The post <strong>Australia and UK Announce Historic Free Trade Agreement, Opening New Opportunities for Australian Businesses</strong> appeared first on webfx.
]]>Described as a gold standard trade agreement, the A-UKFTA is hailed as a once-in-a-generation deal that strengthens the relationship between the two nations. With its comprehensive commitments and substantial tariff reductions, this agreement will create new import and export opportunities and aid in the post-COVID-19 recovery for both countries.
Stockwell International welcomes this historic agreement and anticipates the numerous benefits it will bring to its clients and the Australian economy.
Tariff Elimination and Export Opportunities:
The A-UKFTA will eliminate tariffs on over 99% of Australian goods exported to the UK. This removal of tariffs will significantly enhance export opportunities for various sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, and manufactured products such as auto parts, electrical equipment, and cosmetics.
This reduction in trade barriers can translate into cost savings and improved competitiveness for Australian businesses. Stockwell International can help businesses navigate the complexities of customs procedures and ensure compliance with import regulations, facilitating a seamless and efficient import process. Particularly during the upcoming changes.
Savings and Market Access:
With the elimination of tariffs on imports from the UK, Australian businesses can expect savings of approximately $200 million per year. After five years, all UK imports will enter Australia duty-free.
As tariffs are removed, the cost of imported goods decreases, which can positively impact the bottom line for businesses, particularly those relying on imported goods from the UK. Stockwell International can leverage its freight forwarding expertise to optimise logistics, and negotiate competitive shipping rates, to continue supporting businesses to reduce their logistics costs.
Expanded Market Access
The agreement also provides Australian businesses with expanded market access to a wider range of goods and services from the UK. With reduced trade barriers, businesses can explore new products and suppliers and access a larger consumer base.
Streamlined Customs Procedures
The A-UKFTA also aims to simplify customs procedures, reducing hurdles and delays associated with importing goods from the UK. Stockwell International will continue to support businesses by handling the necessary documentation, customs clearance processes, and compliance requirements associated with imports from the UK.
Stockwell would like to remind clients that some additional documentation is required under the FTA to ensure your goods meet the rules of origin. For more information on rules of origin and to see if your goods are eligible under the agreement you can view DFAT’s guide or visit the DFAT website.
As the implementation date of 31 May 2023 approaches, Stockwell International is ready to assist clients by continuing to provide outstanding customer service and knowledge leadership in logistics solutions.
If you’re a business or existing Stockwell customer with questions about the trade agreement or would like to know how these changes may affect your business, contact our friendly team at [email protected]
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]]>The post How to prepare your supply chain for the impacts of Chinese New Year appeared first on webfx.
]]>Chinese New Year will commence on January 22, 2023, and end on February 5, 2023. Nevertheless, many production sites will begin to decelerate and close down up to a month prior as this significant tradition is the only holiday where people get to spend extended time with their families.
As many ports, factories and production sites close, it can disrupt supply chains and impact the logistics of businesses. Preparing ahead of time will allow you to minimise the disruption of delays in your supply chain management system.
Factory closures halt goods delivered from factories to ports, and ports will function at a lower capacity due to the seasonal shipping rush from Chinese New Year closures. Ocean freight services may be full or overbooked earlier than usual, causing challenges in securing container space as carriers will be in high demand. As a result, this will increase rates for freight and other delivery services in and out of China.
If you want to avoid disruptions in your supply chain, placing orders well before the Chinese New Year is best. By preparing in advance and being mindful of deadlines, you can ensure your freight delivery runs smoothly.
Consult with your manufacturer and factories ahead of time on closures and final shipment dates to confirm that your supplies will reach you before the holiday. By booking your ocean freight at least three weeks in advance, you will have time to plan for any potential production delays and avoid disruptions in your supply chain.
The ramifications of delays in shipping and manufacturing can be long-lasting. If you’re receiving shipments from China, it’s best to communicate closely with your supplier. The dates of these shipments can change in the weeks leading up to Chinese New Year, as factories are working at full capacity. Ensure you have alternatives, such as organising inventory to avoid shortages due to delayed or slow shipments.
