On April 25th 2024, the EU’s Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER) is set to expire, along with the UK’s equivalent legislation. This is a law, introduced in 2009, to protect the shipping lines such as Maersk, CMA CGM and MSC, from being subject to certain anti-competition laws, as part of the EU internal market ..read more

Freeports frequent the news quite regularly and are the go-to response from the UK government when asked about the benefits for businesses from Brexit. However, there is a lot of complex criticism of freeports from various media commentators, making it difficult to easily understand whether freeports are genuinely a flagship initiative for UK businesses that can help drive competitive advantage ..read more

For many years there has been relative peace within the Balkans. The UN Rambouillet Agreement, led by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair was seen as the dawn of a new age, where the Cold War would end and liberal order would prevail ..read more

I think we all saw the devastating footage of the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, when a container ship (Dali) hit the bridge. The knock-on effect for trade has been shipping and trucking diversions around one of the busiest ports on America’s East Coast, the Port of Baltimore ..read more

If you haven’t downloaded your free copy of WTA’s election analysis, this looks at all the major elections taking place across the world in 2024 and the impact the results might have on international trade, I urge you to grab your copy now. It’s becoming something of a bible for anyone in charge of a supply chain ..read more

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has delivered his Spring Budget for 2024. In it, the reduction of National Insurance contributions for workers from 10% to 8% from April 2024 has stolen the lead headlines. It was also delivered alongside an improving picture for UK economic growth and inflation ..read more

This article summarises the latest 'Geopolitics and the geometry of global trade' report from the McKinsey Global Institute, which you can read in full here ..read more

Following several attacks on commercial vessels from Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen, the world’s second-largest container shipping line, A.P. Moller-Maersk announced they would be suspending transits of their ships through the Red Sea on Friday 15th December 2023. A move which was swiftly replicated by almost all of the other major container shipping lines ..read more

The 28th UN Climate Change Conference, more widely known as COP28 has come to an end in Dubai ..read more

On 1st January 2024, changes are incoming for the automotive industry as part of the UK and EU’s Brexit deal ..read more