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Air & Sea Freight Between the Falkland Islands and the UK

Airbus A350F first flight set for 29 September

Airbus has confirmed the maiden flight of its A350 freighter prototype is due to take place on 29 September. The aircraft manufacturer announced the date of the flight today in a post on social media platform X. Airbus said the A350F take off on Tuesday would be live-streamed, although the flight would be dependent on the aircraft fulfilling all operational requirements, plus suitable weather conditions. The company had recently confirmed it was in the final stages of preparing its A350F freighter prototype for flight tests Joël Rocker, chief engineer for the A350F, said in a video that the first aircraft will undergo checks in the flight line before moving to flight testing, and the second aircraft will follow the same process. Rocker said that "the aircraft will be prepared for the flight line before being handed over to the flight test community for the flight test period". He added that the second aircraft is also now in the final assembly line cycle. Last month, Airbus unveiled the livery of its first A350 freighter on a social media post, with the aircraft decked out to look like a parcel. The airframer is working towards its goal of starting to deliver the new generation model to customers by the end of next year. The company is targeting simultaneous certification from EASA and the FAA under the latest Amendment 27 safety regulations. The airframer said earlier this year that certification is targeted by the middle of next year.

FMC leaves carriers facing open-ended exposure to charge complaints

A potentially significant change at the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has gone largely under the radar, after the regulator confirmed there is no three-year statute of limitations on charge complaints relating to fees assessed on or after 16 June 2022 - leaving carriers exposed to claims that might otherwise have been time-barred. Charge complaints - a mechanism allowing those holding an interest in affected cargoes to challenge carrier fees deemed unfair - experienced a massive post-pandemic uptick as shippers sought recompense for what they saw as unjust detention and demurrage practices. As one source active in litigation told The Loadstar, with much of the activity taking place between 2021 and 2023, the statute of limitations was coming up for claims to be lodged before they timed out, meaning the change could prove a blessing, particularly for SMEs. And yet, outside a few legal circles, little mention has been made of a change that could prevent the expected rush of claims from shippers seeking to lodge cases before the three-year deadline. "From now on, there's no statute of limitations," the source said. They added: "The statute of limitations has always been three years. There's no statute of limitations on charge complaints now, so presumably in 2032 you could go to something from July of 2022 and go after them for it." But ending the statute of limitations is just one part of a far broader push to even out the playing field for SMEs, with the FMC no longer limiting the route through which charge complaints can be made, allowing them to be filed through small claims and formal processes. While this route had been open to shippers and others looking to bring a claim, those who chose not to follow the specific charge complaint mechanism lost the benefit of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, in which the carrier had to prove the reasonableness of the charge. "Now, no matter which route you choose to take, the burden of proof falls with the carrier who must prove that the amount they have charged is legitimate, and they must do that whatever medium the complaint is lodged through," the source added. Specialist supply chain law firm Husch Blackwell issued a note suggesting that, given the changes, shippers and NVOCCs review their D&D assessments and "ensure they maintain thorough invoice and bill of lading records to preserve potential claims". Sources have told The Loadstar repeatedly over the years that smaller shippers had been forced to make a calculation when it came to the FMC, with the cost of bringing a claim often itself more expensive than what they were ever likely to recoup. With this latest change, shippers have further evidence that, despite initial expectations that the Trump administration would bow to corporate interests, that appears to be the case only when those interests are waving an American flag.

Box shipping reliability the worst since 2022 - 'a new normal', says DP World

Global container shipping reliability is at its lowest level for four years, as the congestion in Asia continues to disrupt liner operations. According to Sea-Intelligence, schedule reliability fell by 5.9 percentage points month on month in August, to 49.9%, marking the second consecutive monthly decline. The analyst said: "In the backdrop of severe port congestion in Asia, global schedule has declined sharply month on month for the second consecutive month... This is the lowest point since September 2022." The deterioration was reflected in vessel delays: the average for late-arriving ships increased 0.6 days, month on month, to 6.81 days - the highest since March 2022, and 1.92 days higher than at this time last year. Among the 13 largest carriers tracked by Sea-Intelligence, Maersk recorded the best schedule reliability last month, with 67.3% on-time arrivals, followed by Hapag-Lloyd's 61.5%. MSC and CMA CGM recorded reliability of 55.2% and 50.6%, respectively, while Wan Hai was the least-reliable of the group, at just 23.2%. No top-13 carrier improved its reliability over the month. ONE recorded the smallest decline, 3.5 percentage points, while PIL suffered the largest decline, of 10.1 points. Year on year, all 13 carriers recorded proved less reliable. Maersk's decline of 8.9 percentage points was the smallest, while PIL's 31.1 point fall was the largest - one of 12 carriers to record a double-digit year-on-year decline. The deterioration was particularly pronounced across the major east-west trades. Based on rolling July/August data, reliability on the Asia-North America west coast route fell 8.8 percentage points, to 60.6%, while Asia-North America east coast fell 9.6 points, to 61.7%. Asia-North Europe schedule reliability declined 2.4 points, to 62.3%, while Asia-Mediterranean fell 3.7 points, to 61.8%. Only three of 34 tradelanes saw any month-on-month improvement in reliability - Oceania-North America posted the largest gain, up 8.4 points to 97.6%, while Asia-East Coast South America suffered the largest decline, down 16.6 points to 56.4%. Across the east-west shipping alliances, average reliability fell 7.4 points to 57.2%. Gemini remained the most reliable, at 77.8%, followed the Ocean Alliance, at 48.3%, and the Premier Alliance. at 43.2%. Standalone carrier MSC was at 70.1%. Sea-Intelligence's figures come as DP World warned that disruption was becoming a structural feature of global trade rather than a series of isolated events. Its latest white paper notes: "Geopolitical tensions, evolving trade policies, climate-related disruption, and shifting manufacturing footprints are reshaping how cargo moves around the world. These are not isolated challenges. Together, they represent a structural shift in the way global trade is organised." The operator highlighted the Red Sea crisis as an example of how quickly shipping networks could be reshaped, noting that traffic through the Suez Canal last year fell to around half its 2024 level, while vessel capacity re-routing around the Cape of Good Hope increased 89%. "Longer journeys increased transit times, costs and emissions, while reducing schedule reliability," DP World said.