The Northeast Passage through the Arctic is by far the shortest maritime route from Europe to Asia. This cold northern sea route from China to Northern Europe is about 40% shorter than the Suez Canal route and about a two week savings in transit time. (See link for more: Cargo-Partner/Facts, “A shortcut through the Arctic”)

Global port congestion is at unprecedented levels contributing to historic highs in shipping rates. Drewry consultancy is now currently forecasting both spot and contract global container rates for 2021 at a 126% increase compared to 2020. Greg Miller at American Shipper also points out that delivery reliability has “collapsed” together with declining service quality, and explains that “the true COVID-era inflation rate for ocean shipping, when adjusted upward to account for lower quality, is much higher than the rise in freight rates.” (Link: “Shadow Inflation: Shipping costs are up way more than you think”, October 22,2021, by Greg Miller)

See link for full list of Companies with their announcements, including Google, American Express, Apple, Ford, Microsoft and many others.

A recent survey provided by Owl Labs this fall provides seven key findings, revealing the most current factors related to the emerging trend of the hybrid work option (a combination of both remote and in-office work for an individual employee.) As the hybrid approach grows as a new normal, some of the survey findings include: about 50% of workers continue as full-time in-office; new remote collaboration technologies; and the number one reason why employees return to the in-office work environment. See the full survey at Owl Labs. (Link below: “Key Findings From Our Hybrid Work Survey: Fall 2021”September 16, 2021, by Kayt Racz)

According to American Shipper, a record high of about 70 ships are waiting off the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles with even more ships expected for arrival in the days ahead. The cargo waiting onboard is estimated at about 432,909 TEUs, which represents more than month’s volume of containers processed at the Port of Long Beach (see video). The current extreme ship congestion well surpasses the last peak of 40 containerships this past February. See more data, maps and charts at American Shipper. (Link below: “Just how many containers of cargo are stuck off California’s coast?” September 21, 2021, by Greg Miller)

According to a report from Drewry this week, global container shortages are expected to continue in 2022.  The ongoing problem is attributed to several compounding factors including extended transit times, the continued residual effect of blank sailings in 2020 resulting in “many containers …. in the wrong place”, and continued increasing port congestion, especially in North America and Europe. (See link to Lloyd’s Loading List, “Little relief in sight for container equipment shortages”, Friday, 17 September 2021)