Last week, fire broke by an undeclared lithium-ion batteries, on the container ship COSCO Pacific, declared by the company.

The event took place while the vessel past the Arabian Sea en route from Malaysia to India. The crew member of the ship curbs the fire with Carbon-Di-Oxide, however, they were forced to inform at the Port of Colombo in Srilanka, where the vessel remains disembark. And no injuries were reported.

It has been reported that the owner of the cargo is a Taiwanese shipping company named Wan Hai Lines. It had listed the cargo contents as “spare parts and accessories”, breaching the regulations pertaining to the declaration of hazardous or dangerous goods.

Due to its flammable nature and corrosive in nature Lithium-ion batteries fall under the hazardous category. They are highly dangerous in high pressures, particularly when they are transported by the aircraft in the cargo hold, however, container shipping has also gone through veer of dangerous fires on container ships in recent time.

Generally, when a fire happens aboard a container ship,each cargo owner is expected to pay a “general average”; it is a proportionate amount of any losses due to the event–if they want delivery to be done, however, it is up to businesses discretion to decide if it is worth or not the to retrieve the cargo.

Many organizations such as FIATA(the International Federation of Freight Forwarder Associations), TIACA (The International Cargo Association), and the IATA (the international Air Transport Association), have collaborated forces to clear-out on mischievous shippers by advancing real-time even reporting, which could be share across the industry.

Source: The Maritime Executive, Port Technology

Finding that the sea freight operations in downtown Auckland are no longer feasible, the coalition of government of New Zealand has affirmed that the functions are to be withdrawn and moved elsewhere.

The government accepted that the sea port, which majorly deal with imports, and automobiles, has turned into a hugely unworkable for its location, its lack of water depth and the requirements of domestic urban development.

As per the survey conducted by the Upper North Island Supply Strategy Working Group, suggested that the seaport creates low value business and economic returns, on the other hand it occupies cream waterfront space. At the same time, the report also stated that, an amalgamation of a growing urban population and freight vehicles is creating problems with local traffic jamming.

The report also establishes that searching the harbor to house larger vessels was not workable in terms of environmental impact.

Further, the management of Ports of Auckland said that transferring the port would will call for huge road and rail links back to the city, where most the commodities would still be utilized, amplify emission by 700 percent.

Presently, Ports of Auckland cannot be obliged to transfer and is unlikely to create a deal with the alternative ports of Northport and Taurangsa, which are run or majorly owned by adversary holding companies.

Putting forward a solution, the reports marked that the government gives the port companies a deadline for achieving a commercial agreement, or else bring up a new legislation to accomplish the job.

Source: WorldCargoNews

Due to hazardous air quality, Australia Post has shelved mail operations all over The Australian Capital Territory and Canberra.

As per the local health authorities, the air quality recorded more than 20 folds hazardous levels on the 01st January 2020 due the smog and smoke released by bush-fires; the fire that have smoldered about 15 million acres of land, and desolated in excess of 2,500 buildings all over Australia.

The air quality of Canberra has been recorded as the worst on the globe for a major city.

“The safety of our people is our top priority, and with hazardous smoke conditions continuing across ACT we are suspending all postie and van deliveries until further notice,” Australia Post said in a statement.

“Safety is our main priority, and we are reaching out to our people and supporting them through this tough time.”

With 15 post office not in operation, parcel deliveries in Western Australia and Victoria have also been hindered.

Almost Fifty casualties, so far, have been registered either as missing or dead due to the fires, and a state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales.

In Canberra, the locals have been advised to stay indoors.

Source: 7News

Royal Mail has reported that the returns of online goods on 2nd January, the day named as “Takeback Thursday”, were forecast to grow by 72 percent when compared to the general number of returns in December.

Also, it was the first working day of the year for postal workers.

In a study Royal Mail found that a good returns policy is a big reason for customers to decide whether they can buy again from a seller, out three in five online buyers becomes an improbable candidate with a retailer after a bad return experience.

As many as 58 percent buyers also value a “try before you buy” experience, and this is due to the untrustworthiness of online images of footwear and clothing, that unavoidably leads to a huge number of returns.

As per the study, the swiftness of refund was the most crucial part of the return process ( as identified by 76 percent of consumers), while apparent returns details on seller’s website and lucid labelling guide followed not lag behind ( at 73 percent and 72 percent respectively).

Source: Retail Times, BBC News

For prime shipment deliveries, Amazon has excluded its third party seller from using FedEx Ground service.

The company shared a message to merchant in the built-up to Christmas, and stated that the ban would last “until the delivery performance of these ship methods improves.”

The company has still allowed FedEx Ground for non-Prime shipments, while the merchants can still use FedEx Express for Prime shipments. As the name suggests, FedEx Ground is a road service, and is generally slower, but a more economical option, however, FedEx Express deliver shipments both locally and internationally via air.

Though, it seems that Amazon’s decision has come in the reference of a speedily deteriorating association between the two firms. In the past year, both Amazon and FedEx eventually acknowledged, either directly or indirectly, the rivalry between them in the parcel delivery segment.

FedEx lets go of its contracts (FedEx Ground) with Amazon, its Express contract for US domestic shipments.

Now, Amazon in the US, delivers about half of its own parcels, as per an estimate made by Morgan Stanley.

Source: Techcrunch

Wakanda, the fictional nation located in Africa, and the abode of Marvel superhero; Black Panther, has been unlisted from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) tariff tracker once it was noticed online on 18th Dec 2019.

