Merchant fleet officer shortage imminent? 
The already existing shortage of officers to crew the global merchant fleet is getting worse. According to the latest manning annual review and forecast report published by the London (UK)-based shipping consultancy Drewry, the reduced attractiveness of a career at sea and... more
Which kind of cargo takes a seat?
Since mid-April, Emirates Skycargo has been transporting cargo on the seats and the overhead bins inside the passenger cabin of its B777-300ER. This allows the Dubai-based airline to load more goods per flight, while placing utmost importance on safety: shipments... more
ZIM's new dedicated e-commerce product
The Haifa (Israel)-based shipping company ZIM launches a new service from South China to Los Angeles US West Coast. The name of the new product speaks for itself: ZIM eCommerce Xpress (ZEX). It will deploy five sprinter vessels and is designed to support time-sensitive cargo... more
Carrier reliability better than expected
In its latest global liner performance (GLP) report, the Copenhagen (Denmark)-based maritime consultancy Sea-Intelligence lists the reliability figures of worldwide shipping for the month of April. According to this analysis, global schedule reliability declined marginally... more
Perils for crews and idle fleets
The coronavirus pandemic has left a lot of ships lying idle, which has created a number of new challenges, as a new publication of the Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (Agcs) shows. The difficulties include delays in servicing and inspections and a shortage of... more
ZIM sailing into the black?
The Haifa (Israel)-headquartered shipping company ZIM has reported its Q1/2020 results. All major indicators improved in comparison to the same period in 2019, yet a net loss of USD 11.9 million compared to USD 24.3 million in Q1/2019 resulted at the of the quarter. While... more
Container index takes a fall in April
The downturn had been expected. The container throughput of the RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research and the Institute for Shipping Economics (ISL) fell from 110.4 (corrected) to 108.9 in April, down 6.5% from the value of the same period last year. In the Chinese... more
No breakbulk fair, but nevertheless big event in Bremen
Some weeks ago, it was announced that Breakbulk Europe, the world's largest fair specialising in heavy cargo logistics, will not open today, 26 May 2020 but has been postponed to 29 September - 1 October. Nevertheless, the airport of Bremen, the city on the northern coast of... more
Fostering e-bills of lading globally
The Digital Container Shipping Association (Dcsa), in which most of the major carriers seek to standardise their digital activities, has put forward that the current pandemic forges the need to digitise the bill of lading (B/L) in shipping as well. André Simha, global chief... more
Impact of pandemic on already struggling airports
Significantly later than in 2019 and 2018, Airports Council International (ACI) published last year's traffic figures of its 1979 member airports in 176 countries only last week, including a comparison of Q1 figures of 2019 and 2020. As for cargo, against a global... more