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PODCAST: TIACA's Air Cargo Forum | Leadership changes and capacity concerns

In this bonus episode of The Loadstar Podcast, we catch up with Loadstar publisher Alex Lennane, fresh from Miami, where she attended TIACA's Air Cargo Forum (ACF). Ms Lennane shares her key takeaways from the event, including the atmosphere on the ground, major leadership changes across the air cargo industry, and what these handovers could mean for the sector's future. We also explore the biggest issue on delegates' minds, with capacity emerging as a key concern, alongside some of the other talking points and industry gossip from the event. From Glyn Hughes's final ACF as TIACA director general to the latest developments in air cargo leadership, Alex brings us up to speed on the conversations shaping the industry. Watch the episode on YouTube and subscribe so you never miss an update!

EXCLUSIVE: CargoWise customs message delays leave forwarders waiting for clearance

CargoWise users handling British and Japanese customs declarations suffered messaging delays on Wednesday, while the backlog had been fully cleared the following morning. Customer notifications seen by The Loadstar show WiseTech acknowledged an issue affecting message responses at 10.37am on 28 October. At 11.24, it confirmed that GB and Japan customs messaging were "particularly impacted". One UK forwarder said the disruption prevented its team from processing customs entries normally for much of the working day, leaving customers waiting and staff struggling to provide useful information. The forwarder said its biggest concern was the impact on customers, that were "waiting and complaining", adding "while operationally, we had very little we could tell them about when normal service would resume". WiseTech's initial notification said its senior eServices team was investigating backlogs. Subsequent updates at 12.04 and 14.07pm said engineers were working on mitigation, before a 3.51pm notice reported backlogs 'processing slowly'. Customers were instructed not to resubmit messages awaiting replies, as this would worsen the backlog and could cause confusing rejections once both messages were delivered. The forwarder criticised the support and escalation process, saying its team had followed the established reporting route, but received little actionable information as customer complaints mounted. "My concern isn't that a system outage happened, as clearly there will be occasions outside our control. It's whether we have a strong enough escalation and communication process when it does happen," the source said. WiseTech's notices show recovery work continued into the evening. At 8.47pm, the company said the backlog across most queues had been processed, but teams remained 'engaged on the core issue' and working towards full restoration. At 8.33am yesterday, it confirmed that the backlog had been fully processed, and messaging services had recovered. However, it added that teams would continue monitoring while addressing the underlying issue. The notifications span almost 22 hours, between acknowledgement and recovery confirmation, although they do not establish how long individual customers had been affected. The number of users impacted and the root cause remain unclear. The Loadstar has asked WiseTech Global to comment. The disruption follows a separate CargoWise outage reported by The Loadstar in June, when customers in several countries experienced log-in failures and electronic messaging problems. WiseTech subsequently attributed that incident to a faulty data update.

Major liners set to resume all Asia-Europe services through Suez

All the mainline operators look set to resume Suez Canal transits for their Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean services. Taiwan's Evergreen will join its Ocean Alliance partners in doing just that this week, while Yang Ming and South Korea's HMM will join their Premier Alliance partners restarting Suez crossings next month. Linerlytica's report today says Evergreen will send the 16,556 teu Ever Eon and Ever Edit on eastbound Suez transits on the Ocean Alliance's NEU7/CES service on 7 and 11 November, respectively, with the 20,124 teu Ever Gifted on the alliance's MD2 service on 16 November. The Premier Alliance's Asia Mediterranean 1 (MD1) service will resume Suez transits next month, adding a new call at Sokhna to cater for Asia-Red Sea cargo. The revised MD1 rotation will call at Ningbo, Shanghai, Shekou, Singapore, Sokhna, (Suez Canal), Damietta, Ambarli, Izmit, Mersin, Damietta, (via Suez), Singapore, Kaohsiung, and Ningbo, starting with Yang Ming's 11,714 teu YM Trust at Ningbo on 13 November. The revised MD1 will turn in 84 days and will deploy 12 ships of 11,700 to 14,000 teu from Yang Ming, compared with 16 ships on the present Cape route. Shipping lines turned away from Suez and diverted vessels round the Cape of Good Hope in late 2023, after the Houthis began attacking vessels in response to Israel's conflict with Palestine. In recent months, vessel capacity constraints, and competitive pressures following a temporary easing of regional security risks, have convinced shipping lines to resume Suez crossings. Israeli carrier Zim is the only major shipping line sticking to the Cape route, possibly due to its nationality. HMM's spokesperson told The Loadstar South Korea's flagship carrier had assessed the risks before deciding to resume Suez transits. She said: "This matter was decided and agreed upon from a Premier Alliance perspective, following a comprehensive review of market conditions and safety aspects." Linerlytica said: "All three main carrier alliances, along with MSC, are set to make a full return to the Suez by Q1 27, leaving Zim as the only main carrier left on the Cape route." The Gemini Cooperation partners, Maersk and Hapah-Lloyd, have also signalled a full Suez resumption by Q1 27, and launched a new Asia-Mediterranean service that passes through the canal. The shortened sailing times do not augur well for Asia-Europe and Asia-Mediterranean rates, however, with the 1 November price hikes failing to gain traction, and further rate declines are expected in the coming weeks, as supply growth is not outpacing growth in demand. With this, shipping lines are also adding more Red Sea calls to capitalise on rising Shanghai-Persian Gulf rates. Evergreen is relaunching its China-Red Sea service on 12 November to coincide with the resumption of its Suez transits. The OGRD service will call at Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Jeddah, Sokhna, Aqaba, Jeddah, Port Klang, and Qingdao. The service will turn in 56 days but will initially only deploy four 7,000-9,000 teu ships, operating on a fortnightly basis starting with the 7,024 teu Ever Superb at Qingdao. MSC has extended its Far East-Indian subcontinent Shikra service to Khor Fakkan in the UAE and Oman's Sohar port, as it capitalises on the high demand and freight rates to the Middle East, despite severe congestion at these ports. The first Khor Fakkan call was made on 18 October, by the 24,346 teu MSC Micol under the new Shikra rotation that calls at Dalian, Xingang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Singapore, Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Khor Fakkan, Sohar, and Dalian. The extended service will turn in 15 weeks, using up to 15 14,000-24,000 teu ships. The largest of them will call at the western Indian ports as well as Khor Fakkan and Sohar. These ships will face severe delays, especially at Khor Fakkan, with waiting times of more than two weeks to berth.