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News Desk


www.bifa.org Ian Matheson, from Impress Communications, reviews some recent news that might impact on Members’ business


months of 2016. However, trade then enjoyed record year-to-date growth of 3.7% through October, compared with 2018.


The UK-based electric van maker Arrival has secured an £85 million investment from South Korean car firms Hyundai and Kia.


New LCV registrations return to growth in UK


OVERLAND In the UK, new light commercial vehicle (LCV) registrations returned to growth in December following three months of decline, according to the latest figures released in mid-January 2020 by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).


The UK has ratified the e-CMR protocol, allowing national and international transports to and from the UK to be done with digital consignment notes. These permit the use of e-CMRs as a fully accepted alternative to paper consignment notes for national and international transports.


A daily rail service has been introduced from the port of Felixstowe to Maritime Transport’s East Midlands Gateway at Castle Donnington. It caters for ever- growing demand for rail at Felixstowe and follows two new rail services to iPort Rossington and Hams Hall introduced from the port in the latter part of 2019.


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The number of incidents where a vehicle collides with a bridge is at an unacceptable level, according to the recent 2018-2019 annual report of the UK Traffic Commissioners


Highways England announced that the infrastructure put in place for the Operation Brock scheme to keep traffic flowing on Kent’s motorways will be removed. It is no longer considered necessary because the risk of post-Brexit disruption has been reduced.


IN THE AIR Demand for air cargo in November 2019, measured in freight tonne kilometres, decreased 1.1% year- on-year, according to IATA data for global airfreight markets. This was the 13th consecutive month of year- on-year decline in freight volumes.


Heathrow has announced it will launch an eight-week public consultation to finalise its proposals for airport expansion following the recent decision by the UK’s aviation regulator, the CAA, to cap early spending on the project.


ON THE OCEAN Freight rates for exporting containerised shipments from China rose 6.7% on many trade routes in the first week of January 2020, according to the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI). Transport demand fluctuated at high levels due to cargo shipped in huge volumes prior to Lunar New Year.


Vessels redeployed when new larger tonnage has been delivered are pushing down utilisation rates for carriers in spite of some healthy demand growth, says the latest Danish Ship Finance (DSF) report.


Drewry Maritime Research says that a slowdown in new car sales in the USA and the threat of trade war between the country and the EU are casting long shadows over the transatlantic container trade. The analyst adds that after expanding 5.4% in the first half of 2019, westbound transatlantic container shipments increased by just 0.5% in the third quarter – the lowest quarterly growth since the last three


From 1 January 2020, the global upper limit on the sulphur content of ships’ fuel was reduced to 0.5% (down from 3.5%). The reduced limit is mandatory for all ships operating outside certain designated Emission Control Areas, where the limit is already 0.10%. The new regulation intends to substantially reduce harmful sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions from ships. The new limit is part of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from ships (Marpol), a key environmental treaty of the IMO.


Consolidation of container shipping lines over the last seven years has failed to increase freight rates and today’s cargo shippers are paying a lower rate to move containers across the world’s oceans than they were seven years ago, according to information from industry analysts Freightos and Drewry.


After the first containership fire of 2020 in January, global shipping media reported that Chinese authorities have declared that the cause of the blaze on the Cosco Pacific, en route from Port Klang to Jawaharlal Nehru Port, was a shipment of lithium batteries that had been mis-declared as “spare parts and accessories”.


IN THE WAREHOUSE Tritax Symmetry’s 134-acre Symmetry Park Wigan scheme was recommended for approval at Wigan Council’s planning committee in January. The £73 million scheme on Junction 25 of the M6 motorway is set to provide 1.44 million sq ft of logistics employment space, and includes proposals for high-quality logistics buildings. The first two units will be developed speculatively, with construction starting in 2020, with the entire scheme completed by 2027, subject to planning consent.


February 2020


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