2021 is the year of the freight service embargo

Posted on August 19, 2021 by | 2 comments

It’s not possible to book shipments anymore with some LTL carriers. Their capacity is full, and they don’t care if they get new customers. OnTrak (which delivers my vitamin pills) and Fedex recently said they were refusing new customers. The claims are that they are out of capacity– not enough planes, trucks and drivers— to deliver everything. There are other less visible bottlenecks, also, such as a shortage of trucks for sale due to the semiconductor shortage. There’s been a sort of crisis in drivers for trucks for quite a while, exacerbated by the recent enforcement of rules to prevent people who fail drug tests from getting commercial driver’s licenses. We wonder why employers don’t pay drivers more, and take more care to create working conditions more favorable to drivers.

Still, common carriers have an obligation to carry the freight presented. It will be interesting to see how far this goes, and when regulators will start crawling through these carriers’ records to see if they are unfairly denying carriage.

Eric Kulisch, Air Cargo Editor Thursday, August 19, 2021

Viewpoint: 2021 is the year of the freight service embargo – FreightWaves

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Posted in Logistics, Supply Chains, Trucking

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Shipping must review LNG use, as methane’s role in climate change is revealed

Posted on August 18, 2021 by | 1 comment

It seems polluting gases come from every burned fuel. Now we find that LNG, a fuel that is reputedly cleaner than heavy diesel oil for ships, is likely to create ‘leaked methane’ around the cylinders, allowing it to escape to the open air.

Apparently there are two types of LNG engines: one with ‘tight’ cylinders, and one with ‘loose’ cylinders. The ones with loose cylinders are much cheaper to install, but also leak the methane most. It’s thought that carriers will tend to install the cheaper ones.

By Nick Savvides 06/08/2021

https://theloadstar.com/shipping-must-review-lng-use-as-methane-role-in-climate-change-is-revealed/

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Sustainability

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Ever Given to miss Hamburg call on safety grounds

Posted on July 20, 2021 by | 2 comments

The saga of the Ever Given, stuck in the Suez Canal for days, goes on. It is sailing again with cargo, but can’t land everywhere, due to restrictions on its propulsion and speed. It is skipping Hamburg.

All this means that many shippers won’t get their cargo soon, despite having paid the general average fees for the disaster. And quite a few have not yet paid the fees.

Anyone who needs the cargo is out of luck till it is discharged and moved on through its supply chain.

I hope the shippers have found alternate ways to get replacement s to those who really needed it on time. But I doubt it.

Ever Given to miss Hamburg call on safety grounds

16 July 2021

Port Technology International Team Ports and Terminals, Shipping Lines

Ever Given to miss Hamburg call on safety grounds – Port Technology International

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Posted in Logistics, Service Management, Shipping, Supply Chains

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