UK Haulage Crisis - What’s happening and how to avoid haulage problems Chaotic seems to be an accurate word to describe the UK haulage industry at the moment. A combination of congestion at container ports and a massive shortage of HGV drivers are causing delays and frustration at various ports around the UK which [...]
Turkey Currency Crisis and its Impact on Global Trade If you’re a fan of holidays in Turkey, you’ll no doubt have been enjoying more affordable breaks away thanks to Turkey’s plummeting exchange rate during 2018. So much so, because of Turkey’s currency and political crisis, the pound is worth around 90% more against the [...]
Chinese Golden Week 2018 - What every importer needs to know Just as the UK is getting back into a routine following the summer holidays and the kids going back to school, China is preparing for Golden Week - a week-long holiday that coincides with Chinese National Day to commemorate the founding of the [...]
Government publishes no-deal Brexit Guidelines for British Businesses trading with the EU Given that we don’t know what the trading arrangements between the UK and the EU post-Brexit will be, and with a no-deal scenario looking like a possibility, on the 23rd August 2018, the UK Government published the first of 84 documents providing [...]
The New Customs Declaration Service - What you Need to Know You may or may not be aware that in August 2018 HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) will begin a phased launch of a new Customs Declaration Service (CDS). CDS will replace the existing Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system, with [...]
Liverpool Port Congestion There are significant delays at Liverpool Port as port operations slowed under the pressure of sudden and significant increases in containers arriving in. The road congestion began on Thursday 28th, with trucks taking a total of 7-8 hours to retrieve their containers from the terminal after entering the queue. However, while [...]
Cargo insurance: What is it and why you need it? If you ship goods by sea, it's likely the value of your goods isn’t something you would want to put at risk. And, while most shipments by sea reach their final destination unscathed, mother nature is unpredictable, and this means problems can occur which [...]
Carriers Introduce 'Emergency Bunker Surcharge' Shipping Lines have started to introduce Emergency Bunker Surcharges as the cost of Fuel increases. Various shipping lines are in the process of implementing an additional Emergency Bunker Surcharge (by one description or another) due to the rise in fuel costs (fuel is a large component of the cost [...]
The EU represents 500 million consumers. Since the UK voted to leave the EU, many people are assuming we will leave those consumers behind too. However, as a recent article in The Guardian suggests, the likelihood is that we will in fact negotiate a free trade agreement to accommodate and remind our neighbours of [...]
Following the news of Hanjin’s collapse, it’s safe to say that the situation leaves us ‘all at sea’. Vessels are stuck at sea or at anchor with crew still on board whilst ports fear they won’t get paid resulting in them refusing to allow Hanjin vessels to berth or discharge. The result is that shippers [...]
