Southeast Asian governments have been beckoning foreign firms with cheaper labor, tax breaks and improved logistics as China’s Covid woes rumble on But analysts say the likes of Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia will long struggle to match China’s deep, integrated supply chain network Global manufacturers have spread their bets to Southeast Asia – […]
Read MoreThe average contract cost to ship a container from China to the U.S. West Coast fell from $8,607 last April to $2,618 in February Retailers in the U.S. hope to slash shipping costs and save millions of dollars when they sit down later this month to negotiate long-term contracts with ocean carriers following last year’s […]
Read MoreChina said on Friday that cross-border travel between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau would fully resume from Monday Feb 6th, dropping existing quotas and scrapping a mandatory Covid-19 test that was required before travelling. Group tours between China and the two special administrative regions will resume, while the number of Customs checkpoints open will […]
Read MoreThe two largest global container lines have mutually agreed to end their vessel-sharing partnership in January 2025. A joint statement by Vincent Clerc, CEO of A. P. Moller – Maersk, and Soren Toft, CEO of MSC, said that discontinuing the vessel-sharing alliance would allow both companies to “pursue their individual strategies”. Consultant Drewry observed […]
Read MoreAir Freight rates continue to decline on major routes with exception of the China-U.S. route which has grown 10%, the TAC Index shows. This development comes on the heels of early factory closures in China as the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday nears but also in part because of new COVID cases and weak […]
Read MoreWith Chinese New Year starting Sunday, and manufacturing and logistics operations virtually shut down there for two weeks, experts say retail inventory levels are in a good place given recent gluts and proactive restocks, but the weeks following will bear watching and might bring issues. System shutdowns related to Chinese New Year, which runs from […]
Read MoreWith factories already closing in China, ahead of next week’s new year holiday, airfreight rates on major routes have continued to decline. One source reported that factories were closing early: in part, because some staff did not get a holiday last year owing to Covid lockdowns, partly because of new Covid cases and also […]
Read MoreEconomic pressures continue to hamper consumer spending, and industry players are not expecting to see the usual increase in demand as factories close for the two-week holiday. According to a global freight forwarder, the year-end holiday in 2022 did not deplete stock levels. For this reason, a limited uptick in demand is expected after the […]
Read MoreAnalysts and transportation companies agree that despite ongoing COVID challenges in China, it will not result in a widespread crisis leading to a shortage of goods and congestion in supply chains. The decline in China’s industrial production cannot be solely attributed to a lack of Chinese labor due to the pandemic. It is also a […]
Read MoreChinese container exports which typically spike in the weeks leading up to Chinese New Year (CNY), faced a drop in prices and continues to downtrend, performing the worst in 13 years, according to chief shipping analyst at BIMCO, Niels Rasmussen. “Spot rates for containers loading in Shanghai will normally be 12% higher just before […]
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