Packaging materials are used every day in almost every company that manufactures and sells products. Packaging is used to move raw material to a manufacturer, bulk finished material to a distributor and then the final product to the consumer. Packaging material is there to perform a number of tasks; protect the material from damage, from the environmental conditions, to make transportation easier and to make the item attractive to the consumer. However, as the public’s perception about the environment changes, companies are looking at how they can adopt greener packaging alternatives.

Speaking at the freight industry forum, TOC Container Supply Chain Asia in Hong Kong, TT Club Director of Global Risk Assessment Laurence Jones highlighted the key factors that cause disruption throughout the global supply chain, and spoke of opportunities for operators to save costs by tightening procedures to minimise accidents, breakdowns, delays and other risks.

TNT Airways, and Emirates SkyCargo have signed a code-sharing deal which they say will help them optimise capacity and increase frequency.

Many things must happen properly for a commercial aircraft to depart on time from an airport. Without timely arrivals and departures, aircraft timetables would descend into chaos. Airports would become congested, other flights would be delayed as passengers miss connections, baggage delayed, priority cargo would not be shipped on time, correct scheduling of support equipment would be difficult, and airlines might not be able to operate their aircraft profitably.

THE global idle containership fleet increased to 286 ships with a total capacity of 750,900 TEU as of the end of January 2012, up 10-fold since June when it hit a low of 75,000 TEU, according to Paris-based Alphaliner.

While it is no secret that the United States is not independent when it comes to energy sources, progress is being made to some extent in the freight transportation industry.

The 'patent cliff' phenomenon, an expectation of sharp revenue decline due to the expiry of key patents, that many drug manufacturers face is resulting in a significant number of companies turning to emerging markets such as China, Brazil and India.

The Commerce Ministry will manage consumer commodities next year to ensure adequate stocks and fair prices in times of crisis.

The global container leasing industry regained market share last year and in the first half of 2011 that it had lost earlier in the decade to ocean carriers, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

To help ease inflation and encourage foreign investment in its infrastructure, India's government has passed a hotly debated bill allowing for the opening of its estimated $400bn retail industry. The measure will allow up to 51% foreign ownership in a multi-brand retail format and 100% ownership in a single-brand format. This marks a huge win for Wal-Mart and Tesco who both have petitioned the Indian government for years to further open the industry.