As we approach the end of the year, here is a look back at some of the major news events of 2021 for the freight and logistics industry. From the Ever Given blockage, the ports congestion, vessels, containers and drivers shortage, the record freight rates and the effects of new virus variants in the supply chains. Below is a selection of some of the most representative circumstances occurring since January and right until these last days of the year. We could have done a record listing since this 2021 could be considered one of the most agitated and turbulent years of the last decades.
January
Maersk boxship reaches Mexico refuge port after Pacific container loss
Ocean freight rate volatility unprecedented look out for ripples warning
LA Ports so crowded drift zones used for first time since 2004
February
Containership schedule reliability at lowest level since records began
March
Suez Canal blockage is delaying an estimated 400 million an hour in goods
Trans-pacific ocean market chaos to continue
April
May
Shippers face high air cargo rates for some time yet
Air cargo volumes back to normal, rates still go up but drop 12 year on year
June
Two reasons for capacity crunch
Yantian China Port covid charts data congestion ships supply chain
July
Global supply chains buckle, virus variant disasters strike
Containership companies show record delays in 2021
Record high ocean freight rates forces companies to explore new options
August
Africa the big loser as global liner patterns shift to focus on more profitable east west tradelanes
Forwarders angst as carriers switch vessels onto the best paying tradelanes
Europe’s road freight market short of more than 400K drivers
Capacity crunch elevates air cargo rates in August
Carriers battle typhoon delays in Shanghai, Ningbo
September
Power shortages in China hits homes and factories prompting global supply fears
Hapag Lloyd joins CMA CGM in freezing spot reates
Contract focus behind carrier moves to hold spot market hikes
Shipping industry willing to pay for premium on “green fuels”
October
Cyclone Closes One of World’s Busiest Ports, Creating Ship Traffic Jam
Airlines Losses Reduce but Challenges Continue – Cumulative $201 Billion Losses for 2020-2022
Container shipping profits in 2021-2022 to hit $300 billion
November
Congestion hits air cargo flows, not seen it this bad in 25 years
December
Port congestion cascades into intra Asia services disrupting container traffic
Freight cost between China, US likely to hit new high amid Omicron breakout
Expect more shipping chaos as Omicron forces transport workers to quit
Maersk hands the baton to MSC at top of the liner rankings
Maersk forwarder clients left in limbo as carrier restricts them to spot deals
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