International Logistics Summary – March

Since the covid outbreak, moving goods internationally has become an experience often fraught with congestion, a lack of equipment and delays. Below is a summary of the current issues on major regions.

Asia

High demand, a lack of space and low equipment levels continue to dominate the ocean freight market from Asia. There are signs that the rate levels may be about to soften, but they are certainly not likely to drop to anything like pre-covid levels.

The current shopping list of surcharges introduced by carriers, including peak season surcharges that are months ahead of the traditional peak season, means door to door movements are astronomically priced.

Port congestion in European and US ports has created the lack of available container equipment in Asia, which continues to be one of the biggest obstacles to overcome.

Europe

European road freight is extremely challenging right now. Import customs delays in the UK have been largely overcome but European clearances on our exports, especially DDP movements are widespread.

Transport itself is up in the air, rates are high, equipment with drivers sparse, and services sporadic.  For dangerous goods, in particular,  we are unable to rely on some of the services that we used previously and it is taking us longer to confirm pricing, so please bear with us.

North America

The US has been majorly hindered by port congestion and transport shortages over recent months, which has spread from the West Coast to Eastern regions now.  High demand from a long peak season led to the congestion at terminals and ports and delays are inevitable when moving goods throughout. Meanwhile, there are fears of an upcoming port strike at Montreal, which is a major gateway for the US Mid West and New England areas.   

Export bookings to the USA continue to be tight for space, which could result in a 2/3 weeks delay in shipping.

Evolution Forwarding specialise in dangerous goods packing and international logistics, by air, ocean and road. We provide complete solutions for general freight, which includes packing, documentation, compliance and training for dangerous goods products. For further information please email info@evolutionforwarding.com or call 0800 4346244.