The current shipping scenarios has called for additional blank sailing by major ocean carrier alliances. According to Freightos, more than one third scheduled sailing from Asia through early June have been cancelled. project44 data points that Maersk and MSC are leading the charge to blank sailings. From week 17-23 THE Alliance aims to blank 33% of scheduled sailings from Asia, while, the Ocean Alliance will blank 37% of its sailings and 2M alliance will blank 39% of its scheduled voyages. Xeneta has stated that shippers on the transpacific route have seen the maximum number of blank sailings over the past few weeks, in absolute volume and as a share of offered capacity. April 4th to May 8th alone saw 63 blank sailings on this tradelane cutting off 25% of the capacity offering of 517,300 TEU.
The global shipping industry is facing a turbulent time and a strong market demand. Hapag-Lloyd, the German container carrier has reported an increase in revenue and profit in Q1 and anticipates it to grow further in Q2 as well. The current crises builds on the Chinese lockdowns but is not limited to that alone. In its quarterly financial report, Hapag-Lloyd has predicted that a weaker global economy and ongoing supply-chain disruptions will slow the industry’s growth this year. Global container volume is expected to rise 2.6% this year, compared with 6.6% last year. A slower recovery in supply chains is expected due to Russia-Ukraine conflict and China’s zero Covid tolerance policies. However, the company’s shares are hovering close to a record high set earlier this month. Learn More.
Shanghai, the global trading hub of China has been suffering the brunt of COVID restrictions that have brought its operations to a standstill. The economic impact of Chinese zero covid tolerance policies have started to show. The start of the week saw some highlights related to both supply and demand constraints
The decline in export volumes can be attributed to reduction of exports to Russia, with shipments falling about 26% from a year back. However, the exports to the U.S. rose by 9.4%. Additionally, global supply chain constraints such as disruptions to factory productivity and logistics challenges are also key contributors. Read More.
The Namibian Port of Walvis Bay has grown significantly in recent years and is anticipated to grow further as the southern African country develops its energy sector. Walvis Bay serves as a perfect alternative to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the South African port of Durban for shipping supplies and commodities from landlocked locations in the southern region. Andrew Kanime, Namibian Ports Authority, CEO, has mentioned that Walvis Bay, a deepwater port, is likely to witness more development following the award of a contract to build a liquid petroleum gas import, storage, and distribution terminal. Read More.
The USA Trucking industry is facing the brunt of a constricted supply chain. The shortage of new trucks, drivers, and rising fuel prices are amplifying logistics issues, increasing delivery times, and rising transportation costs. Trailer hauling heavy-duty trucks are suffering production bottlenecks due to shortages in spares and ongoing order backlogs. This scenario is further adding up to the shortage of available trucks on the road while demand for shipping consumer goods and industrial materials is on the rise. Trucking companies are relying on aging fleets as new equipment availability is scarce. According to Indiana-based market forecaster ACT Research Co., this year, manufacturers have accepted about 55% fewer orders than during the early months of 2021. Read More.
An evident shift towards cloud services can be attributed to ongoing supply chain challenges, cyber-attacks, cargo thefts and many other factors. Such disruptions and uncertainties have motivated businesses to invest in modernizing their technology and business models. SAP and McKinsey have come together for a strategic alliance that address these critical challenges faced by the organization. SAP and McKinsey now offer an end-to-end design for a migration to SAP S/4HANA. Read More.
Here’s our take on how businesses can leverage the migration to SAP S/4HANA TM from LE-TRA.
SAP and IBM have announced their partnership to facilitate migration to SAP S/4HANA. SAP S/4HANA is SAP’S next generation ERP software designed to drive growth and enhance client support.  The project is focused on improving business processes with RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Christian Klein, CEO and Member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, stated, “This expanded partnership will enable IBM to accelerate its business transformation in the cloud and fuel its future growth,” Read More.
SAP on its SAP Sapphire conference in Orlando, announced new innovations that enrich business values for customers in the four critical areas such as Supply chain resilience, sustainability, business process transformation and no code application development.
At the conference, Christian Klein, CEO and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, stated “For 50 years, SAP’s mission-critical solutions and deep industry expertise have helped businesses around the world run their best,” Get more details on all news, product launches and updates over here.
HERE has announced its five-year strategic collaboration with AWS to provide end-to-end visibility and fleet efficiency across the entire supply chain. This allaince will allow HERE to create a curated digital catalog of services utilized by T&L companies globally. The offerings in this catalog can be found on AWS Marketplace. Learn More.