Could we be seeing the early signs of an easing of freight rates and shipping delays? A growing number of analysts giving a more positive forecast of the situation.
LOGISTICS
Blank sailings and port omissions will likely continue throughout February on Asia-Pacific Westbound and other major European ex-China trade routes, reducing overall capacity in the market, according to UPS.
Expectations are that ex-China freight rates should not increase significantly in the period just after Chinese New Year, according to Freightos. Rates had remained stable during the pre-CNY period.
U.S. inventories remain low suggesting that import demand will remain strong in the post Chinese New Year period, according to Flexport.
The number of ships waiting outside LA and Long Beach has dropped 28% since January to fewer than 80 vessels. A positive signal, said Freightos.
Ocean carriers CMA CGM and HMM will be increasing capacity from Asia to the US East and Gulf Coasts in 2022.
Lost productivity and network disruptions were driven primarily by labor capacity constraints due to challenges in staffing up our facilities for peak.”
He expects the situation to continue through Q1 2022
PODCAST
A New Platform that’s Disrupting the $1T Automotive Industry
Although we don’t typically think about the market for used cars, it’s a huge market – and at present a very lucrative one too!
In this podcast episode Quinn Osha, founder and CEO of Topmarq, a platform that is helping drive the digitization of the used car industry, discusses:
- The critical changes that have taken place in the automotive sales during the last two years.
- Why car prices have surged – even for used cars.
- How digitization is revolutionizing the car business – for dealers and individuals.
MATERIALS
Materials prices were stable over the past week, but are expected to start rising again.
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