Operations Update
Administrators for the Panama Canal see no need for further vessel transit restrictions until at least April 2024, when they will evaluate water levels at the end of the dry season. Administrators have stated that the current 24 authorized transits per day will be maintained. It is anticipated that rains in May will mean that daily slots can be released, to return to previous levels of 36 transits per day.
Keeping an Eye on Rates in 2024
A new report by Marine Insight tracks the trends expected to impact and define the Container Shipping Industry in 2024. It outlines 8 major factors influencing freight rates noting; that equipment supply has recovered post-COVID, customer recessionary pressure is driving demand, and it discusses how recent conflicts have combined to influence the fluctuation of spot rates and the renegotiation of contracted rates. The report notes the major impacts as:
- Supply-demand balance and a massive influx of additional capacity in the markets
- Emission control regulations and cost of compliance
- Geo-political tensions and military conflicts: which will precipitate realignment and duplication of supply chains, with consequent alteration in trade patterns
- Extreme weather events
- Changes to global trade wrought by concepts such as Friendshoring/ Nearshoring/ China + 1/ Decoupling and Derisking
- Shift in the center of global trade from advanced economies to emerging economies
- Focus on Sustainability, circular supply chains, and reverse logistics
- Other derivative trends such as breaking previous container alliances, and carriers competing on rates.
Update on our Organic Program
A big thank you to all our customers for working with us over the past few weeks as we navigate the new rules for the certification of organic wines. The USDA’s new strengthening of organic enforcement rules remains a real-time focus at Elenteny Imports. We believe strongly in the value that small, organic producers and distributors offer US consumers, and we will work with you to ensure the continuity of your organic products in the marketplace.
While we are navigating the first tranche of these complex government regulations, we are also closely following our competition regarding market pricing. We believe that the barriers to entry that the SOE has created ought not to gouge our importer community.
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