Shanghai's port running at 90% of capacity, threat of penalty feee at California ports halves container backlog and Royal Mail UK set to raise prices due to inflation.

Macro Update:

Shanghai's port is running at 90% of capacity and is giving priority to restoring exports of semiconductors, car parts and chemicals.

According to new analysis from Drewry, China lockdowns have stored up problems for  a global container distribution system “already severely stressed and facing reduced capacity due to pervasive congestion”. Drewry estimates that up to 260,000 teu of export cargo was not shipped from Shanghai in April, because of the lockdown. This is the equivalent of 26 fully loaded 10,000 teu containerships that will have to be found somehow in future months as supply chains are reactivated.

Southern California port officials say the threat of a penalty fee, which has never been imposed, is a major reason cargo has been moving quickly and an enormous backup of container ships offshore has receded. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have pushed back a container dwell fee each week since it was announced on Oct. 25, when officials said the growing stacks of containers sitting for days or weeks at a time were impeding the flow of goods through the busiest port complex in the U.S. 

The number of containers sitting at terminals longer than nine days has declined from about 95,000 boxes in late October, he said, to around 37,500 on average last week. The container count has dwindled even though the ports have never collected penalties.

Royal Mail in the UK has signaled it will raise prices as it takes more aggressive action on costs in the face of soaring inflation. The company warned that it sees "significant headwinds" from rising costs including wages, energy and fuel and it would look to mitigate these "through price increases and growth initiatives".

New Zealand post have updated that the Government has announced a nationwide move to the orange setting of the pandemic plan. Most restrictions relating to Covid-19 have now been lifted. Nevertheless, New Zealand post still faces significant absence rates across its workforce.

The Ascension Day public holiday on 26th May may lead to delays in the processing and delivery of your shipments in various parts of Europe. Read more in our Europe section below.

Service Updates:

Australia & New Zealand

Flooding and labor shortages are continuing to cause delivery delays for items coming in and out of certain parts of Australia. 

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: 

Mail item delays:

Due to precautionary maintenance on some of their electric mail buggies, delays of up to 3 days are expected for mail items across the country. These delays only impact mail delivered through their Paxster fleet – not Courier or Rural items. As their posties continue to deliver mail with a reduced fleet and through other means of transport, there is a small backlog forming. This will clear once the Paxters are back up and running.

Parcel item delays

In the North Island, we are experiencing delays of up to 2 days for parcel delivery in Palmerston North. In the South Island, we are experiencing blanket delays of up to 2 days for parcel delivery.

Asia

Shanghai

• Lockdowns in the business hub of 26 million have disrupted supply chains, investment, staffing and transportation in the world’s second-largest economy. 
• Lockdown fallout has spilled over from Shanghai itself into the neighbouring Yangtze River delta and had a “gigantic” impact on the global auto industry. 
• The number of Shanghai commercial outlets in operation has recovered from a low of 1,400 to 10,625 and reopening will advance in stages. Daily delivery orders have reached five million.

 

Beijing

• China authorities extended work-from-home rules in four of Beijing’s 16 districts on Sunday as the city continues to struggle with the spread of COVID-19.

 

Zhengzhou

• Streets were deserted in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou on May 4 after the local government imposed restrictions on movement and ordered mass COVID-19 testing to contain an outbreak of coronavirus.

 

Hong Kong

• Hong Kong saw another round of Covid-19 rules loosened on Thursday, with bars reopening and restaurants allowed to operate until midnight. Thursday’s easing of Covid-19 rules was part of the second phase of relaxations of the city’s anti-epidemic measures.

FedEx: To continue to manage volume into Shanghai (PVG) due to the continuation of the COVID-19 lockdown and staffing limitations, the following international freight services remain suspended until further notice: 

• FedEx International Economy Freight (IEF) 
• FedEx International Priority Freight (IPF) 
• All TNT Services

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

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.

Ascension Day:

Please note that on May 26th Landmark’s Brussels warehouse (EMC) will be closed due to the public holiday “Ascension Day” and this is also a public holiday in the following countries: 

• Austria 
• Andorra 
• Denmark 
• Finland 
• France 
• Germany 
• Liechtenstein 
• Netherlands 
• Norway 
• Sweden 
• Switzerland 

This public holiday may lead to delays in the processing and delivery of your shipments.

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.