The past year has not brought major success to Italian rail freight. The first estimates are counting on a loss of around one million train-kilometres compared to the year prior.
Despite a lull in attacks on shipping this month, Houthi suggestions are that they may resume, despite the Gaza ceasefire announced for Sunday between Israel and Hamas.
Deepsea container carriers, led by Maersk and MSC, have started cutting Asia-Europe rates in the hope of filling their ships during the usual post-Chinese New Year lull.
RailFreight.com recently organised the second edition of the rail freight end-of-year market survey, with dozens of industry players responding and providing their perspectives on how the sector did in 2024 and what to expect in 2025.
The Chinese government’s aim to develop Asian rail networks could be aided by president-elect Trump’s tariff policy, «running counter to the US’s strategic aims», according to the founder of Transport Intelligence (Ti), John Manners-Bell.
Waberer’s International is further expanding its rail freight capacity by acquiring a majority stake in GYSEV CARGO Zrt., Hungary’s second-largest rail transportation provider.
Shippers and ocean carriers on the Asia-Europe trade will be facing vessel delays into February as a raft of issues ranging from holiday port closures, vessel bunching in Asia and labor shortages in Hamburg cause serious port congestion with lengthy ship queues and berth waiting times.
In the first half of 2024, freight rail transport across Europe recorded a decrease in transport performance, reflecting a challenging period for the sector.
After the Red Sea crisis escalated, Christmas decorations delivered via the China-Europe freight trains became essential for Europeans to celebrate the New Year.
«Vessels ‘go dark’ to avoid Houthi attacks,» blared headlines as 2024 kicked in, and commercial shipping very swiftly threw forecasts to the winds as it became apparent that the spate of attacks in the Red Sea region in the closing weeks of 2023 had morphed into a campaign.
Container spot rates on the transpacific trades shot up this week, on the back of a series of mid-December general rate increases (GRIs) that appear to have significantly boosted prices.