Alongside Costa Rica, Colombia, Honduras–Wakanda was listed as one of the United States’s free trade partners.

The tariff tracker list included commodity codes for “Live asses”, mules and hinnies, along with domestic animals such as sheep, goats, turkey and chickens.

The USDA cleared that the fictional country, Wankanda, was listed while perform the system tests.

“Over the past few weeks, the foreign agricultural service staff who maintain the tariff tracker have been using test files to ensure that the system is running properly,” A USDA spokesperson told journalists.

“The Wakanda information should have been removed after testing and has now been taken down.”

Source: The Guardian

In the London Bridge vicinity, forty domestic businesses have transitioned to use emission free cargo bikes. This change was opted under the Bikes for Business scheme initiated by Team London Bridge.

Local business operating such as small scale, charities, hospitals like Great Ormand Street, and giant companies like Sanisbury’s, IKEA, and TNT, have employed the cargo Bikes to deliver within the city’s (ULEZ) Ultra Low Emission Zone, the area, where vehicles that are unable to meet the emissions standards need to pay a daily charge.

The payable charge is GBP 12.50 for most vehicles including vans, cars and motorcycles. The next level set contains Lorries which are beyond 3.5 tonnes or coaches or business more than 5 tonnes mark attracts a fee of GBP 100. And this amount is in addition to the congestion charges which is applied while working hours.

Air pollution and Congestion are the very bad in the run-up to the Holiday season. At this point of year there is a flood of parcel delivery vehicles in the area. Individual parcel deliveries to the offices rise by two thirds while peak season, as per Transport for London.

But, after the introduction of ULEZ in April 2019, the number environmentally friendly cargo bike parcel deliveries has increased to 50 a day, and aiding to cut down the impact.

Source: Business Green

As per the DHL Global Connectedness Index (GCI), the globe is more connected than at any given point in the history.

The GCI, that evaluates important developments in the world flow of trade, capital, information and people from 2001 to 2018. The data was updated by DHL and the NYU Stern School of Business in previous week, the conclusion was based on 3.5 millions country-to-country data points.

Regardless strains from world geopolitics and other trade reduction in 2018, the GCI kept close to the document high of globalization assessed in 2017. The volume growth of trade dropped in the first half of 2019, however, for 2020 only a humble slope is predicted.

Senior Research Scholar and Lead author of the report, Steven A. Altman expressed “Our analysis does not confirm a robust regionalization trend,” “Instead, we see that the average distance across which countries trade has held steady since 2012. While fraying relations between major economies could lead to a fracturing along regional lines, such a shift has not yet conclusively taken place.”

The report also states that all four flows are up against “powerful headwinds”, and they are in the form of uncertainty and trade barriers.

Further, it is noted that “a survey on globalization perceptions reveals that many people do not realize how limited global connectedness actually is. While the world is more connected than at almost any previous point in history, most businesses still take place within rather than across national borders.”

All these can lead to a unclear picture of globalization which affects decision-making, said the report.

Source: DHL Group

Boasting its year-after- year growth in volume of 13 percent, DPD UK has said this was its best every Cyber Weekend.

DPD’s all sorting hubs, all four of them, reported the record volumes in parcel every night in the week running up to Black Friday.

The company confirmed it also saw a record volume of delivery vehicles on the road during the four-day event, due to an entry of permanent fresh recruits.

“It’s been an incredible weekend,” said CEO Dwain McDonald. “The whole team has been absolutely amazing. We have maintained our very high service standard, despite record volumes and that is something everyone should be proud of.

“We start planning for Peak [season] in January and we look at every single aspect of the whole process, but when it all comes together it is still a great achievement for everyone involved.”

McDonald said the company has had to work hard to adapt to Black Friday and Cyber Weekend in recent years, much like the other international parcel delivery companies including UPS, FedEx and DHL.

Dwain McDonald, the DPD CEO, said the company has had to work hard to adjust to Cyber Weekdend and Black Friday in recent times, similar to the many other international parcel delivery companies such as DHL, UPS and FedEx.

Source: DPD

The price of Royal Mail shares fell 14 percent last Thursday. The fall was known after the company shared its half-year data and indicated a warning that it could operate at a loss in the next year. The plunge took away about GBP 320 million off Royal Mail’s stock market value.

Though Royal mail registered its most excellent revenue performance in last five years. It also acknowledged that it lagged behind on its GBP 1.8 billion goal to divert its focus away from mail letter delivery to parcel delivery. An estimated fall in letter volume for the was also taller than originally predicted; elevating from 5-7 percent to 7-9 percent.

Royal Mail utilizes the occasion to share its view against the planned Christmas strike action.

“Industrial action, or the threat of it, can only hurt our company, and our colleagues,” said CEO Rico Back. “That is because, in today’s postal market, our customers have choices. Consumers can send a text or email when they would have written a letter; and shippers can choose from a wide range of delivery companies, not just Royal Mail.”

The warning arrived following the CWU (Communication Workers Union) filed an appeal in opposition to order won by Royal Mail to impede strikes in the run-up to Christmas. 97 percent of a 76 percent turnout of members of CWU voted in favor of strikes, however, a high court judge assent with Royal Mail that there had been “improper interference” by the Communication Worker Union in the balloting process.

Source: The Guardian (A,B)