May 02 2024 Customer Advisory Notice

NZ Local Update

Effective 1^st May Port of Auckland is introducing a Dangerous Goods handling charge for all import and export containers containing hazardous cargo.

Ports of Tauranga have advised that from 12^th May train capacity between Auckland Metroport and Tauranga will be reduced significantly.  As such the allocation to some shipping lines will be cut meaning more loads for export containers directly out of Auckland which will impact transit times on exports, in addition Port of Auckland is still capping the number of lifts per vessel.  We will monitor the situation.

Vessels arriving outside of their berth windows due to delays offshore are also causing disruption at Port of Auckland causing VBS bookings to be in short supply once vessels have discharged.

Empty dehire yards are again beginning to fill and again will be restricting delivery time slots for empty containers due to capacity constraints.

BMSB Season in New Zealand has come to an end for all seafreight cargo arriving into port as of 30^th April 2024.

FreightWorks has evaluated the FAF being charged to us by our carriers as of the 1^st to 31^st May 2024 and FAF rate will remain at 22%. This will be re-evaluated monthly.

Asia Market Update

Bookings on vessels moving from North Asia continue to remain high coupled with more blank sailings is combining to keep rates moving in an upwards direction.  We continue to receive general rate increase notices for both first and second half of May sailings.  Shipping lines have also indicated they are forecasting a strong peak season this year which may come earlier and for longer than usual due to increased retail spending for Black Friday sales in late November in recent times then carrying through to traditional Christmas retail peaks.

Southeast Asian lanes have come back to normality in recent weeks with space and pricing remaining steady though feeder capacity to main tranship ports has reduced.

Europe Market Update

The EU/NZ Free trade agreement has come into effect from 01^st May 2024

As we have touched on in notices, shipping lines are experiencing challenges with transit times due to the ongoing situation in the Red Sea. With no indications of de-escalation in the conflict, all major carriers have now adjusted schedules to fully reflect the Cape of Good Hope routing.  The diversion around the African Continent not only adds additional time to the transit for cargo bound for Asian tranship ports but also extends the return leg back to Europe by the same duration. This is causing challenges at origin ports, including container shortages, congestion and increasing pressure on vital hub ports in Asia and Europe, resulting in frequent schedule changes.

Vessels are regularly arriving at ports on unscheduled days, leading to berthing clashes at several ports. In addition, we are seeing several rotation adjustments in Northern Europe.  All shipping lines are struggling to maintain schedule integrity and reliability compared to advertised transits. The impact of this is evident with the disruption to sea freight schedules and corresponding arrival delays.

Carriers are stating that the Red Sea diversions are expected to be in place until at least Q4 of this year and service adjustments have been made to accommodate this expectation. Shipping lines are now introducing additional capacity to vessel rotations to try to help reduce port omissions and improve their reliability.

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 announced they will reinstate the Panama Canal transit on their OC1 service effective May 10^th servicing East Coast USA.

All FCL service to/from Baltimore are currently suspended until further notice.

Australia Update

BMSB Seasonal measures continue to remain in place in Australia for all vessels that berth, load or tranship cargo from target risk countries between 1^st September and 30^th April inclusive.