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Ocean Shipping Rates Hit Two Year Low

Understanding Harbor Maintenance Fees and Merchandising Processing Fees

Why You May See Additional Fees on Your Shipment Invoice Although some imports may be duty-free, this doesn’t mean they’re free of all associated fees. Two small taxes, Harbor Maintenance Fees and Merchandise Processing Fees, are often overlooked and may come as a surprise when you receive your invoice. Though small, it’s important to include these values when running calculations and preparing for shipments. Read on to learn more about what exactly these fees are and how they apply to your products. Harbor Maintenance Fee Established in 1987, the Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF) is assessed…
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SiShips Adds Full Container Rates from Europe

Partnership with European Group Provides Expertise, Instant Quotes for Major EU Ports   We are pleased to announce that we’ve expanded the auto quoting function of our software SiShips to now include European shipping lanes. With booking available directly through our system, auto quotes are an efficient way to ensure you’re getting the best rates for your shipment and can save you and your business valuable time and money. “Expanding our instant quoting service to Europe means increased carrier options, capacity, and rate transparency – all at our customer’s fingertips,” says Sheltered International founder Andrew…
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Using SiShips’s New Deadline Tracking Feature

Managing Holiday Deadlines, Port Congestion With Deadline Tracking With the holidays quickly approaching, conditions continue to deteriorate at US gateway ports. Congestion has already significantly impacted ports around the country, particularly along the west coast, subsequently driving up trucking rates and drastically slowing delivery times. To be expected around the holidays, surging ocean freight demand is placing the system under even greater stress. This year, however, this has been compounded by equipment shortages, overbooks, blank sailings, and existing port congestion. To combat these obstacles, we’ve added a new Deadline Tracking feature to our SiShips software.…
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How Imports Have Been Impacted by COVID-19 in 2020

Understanding How the Pandemic Has Affected Freight Forwarding This Year and Anticipating Future Changes It’s no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the global supply chain. From transportation to manufacturing to distribution and retail, all industries have experienced new challenges this year – challenges that will likely continue through at least Chinese New Year. To help you understand the factors that may impact your shipment, we’ve broken down how COVID-19 has affected shipping logistics this year so far. Changes to Production and Demand As COVID-19 spread around the world, international lockdowns halted production…
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Sheltered International Gets a New Look for 2021

Refreshed SiShips Software, Updated Logo Are Just the First of Big Changes Coming for 2021 At Sheltered International, we believe that challenges inspire innovation. Although 2020 has had some unexpected obstacles, we’ve also been challenged to continually improve our software and deliver the best possible experience for our clients. As we enter 2021, we’re striving to maintain that momentum. That’s why we’re very excited to announce that we’ll be launching a software refresh for SiShips on January 1, 2021, featuring a brand-new logo and custom designs developed in partnership with our new design team in…
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Reliability of Containerships Drops to New Lows

Understanding the Effect of Tradeline Congestion on Containership Reliability 2020 disrupted the global supply chain in unpredictable ways and it appears 2021 has begun to follow suit. Containership reliability numbers have plummeted causing average shipment delays to increase. Within this post, we will discuss the cause and spread of this decline to ensure you understand the possible delays in current shipping schedules.  A Sharp Decrease in Reliability  During the last half of 2020, there was a widely apparent decline in the reliability of containerships arriving on-time. For the last 5 months, the reliability steadily declined…
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Shipping Delays

Congestion Clear Could Start Spring for Los Angeles-Long Beach

With Near-Record Container Volume Reached LA-LB Ports Could See a Clear as Soon as April   Even with improved productivity last month, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are facing backlogs and extreme terminal congestion that they believe will continue well into spring. This congestion has been ongoing for the last 6 months.  The near-record container volumes they are experiencing are expected to go into the spring but terminal operators are hopeful that the vessel backlogs will return to near normal rates between April and June.  COVID-19 Effects Linger To be able for…
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Biden Administration U.S. Trade War

The Biden Administration on the US-China Trade War

U.S. Trade Representative on the Trade War   All eyes are on President Joe Biden’s administration, and specifically newly elected U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai, in anticipation of the United States’ next steps in the US-China trade war. Tai, confirmed at the end of February, made it clear that the administration is determined to achieve structural changes in China’s economy by “exploring all our options”. She intends to accomplish this through intentional systematic processes and a regulatory-driven approach. Tai exemplified these qualities during her confirmation hearing when she answered senators’ questions with control and displayed…
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Following Cargo Loss ONE Apus Sets Sail

Months After Cargo Loss Due to Foul Weather, ONE Apus Embarks on Journey to Long Beach After departing from Kobe, Japan following a journey to remove hundreds of damaged and dislodged containers, the ONE Apus is expected to arrive in Long Beach, CA on or around March 30th. This journey stems from last year’s cargo loss during the ship’s trip from China to Long Beach, California, when an estimated 1,816 containers were lost overboard due to inclement weather. It was estimated that hundreds more collapsed on deck.  Photo courtesy of Seatrade Maritime ONE Apus experienced…
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Shipping Delays

Ever Given Dislodged from Suez Canal

After Days of Suffering a Complete Blockage, The Suez Canal is No Longer Harboring a Ship Across its Waters The Ever Given containership was dislodged this morning and is now once again floating in the right direction. Tug boats worked hours to get this ship freed from the canal, but it was with the help of high tide that the ship was finally freed. It is now being towed towards Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake, where it will undergo an inspection. “The outcome of that inspection will determine whether the ship can resume its scheduled service.…
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