Marine Forwarding Company Of Virginia

05/24/2025

05/24/2025

🌊 Ocean Freight: Lessons From a Lifetime of Navigating International Waters

In the world of global logistics, ocean freight is both the backbone and the battleground. After more than 45 years managing international shipments, I’ve seen firsthand how well-executed ocean transport can build supply chain resilience—and how missteps can ripple across entire businesses.

I’ve worked with clients of all sizes to ensure their cargo moves securely, swiftly, and in compliance with ever-changing global regulations. Here are a few hard-earned lessons I’ve learned over the decades:

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⚓ 1. Documentation is Everything

The fastest vessel and best routing mean nothing if paperwork isn’t perfect. I’ve developed a meticulous system to ensure all Bills of Lading, commercial invoices, packing lists, certificates of origin, and compliance documents are complete and correct. This eliminates delays, fines, and costly rejections at ports.

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📦 2. Know the Commodities—and the Risks

Whether moving high-value electronics, perishables, or oversized industrial machinery, each commodity demands specific handling. I take pride in understanding each shipment’s profile—weight, volume, commodity type, temperature sensitivity, and HS codes—to avoid surprises during customs clearance or transit.

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🌍 3. Routing Isn’t Just About Speed

Too often, businesses focus solely on transit time. But smart routing also accounts for:
• Seasonal congestion at ports
• Weather risks
• Equipment shortages
• Piracy zones or geopolitical tensions

Through extensive carrier relationships and data-driven planning, I’ve helped clients choose routes that balance speed, reliability, and cost—even during global disruptions like the Suez Canal blockage or COVID-19 port shutdowns.

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📑 4. Compliance Isn’t Optional

I’ve navigated INCOTERMS updates, export license requirements, country-of-origin laws, and carrier surcharges. With decades of regulatory awareness under my belt, I help clients avoid legal headaches and stay ahead of shifting trade environments.

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💡 Final Thought: Ocean Freight is a Strategic Advantage—If You Treat It That Way

When properly managed, ocean freight becomes a competitive edge, not just a cost center. It’s about more than containers and vessels—it’s about foresight, preparation, and people who care about the details.

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If your organization is looking to improve its international shipping strategy—or avoid the common pitfalls that sink so many shipments—I’m always open to connecting.
Let’s talk logistics.

📩 [Contact Me on LinkedIn] LanaPonsonby
Or comment here !

05/24/2025

Navigating Global Trade: A Career Dedicated to Excellence in Freight Forwarding and Logistics

With over 45 years of hands-on experience in international freight forwarding and executive management, I have built a career defined by precision, leadership, and commitment to global logistics excellence. From small-volume exporters to large multinational operations, I have helped businesses move cargo across borders with confidence, reliability, and compliance.

My journey began in the trenches of freight coordination and has grown into a comprehensive mastery of all modes of transport—ocean, air, rail, and truck—and every facet of global logistics. I specialize in door-to-door movements, seamlessly managing shipments from origin to final delivery across continents.

Areas of Expertise Include:
• Executive Management & Business Development: Proven leadership in growing logistics operations, building resilient teams, and driving performance across complex international supply chains.
• Regulatory Compliance & Documentation: Deep knowledge of import/export regulations, with meticulous attention to documentation and legal compliance across borders.
• Hazardous Materials Expertise: Certified in shipping of hazardous materials, ensuring safe, secure handling across ocean, air, and domestic channels.
• Strategic Routing & Risk Mitigation: Skilled in sourcing optimal routes, minimizing delays, and mitigating potential disruptions with swift, informed decision-making.
• Customer Service & Training: A firm believer in education and communication, I’ve trained teams globally and earned a reputation for customer-first service rooted in transparency, reliability, and care.

Whether managing ocean freight consolidation, optimizing air cargo logistics, or leading high-stakes executive decisions, we bring both strategic insight and operational excellence to the table. Our strength lies in seeing the big picture without missing the small but critical details that can make or break an international shipment.

In a world where logistics defines business success, our Team of experts offer not only experience but the confidence and clarity that comes from decades of navigating global trade.

Lana Ponsonby- Owner

12/08/2021

USA Advisory:
LCL Export & Import -Service Delays

STAY INFORMED: READ THE CURRENT STATE OF THE SHIPPING WORLD IN THE USA:

Terminals Updates:

Due to increased volume and labor shortage, most terminals are experiencing congestion issues, including Los Angeles/Long Beach, Savannah, Miami, Houston, Seattle.

