News

Fracht Australia Logistics News - August 2025

4/8/2025

FRACHT GROUP

WE HAVE A NEW LOOK!!  Over the past months, Fracht people from across the world came together to shape a shared identity that connects all our sister companies under one unified brand.  It's a fresh visual language that brings clarity to our presence while celebrating the diversity of our teams around the world.  This new branding isn't just about design, it's about alignment, collaboration and continuing to grow together with a clear and confident voice.  Each segment represents Respect, Integrity, Passion, Positivity, Leadership and Empathy - the manner in which the Fracht Group conducts its business.  Built by Fracht people, for Fracht people.

AROUND THE WORLD 

• CARRIERS INTRODUCE SURCHARGES as congestion builds at African ports. Carriers are beginning to impose congestion surcharges on shipments into African ports as the continent contends with fallout from the 12-day Israel-Iran war, which saw more services give up on Red Sea transits. CMA CGM and MSC have announced surcharges on services between India, the Middle East, and Africa in the past few days, with suggestions Hapag-Lloyd will follow suit.
• MSC SWITCHES TWO MORE ASIA-EUROPE PORT CALLS from congested Antwerp. MSC has decided to switch two more calls out of Antwerp on its Asia - North Europe services, as congestion continues to plague what is currently Europe’s largest box port. “Congestion at its major hub port in North Europe – Antwerp – has prompted MSC to make some adjustments to its standalone Far East - North Europe network,” Alphaliner said in a research note recently. “The Far East - North Europe - Scandinavia Swan service has dropped its Antwerp eastbound call earlier this month and is now calling Felixstowe instead,”
• EXPORT GROWTH across Australia’s key avocado markets of China, Singapore and Malaysia will be critical in ensuring a fair price for growers, a report from Rabobank says. The Rabobank Global Avocado Update 2025 says global avocado exports are expanding rapidly, even as Australia experienced a dip in production with the 2024 / 25 local crop estimated to be down 15 per cent. Australian production is forecast to rebound to record volumes, however, with predictions of a harvest of around 170,000 metric tonnes in 2025 / 26. Queensland is Australia's premier avocado state and China previously has been identified as an important market.
• FRONT LOADING FRENZY has made traditional peak season unlikely. Demand on major deep sea and air tradelanes is expected to be going downhill for the rest of the year. In its Weekly Container Market Development Report, maritime analyst Braemar reported that China’s exports accelerated last month, as a reprieve on US tariffs prompted a rush of orders ahead of the new August deadline. According to its data, Chinese exports climbed 5.8% year on year, up from a 4.8% rise in May, while those to the US fell 16%, less than half the 34.5% drop seen in May. But the outlook for the rest of the year is less upbeat.
• CHINA AND US FIND ALTERNATIVES as their ecommerce airtrade plunges. Trade Data Service (TDS) data show low-value Chinese exports to the US down nearly 50% on the year before, with the year on year decline for the first six months of the year at 8%. However, the overall flow of Chinese ecommerce exports hasn’t slowed. China’s customs data shows a 38% increase for the first half of the year, and a 35% year-on-year rise in June, according to TDS. And US importers have also looked to source shipments elsewhere. Over the first five months of the year, TDS data show, air imports to the US were up 9.5%, or about 200,000 tonnes. The main sources of the growth have been in Europe, up 17.5%, or 112,000 tonnes, and Asia-Pacific, up 9.5% or 73,000 tonnes.
• US PLACES AIR CARGO RESTRICTIONS ON MEXICO. According to the US Department of Transportation (DOT), Mexico has not been in compliance with the 2015 US - Mexico Air Transport Agreement and ongoing anti-competitive behaviour since carriers were required to shift cargo operations from Benito Juarez International Airport, known as Mexico City International Airport (MEX) to Felipe Angeles International Airport (AFIA), as reported by Air Cargo News in February 2023. Mexican airlines will now be required to file schedules with the Department for all their US operations, said a US DOT release on 19 July. 

