World Trade

A major survey of global logistics firms and goods producers by Customs Support Group has revealed three major hurdles impacting international trade.

Providing customs services throughout Europe, we are the only customs partner you need in the EU and UK. Discover how the Customs Support Group supports your European operations in this article.

March 23rd was a day everybody in supply chain and logistics will remember for a long time. The Ever Given, a 400-meter long container ship, ran aground in the Suez Canal. The Ever Given is a Gold-class container ship with a capacity of 20,000 containers. What caused the vessel to run aground is still under investigation, but the heavy winds were a factor for sure.

When goods are bought or sold “Free on Board” (FOB) it means that the seller delivers the goods to a ship at a port previously agreed to by the seller and the buyer. The seller loads the goods onto the ship. The buyer then takes care of the import formalities and transportation to the final destination. Free on Board is one of the oldest Incoterms. It dates back to when goods were carried by sailing ships and it was one of the terms when the Incoterms were first released in 1936. It is also one of the most used commercial terms.

Many countries respond in a different way when it comes to the covid19 pandemic. Within the European Union, we see a focus on keeping trade lanes open and goods flowing, especially medical supplies. Turkey is taking a different route.

The whole world is affected by the coronavirus pandemic. This means that the demand for medical supplies has been higher than ever before. At the same time, global supply chains are being hampered by restrictions in air freight and ocean freight capacity due to grounded planes and blanked sailings.

With the exception of just a few countries, the whole world is in lockdown mode or slowly coming out of that. While production in other regions is still down or slowed by the lockdowns, China is getting slowly back to speed again.