August 29 2024 Customer Advisory Notice

NZ Local Update

BMSB Season is set to commence from 1^st September.  For the 2024 – 2025 BMSB risk season, BMSB seasonal measures will apply to targeted goods manufactured and shipped from target risk countries, that have been shipped between 1 September 2024 and 30 April 2025 (inclusive), and to vessels that berth, load, or tranship from target risk countries within the same period. If the container is from Italy, it must be treated offshore regardless of commodity unless it meets the ‘sensitive cargo’ exemption.  Please contact your FreightWorks representative for more details.

KiwiRail’s reduced capacity between Port of Tauranga and Auckland Metroport continues to cause delays with containers being railed to Auckland after vessel discharge in Tauranga.

Courier services have announced a Peak Season Surcharge effective 01 September – 31 January 2025

FreightWorks has evaluated the FAF being charged to us by our carriers as of the 1^st to 30^th September 2024 and FAF rate will remain at 19%. This will be re-evaluated monthly.

Asia Market Update

China’s upcoming Golden Week 01 – 07 October is causing growing demand for space and equipment as factories look to push out orders prior to the weeklong shut down.  In additional the direct service ex North Asia J Star/JKN/NZJ has announced a blank sailing in first week of September which is expected to add further pressure.  Shipping lines have indicated they expect volumes to remain at peak with upcoming Black Friday Sales periods to keep demand high.  While vessels remain full we continue to receive notices of intended rate increases.

Increased congestion at Singapore and Malaysian tranship ports has led to feeder services from other Southeast Asian countries Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia being reduced to reduce the number of containers entering port and being added to the growing roll pools.  MSC has removed capacity from their Southeast Asian service further adding to capacity restraints in this region.  Shipping lines have advised vessels continue to remain full keeping rate levels high.

Europe Market Update

European holidays through August have slowed production in the region and caused a slow down in trucking with many companies operating on skeleton crews.  This is expected to pick up again as we begin to come out of the holiday period.

With the situation in the Red Sea area ongoing carriers are stating that the Red Sea diversions are expected to be in place into 2025 and service adjustments have been made to accommodate this expectation.  All shipping lines are struggling to maintain schedule integrity and reliability compared to advertised transits.

Shipping lines have continued to Increase rates to and from Europe in line with the increase in demand and additional operational costs involved with the delays.

Tranship ports in Singapore and Malaysia are reporting severe congestion as touched on earlier with large roll pools leading to delays with connections to/from New Zealand with delays up to four weeks in some instances.

USA / Canada Market Update

The Panama Canal Authorities have recently introduced additional transit slots per day through the Panama Canal as we begin to enter the rainy season.  Maersk has reinstated their Panama Canal transit on their OC1 service.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) imposed Binding Arbitration between CN, CPKC and the Teamsters union for both railways requiring all to resume operations and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) employees to resume their duties.  The CIRB also ordered that no further labour stoppage, whether a lockout or strike, can occur during the arbitration process. As such, the strike notice issued by Teamsters to CN is now voided.

The ILA (International Longshoremen’s Association) has stated that it is still far from reaching an agreement with maritime employers along the East and Gulf coasts of USA over a new master contract. The union’s latest salvo, saying a strike “is becoming more likely,” adds pressure to ocean carriers and marine terminals set to meet very soon on labour talks.

Australia Update

BMSB Season in Australia will commence from 1^st September to 30^th April 2025 (inclusive). Measures closely mirror those of last season, with the China and United Kingdom being identified as emerging risk countries and subject to random inspection.