With proper planning and communication, you can prepare your supply chain for the impacts of the Chinese New Year, ensuring that you can continue serving your customers during this time. By working with freight services providers, freight forwarders, port authorities and logistics experts, you can mitigate any potential disruptions and ensure seamless operations during this period of production closures.
Need to get your stock moving quickly? Talk to Stockwell about our air freight options.
Our connections with major global airlines provide us with a wide range of freight forward solutions allowing us to move cargo fast and efficiently.
Having a trusted and reliable logistics partner with the expertise and resources to help clear any complications during the Chinese New Year period will not only ease seasonal shipping stress but ensure that your products reach you and your customers on time.
Get in touch with the Stockwell International team today, we can help with your freight booking needs, and the in-house booking office can arrange all your FCL movements in the lead up to and around Chinese New Year.
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]]>The post End of Financial Year Update – 2021/22 appeared first on webfx.
]]>We have had relative stability over the last few months, the first in a very long time. I believe this relative stability is short lived and we should buckle back down for some more rate turbulence.
Shanghai has fully re-opened and there is now a backlog to clear. Currently there are 260,000 TEU to be cleared out just as peak season starts. This will more notably effect Europe and the USA.
USA continue to have chassis shortages, dwell delays and like all of us, driver, and staff shortages. Shipping lines have notified more LA omissions so more delays will be experienced. Europe are struggling with capacity as they hold containers bound for Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine. Along with the current strike action in UK it seems no port is safe from its own form of pain.
As an industry we are completely exhausted and over the short-term rate validities and the disappearance of long-term contracts. Online portals are hard work and have delivered nothing but lower levels of service and WAY more issues. Schedules are not reliable, and delays and changes are adding to the additional work operators already have.
Additionally, landside charges are also increasing regularly, empty parks remain congested and continue to experience issues and of course let’s not forget fuel increases!!
Stockwell’s have worked hard to try and put contingencies in place for all supply chain pain points. In response to less available contracts and less space we opened our booking office in April. Just this week we have expanded with new booking operations staff. This area of our business just focuses on space and rates. In just a short time we have seen a great amount of success with our booking office for clients. Our team plans, finds and secures the best and most suitable booking slot for our clients making sure it remains competitive. To get a container on a vessel is taking triple the amount of work (and time) so we will be separating freight bookings and customer service to ensure that they have time to continue to offer the best possible customer service to our clients. Our customers won’t notice the difference as our customer service team always remain their point of contact.
In summary, it’s been a year!! Its exhausting, challenging, frustrating and at times heart wrenching. Shipping lines continue to have a monopoly on our market, can do what they want, when they want, without recourse or justification and forwarders take on all the fallout and additional charges.
It is good to see customers educating themselves to all of the issues and forming stronger partnerships with forwarders rather than blaming them, working transparently and closely ensures both parties needs are met and there is an understanding on the common goals.
In closing don’t forget to start your Christmas ordering now, just in time shipping is for dummies and is always late and as we get closer to Christmas freight prices will increase.
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]]>The post Ocean Network Express Ready to Launch in 2018 appeared first on webfx.
]]>According to reports, the trio say they expect to save ¥50bn ($440m) in costs in the first fiscal year ending 31 March 2019m and thereafter ¥110bn a year.
The synergies will come from personnel consolidation, combining agencies and subsidiaries and a lowest-common-denominator-reduction strategy on port costs and service provider fees.
In their traditional New Year messages to staff today, the presidents of K Line, MOL and NYK, Eizo Murakami, Junichiro Ikeda and Tadaaki Naito, spoke of the advantages of the integration and a “turning point” for their companies.
Mr Murakami said the “spinning-off” of K Line’s container business would “deliver the advantages of expansion of scale”. He expected ONE would “achieve greater competitiveness by bringing to bear the best practices of the three companies”.
Mr Ikeda said the “new business venture” would be a “major turning point for MOL and mark a new beginning”. He added that the MOL group was “transforming itself into an enterprise capable of generating steady profits”.
Mr Naito advised his workforce that the container business integration, along with the acquisition of Yusen Logistics, were “major decisions that will shape the future of the NYK group”.
