The weather report

Race against time for importers as links from Vancouver are re-established

Waterborne Canadian imports from Asia remain under pressure. Traffic links between the port of Vancouver and the Canadian interior are gradually being restored after they were severed by severe flooding, but the situation remains tenuous and a full recovery of cargo flows is still a long way off.
It could get even worse if container truckers serving the port were to move ahead with a threat of industrial action.
Work is progressing …

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Shippers warned against ‘worse-than-average’ US hurricane season

It never rains, but it pours … Shippers are being warned of more supply chain disruption when the hurricane season hits the US in June.
Colorado State University said the “2021 Atlantic basin hurricane season will have above-normal activity”.
“We anticipate an above-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the continental United States coastline and in the Caribbean.”
The academics found there was a near-70% chance of a major hurricane striking somewhere along …

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Why lightning strikes twice as much over shipping lanes

Absolutely fascinating article from Wired which looks at scientific research into lightning patterns that appears to have established a link between where it strikes and the fuel burn of the global shipping fleet. Researchers investigated why there was twice as much lightning activity in parts of the ocean that also happen to be the world’s busiest maritime trade routes, and the answer lies in the way that lightning forms – …

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Drought forces Panama Canal draught restrictions and pushes up rates

El Niño is having a major impact on container traffic through the Panama Canal this year.
From May 28, the canal operator is going to reduce the draught at its Neopanamax locks to 43 feet, the latest in a series of depth reductions that have brought the permitted level down from 50ft at the beginning of the year. 
The region is suffering from a protracted drought that has decimated the water in a lake …

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Carriers making heavy weather of punctuality – but it’s not all their fault

Typhoons and other adverse weather events are playing havoc with carrier schedules, presenting a “major challenge” to the industry as it aims to recover from the record low levels of schedule reliability.
According to Jeremy Nixon, chief executive of Ocean Network Express (ONE), global warming has triggered more adverse and variable weather across key shipping lanes: a “remarkable increase” since 2016 when there were just nine major typhoons in Asia, compared …

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