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Fire engulfs Russian e-commerce warehouse: A warehouse belonging to Russia’s biggest e-commerce platform Wildberriers caught on fire on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Reuters reported on Saturday. Around 300 firefighters and dozens of fire engines were deployed to the scene to extinguish the blaze, which spanned over 70k square meters and was rated as category five, which is the most serious. The warehouse was evacuated and no casualties or injuries have been reported. It is not yet clear how the fire started.
Jumping the queue at the Panama Canal just got cheaper: The cost for shipping firms to bypass the traffic congestion at the Panama Canal has dropped from a recent all-time high as the backlog of ships waiting to cross has shrunk, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The average auction cost for Neopanamax slots — which enable the passage of the largest tankers through the canal — dropped to USD 269k on 11 January, the news outlet adds, citing a Panama Canal Authority (ACP) spokesman. The ACP previously held auctions for vessels looking to jump the queue, with the base price for the first auction set at USD 55k and the awarded bid worth USD 1.1 mn.
Background: The Panama Canal has placed significant limits on vessels transiting the waterway due to a drought decreasing its water levels, which has caused major congestion at the waterway. The sale of slots to transit the canal netted USD 235 mn from shipping companies in 2023.
ALSO- Danish shipping company Maersk will no longer use the Panama Canal for its OC1 service which connects Australia and New Zealand with the US East Coast, Reuters reported on Thursday. The company instead plans to use “rail to transport cargo across 80km of Panama to the other side,” which will form two separate loops, one in the Atlantic and the other in the and the Pacific. Maersk will be omitting Cartagena, Colombia in the new service, as it will be served by alternative vessels.
ALSO WORTH KNOWING-
- DP World adds EU shipping route: The UAE’s DP World -owned shipping company P&O Ferries will launch a new RoRo freight route between London and Rotterdam, effective March 2024. (Statement)
- Malaysia + Singapore to develop a SEZ: Malaysian Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli and Singapore’s Trade and Industry Minister have inked an agreement to develop a special economic zone (SEZ) in Johor, Malaysia. (Reuters)
- SF Airlines links China + Pakistan: Chinese air cargo carrier SF Airlines has launched a new route from Ezhou Huahu Airport, China to Lahore, Pakistan. (Aawsat)
