Loadstar Podcast | Jan 2024 | Suez Canal crisis, rates, implications. And, box tracking takes a giant leap forward

The Suez Canal crisis is sending shock waves up and down global supply chains as containerships are forced to re-route around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid Houthi terrorist attacks near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

In this episode, host and producer Mike King finds out how much of the global container fleet has been effectively taken off the table due to diversions, and discovers what this is doing to freight rates, contract negotiations and transit times.

Mike and guests also look at how all this plays out in the lead-in to the Chinese New Year factory closures during February, and take a longer-term view on what might happen to ocean supply chains, should disruptions continue. Is ‘Suez’ the biggest shock to global logistics and trade since Covid-19?

Mike is also joined by senior executives from Hapag-Lloyd and Nexxiot to discuss the latest giant leap in container monitoring and tracking. And, finally, as part of a wide-ranging discussion on logistics technology, he asks The Loadstar’s Charlie Bartlett exactly what shippers want from the latest cargo monitoring technology.

Guests:

Olaf Habert, director of container operations, Hapag-Lloyd

Stefan Kalmund, CEO, Nexxiot

Peter Sand, chief analyst, Xeneta

Charlie Bartlett, technology reporter, The Loadstar

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Freight rates are exclusively provided by Xeneta – the leading ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform transforming the shipping and logistics industry.

Credits: Created, edited and produced by Mike King & Associates for The Loadstar.