October 3, 2020 – CMA/CGM still has not fully recovered from the cyberattack from last week as they have just announced the use of gmail accounts to handle shipments. We will continue to keep our customers apprised of the situation.
October 2, 2020 – As CMA CGM’s IT engineers continue, for the fifth day, to try to restore its systems following a cyber-attack at the weekend, the French carrier has come under mounting criticism from customers that its back-up booking process is inadequate. Yesterday, the carrier said its “back-offices [shared services centres] are gradually being reconnected to the network, thus improving bookings and documentation processing times”. Canaan Transport’s customers have unfortunately been affected and our bookings with CMA/CGM, ANL and their other subsidiary companies have all experienced delays or issues. In addition, the International Maritime Organization has confirmed today that it, too has been subject to a cyberattack. We will continue to update our customers that have been affected by this outage and will provide alternatives where available.
September 28, 2020 – The peak of the peak season is in full swing for international air and ocean freight. For buyers, that means higher costs and delays finding available slots for air and ocean shipments. The Southeast Asia and China export markets are especially hot and could boil into December. Both markets are characterized by extremely high demand and the lack of space in widebody passenger jets, most of which are grounded because the coronavirus has scared people from flying. Trade is strong for several reasons, including companies rebuilding inventory depleted during earlier COVID shutdowns, traditional retail stockpiling for the holidays, huge growth in e-commerce orders and shippers moving out orders ahead of factory shutdowns for the Golden Week holiday in China.
September 22, 2020 – The Port of Halifax continues to experience congestion at its two container terminals. All supply chain providers are working to clear the backlogs as quickly as possible. Current dwell information is about 7-14 days. The situation is larger than just Halifax; supply chain congestion and rail capacity issues are being felt across the country and in the U.S.
September 22, 2020 – In response to the rapid expansion of BMSB throughout Europe and North America, Australia and New Zealand’s risk management for BMSB has started this month. Goods shipped between 1 September 2020 and 30 April 2021 need to be treated and will be referred for intervention if they arrive by 31 May 2021 (inclusive). Please contact Canaan Transport if you have any questions or require container fumigation to meet these standards.
September 21, 2020 – With bookings of U.S. imports from China currently up 89% year-over-year, ocean freight out of China is surging during the COVID-19 pandemic. The spike in volume from China is being caused by several factors, including increased shipments of personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as retailers gearing up for the holidays, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This has also caused a spillover effect as shipments from China to Canada are also rising daily. We continue to advise our customers to be aware that rates continue to increase and space remains tight as we head into the 4th quarter.
September 14, 2020 – Canaan Transport is increasingly taking ‘pre-emptive action’ to guarantee space for our customers during the looming peak season and beyond, with already-diminished capacity expected to tighten further in the coming months. Recent estimates by IATA that the global delivery of billions of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will require thousands of flights to support its worldwide distribution have brought into sharp relief the risk of a worsening of the current serious capacity shortage in the air cargo sector over the coming months. With this reduced capacity pending, air freight rates will likely skyrocket as well. Customer who are looking at shipping air cargo in the coming months are advised to contact us as soon as possible to discuss your options.
September 9, 2020 – The controversy surrounding unlicensed off-dock trucking at the Port of Vancouver deepened this week, with the Office of the B.C. Container Trucking Commissioner (OBCCTC) defending the work.
“The off-dock container trucking activity Unifor refers to as (a) ‘black market’ activity and the United Truckers Association (UTA) calls ‘illegal’, is not illegal,” Commissioner Michael Crawford said Tuesday. Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, had demanded a crackdown on what it called a large container trucking black market at the port, and the UTA is planning to hold a Labour Day protest outside the commissioner’s office to highlight the issue. The two groups say unlicensed truckers are moving containers off-dock within the Lower Mainland area at steeply discounted prices and undermining licensed, fee-paying companies. In a written response to Today’s Trucking, Crawford said that under the Container Trucking Act and Regulation, the commissioner has jurisdiction to regulate and licence container trucking work that requires access to a marine terminal. If a trucking company needs access to a marine terminal, it requires a licence and then must pay the commissioner’s trucking rates for on and off-dock work, he said. “Trucking companies engaged only in off-dock trucking are not required to have a licence, and do not fall within the scope of the Container Trucking Act and Regulation,” he said.
September 8, 2020 – The UK withdrew from the European Union in January, but little has changed in terms of trade: The two sides are still operating under a transition agreement that keeps the existing rules in place. That deal expires December 31, and negotiators from London and Brussels are in an eighth round of talks about what post-Brexit trade will look like. On Monday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that his government would be comfortable with ending the talks if they do not produce a result before an upcoming EU summit scheduled for October 15. "If we can’t agree by [October 15], then I do not see that there will be a free-trade agreement between us, and we should both accept that and move on," Johnson said. "I want to be absolutely clear that, as we have said right from the start, that would be a good outcome for the UK. As a government we are preparing, at our borders and at our ports, to be ready for it." The UK’s leading logistics, road haulage and forwarding associations have called for an “urgent roundtable” with government ministers to address the “significant gaps” in border plans to take effect after the Brexit transition period on December 31. A letter to Michael Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, from Logistics UK, the British International Freight Association, the Road Haulage Association and the UK Warehousing Association, said: “As key participants in the supply chain who will be required to deliver a functional operating border for GB and EU traders next year, we have visibility of the current state of preparedness, which, as it stands, has significant gaps.” The letter continued: “If these issues are not addressed disruption to UK business and the supply chain that we all rely so heavily on will be severely disrupted."
August 31, 2020 – The Longshore workers’ union CUPE Local 375 and the Maritime Employers Association (MEA), the MPA expects backlog from the work stoppage to be cleared within three to four weeks. While the MEA and CUPE Local 375 will make the most of the truce period to reach an agreement, note that the MEA and the Port of Montreal Checkers’ Union successfully achieved an agreement in principle, which was ratified on August 24 by union members.