Global Logistics Market Update: 26 September, 2022

FedEx levies general rate increase averaging 6.9% for its Express, Ground and Home Delivery services and dock workers at Felixstowe, UK begin their second week of strike action.

Macro Update:

FedEx will levy a general rate increase averaging 6.9% for its Express, Ground and Home Delivery services starting Jan. 2, 2023, the company announced Thursday. The move follows a rocky quarter in which FedEx saw a decline in package volume. The rate increase is larger than previous iterations — FedEx upped rates by an average of 4.9% in 2021 and 5.9% this year. The company also outlined higher Express and Ground surcharges for residential deliveries, oversize packages and packages requiring additional handling.

The second week of the Felixstowe dock worker strike begins this week. No agreement has been reached between the unions and the port. The strikes will continue until October 5th. 

Carriers had begun notifying customers of contingencies for the Liverpool strikes, largely based around re-routing goods through other UK gateways, but the addition of Felixstowe has led to concerns that DP World London Gateway and Southampton may be overwhelmed.

Today, all parts of New Zealand will observe the day as a National Public Holiday to commemorate the life of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Delays to postal networks are expected.

Service Updates:

Australia & New Zealand

On Monday 26th of September 2022, all parts of New Zealand will observe the day as a National Public Holiday to commemorate the life of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. As a result, delays in the delivery of items destined for New Zealand should be expected during this time.

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:

There are temporary delivery delays for items sent to Australia by Sea Mail. This is due to the increasing number of prohibited items coming into Australia by sea. There will be a temporary suspension on incoming Sea Mail from 1 October 2022.

Aramex: 

Services are affected in Perth and Capricorn. Read more about Aramex disruptions here.

New Zealand Post: 

We are experiencing delivery delays of 1 to 2 working days in the Lower South Island. 

Winter illnesses and COVID-related absences are still impacting deliveries of up to 2 working days in the Waikato and Hawkes Bay regions.

Asia

The China public holiday Golden Week will take place between 1 - 7 October. During the seven-day public holiday, almost all businesses, factories as well as government organizations will be closed or low-staffed.

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Direct injection International services at this time: No delays

US & Canada

Hurricane Fiona caused devastating flooding and widespread power outages in Puerto Rico. There are impacts to local postal operations at this time.

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.

UK

Fulfillment services: Operational and as per SLAs.

Inbound Receiving services: Operational and as per SLAs.

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

Due to temporary adjustments to the FedEx transatlantic air network, transit times for FedEx International Priority Freight (IPF) shipments from Europe to the US, CA and LAC will be extended by 1 day, effective 29th August until 2nd October 2022. Read more 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.