One year after the Ever Given container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal, her sister vessel is repeating the feat – in the US state of Maryland. The ironically-named Ever Forward is not currently affecting transit through the US port, according to the Maryland Port Administration (MPA).

After two unsuccessful attempts to free it, officials are pivoting to a new approach. On Monday, the US coast guard announced that containers would be removed from the Ever Forward to lighten the load before another try.

The ship ran aground after departing Baltimore for Norfolk on March 13. Position data shows it missed a right turn in the deep shipping channel leading out of Baltimore and down the bay, becoming lodged on the bottom of the bay north of the Bay Bridge. It’s not clear whether the ship suffered a mechanical problem or the crew didn’t complete the turn.

Salvage experts determined they wouldn’t be able to overcome the ground force of the more than 1,000ft (305-meter) vessel, loaded with nearly 5,000 containers, according to a news release. Unloading the ship offered the best chance to refloat it, officials said.

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War. Inflation. And now, Covid lockdown deja vu in China. It is a perfect storm for the global supply chain – how goods and materials get from other countries to you and me.

When disruptions take place in China, it is significant because about a third of the world’s entire manufacturing capacity is based in the country.

If you’re buying something online there’s a very good chance it was made in Shenzhen – a city of 17.5 million in the south east where roughly half of all China’s online retail exporters are based.

So, when Shenzhen went into a six-day lockdown on Sunday after a massive surge in Covid cases, it sent shockwaves through the world’s businesses. The restrictions have since widened to other major cities and provinces like Shanghai, Jilin and Guangzhou.
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The impact of sanctions against Russia is beginning to be felt across its logistics sector, as transport options dwindle and payment systems lose support.

A source closely tied to Europe’s forwarding and shippers community said that, while “of course” trade with Russia continued, transport operations and financial aspects of the business were “grinding to a halt”, as efforts to persuade Putin to withdraw from Ukraine ratchet up.

The source told The Loadstar: “Businesses not sanctioned have continued to trade with their European partners, but even here questions are beginning to be asked.

“How do you move goods from Russia with air, rail, road and sea facing substantial capacity reductions? The transport system, specifically to Russia, is getting very complicated, at least from the EU.”

Following discussions with Ukraine president Volodymr Zelensky, US president Joe Biden tweeted that “our sanctions are already having a devastating impact”.

For logistics, the source said, the most acute sanction to hit Russia is the decision of the EU authorities and other nations to close their airspace to Russian flights and shipping lines and logistics operators severing services to the country.

The source said the combination of sanctions and suspensions would amount to “nothing moving” to or from Russia.

Aviation consultancy IBA released figures indicating the scale of the impact, with 589 aircraft operated by Russian carriers but owned by foreign lessors affected.

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