Newsletter – October 23, 2018

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Qatar launches transpacific freighter services via Macau

lloydsloadinglist.com

Qatar Airways Cargo has commenced twice-weekly freighter services to Macau, the carrier’s fourth freighter destination in Greater China, and also introduced its first transpacific freighter services, providing direct flights over the Pacific from Macau to North America. Read more here.

Air France ends costly pay stand-off with unions

theloadstar.co.uk

Air France has ended a costly stand-off with its workforce after agreeing a new wage deal with the “majority” of its unions. The Financial Times reports the new agreement covers 76.4% of employees, although the main pilot union was not among the signatories. Read more here (login required).

Delta Applies For Shanghai Route Permission

news.airwise.com

Delta Air Lines has announced plans to launch a new route from its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub to Shanghai, subject to US government approval. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

New gates at New York/Jersey port cut turn times for reefers in half

transportweekly.com

Port Newark Container Terminal’s (PNCT) new entry gates in the Port of New York and New Jersey already helped halve turn times for reefers since they opened in mid-July. Read more here.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge opens

lloydsloadinglist.com

China’s President Xi Jinping today raised the curtain on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the multi-billion dollar project that is set to benefit the trade and logistics sectors in the region and open up new opportunities in the western Pearl River Delta (PRD). Read more here.

Trump pulling out of pact that discounted foreign postal deliveries

uk.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration will begin withdrawing from a United Nations pact that offered low rates for foreign postal deliveries of small packages in the United States, the latest move to challenge practices it sees as unfairly advantageous to China. Read more here.