The capacity of countries toefficiently move goods andconnect manufacturers andconsumers with international marketsis improving around the world, butmuch more progress is needed to spurfaster economic growth and help firmsbenefit from trade recovery, accordingto a new World Bank Group survey ontrade logistics. Germany is the top performer, Singapore second, and Sweden third among the 155 economies ranked in the Logistics Performance Indicators (LPI), which are included in the report, … [Read more...] about World Bank ranks country logistics performance

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, estimated to have 1.8 billion followers. East Asia has the biggest Muslim concentration and accounts for 25 percent of the world’s Muslim population. Asia has therefore been driving much of the developments and innovations in halal products. Halal is used to describe anything permissible under Islamic law, in contrast to “haram” – which is forbidden. This covers aspects such as behavior, speech, dress, … [Read more...] about Specialist logistics for halal food market

The six-day shut-down of Europeanairspace due to the Icelandicvolcano eruption saw tonnes ofcargo piling up around Asia – a boon forcharter operators and bane for shipperswho, in many cases saw premium ratesbeing charged to clear the backlog. In some cases, freight rates to Europe jumped to nearly 100 Hong Kong dollars (US$13.30) per kilogramme, from less than 30 dollars before the closure of airports in Europe, according to the Hong Kong Shippers’ Council. Sunny Ho, … [Read more...] about Clearing the ash-induced back-log

The merger builds on the similar but slightly smaller merger last year of Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines which was itself revolutionary because of its unprecedented scale at the time. European carriers have also been consolidating with Air France, KLM and Martinair for instance, now operating under one corporate umbrella and Lufthansa similarly bringing Swiss, British Midland and Austrian under its wing. The all-stock deal will form a coast-tocoast American mega-carrier with a leading … [Read more...] about Continental and United form ‘mega-carrier’

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) applauded the announcement by the European Commission of a comprehensive programme to provide relief to the air transport sector in the aftermath of extraordinary airspace closures resulting from the ash plume of an Icelandic volcano. The global airline association estimates that the Icelandic volcano crisis cost airlines more than US$1.7 billion in lost revenue through in the first six days after the initial eruption, during which … [Read more...] about IATA applauds EC’s post-volcano measures