The world’s largest container-equipment leasing company, Triton International (NYSE: TRTN), announced record results and provided the latest intel on box production. The price of a new container, which had stabilized at around $3,500 per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) earlier this year, has risen again and is now at $3,800 per TEU. Prices are “at unprecedented levels,” said John O’Callaghan, Triton’s global head of marketing and operations, during the call with analysts. The price of a new container at this time two years ago, pre-COVID, was around $1,600 per TEU, less than half the current level. What’s particularly telling is that the price is rising at the very time Chinese factories are churning out more new boxes than they ever have before. According to Triton’s estimate, which excludes sales to nonleasing and nonshipping buyers, factories built around 2.6 million TEUs of dry (nonrefrigerated/nontank) containers in H1 2021 — more than the 12-month totals in most years.

Announcing the second-quarter revenues, which were up by 31.4% ($6.04bn), DSV spoke about the high yields, market conditions – and competition, as it commences to integrate Agility GIL. While losing customers after the M&A is a common phenomenon, DSV which is the M&A expert feels confident that it will still be standing on solid grounds. DSV CEO Jens Bjorn Andersen and CFO Jens Lund said that while things may be a little “bumpy”, they will settle. “The Agility deal will take inspiration from Panalpina. We are more experienced; it’s smaller and we are well prepared. Once we include Agility, we’ll put a smokescreen over the numbers, but our performance will continue in terms of market share,” they said while speaking about the merger, which is likely to happen next month. We are 100% committed to market share. It sounds arrogant, but we are humble, that’s what we do. Profitability needs to follow. There are so many ways to compete with mom-and-pop shops. We have been able to outgrow the market,” they added.

Allcargo Logistics Ltd., India’s largest integrated logistics solutions provider, announced that it’s wholly owned subsidiary Allcargo Belgium NV. (Operating ECU Worldwide network), a global multi-modal logistics major, has signed a definitive Joint Venture agreement with Nordicon Group, the market leader in Nordics in LCL and rail consolidation. ECU Worldwide will hold a 65% share, while the balance of 35% will be held by the present owners of Nordicon. With this strategic investment, ECU Worldwide will now be a market leader with a near 40% market share of the less-than-container-load (LCL) business in the Nordic region. Shashi Kiran Shetty, Chairman, Allcargo Logistics, ECU Worldwide, and Gati Ltd., said, “The partnership with Nordicon is in line with our vision of consolidating our market leadership and working with entrepreneurial teams to expand into new territories who share our vision for digital innovation for the logistics sector. Nordicon is led by a strong and capable team, and we are very pleased to welcome them into the larger ECU Worldwide family. This partnership is a great way to scale the global business and better serve customers.”

DHL Express successfully delivered the first batch of 1.5 million Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine doses to Thailand. From door-to-door in just three days, DHL Express flew the vaccines in thermal packaging and subsequently arranged for it to be sent directly to a designated warehouse in Thailand. The arrival of 1.5 million doses, part of the US donation to Southeast Asian countries, aims to help Thailand and the region accelerate their vaccination programs and provide equitable access to immunization as to keep their populations safe, and ensure that their economies can recover quickly. “We are deeply grateful for the trust that our customers have placed in us in handling this precious cargo. It marks another milestone in combating the spread of Covid-19, assisting the country’s recovery and protecting healthcare professionals on the frontline from Covid-19 infection. We are proud to leverage our capabilities and network to transport this life-saving cargo in accordance with the stringent logistics requirements to get through the pandemic,” said Herbert Vongpusanachai, managing director at DHL Express Thailand and Head of Indochina.

Royal Cargo, one of the leading logistics service providers in the Philippines, recently inaugurated its newest facility, the vaccine depot in Parañaque City, Philippines. This new storage serves as a sizeable addition to the country’s fight against COVID-19. The vaccine depot is a $1million investment that aims to provide a pharma-grade storage facility for COVID-19 and other types of available vaccines. Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez and Representative Eric Olivarez graced the inaugural ceremony of the new depot located at the Royal Cargo headquarters in Paranaque City. In his special message, Mayor Olivarez thanked the Royal Cargo management and said, “It is a great help in our country, as we face the pandemic, (the cold storage facility), will store the needed vaccines by every Filipino citizen not only from the City of Paranaque but the whole nation of the Republic of the Philippines.” The vaccine depot is strategically located near the NAIA airport for fast and easy transfer of vaccines to and from the airport.