SEAFREIGHT NEWS 

• ZIM QUITS NEW ZEALAND for the third time. Israeli carrier ZIM and its Hong Kong subsidiary Gold Star Line will withdraw from the Tasman for the third time in two decades and shut down their New Zealand operation. In a customer advisory issued in late June, John van Pelt, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services’ MD Australia, wrote: “After careful consideration we wish to inform you that due to turbulent market conditions we have taken the decision to suspend our liner shipping services to and from New Zealand.
• CONTAINER LOSSES RISE as ship owners avoid the Red Sea. Conlict in the Middle East was a contributing factor in an increase in container losses in 2024,the World Shipping Council says. Some 576 containers were lost at sea last year according to the WSC’s Containers Lost at Sea report, an increase from the record low of 221 containers reported lost in 2023. But the WSC also noted the 2024 figure was well below the 10-year average of 1,274 containers lost. “Vessel transits around the Cape of Good Hope increased by 191% compared to 2023,” the WSC wrote. “This area is well-known for hazardous maritime conditions, which contributed to a concentration of losses.
• MSC TO LAUNCH NEW OCEANIA – US EAST COAST EAGLE SERVICE. Australian and New Zealand exporters to North America are set to get the second direct service to the North American east coast after MSC announced today that it will launch the new Australasia and US east coast Eagle service in February 2026, as part of its continued efforts to build a standalone global network. The Geneva-headquartered carrier did not reveal vessel details, but said the weekly Eagle service will deploy 11 ships and feature the following port rotation: Philadelphia – Savannah - Freeport (Bahamas) – Rodman – Papeete – Auckland – Sydney – Melbourne – Brisbane – Tauranga – Rodman – Cristobal - Philadelphia.
• A3N UPGRADE ARRIVES IN MELBOURNE. The first of the A3 consortium’s upsized vessels in its northern loop (A3N) arrived in Melbourne on 24 July. The 7,111 TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) ALS Hercules, chartered by ANL, is also the additional seventh vessel for the service which has added a Ningbo call for a new rotation of Yokohama, Osaka, Busan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Melbourne, Port Botany, Brisbane, Yokohama. ALS Hercules is being followed by sister ALS Clivia, then the 7,092 TEU Pelion and two more 7,111 TEU sisters ALS Juno and ALS Luna. The last four respectively replace CMA CGM Fjordland (5,920 TEU), CMA CGM Etosha (6,014 TEU), CMA CGM Rabelais (6,758 TEU) and CMA CGM Zingaro (6,014 TEU).
• MAERSK LINE HAS ASSURED Australian and New Zealand shippers its OC1 service to / from East Coast North America will remain unchanged following MSC’s withdrawal as a slot-charterer. Following MSC’s announcement that it will launch a standalone service on the route in early February 2026 and accordingly has given Maersk the obligatory six months’ notice of cancellation of the current slot-purchase arrangement. A Maersk Asia Pacific spokesperson said “Maersk has been the sole vessel provider and operator for this service, and our ability to serve customers on this route is unaffected. We will continue to operate the service as-is, with 11 deployed vessels and the existing proforma rotation. “Maersk remains committed to supporting our Oceania customers.” 

