Western ports and logistics operators bracing for China's COVID-19 impact, UK port operators threatening legal action against govt. for indefinite delays to phytosanitary checks and some of Australia disruption easing following floods.

Macro Update:

Western ports and logistics operators are bracing for the impact of China’s Covid-19 lockdowns on their operations this summer. Officials say they expect a wave of container ships to reach the docks once China lifts the stringent restrictions that have hobbled factory production and built a backup of vessels off the country’s coast. Chinese ports have remained open during the lockdowns, but the shutdown of factories and logistics limitations has left a big backlog of goods in distribution pipelines. A reopening could trigger a cargo surge as importers start to bring in goods for the peak holiday shopping season and as U.S. West Coast longshore labor talks heat up.

Furious port operators are threatening legal action after the UK government’s decision to delay indefinitely, or scrap, phytosanitary checks, the final post-Brexit border control policy. They claim the move puts UK exporters at a competitive disadvantage. Additionally, UK ports have spent around £100m ($126.24m) preparing new facilities to enforce the new controls. CEO of the British Ports Association Richard Ballantyne shares, “most ports will need to recoup some construction and operating costs and this is traditionally done through levying a charge on importers. And ports have been recruiting staff to operate the facilities; this needs to stop.”

Flooding and extreme weather conditions across New South Wales and Queensland are dissipating, however some deliveries are still being affected. Read more in our Australia section below.

Service Updates:

Australia & New Zealand

Flooding and extreme weather conditions across NSW and Queensland are causing delivery delays for items coming in and out of these regions. Local deliveries in flood-affected areas continue to be impacted. 

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Direct injection International services at this time: No delays

Australia Post: Local deliveries in flood-affected areas continue to be impacted. Read about Australia Post disruptions here.

Aramex: Services are affected across the country. Read more about Aramex disruptions here.

New Zealand Post: Due to precautionary maintenance on some electric mail buggies, delays of up to 3 days are expected for mail items across the country. These delays only impact mail delivered through NZ Post’s Paxster fleet – not Courier or Rural items.

We are experiencing delivery delays of up to 2 days in Wellington, Waikato, Hawkes Bay and Palmerston North, the West Coast, Invercargill, and Dunedin, and up to a day for parcels being sent across the rest of the country.

Asia

Shanghai 

• Cases are decreasing, however lockdowns remain in effect. No easing of restrictions date has been set at this time
• The city lockdown has caused backlogs at container ports, a key node in the global supply chain.

Hangzhou 

• The technical hub near Shanghai, mass testing is in progress, hindering free movement

Beijing

• From the 5th of May residents must provide a negative covid test taken within the previous seven days to enter all public venues and public transport, this is an easing of restrictions from a previous 48 hour test window.

Guangzhou 

• Hundreds of flights were canceled on 28 April after "abnormal" test results were detected at its airport. 

Hong Kong 

• Non-residents are finally allowed to enter the city for the first time in more than 2 years from the beginning of May
• Social distancing restrictions eased further on the 5th of May

Turkey: 

Please note effective from 1st May 2022, there have been some customs changes enforced by the local authorities in Turkey. For B2C shipments, previously, parcels valued above 1500 EUR would need to go through a formal clearance process. This has now been reduced to 150 EUR, so parcels above this will go through a formal clearance. This is based on the CIF of the parcel. The tax rate for products outside EU countries will be 30% (previously this was 20%), and will remain at 18% for those coming within the EU.

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: Operational and as per SLAs.

Canada

In early 2022 ​Canada Post experienced significant disruption to its activities owing to the exceptional precautionary measures required to preserve the health and safety of its employees and Canadians. Canada Post has now reinstated on-time delivery guarantees as of 1 May 2022.

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

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

Royal Mail: 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

FedEx: Due to internal and external events, FedEx is currently experiencing service disruptions, which could result in temporary delays to services in Europe. You can read more about which services are affected here.

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Freight Forwarding Update:

Sea freight - Asia to north America

We’ve seen a slight drop in pricing for LCL and FCL, 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

COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to impact services and limit capacities globally.

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.