Other sources report that incidents were slightly down again in 2020, although still above the average of previous years. Smaller fires and near misses unfortunately occur regularly - on average, a fire was reported around fortnightly in 2020.

The size of the ship plays a not insignificant role: the larger the number of containers on board, the higher the probability that a container will ignite and start a fire.

Often, non-declaration or misdeclaration of dangerous goods leads to fires. 

Our dangerous goods specialists are very familiar with dangerous goods and are always up to date with the latest knowledge. So entrust Lamprecht Transport Ltd. with your hazardous goods transports with confidence!

In addition to the two measures mentioned below, the ban on P 2 C aircraft and the reduction of turnaround time, the following new measures apply: 

Aircraft crews are no longer allowed to stay overnight in China, they must leave the same day/night. No overnight stays for crews and aircraft. This means that airlines will have to use two crews. The direct and immediate consequence is that airlines are cancelling flights because they have a serious crew/storage problem. Shanghai airport, for example, has only used just over 33% of its capacity in recent weeks.

All airside and terminal workers are subject to "Triple 7" checks, i.e. :

a.    7 days work and stay in a designated hotel, no return home.
b.    7 days quarantine in a designated hotel different from the above.
c.    7 days quarantine at home.

This has shrunk the workforce by almost 50%! Some airlines have decided to stop carrying import cargo to Shanghai so that priority can be given to loading export cargo. Others are not accepting export cargo to give priority to import cargo! 

All these measures are expected to continue for a few more weeks. The airline industry will continue to be severely affected. Less capacity means higher tariffs! Air cargo volumes have more or less reached the same level as before the pandemic, but capacity has dropped considerably. 

Ningbo is China's second largest container port after Shanghai . The volume handled is more than twice as high as in the seaport of Hamburg. There are currently around 30 container ships waiting outside the port. 

On a positive note, the number of pirate attacks on the high seas decreased significantly in the first half of the year. According to surveys by the International Maritime Bureau, there were 68 pirate attacks compared to 98 incidents in the same period last year. However, the issue of piracy remains acute among seafarers on board ships, who are already facing great hardship during the Corona period.

Each individual sea freight shipment must be specifically treated to the standards set by the Australian authorities.

Unlike Australia, there are no regulations for individual shipments or HS codes on the part of the New Zealand authorities, so it is expected that all loaded containers will be subjected to heat treatment. However, there are exceptions to this which do not require treatment, e.g. pharmaceutical products, textiles, foodstuffs etc.

Your sea freight contact at Lamprecht Transport Ltd. will be happy to provide you with detailed information. You can also find further information under these links for Australia and New Zealand.

A total of 1.8 billion passengers flew on scheduled flights in 2020, 60.2% less than in the previous year. The most frequent international travellers were US citizens (45.7 million), followed by Britons (40.8 million) and Germans (30.8 million).

One million jobs are said to have been lost in the airline industry. 

However, the air freight business declined by only 21.4% worldwide.