Industry News

BIFA welcomes extension of deadline for Customs training funding applications

The British International Freight Association (BIFA), the trade association for UK freight forwarding and logistics companies, has welcomed the UK Government’s decision to extend the deadline for businesses to apply for funding towards training courses that help them to complete customs declarations.

Associations Commit to Accelerating Logistics Emissions Footprinting and Reduction

Given the increasing urgency to step up decarbonisation efforts in the logistics sector, European shippers and freight forwarders are committed to logistics emissions footprinting and reduction. ESC and CLECAT stand for a universal methodology to calculate emissions from logistics operations, provided by the GLEC Framework, and support upgrading it into an ISO standard. However, this should remain a voluntary initiative led by the industry.

Launch of Digital Container Shipping Association

Four of the world's largest container shipping companies - Maersk, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd and Ocean Network Express - have officially established the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA).

NAVCIS Bulletin April 2019

The National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service has released it's latest bulletin.

Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority Update

We have received the following advice from DEFRA regarding EU Exit and the continued use of TRACES:

World Container Index - 11 Apr

The World Container Index assessed by Drewry, a composite of container freight rates on 8 major routes to/from the US, Europe and Asia is down 4.3% to $1,334.23 per 40ft container (updated Thursday, 11 April 2019).

DEFRA EU Exit – Continued Use of TRACES

The UK Government and the European Union have reached an agreement on a six-month extension to Article 50. During this time, the UK will remain as a member of the EU, with the Government confident it can deliver a deal within this period. Considering this, the UK will continue to use TRACES and therefore import notifications should be issued in the usual way.

Satisfaction survey in container transport: Shippers dissatisfied with clarity of surcharges and transit times

The level of satisfaction concerning container carriers among exporters, importers, and freight forwarders falls marginally, according to the third annual shipper satisfaction survey of Drewry and the European Shippers’ Council (ESC).

Logistics inductry in top 3 of higth-growth enterprises

On 2 April, Eurostat published statistics stating that in 2017 the number of high-growth enterprises in the European Union (EU) increased by 6% compared with 2016. According to the data for 2017, the number of high-growth enterprises in the EU was 190 000, compared with 180 000 in 2016.

WTO reports on global trade developments in 2018

On 2 April, WTO announced that world trade will continue to face strong headwinds in 2019 and 2020 after growing more slowly than expected in 2018. WTO economists expect merchandise trade volume growth to fall to 2.6% in 2019 — down from 3.0% in 2018. Trade growth could then rebound to 3.0% in 2020, however, this would depend on easing of trade tensions.