Good Day All,
I hope everyone is doing well.
Welcome to OSCL's monthly blog.
It’s been an excellent and very busy start to peak season for us, and I am sure for all of you.
We wanted to thank you for your continued support.
Let's jump into the Blog.
Market Updates:
China
The Chinese market is softening. We have received fantastic Seafreight rates for the second half of October. We have not seen rates like this since pre-pandemic. If you have any bookings in the near future, I recommend pushing to get them in so that OSCL can assist you in taking full advantage of the market pricing.
China to India Sub-continental and China to Inter Asia are seeing rates increasing rates due to the Christmas and New Year stock movement demands. China to Europe, and the USA are finally seeing some stabilizing. The China to Australia trade lane is one of the few trade lanes where the rates are expected to drop and continue to drop into November.
TSL has added Adelaide and Fremantle as their destinations on their CA3 service starting from the last week of October, adding direct sailing options into Fremantle and Adelaide from Qingdao-Shanghai-Hong Kong-Nansha-Shenzhen. ZIM’s added North China direct sailings to SYD/MEL/BNE.
Chinese Golden week holidays ended, and there was a lot of movement as the workforce returned. Consequently, there have been further spikes of COVID cases in Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Chengdu, resulting in large-scale lockdowns. Our agents have advised that there should be minimal impacts as the government and officials are now well-rehearsed in the lockdown processes and contingency plans.
USA & Canada:
Looking towards the US, we have seen strikes becoming quite the issue, with the Port of Mobile dock workers set to strike any day due to contract disputes. Railroad strikes could start back up as the third largest union rejects the deal brokered by the Biden administration.
FedEx Corp has recently released updated data as the company expects to see lower volumes reflecting its customers' plans to ship fewer holiday packages, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters. This is a sure sign of the weakening market as inflation rates increase and the price of goods sore.
On the 11/10, it was released by The Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that it had awarded more than $31 million in grants to expand cargo infrastructure at nine airports across the US.
Recently the Canadian Minister of Transport announced the Government of Canada is implementing 17 million dollars of initiatives over five years aimed at supply chain regulations and reducing bureaucracy across the supply chains.
AUS:
On the home front, the issue of shipping line exemptions from competition law, under Part X of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, is still under the spotlight. These issues are not only faced here in Australia but are also global. Recently Paul Zalai, Director and Co-founder of FTA, was interviewed in Rome by investigative journalist Alessia Marzi as a part of a feature story on international shipping for RAI Italian National Broadcast.
Quarantine has started to release an industry overview, providing an insight into processing timeframes and volumes, as a step to provide the industry with transparency and insight. A monthly update is expected to be published on their public website in the near future; however, if you are interested in the data from the first half of October - head on over here: https://mcusercontent.com/e9d77c8ae8/files/0b9557cf-3a9d-847e-e0f7-67cdea0936c2/Cargo_Operations_Snapshot_Week_Commencing_17_Oct.pdf
We are being warned of possible further rises in landside fees and peak season surcharges. We will do our best to inform you of any rate rises as they occur.
News Article Highlights:
- https://maritime-executive.com/article/sea-intelligence-low-vessel-utilization-does-not-support-higher-rates - Reduction in vessel demand not supporting the high shipping rates.
- https://splash247.com/okeanis-tanker-narrowly-escapes-drone-attack-in-yemen/ - "...Attacks on international shipping are an affront to core principles of the Law of the Sea...".
- https://splash247.com/key-nuclear-tests-to-get-underway-in-the-us-bringing-shipping-a-step-closer-to-adopting-atomic-propulsion/ - Developments in shipping technologies.
- https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/oct/20/the-solution-to-the-us-supply-chain-strain/ - Opinion piece on how to solve supply chain issues in the States.
- https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/19/the-chips-are-down-australias-wet-weather-and-supply-chain-woes-causing-potato-supply-issues - Food supply affected on the home front.
- https://www.fullyloaded.com.au/logistics-news/2210/natroad-says-its-time-to-overhaul-wharves-in-the-national-interest - Overhaul on Australian Ports - where are the VBS fees going? "...Controlling these rising landside charges, however, should be a national economic issue...".
- https://splash247.com/russia-rushes-to-fix-tanker-fleet-with-six-weeks-to-go-until-eu-crude-ban-starts/ - "...With six weeks to go until Europe’s ban on Russian crude kicks in, the scale of the global tanker fleet rejig Moscow is attempting is coming into focus...".
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/aviation-supply-chain-woes-to-last-18-month-qantas-boss-says-20221024-p5bsdq.html - We are a while away from seeing stable and competitive airfreight services into Australia.
OSCL News:
We wanted to give a shout-out to one of our clients, Miklin & Co, for assisting us in arranging our new OSCL uniforms. I highly recommend this lovely family-owned business if you are in the market for new corporate gear. If interested, check them out on their website: https://miklin.com.au
I will be in Perth over the next fortnight and have a few dates available for a catch-up. Please let me know so that we can schedule a convenient time. We will be reaching out to our QLD clients in the next few weeks to book some visits in the new year. At this stage, I will likely be in town between 23/01/2023 and 25/01/2023.
We wish all our retail clients a successful Black Friday & Cyber Monday!
Please reach out and confirm your operational hours with us for the Christmas season. That way, we can ensure we have adequate contingency plans in place should you receive any freight over the holiday period.
That's a wrap from us.
All the best for November.
Kind Regards,
Bianca & Steve
Great blogs Bianca - hope you are well - best regards Paul