Change of schedules, high prices, additional fees. What is going on with international transport, and what can you do to prevent unexpected charges?
#OceanFreight: Pandemic-related delays and closures, increased demand for ocean freight from Asia to the US and Europe, general congestion of ports, and constant changes in service schedules combined with lack of capacity are the main reasons why ocean rates are still extremely high, and transit times are longer and unstable.
#AirFreight: As far as air freight is concerned, the situation is not different: Covid is impacting crew's availability and passenger transport, thus cutting down capacity.
In addition, quarantine rules in Asia and the latest events involving Ukraine and Russia (with the consequences linked to the escalation) are expected to have a further impact on air freight rates.
Why? Because, many companies operating between Asia and Europe will no more be allowed in the Russian airspace, meaning they will need to re-arrange the routing avoiding Russia and conflict zones and stretching their routes, and extending transit times, with a subsequent upturn in the consumption of fuel and tight space availability.
#RoadTransport: Trucking is also involved by the same trends of low capacity and high prices: consumers demand is high, importers want to stock inventory, availability is low and in Europe, there is a general shortage of drivers.
In this scenario, we are trying our best to move goods on schedule without additional fees, but in this unstable period, delays and additional charges may arise. Furthermore, shipping companies are keener to strictly apply cancellations & amendment fees to bookings that have already been placed, and this is out of D.B. Group’s control.
For this reason, we highly recommend the following to avoid incurring unexpected charges:
As always, at D.B. Group our teams are here to help, and we remain at complete disposal for more information.
D.B. Group
