What’s going on in freight

Risk at sea is rising again, with Iran claiming mine strikes in the Hormuz lane the US calls clear and a drone-hit box ship sinking off Bulgaria. At the same time ocean spot rates are slipping on the transpacific just before 1 November increases, while air cargo, carrier profits and US LTL pricing show cost and fuel doing most of the work.

War, chokepoints and disruption

• Iran said on 29 October that four tankers hit mines in or near the Strait of Hormuz, three of them on the southern lane the US has encouraged ships to use, a day after the US military said it had cleared key routes. UKMTO reported a projectile hit on an outbound tanker the same day. (CBS News, Iran International) Our story →
• The drone-hit container ship Contship Jet sank around midnight into 29 October about 17 nautical miles off Cape Kaliakra, Bulgaria, and all 421 containers were lost; all 18 crew were rescued. The Media Line reports the ship was chartered by ZIM. (Israel Hayom) Our story →

Rates and markets

• Drewry’s World Container Index fell 3% to $4,429 per 40ft on 29 October, led by a 6% drop in Shanghai–Los Angeles to $7,514. Drewry expects transpacific rates to fall again next week and says it is uncertain the November Asia–Europe increases will hold. (Drewry, Linerlytica) Our story →
• Global air cargo demand rose 7.7% in September against capacity up 2.7%, IATA said on 29 October, with Asia–North America up 17.0% and jet fuel 103.4% higher than a year earlier. (IATA, Air Cargo News) Our story →

Tariffs, customs and policy

• From Sunday 1 November the EU charges a €2 “Union handling fee” per item on goods sold at a distance from outside the EU, on top of the €3 flat duty on low-value parcels. Estonia’s customs board says it is charged on each item line in the declaration. (Lookuptax, Dimweigh) Our story →

Forwarders, carriers and deals

• COSCO Shipping Holdings said third-quarter net income rose 81% to 17.2bn yuan (about $2.6bn), its biggest earnings jump in two years, as transpacific sailings and long Cape routings lifted earnings. (gCaptain) Our story →
• US LTL carriers’ Q3 results show fuel doing most of the price work: ex-fuel revenue per hundredweight rose 5.1% at Old Dominion, 3.6% at XPO and 0.3% at FedEx Freight, while XPO’s shipments per day rose 5.8%. (XPO, FedEx Freight) Our story →

Coming up

• 1 November: EU €2 handling fee starts; carriers’ November FAK rate filings take effect.
• 3 November: US midterm elections.
• Around 19 November: Drewry’s week-47 World Container Index.
• Around end of November: IATA October air cargo data.
• 1 December: Italy’s national €2 parcel charge due.