Guest Article

The groundwork for Admiralty laws in India were laid simultaneously with the codification of Admiralty laws in England. Even post-independence, the issues relating to...

Mass container shortage has disrupted international supply chains and seen the cost of freight and shipping increase exponentially across all sectors.

While it may be easy to blame this single factor for an increase in freight cost, many more factors have contributed to the inflated prices we are currently seeing across the sector.

So what are some of the other reasons that prices can't seem to slow down? 

If you use shipping services often, price may definitely be a very important factor for you. Especially if you own a business that includes regular shipments using freight forwarders.

Customers often think that the way freight forwarders arrange shipments is pretty much fixed and cannot change.

But just because everyone is used to the standard ways of shipping and expenses associated with it, it doesn’t mean that is the only way.

Luckily for you, there are a few to reduce freight forwarding expenses.

Here are 8 tips to reduce freight forwarding expenses. Follow these steps and start implementing the changes that will help you today.

Cargo that must be loaded, maintained and or carried at a particular temperature for it to arrive its destination without deterioration is classified under refrigerated cargoes.

This article looks at how cargo survey for refrigerated and frozen cargoes works.

The winds of change within the context of containerized shipping have been sweeping to say the least. In the pursuit of environmental sustainability, digitalization, operational and commercial efficiency, and collaborative practices the containerized fleet and the industries commercial practices have been radically modified over a significantly short period of time.

With gigantism being the most popular trend currently pursued by the world’s major carriers a new global context has concurrently begun to rear its head.

The emergence of colossal vessels along primary routes has led to the resultant cascade of maritime traffic along secondary and tertiary routes.

Thus, whilst the argument for economies of scale relative to container vessel sizes makes for a seemingly sensible commercial case, such developments have the potential to seriously impact ports and the entirety of logistics chain, including production.

This begs the question is bigger always better and what alternatives exist?

Chartering is an important concept of the global maritime trade sector and it consists of different types. One of the forms of carrying out a maritime business is a time charter. Under a time charter, the owners undertake to place their ship at the disposal of the charterers for a defined period of time for the carriage of goods in accordance with the charterer’s instruction, while the ship remains in both the ownership and possession of the owners, and the officers and crew who man her will be the employees of the owners, not the charterers. In this article we are going to look at some particulars of time charters and, in particular, New York Produce Exchange Form 1993 (NYPE 1993) recommended by BIMCO and FONASBA.

The fragility of trade routes which had been sorely tested by disruptions caused by Covid 19, shortage of containers and increased freight rates was...

An illustrative post outlining the anatomy of a shipping container written by Robert John Wheeler.. An interesting read for people who are within the industry and heard of these terms, but have not had the opportunity to see what it looks like..

The continent of Africa comprises of 55 countries with about 1.35 billion people (16.72% of the global population) calling it home. The continent has a combined GDP of more than $3.4 trillion, a vast untapped potential and some of the fastest growing economies of the world.

But trade within the African continent is the lowest globally with more trade done from Africa outwards rather than inward.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement which started as a journey over four decades ago with the adoption of the Monrovia Strategy in 1979, the Lagos Plan of Action in 1980, the Abuja Treaty in 1991 and subsequent Decisions and Declarations adopted during various summits has finally come to fruition with the commencement of trading as of the 1st January 2021.

Anup Rampiar takes a look at what is AfCFTA and what it means for South Africa and the African continent in general.

In the IMDG Code, many actions are listed but the responsibility to carry out that action may not be specifically assigned to any particular person. The IMDG Code does however assign responsibilities to named persons or entities in certain cases, such as;

1. Shipper: for classification, assigning proper shipping name, packaging, marking, labelling, placarding, dangerous goods declaration
2. Packer: for packing of CTU and related responsibilities.
3. Master: of the vessel- responsibilities under SOLAS Chapter VII Part A & MARPOL Annex III
4. Competent Authorities: for granting exemptions and approvals

No one knows what is inside the box; everyone depends on the dangerous goods declaration.

Global trade is the backbone of any country’s economy. In this article, Kuljit Anand, a highly experienced and versatile Shipping & Supply Chain Professional based in Mumbai, discusses the changing landscape of shipping in global trade from an Indian perspective.

Shipping damage is a massive threat to any products that travel on the supply chain.

As per a Statista survey, eighty per cent of consumers say they’d return a product they received that was damaged in shipping.

The more your products get damaged in shipping, the more money your company loses and the effects of that loss can spread throughout your organization, causing both direct and indirect expenses and affecting sales.

Here are 4 tips to reduce cargo damage and save money on shipping costs.

In the past few years, we have seen a large number of maritime disasters such as catastrophic fires onboard ships mostly due to misdeclared and undeclared dangerous goods.

Some of the vessels which had major fires in the year 2019 are Yantian Express, APL Vancouver, E.R. Kobe, Grande America, KMTC Hong Kong, APL Le Havre.

Most of the cases involving leakage, fires, cargo damage is linked to undeclared, misdeclared or poorly packed containers.

For obvious reasons, no one wants to receive cargo claims. More so, carriers who carry the cargo from A to B. It could possibly be the reason why there is a lot of misunderstanding among BCOs and OTIs about which documents are really necessary to submit and which are completely irrelevant in the process of claims recovery.

Below are some simple guidelines for claims handling and submissions. I hope this will help to make the claim submission process as efficient and as simple as possible for you.

Global trade keeps us connected with customers, consumers and industries around the world.. There are several modes of transport used in global trade - sea, air, land and rail..

Whichever mode of transport you use, even the most meticulously planned shipment can go awry either due to natural disasters or man-made errors..

Cargo damage is one such disaster that not only gives rise to product and financial losses, but could also affect the relationship between customers and their service providers..

Physical and wet damage could be caused due to lack of proper packaging to protect the cargo on its long voyage..

With current modern developments in sustainable packaging and shipping solutions, businesses have no excuse not to take the movement into consideration.

Making an effort to reduce your environmental impact will not only pay off in cost but will impress your consumers in our now rightly eco-centric society.

Technology has led to the creation of numerous types of sustainable packaging materials, to allow businesses from any industry to reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Here are some of the pressing reasons to incorporate sustainable packaging and shipping into your supply chain.

Cargo rollover happens for a variety of reasons, at various stages and various places. Cargo rollover can cause significant delays and result in potentially crippling operations.

Most shippers assume carriers would send rollover notifications, but only a few carriers seem to notify customers in advance that their cargo is about to be rolled or has been rolled. This especially happens when transhipment is involved and catches many customers by surprise and upsets their production or sales plans.

What most customers don't know is that there is a reliable way to get advance warning of cargo rollover so that they can take suitable action.

How?

For businesses that ship internationally, return of goods due to damage in transit can be a huge burden in terms of time and money.

Here are six tips on how to prepare your cargo for part or full load shipments and prevent lost revenues when using worldwide parcel delivery services.

Dealing with Missing Import Licenses “The import permit was rejected, because of missing license!” says your Customs agent in a text message. “Are you sure? We've been importing this for years!”, you reply. Unfortunately, similar conversations like the above happen all the time, and in all parts of the world because of various reasons.. Here are some do's and dont's when it happens..

A carrier should serve as a trusted transportation partner that works in alignment with your team to meet the needs of your customers.

For that reason, among others, they need to be an organization that you know will get the job done.

Aside from security, your company undoubtedly has unique standards and requirements in your own workflows.

When bringing a carrier into your operation, alignment is essential. That’s why thoughtful preparation and an intentional vetting process.

If you’re currently searching for a new carrier, here are some tips to use when selecting a carrier who would be the best fit for your company.