DSV Panalpina releases the interim financial report for the first six months of 2021. The results show strong growth in EBIT before special items of 64, 7 percent during the first six months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. The great performance was driven by 18 percent growth in gross profit and a high productivity across all divisions. Jens Bjørn Andersen, Group CEO, “We are proud to report strong results for the first six months of 2021, where we deliver an EBIT result equivalent to our full-year EBIT of 2019. This is a clear testament to the successful integration of Panalpina and a strong performance by our organisation in an extraordinary market environment. The logistics markets continue to be characterised by tight capacity, congestion and low visibility.

The demand to transport global vaccination, consumer good are increasing and companies are looking for alternative transport solutions as the sea freight as well as on the Iron Silk Road market are tight. Despite capacity constraints in air freight, cargo-partner offers its customers weekly charter flights from Asia to Europe and has recently extended its successful charter program. In addition, further destinations have been added to the existing network. The resurgence of the global economy is in full swing and industrial production is picking up again. Private consumption in particular, but also the automotive, high-tech and retail sectors are considered drivers of this development. To help customers maintain their supply chains, cargo-partner has been offering regular charter services from Hong Kong to Budapest with two departures per week since spring 2020 (only one departure per week during the summer months). In response to increasing customer demand, the transport and logistics provider has now extended its scheduled charter services between Asia and Europe until the end of the year. To complement this high-demand service, cargo-partner has also introduced weekly charter flights from Frankfurt to Zhengzhou and back, starting in June 2021.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air cargo markets for June showing a 9.9% improvement on pre-COVID-19 performance (June 2019). This pushed first half-year air cargo growth to 8%, its strongest first half performance since 2017 (when the industry posted 10.2% year-on-year growth). As comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted, all comparisons to follow are to June 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. • Global demand for June 2021, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was up 9.9% compared to June 2019. • Regional variations in performance are significant. North American carriers contributed 5.9 percentage points (ppts) to the 9.9% growth rate in June. Middle East carriers contributed 2.1 ppts, European airlines 1.6 ppts, African airlines 0.5 ppts and Asia-Pacific carriers 0.3 ppts. Latin American carriers did not support the growth, shaving 0.5 ppts off the total. “Air cargo is doing brisk business as the global economy continues its recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. With first-half demand 8% above pre-crisis levels, air cargo is a revenue lifeline for many airlines as they struggle with border closures that continue to devastate the international passenger business. Importantly, the strong first-half performance looks set to continue,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

Hapag-Lloyd, a German container shipping company, has decided to suspend its booking of import containers bound for Bangladesh via Singapore for a month. The container transportation company announced on June 24 that bookings for cargo moving into Bangladesh via Singapore would not be possible for the next four weeks due to an increased backlog of containers destined for Chattogram at the transhipment port. However, the decision is not applicable for export bound containers from Bangladesh, said Abul Kalam Azad, general manager of operations at GBX Logistics, the local agent of Hapag-Llyod. “Hapag-Llyod was forced to take such a decision after facing a huge pile up of its Bangladesh-bound import cargo at Singapore port, which is choking with congestion,” Azad said. More than 3,500 Bangladesh-bound import containers being carried by the company are now sitting idle in Singapore. This situation was caused by the increased number of import containers heading for Chattogram and reduced transport capacity among feeder operators.

Volga-Dnepr Airlines has played an essential part in the implementation of the large-scale Omani Oil and Gas project with a smooth and seamless delivery of two gigantic oil well rigs to the capital of Oman. The complex delivery for two advanced automated well service rigs, weighing almost 120 tons, was accomplished in partnership with Pentagon Freight Services Canada, who engaged Volga-Dnepr for a timely and efficient logistics solution to meet the end-user’s stringent delivery time whilst overcoming many challenging aspects of loading and required detailed and complex computer modelling to ensure they were safely loaded for transportation. The six-leg flight, lasting five days, was organised from Calgary, Canada to Muscat, Oman aboard one of Volga-Dnepr’s modernised An-124-150 which has an extended payload carrying up to 150 tonnes including loading equipment. Adrian Pruden, vice-president of Pentagon Freight Services Canada praised Volga-Dnepr and their operations and flight crew for the smooth seamless operation. “Pentagon and Highwood Technologies were very pleased and fortunate to work alongside such industry experts to properly plan and execute such a time sensitive project. Another well executed job by Volga-Dnepr and we look forward to the next one!”