The recent blockage of the Suez Canal and the alarming news from India remind us that events elsewhere continue to impact businesses and lives.

We at Orbit are committed to continue our regular updates in this challenging time as well as providing support for your business with a bespoke solution. Please engage with our sales team on your projects, enquiries and concerns.

Air Freight

• Regional COVID infections continue to disrupt the flight routes between Asia-Pacific to Europe
• The demand continues to outstrip capacity, driving further rate adjustments in the market
• This demand-driving condition is expected to continue until the end of this year

Sea Freight

• The impact of the Suez Canal blockage is expected to continue into the summer with disruption of sea lanes and the availability of European port equipment to handle peaks and troughs in volume
• Containers ex Asia will be in short supply for the second and third quarter, as trade with Europe gather steam post-COVID
• Restitution of containers back to Asia is currently the biggest bottleneck
• About 180k new containers are being released into the available pool globally by the carries in the next few months
• Rates are driven by market demand and we expect rates ex Asia to remain high for months to come

Land Freight

• Brexit provided additional complications with land routes between the UK and EU
• While bottlenecks have largely disappeared, please expect and budget additional days with cross channel trade
• Restriction to contain COVID pandemic are implemented in several European markets, affecting transportation
• Please be advised that we do have options to ensure the flow of cargo