New Requirements for Container Weight Verification According to a new rule introduced by International Maritime Organisation as of 1 July 2016 a container can be loaded on the ship for export only if it's weight has been verified by shipper. The rule is to be applied globally, but if the container will be [...]
Are lithium batteries properly handled now? Several months ago we have published an update on the new regulations concerning lithium batteries. In a nutshell lithium batteries are considered dangerous goods and should be handled as such. However, according to The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) assistant director for cargo safety and standards, Dave [...]
Are drones revolutionising logistics? The fist Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were developed for military reconnaissance, attacks and deliveries. Their use for commercial deliveries is most strongly associated with Amazon project. For the time being Amazon Prime Air operations are on hold waiting for the response from NASA. For safety reasons a separate part [...]
Increasing demand for logistics specialists The logistics sector is a fundamental part of Irish economy. Currently 48,800 persons are employed in sector’s core occupations. According to the publication Addressing the Demand for Skills in the Freight Transport, Distribution and Logistics sector in Ireland 2015-2020, issued by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), [...]
Expansion of Augmented reality across industries: Supply Chain Augmented reality as a blend between real world and virtual one has been developing for the past decades and is finally, due to technological advances, reaching its true potential. The composite view generated by AR system augments the scene viewed by user with additional information. [...]
Humanitarian Logistics Despite the best and very productive efforts in collecting humanitarian supplies, delivery to those in need is a very difficult task for varying reasons. Shipments to conflict zones and remote areas are obviously among the most challenging ones. Armoured vehicles need to be used for transportation of personnel and medicine; logistics [...]
Freight industry recovering from Tianjin port disruptions Tianjin is one of the most important cities of China. Its port is the 10th biggest in the world. The Wednesday explosions caused major destruction of port’s facilities, including parts of logistics park and container storage area. Significant efforts have been made to resume ports’ operations [...]
Asia-Europe sea freight rates fluctuations Euro volatility continues to affect the supply-demand imbalance in the container shipping industry. Even though according to the latest Shanghai Containerised Freight Index rates to Northern Europe are at their highest since the end of January, while container prices to the Mediterranean reached their highest since the beginning of [...]
Shipping emissions in ports The opening of the expanded Suez canal is undoubtedly the most important topic of this week’s logistics news. At the same time several other ports are set for redevelopment and expansion, for instance Brazil’s Port of Açu, used primarily for crude oil and gas transportation. The costs of expansion [...]
Freight forwarders remain positive despite the slowdown of China’s economy IMF in its latest World Economic Outlook report did not change its prediction on China’s GDP growth, keeping it at 6.8% rate for this year and 6.3% in 2016. Following this report analysts have cut down their growth forecast for 2015: Drewry’s latest research showed [...]