Jupiter and CSCL Uranus will no longer call at Felixstowe and discharge their UK imports at Zeebrugge as well. The 2M and THE alliance partners are also diverting ships away from the heavily congested UK ports to Bremerhaven.
Nov 30, 2020
— With tender rejections at record highs, shippers are seeing contract rates follow the upward momentum of spot pricing in the US trucking market. For their part, operators have been spending more on driver recruitment and retention, as the shortage is keeping a lid on capacity expansion.
Nov 25, 2020
— France's coronavirus lockdown will be lifted on December 15 - but bars and restaurants will stay closed over the Christmas period, Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday evening in a televised address. It was part of a three-stage easing of restrictions over the next two months.
Nov 24, 2020
— Mid-sized forwarders have reported they are gaining customers at the expense of multinationals as Covid-19 forces companies to be more agile and responsive.
Nov 24, 2020
— Ocean carriers have skipped a number of UK calls in the past few weeks, and been obliged to “cut and run” due to slow working on ships that did get alongside.
Nov 23, 2020
— FMC approved a Supplemental Order that expands the authority of Fact Finding 29, “International Ocean Transportation Supply Chain Engagement”. Commissioner Dye will lead the FMC's efforts into further investigation of ocean carriers operating in alliances, focusing on the Ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Specifically, the Commission will review policies and practices related to detention and demurrage, container return and container availability.
Nov 19, 2020
— Global container shipping rates have surged to records on a spike in restocking demand in the United States and Europe, container scarcity at export hubs, and changes in freight flows because of the coronavirus pandemic, shipping sources said.
Nov 19, 2020
— Record cargo imports are causing delays that are rippling from the nation’s busiest U.S. port complex to other parts of the transportation network, port officials and other executives said.
Nov 18, 2020
— Overflow container stacks continue to proliferate around the UK as the logistics industry scrambles to tackle the growing congestion hitting supply chains.
Nov 17, 2020
— Yesterday, IAM joined 40 other associations and organizations in a letter to the FMC, asking they immediately suspend the connected detention and demurrage charges, under the authority provided to them through the Final Interpretive Rule on Demurrage and Detention Under the Shipping Act. Freight Waves reported on the letter and outreach yesterday.
Nov 17, 2020
— This story from freightwaves.com highlights an effort from a coalition of partners that IAM is teamed with working to get relief from growing demurrage and detention charges on the key East and West Coast ports. The coalition is engaged with the Federal Maritime Commission.
May 13, 2020
— The International Association of Movers (IAM) welcomes the US Federal Maritime Commission’s (FMC) guidance issued recently specifying its new approach to assessing the reasonableness of detention and demurrage regulations and practices by shipping lines and U.S. port operators.
“The Commission's Final Interpretive Rule represents a significant milestone for the shipping public, particularly individuals moving their household goods to or from the United States. For too long, these shippers faced the prospect of thousands of dollars in excess costs due to the unregulated detention and demurrage environment” said Charles White, IAM President.
Apr 30, 2020
— On Tuesday, TRANSCOM J9 held their latest Stop Movement call with Services and industry representatives. A number of different issues were discussed.
Apr 22, 2020
— USTC J9 held their Stop Movement Update call on April 21. USTC Deputy Commander, VADM Mewbourne was on the call, along with the J9 Director, Rick Marsh, and a number of the J9 staff.
Apr 10, 2020
— GAO released their long-awaited report on their assessment of DoD’s Personal Property Program (DP3) and implications of transitioning to a single move manager under the Global Household Goods Contract (GHC).
Apr 8, 2020
— The sudden massive volume of blanked sailings announced in recent days is set to create new records in terms of the inactive containership fleet, which analysts at Alphaliner are now saying will breach the 3m teu mark for the first time meaning some 13% of the entire global box fleet will be out of work. The inactive containership fleet had actually been dropping for most of the last month having hit a record of 2.46m teu at the start of March.
Apr 7, 2020
— IAM and AMSA signed a joint letter to the USTC Commander, GEN Stephen Lyons, asking for any advocacy/assistance he could provide for this industry to work with DoD to get financial support.
Apr 7, 2020
— For companies whose operations have been curtailed or otherwise impacted by COVID-19 related restrictions, several clarifying guidance and forms were issued over the weekend, connected to programs created under the first three legislative relief packages to pass the Congress.
May 24, 2019
— This is the eighth in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
May 17, 2019
— This is the seventh in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
May 10, 2019
— This is the sixth in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
May 3, 2019
— This is the fifth in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
Apr 26, 2019
— This is the fourth in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
Apr 19, 2019
— This is the third in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
Apr 12, 2019
— This is the second in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
Apr 5, 2019
— This is the first in a series of op-eds that IAM is running to shed additional light on problems associated with privatizing the household goods program to a single source contractor.
Mar 29, 2019
— USTRANSCOM Public Affairs published a press release highlighting GEN Lyons’ meeting with CEOs from various moving companies who support DoD household goods movement, and a separate meeting with moving industry trade associations. The press release is not an accurate account of the events of those meetings. Industry attendees believe the tone of the press release implied industry’s support to the general’s decision to award a contract to a single provider. To be clear, most of DoD’s current household goods service providers do not support this initiative.
— Chuck White and Brian Limperopulos host a panel discussion with Jim Wise and Bryan Vickers of Pace Consulting regarding preliminary election results and the possible impacts the election and other related political initiatives may have on the moving industry.
— As government instructions that restricted moves to exceptional cases expires on May 11, the French moving associations and Unions have published an industry directive for professional moving companies to return to work after that date.
— According to a decree adopted on March 9th by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte restricting the ability to move across the country affected by COVID-19, freight is considered an economically viable activity and drivers are allowed to enter, exit and move goods in the designated quarantine areas for the purpose of transporting, loading and unloading of goods.
