Record breaking shipment volumes, China's Singles Day, further lockdowns in Europe and extreme congestion at US ports are on our radar this week.

Macro Update:

As the holiday season fast approaches, we are expecting record-breaking shipment volumes, and fluctuating COVID-19 impacts. 

Following China’s major shopping event, Singles Day on the 11th, we are seeing a knock on effect of increased freight prices due to limited air freight capacity in the region. 

Within the UK, a new survey by UK independent parcel carrier Yodel, reveals that almost a third (31%) of people plan to do the entirety of their festive shopping online this year, more than a fourfold increase from last Christmas, when only 7% opted for online-only gift-buying.

US shippers are now facing severe airport congestion. In particular,New York’s JFK and Los Angeles’ LAX are seeing delays of up to two weeks to recover cargo, in some cases.

In JFK, China Airlines and China Cargo Airlines, have delays of nine to 10 days for cargo recovery with labour shortages being a main factor behind the congestion. Emirates, Etihad and Kalitta Air, reportedly have delays of three to four days; boutique handler MSN has delays of one to two weeks; while Lufthansa Cargo’s handling operation is also said to be struggling at the airport.

However, late last week, President Biden spoke about his new Infrastructure deal which will see US$17 billion injected into improved infrastructure at coastal ports, inland ports and waterways, and land ports of entry. A welcome push towards improving supply chains that are under incredible strain as we enter the peak season.

Service Updates:

Australia

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Shipping services: Shipping services are on average, improving as the country continues to open up out of imposed lockdowns. We are now seeing delays of only 2 days on average. You can read more about domestic delivery times across Australia’s regions here.

Christmas delivery: Australia Post has posted their Christmas delivery cut off days which can be seen here. For WA and NT, the date is December 8 for parcel post and 15 December for Express services. For all other states the cut off is 13 December for parcel post, and 20th December for their Express services.

Direct injection International services at this time: No delays

International to postal providers: Australia Post is experiencing significant delays when sending post to China, and Canada. This is due to limited air freight capacity. 

New Zealand: Domestic deliveries within New Zealand with NZ Post are experiencing delays, particularly in Auckland and Waikato where delays are up to 5 working days.

US

Fulfillment services: Remain unaffected by delays and same day dispatch is being met as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Shipping services: We are seeing slight delays with Ground services in the USA. Average wait times of 5-7 days are now taking 6-8 days. 

UK

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Yodel and Royal Mail services:  No disruptions or delays

International from the UK: We are seeing slight delays for DDU, not DDP deliveries, where there is an IOSS number. Average delivery times of 5-8 day are now taking 8-11 days. We encourage all customers to have their IOSS number as this helps with improving the clearance process to deliver into the EU.

EU

As COVID-19 cases surge in the region, Austria and the Netherlands have imposed partial lockdown measures which may impact deliveries. Austria’s restrictions will be reviewed in 10 days, the Netherlands next review will be in the next three weeks.

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Canada

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

PSS

As we are currently within the Peak Season, surcharges are in effect. However to ease financial burdens on our customers, we pass on all surcharges at cost.

You can read more about current surcharges in place on our Helpsite here.

Freight Forwarding Update:

Sea freight - Asia to north America

We’ve seen a slight drop in pricing for LCL and FCL. Hopefully this will continue to improve in Q4, however rates are still elevated. 

Space: We continue to experience space issues with most carriers

Booking: We recommend booking well and truly in advance (5-6 weeks), we cannot guarantee that the space will always be available.

Sea Freight - Asia- Europe

Rates are still at record highs, although they have gone down slightly. 

Space: Continues to be a concern

Booking: We recommend booking well and truly in advance (5-6 weeks).

Sea Freight - Asia - Australia

Pricing is still relatively elevated.

Space: Continues to be a concern

Booking: We recommend booking in advance (4-5 weeks).

Air freight

There is limited space availability and freight may be moved off and put on other later flights, in the run up to peak season. We are seeing issues with carrier reliability and capacity at the moment, meaning we cannot always guarantee services at this time.

Direct injection

B360 has its own Direct Injection network that runs from Sydney to the US, Hong Kong to Europe, Hong Kong to Australia and Hong Kong to the US. These channels are still very reliable, with transit times on average being 4-8 days, we see no changes as per the SLAs at this time.

To learn more about any of our updates or to make carrier changes, please reach out to us today.