He said ONE, in which NYK has a 38% stake – compared with the 31% each held by K Line and MOL – would “aim to commence services from April” and that “the difficult work of bringing the company to life is continuing”.
After the merger, ONE will rank sixth in terms of global ranking by capacity with its combined 1.48m teu on 234 ships, comfortably above Evergreen’s 1.1m teu and just behind Hapag-Lloyd’s 1.56m teu. However, with a combined orderbook of some 187,000 teu, ONE could leapfrog Hapag-Lloyd, which has no ships on order.
Nevertheless, a primary function for the new ONE ship planners will be to reduce costs by cutting out duplicated sailings, and there is likely to be a number of charter ships off-hired in due course.
(Reference: https://theloadstar.co.uk/three-japanese-carriers-looking-forward-coming-together-one/)
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]]>The post At the Frontline of the Hanjin Failure appeared first on webfx.
]]>It was a day like any other day, except it turned into a crisis like no other. A crisis that had impacted numerous countries, businesses and individuals. A moment in time where the 7th biggest shipping line in the world went into administration and 141 of their vessels around the world stopped or were seized. Cargo worth 14 billion dollars held hostage at sea or in ports they were never destined for.
There is no disaster plan in place for this scenario, and no amount of preparation could have prepared the shipping or freight forwarding community for the impact of such an event. The devastation on the front line for customers was heart breaking and the costs to recover containers in foreign ports unobtainable for most.
No one saw the effects this had on everyday business people more than I. I sat on the front line trying to assist clients who had cargo abandoned and or stuck on vessels that would not berth for fear of being arrested. I felt their anxiety, anger, desperation, frustration and complete loss for a situation they had no reason to believe would EVER happen.
Hanjin has a lot to explain still even months after this event. Did any Hanjin representatives ever publicly apologise? No one goes broke over night and administration certainly does not creep up on a company. Even though our lust for low freight rates has made us blind to the fact that these low freight rates were unsustainable. It is the shipping lines that dictate rates in consortium with each other. We may be have been and continue to be the beneficiaries of rates that have bottomed out, but it was the decision of many to increase ship builds at a time when it was economically redundant.
As a forwarder I worked tirelessly to assist my clients who were stuck with CIF shipments they had no control over. The amount of people affected was extremely overwhelming. As each vessel stopped and more people were affected it just kept escalating into a nightmare that refused to go away for me or my clients. Each vessel, each port, each stevedore, requiring different rules and different amounts to pay, on top of refundable bonds being charged by Hanjin. Lending a hand to clients needing bond letters and advice is what I was concentrating on, including negotiations in other countries where goods were abandoned. Trying to get containers out before the window of opportunity closed was an exercise in patients, foreign languages, foreign diplomacy and many, many late nights.
In that time I fielded 100s of calls, spoke to no less than 9 different solicitors and amazingly kept my cool with the Hanjin staff left to battle it out. However, there was always that “worst case scenario”. At the beginning of the crisis, Hanjin informed us that some of our clients goods had successfully transhipped and we of course were ecstatic, we were given tracking details, bond invoices with tranship vessel names, and eagerly awaited their arrival, only to find out that those containers were NEVER shipped on board. A tactic to put us off, perhaps, but it was just another “what the hell” scenario in a sea of them. At times when I was speaking to clients it would have made us all feel better if we could have just cried it out.
Even months after this event I am still dealing with solicitors but I thank my clients, the solicitors, the insurance brokers and the forwarding community in general, because we all came out the other side, with therapy of course, but we made it. Let us hope that shipping rates recover just a little in order to stabilise what has been and continues to be an extremely volatile period, but freight rate volatility is for another blog topic.
Written by Angela Gambell (Director Sales & Marketing)
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]]>The post The Outlook for Logistics appeared first on webfx.
]]>Looking forward, some of the World Bank’s expectations for 2017 are:
Main points regarding the logistics industry are first, that unsurprisingly the expectation of slightly higher economic growth in 2017 is good news, but don’t count in any way on the global economy to deliver a more favorable environment in 2017 than 2016, as more certainty surrounds these forecasts than in previous years.
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