AIRFREIGHT NEWS 

• TERRACOTTA WARRIORS a fragile task for Cathay. Take 10, more than 2,000-year-old, fragile Terracotta Warriors and transport them more than 7,000 kilometres from China to Perth. That was the challenge Cathay Cargo faced in moving 10 terracotta figures and more than 200 artefacts from Xi’an to Perth for the ‘Terracotta Warriors: Legacy of the First Emperor’ exhibition. The story about the Terracotta Warriors travelling outside China made headlines in the artworld, but less well known is the intricate aviation and cargo operation that made it happen, including GPS tracking, custom-built pallets, round-the-clock surveillance, and months of planning in collaboration with Chinese, Australian and Hong Kong authorities.
• AIR CARGO DEMAND CONTINUED TO GROW in May despite the US implementation of steep tariffs and the ending of the de minimis exemption for shipments from China. The latest monthly statistics from IATA show that air cargo demand increased by 2.2% year on year in May, while capacity was up 2% and the load factor increased by 0.1 percentage points to 44.5%. Growth has slowed compared with the year so far, as the growth rate for the first five months stands at 3.2% year on year. While overall volumes were up, IATA said that demand on the trade lane from Asia to North America had declined by 10.7%. However, this was more than made up for by other trades, such as Asia-Europe, which was up by 13.4%, there was a 10.8% improvement on Middle East-Asia services, the within-Asia trade improved by 9.1% and North America-Europe grew by 8.2%.
• SAUDIA CARGO PARTNERS WITH CHINA AIRLINES.  Saudia Cargo is continuing to expand its global partnerships through a new cooperation agreement with China Cargo Airlines. This follows an MoU between Saudia Cargo and China Cargo Airlines, signed in April, that is aimed at developing interline agreements and capitalising on trade growth between Saudi Arabia and China. The agreement aims to "significantly" increase cargo flight frequencies between Riyadh and Shanghai, alongside boosting connections to various European destinations.
• HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL (HKG) remained the world's top cargo airport in 2024, while Shanghai (PVG) moved into second place and Memphis (MEM) dropped to third place. This is according to the 2025 edition of ACI (Airports Council International) World's World Airport Traffic Dataset, which revealed cargo volumes at HKG climbed 14.1% year on year. PVG, which had been in third place in 2023, moved into second place in 2024 after its cargo volumes increased 9.8% year on year. Meanwhile, MEM dropped to third place alongside a 3.3% drop in volumes. Dubai (DXB) jumped from 17th to 11th place in the rankings, with a 20.5% rise in volumes compared to 2023.
• UKRAINIAN AEROSPACE FIRM ANTONOV has flown a modified An-124-100 out of Kyiv, following long-term modernisation work to replace Russian-built onboard equipment. The aircraft (UR-82073) flew to Leipzig on 11 July following a programme initiated in 2021 but held up by the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. Ukraine and Russia had previously co-operated in the aerospace sector – the An-124 had assembly lines in Kyiv and Ulyanovsk and was flown by both Ukrainian and Russian operators – but the partnership severed as political tensions between the neighbours rose.
• CATHAY CARGO’S AIR CARGO VOLUMES in June were bolstered by postponed tariffs and demand from Southeast Asia and the Taiwan region to the Americas. The cargo division of Cathay carried over 130,000 tonnes of cargo in June, up 6.3% year on year. Available Freight Tonne Kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 5% while load factor decreased by 1.1 percentage points year on year. 

OCEANIA PORTS AND AIRPORTS 

• PILOTS WELCOME SOLAS CHANGES. Changes to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention have been welcomed by marine pilots. The International Maritime Organization has adopted the changes in order to make pilot transfers safer. Pilot ladders and manropes, for example, now will be treated as consumables, to be replaced automatically no later than 36 months after the date of manufacture, and self-certification by manufacturers is no longer an option due to a tighter type-approval regime. The new performance standards also impact the design, arrangement and rigging of trapdoors and also require dedicated means of securing pilot ladders at intermediate lengths.
• ENVIRONMENT, RESILIENCE, COMMUNITY AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH are four key priorities of NSW Ports 2025 Sustainability Strategy. Outlined in greater detail, the 2025 strategy priorities are: 1. Championing environmental protection and decarbonisation, 2. Building supply chain and business resilience, 3. Fostering thriving communities and workplaces, 4. Stewarding sustainable trade growth. According to NSW Ports, these priorities have been checked against NSW Ports’ strategic and risk frameworks, stakeholder feedback, regulatory obligations and global benchmarks such as Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
• PORT OF NEWCASTLE GAINING GREEN TRACTION as it unveiled its final masterplan for its Clean Energy Precinct (CEP) on Friday, 4 July. The precinct - due to become operational by 2030 - is in the final stages of both FEED (Front End Engineering Design) and EIS (Environmental Impact) studies, making it the most advanced project of its kind in the country. Fresh from announcing $432 million in federal funding for a green hydrogen facility at Oreca near Newcastle earlier that day, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen officially unveiled the port’s clean energy masterplan - citing the federal government’s investment “a big vote of confidence for Newcastle” and “a big vote of confidence in Australia’s renewable energy future.”
• FREMANTLE PORT FEE HIKES. Industry body Shipping Australia has decried what it says is “insanely-high fee hikes” at Port of Fremantle effective from October this year. The price hikes include a 295% plus hike in the costs of mooring, along with fee rises ranging from 20% for export containers, to 42% for containers of imported goods. SAL indicated everyday WA businesses and families would ultimately feel the brunt of higher fees, already dealing with higher costs of living in recent years. 

CUSTOMER SERVICE 

If you would like further information about any of the above items, please contact one of our friendly Fracht Team members at fracht@frachtsyd.com.au