Anti-Israel protests essentially shut down the Port of Oakland yesterday, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Such protests have taken aim at ports around the world, to varying degrees of disruption. The protests are much wider in scope than just taking aim at ports; however, Zim, a major and Israeli international cargo shipping company, has been a prime target of such protestors. Bill Mongelluzzo reported on the situation at the Port of Oakland in a Journal of Commerce (JOC) article: The Port of Oakland’s four container terminals were closed for Monday’s day shift as a precautionary mov ..read more

When it comes to freight rates, the international shipping industry has always been a volatile ride. Imagine going up and down the waves of choppy waters in a small boat. Freight rates tend to rise and fall in a similar fashion on waves of greatly varying height, width, and separation in the international shipping market. Many factors can create waves in the market… The pandemic brought a wave of unprecedented size. One might even call it a tsunami. Largely spurred by lockdowns and stimuli checks, a shipping boom larger than the ports could handle pushed freight rates up and up and up. Of cour ..read more

While we’ve made mention of its status in some articles, we haven’t done a full update on the Panama Canal situation since a February post. That post was a much needed moment of good news for shippers, who were seeing major disruption at both of international shipping’s most important canals. The good news in February was more rainfall than expected allowed loosening of restrictions on the number of ships that could cross the Panama Canal. Things were not back to normal, but there was significant improvement, and carriers were beginning to bring services back to traversing the canal. Did good ..read more

What’s been happening with shipping on the East Coast since the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge? I’m glad you asked. Let’s get into the updates… Cargo Rerouting There were close to 100 ships either headed for or scheduled for voyages that would call on the Port of Baltimore with more than 2,000 loads to be delivered there combined. The Port of Baltimore’s closure to ships disrupted all of that. Hundreds of loads have already been rerouted. Diversion of the remaining loads is still being worked out. Jasmina Ovcina Mandra reports specific numbers – as of Tuesday, April 2nd – in ..read more

Today (Tuesday, April 2nd), the Biden Administration announced a new rule that increases the minimum crew size to two on every train for all large freight railroads. That doesn’t mean every train required to have two crew members is a large train. The law treats freight rail companies differently based on company size, specifically targeting large rail companies, as made clear by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s own announcement of the new rule: … the final rule contains some differences from the initial notice of proposed rulemaking in how it treats freight railroads, especially Class ..read more

There’s a lot happening in international shipping right now. Rather than make shippers scramble from news site to news site to see what all is going on, we’ve rounded up the top stories to give them to you in one place: here in Universal Cargo’s blog. No reason to waste time, let’s get into the news… Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse Updates The worst part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse is the loss of lives. As we talked about in Tuesday’s post, a search was underway for six people who fell into the water. Two people were initially rescued. NBC News reported yesterday that ..read more

Early this morning, a container ship called the Dali left the Port of Baltimore for Sri Lanka, but things went horribly wrong. About a half hour later, the ship lost power and crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The ship damaged the support pillar it struck so badly the entire structural integrity of the bridge was destroyed. The bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River. A rescue mission is underway to find people who were plunged into the water with it. The Key Bridge collapse was caught on camera: Matt Mathers, Tom Watling, and Martha McHardy reported in the Independent that a mayda ..read more

CEO of Hapag-Lloyd Rolf Habben Jansen told CNBC that he thinks international shipping’s peak season is going to come early this year. Lori Ann LaRocco reported: “I would also expect that peak season is going to start a little bit early,” Hansen said. “I also expect that there’ll be quite a number of people who tried to bring in their goods somewhere between June and August.” What makes him think so? While she might fall just short of explicitly stating it, LaRocco clearly implies shippers planning ahead for the threat of an International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike plays into Jan ..read more

This is a guest post by Ellie Gabel. Supply chains have not had it easy for the past few years. Disruptions have grown in frequency and severity, and while issues may have come down from their pandemic-era highs, there are still challenges ahead. Current signs are pointing toward an oncoming diesel shortage. Surviving disruption means adapting to whatever changes come. To do that, however, businesses must understand future possibilities and how these challenges could affect their broader supply chains. It’s not enough to know that diesel supplies may not match future demand. Organizations mus ..read more

A boy waits for his mother to pick him up. But she doesn’t show. She doesn’t call. No one can get a hold of her. The woman is reported missing, and the police investigate. Nothing. There’s no sign of her. Then, after she’s been missing for about three days, the story takes a weird turn. Off a busy road, next to a gas station, there’s banging heard from inside a shipping container on the property of a lawn mowing company. The banging from inside the shipping container’s door is loud enough to get the attention of a worker. When he opens the door, to his surprise, there’s a woman inside: the mis ..read more