Written by Jerome de Ricqles

Exclusive analysis on freight transport, supply chain and international trade topics

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International barometer april 2021
Jerome de Ricqles

Expert in Ocean shipping for 25 years, Jerome puts all his knowledge of the industry to contribution for Upply. Ship captain at heart, he has written the English-French Lexicon of Containerized Shipping (Paris: CELSE, 2001).

Port terminals under pressure

Industrial relations are becoming increasingly strained in port terminals, which are being hit hard by the current disorganisation of the shipping lines. This poses a risk which the shipping companies should not take lightly. Container terminals need visibility to be able to plan their work and pers...
Jerome de Ricqles
May 04 2021
2 min

High ocean freight rates here to stay

Helped by strong demand, container shipping freight rates stayed at high levels in March. The prospect of an early summer turn-round in the market in favour of shippers is starting to look unlikely. The shipping companies are continuing to push average transport prices upwards. Clients are increasin...
Jerome de Ricqles
April 15 2021
2 min

Ever Given owner declares general average: what shippers should do

Shoe Kisen Kaisha, the Japanese company which owns the Ever Given, has declared general average. Its decision will have major consequences for cargo owners. The probably necessary but highly costly operation carried out by salvage company Smit to free the container ship Ever Given, which was stuck i...
Jerome de Ricqles
April 08 2021
5 min

Should shippers invest in their own container fleets ?

The current container shortage is seriously disrupting the fluidity of the supply chain. Should shippers build up container fleets of their own? A first response. Draw me a container…On the shipping planet today, shippers would no doubt happily borrow the words of Antoine de Saint Exupery's Little P...
Jerome de Ricqles
April 02 2021
3 min

Little softening of demand or prices in the shipping sector

The fall in demand generally seen at the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations did not occur this year. Ships are full and container freight rates are still high. "Take your annual holidays now. All the ships are full…" This half-joking remark from a shipping company executive sums up well the cu...
Jerome de Ricqles
March 25 2021
2 min

''One-stop shopping'' is back in fashion

The current disruption of international transport, particularly shipping, has revived the concept of "one-stop shopping", with the result that shipping companies and forwarders are increasingly swapping roles. In this early part of 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic is continuing to disrupt international t...
Jerome de Ricqles
March 09 2021
5 min

Monthly Container Shipping Barometer

Upply is proposing a new monthly feature, the Container Shipping Barometer, so as to follow market developments closely in this particularly volatile period.
Jerome de Ricqles
March 02 2021
2 min

Shipping: the price of ''clean'' fuel is rising

The price of low sulphur marine fuel currently stands at over $500 per tonne. This should reassure the many shipping companies which installed scrubbers two years ago. In early 2020, when the new International Maritime Organisation rules on sulphur oxide emissions had just come into force, everyone ...
Jerome de Ricqles
February 22 2021
2 min

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