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News in Brief Podcast | Week 43 | Reliability, rates and port fee delay

How reliable is container shipping right now, and what are the biggest factors impacting on-time performance? This week on News in Brief, Xeneta Chief Analyst Peter Sand joins us to unpack the latest schedule reliability data, explore how different carrier alliance strategies are performing, and examine the ongoing impact of port congestion on capacity and sailing schedules. We also discuss the proposed delay to US port fees on China-linked vessels, what it means for shippers, and take a look at the latest rate trends as the market heads out of Golden week and towards the Thanksgiving and Christmas peak season.

Aerion appoints Ceva head of airfreight procurement

Aerion has appointed former Ceva's head of airfreight procurement and carrier management, César Penciolelli, as its new head of global airline partnerships and commercial development. Penciolelli took up the role at the start of October and will work across Aerion's various businesses with a particular focus on airline partners where he will "strengthen dialogue with airlines, understand their priorities and connect them with the relevant expertise and capabilities available across the group". Penciolelli began his career in strategy and operations consulting, including positions at Strategy&, part of PwC, and EY. He later joined Ceva Logistics, first within the group chief operating officer's team and subsequently leading global air procurement and carrier management within the air product organisation. Adrien Thominet, chairman of holding company Quito Group and founder of Aerion, said: "César's experience and understanding of airline partnerships make him particularly well suited to this role. "His transversal position will strengthen the way we connect our capabilities around our airline partners and remain closely aligned with their priorities." The Quito Group includes ECS Group, Global GSA Group, TCE, CargoTech, Mail and More and HealthC'Air and created Aerion as a top-level platform that can sell across the various businesses. "Having worked closely with airlines from the buying side, I understand the importance of strong relationships, clear priorities and solutions that respond to real operational needs," Penciolelli added. "Aerion brings together a wide range of expertise. My role is to work across these businesses and with our teams to make those capabilities as relevant and accessible as possible to our airline partners."

Cyclone Arnab brings more disruption along India's eastern coast

Vessel-handling services have been suspended or restricted across several major ports along India's east coast since Monday, due to Cyclone Arnab warnings. The severe storm made landfall on India's eastern coastline this morning, bringing huge swells and gale winds across the region, according to reports. One key gateway port that suspended all operations until further notice was Visakhapatnam, a critical feeder port for Maersk's coverage out of India's east coast, especially for cargo moving in and out of Kolkata. Kuehne+Nagel told customers: "Potentially impacted container ports include Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram, and Krishnapatnam, all of which have received cyclone or storm warnings as Arnab approaches India's east coast." Industry sources in India believe the port suspensions could inevitably cause congestion and delays to freight flow, but the scale will only be known when terminals fully reopen. "Visakhapatnam terminals are slowly getting back to business, in tandem with government guidelines and updates," one carrier official told The Loadstar. "The ports were told to keep operations suspended as part of contingency planning." According to the latest updates, the cyclonic storm claimed three lives in India's Andhra Pradesh State, in addition to causing extensive damage to residential properties and utility installations in the region. Several Indian ports had already been experiencing operational pressures due to widespread vessel bunching tied to delayed arrivals from Asian origin ports, and "the cyclone disruption is another blow to the supply chains", said a Visakhapatnam-based ship agent. Visakhapatnam handled 302,926 teu year-to-date through September, edging down from 308,861 teu year on year, according to data collected by The Loadstar. Meanwhile, the authorities in Bangladesh issued similar cautionary alerts for ports as the cyclone threatened gusty weather over the northern Bay of Bengal and adjoining coastal areas. "Cyclonic Storm Arnab has formed over the east-central and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal and is forecast to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm before making landfall along the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts on 28 October," London-based port agency service provider Inchcape Shipping Services told customers. Congestion and operational disruption issues are not limited to the Indian coast. K+N also reported an average vessel waiting time of two days across terminals in Sri Lanka's Colombo port, "due to ongoing transhipment congestion, missed feeder connections, vessel omissions and routing changes", the company said.