By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) –
The spectre of blank sailings may be about to return to haunt shippers and forwarders on the Asia-Europe trades, as carrier begin to cancel departures in an effort to restore schedule reliability.
Japanese carrier ONE this morning told customers THE Alliance would cancel three sailings on the FE2 and FE3 service departing Asia at the end of May and beginning of June, “due to the unfortunate schedule delays”.
The scheduled departure of the FE2 sailing from Pusan on 30 May has been cancelled, as well as the FE3 departure from Hong Kong on the same day. It has also cancelled the scheduled 13 June FE3 departure from Hong Kong.
By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) –
The number of container rollovers at major box ports continued to climb last month, affecting some 39% of all shipments, according to new data from supply chain visibility provider Project44.
“Carriers have been watching their rollover rates increase for over a year, and have so far failed to mitigate the situation,” said Josh Brazil, VP of Ocean Markets.
“Shippers need to accept this as the new reality. They are going to have to start making structural adjustments to their supply chains and enhance their visibility if they want to keep shelves stocked and factories running,” he added.
By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) –
The US east coast is set for another bruising encounter between a dockworker union, shipping line and terminal operators.
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has launched legal action against Hapag-Lloyd and the US Maritime Alliance.
At the centre of the claim is the new Hugh K Leatherman container terminal at the port of Charleston, the first new box capacity in the US for over a decade when it opened this month.
The first vessel call was by Hapag-Lloyd’s 3,200 teu
Yorktown Express, which arrived on 9 April and is the focus of an ILA claim for $200m in damages.
As the investigation into the grounding of the
Ever Given in the Suez Canal begins, the vessel’s Japanese owner, Shoe Kisen, this morning declared General Average.
And a customer circular from Evergreen, seen by
The Loadstar, confirms that Shoe Kisen this morning appointed Richard Hogg Lindley as adjustor.
For the vessel, now at anchor at the Bitter Lakes area undergoing technical inspections, a possible date of departure to ports of discharge has yet to be set.
And while there is no reported damage to the cargo, and that to the vessel appeared to be minimal, the cost of the salvage operation, which ultimately required 11 tugs and two dredgers, as well as possible compensation claims from a variety of interests such as the Suez Canal Authority or shipping companies caught up in the backlog, could amount to a sizeable bill.
By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) –
Federal Maritime Commissioners Carl Bentzel and Daniel Maffei have written to US president Joe Biden urging his new administration to classify the country’s dockers and maritime workforce as essential workers, and expedite a vaccination programme across the workforce.
Coronavirus cases among UK dockworkers have soared in recent weeks. The letter was delivered as it was revealed that nearly 2,000 US dockworkers have tested positive for Covid-19.
The International Longshoreman’s Association, covering the east and Gulf coasts, has recorded 784 positive cases among members, while the west coast’s ILWU has recorded 1,034.
The commissioners wrote: “We recommend that this essential workforce be prioritised for vaccinations, and in the interim be given access to rapid testing in order to help minimise workplace disruption, given their critical role in moving medical supplies, personal protective equipment and handling what is an unprece