Potential threat of layoffs has Port of Liverpool workers on edge
A 12% year-on-year decrease in container volumes is worrying Port of Liverpool staff, which currently employs around 850 people. Port owner Peel Ports and British syndicate Unite the Union are beginning a 45-day redundancy consultation that could lead to 15% of employees being terminated, Port Strategy reports. “This is a decision we have been wrestling with for […]
Worldwide container shipping rates rise after more than a year of declines
Spot rates for shipping containers jumped by the most in more than two years, a sign that a 16-month slump in ocean-freight costs that helped ease the sting of goods inflation is over, the American Journal of Transportation reports. The Drewry World Container Index composite increased 11.8% to $1,761 for a 40-foot container, the fourth straight advance […]
UK’s Nationwide Produce goes green with transformational expansion in Evesham
Nationwide Produce has been in business for nearly 50 years, helping both supply and serve customers through fresh fruit and vegetable growing, packing, shipping and much more. In fact, it prides itself on this tagline: “We do just about everything in fresh produce.” Known previously as Bernard O’Malley & Sons and operating out of Lancashire, […]
Shipping containers around a fifth less productive than pre-Covid
Congestion across global supply chains has meant shipping containers are an estimated 15% to 20% less productive than in pre-Covid-19 times, according to Drewry’s recently published Container Census & Leasing Annual Review & Forecast 2022/23 report. Drewry estimates that each container averaged 18.1 lifts in 2021 compared with 19.2 in 2020 and between 19.5 and 20.6 in […]
In U.S., transportation and produce supply chain also remain uncertain
Paul Revere was worried only about Land and Sea. Today, our transportation troubles include Air as well. Current transportation and supply chain woes are testing the resiliency so frequently attributed to the produce industry. For many of us, the increased cost of sea and air transportation is easily measured in the number of air pallets […]
Despite soaring profits, Maersk sees economic risks coming this year
Danish shipping group AP Møller-Maersk anticipates “a slowdown in the second half, a normalization”, according to its chief executive Søren Skou and in a report in The Financial Times. This comes despite the highest profits of $19.3 billion (+55%) made in its 114-year history, in the first quarter. “The visibility is quite low. Mainly we see risks […]
How do consumers value produce and local vs. long-distance?
A new researcher at the New York Produce Show, Rebecca Wasserman-Olin, shared new research findings about how customers value various appearance characteristics and how a consumer value perception is affected when a strawberry is marketed as ‘local,’ among other key findings. While this work uses strawberries as an example, it provides important lessons for everyone in the fresh produce […]
First freight shipment to arrive on ‘Brexit buster’ Morocco to UK route
The Port of Poole in Dorset is expecting its first delivery via a new direct shipping route from Tangier in Morocco, which was established by United Seaways. A shipment of 100 freights of organic seasonal fruit and vegetables is shortly scheduled northbound while the route will run once per week and largely comprise dry and […]
