Wharfies + tugboat operators went on strike in all Australian ports earlier in the month. Negotiations are still ongoing. In the U.K. strike action is affecting the port of Felixstowe where work was interrupted for longer than one week.

China – Australia ocean services entered the off-peak season with publishers enjoying freight cost finally below 20c/kg and for well-loaded containers close to 10c/kg. This trend is likely to last until October but watch this space.

Naval and military drills in Taiwan Strait have affected reliability of services from Northern China as well as South Korea + Japan due to six no-sail zones being created around Taiwan.

Global paper shortages due to soaring demand and lack of supply is affecting coated and non-coated paper prices.

Reminder to importers that Brown Marmorated Stick Bug season commences on 01 September and that China + U.K. are included as ‘Emerging Risk Countries’.

Air rates from UK/EU continue to soften as three Mid-East carriers add additional capacity to their services to Australia. A recent count of cargo offerings Heathrow- Sydney indicated that one consolidator offered 28 flight departures each week offering cargo space to Australia. There were 38 weekly schedules offered in total.

Transport Intelligence has just released its “Air Freight Tracker: Q3 2022” where it says that air freight rates are falling steadily as capacity constraints are cancelled out by falling demand. As we move through Q3 into Q4, air freight rates are continuing to fall further before stabilizing once again.

Amazon US announced a peak season fee on its fulfilment services for third-party sellers from 15 October to 14 January, the first time the company has instituted such a surcharge. The holiday peak fulfilment fee will cost an average of USD 0.35 per item. Amazon said that the fee will cover increased fulfilment and logistics costs that coincide with the peak delivery season.