High cargo volumes each month continue to enter the U.S., with all North American ports facing berth congestion.

As a result of the port congestion on both coasts, SSL ONE has put in place some changes to Transpacific Services with temporary omissions in Savannah, Seattle, Oakland, and Halifax. Other carriers such as Maersk, MSC, and Zim, will temporarily omit service in Seattle due to the increased vessel waiting time at berth.

U.S. East Coast:

New York/New Jersey: Three cranes were down at APM Terminal, expect this to cause further delays.

Savannah: Vessel wait time is 6-7 days due to off proforma vessels and high import volume, plus weather events, labor shortage. Carriers are advancing cut-offs with little to no notice, which highly impact operations. Several services have switched from Savannah to Charleston due to the port congestion at Port of Savannah.

Charleston: Vessel wait time up to 4 days due to labor shortage and high import volume.

Port Everglades and Miami: Vessel wait time is 1-2 days due to high import volume causing a CFS Backlog. Equipment shortages are resulting in pick-up delays. Allocation and blank sailings are affecting the services out of MIA.

In addition, FIT (Florida International Terminal) did not allow clients to pull empties or return boxes for Maersk, Sealand, and Hamburg Sud during the last week of November. This was due to heavy congestion after the Holiday break. Several services were affected by this. FIT re-opened again on Thursday, Dec 2nd.

U.S. West Coast:

38 vessels anchored off the coast of California and 27 vessels at berth are still waiting to unload at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Los Angeles/Long Beach: Vessel waiting time is 26-30 days due to yard congestion, high import dwell, and labor shortages. APM yard has 106% of the capacity used in Los Angeles, while TTI Terminal yard utilization in Long Beach is at 65% capacity.

Seattle: 18-day vessel wait time due to high import volume and labor shortages. Container terminals are more congested, and many containers are stored for weeks in a closed area until truckers can pick them up. T18 terminal yard is being used at 100% of capacity.

Oakland: up to 5-day vessel wait time due to high import volume, labor shortages, and one berth down.

U.S. Gulf Coast:

Houston: Waiting time is 2-8 days due to high import volume, labor shortages, and port congestion.

Rail Terminal Updates:

BNSF & UP/LAX/LGB: There is severe congestion. Limited gate capacity, restrictions, rail car shortages, and limited reservations continue, causing increased delays on import rail units. There is limited allocation at this time. In Los Angeles, containers wait an average of almost 16 days before being picked up.

Effective immediately, Hamburg Sud has stopped taking bookings for all cargo moving to Pier A in Long Beach. As a consequence, no rail billing will be issued during this time from origins such as Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Louisville, Memphis, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.

Chicago Rail Ramp: The rail facilities in Chicago are experiencing severe congestion due to dwelling containers and chassis shortages. G3 and G4 locations are only allowing ten open spots daily, causing a large backlog for containers to be picked up for imports. There are gate restrictions and lane suspensions, causing delays in pick-ups and deliveries. The rails continue to monitor in-gates with allocation or reservations.

NY/NJ: Chassis shortage inclusive of rail ramps due to the high increase in import volume.

Philadelphia: Severe chassis shortages in the Philadelphia area. Extended delays in pick-ups, deliveries, and drayage.

Charleston: Lack of chassis causing delays in pick-ups, deliveries, and drayage over to rail facilities.

Savannah: Continued congestion and delays at the local ramps. Shortage of chassis and equipment continues to affect operations.

Jacksonville and Miami: Congestion issues at both rails. The rail congestion in Chicago is affecting our services out of Miami. The shortage of equipment in Florida has carriers struggling to keep the service due to a slower turnover of import containers coming into the area. Most loads are delayed an average of one to two weeks.

Seattle: Congestion due to increased dwell for Import rail cargo. Up to 10 days delay for cargo going to Chicago. Limited trucker capacity, most truckers are booked 2 weeks or more in advance.

Houston/Dallas: There is a severe chassis shortage and ongoing congestion in the area. Finding truckers has become a challenge as they are booked for 2-3 weeks in advance.

Chassis issues are challenging in all regions in the U.S. This is due to the division of the intermodal system, the severity of the Covid 19 pandemic, and the lack of additional capacity at different levels of the supply chain.

Equipment Availability:

There are continuous chassis shortages in Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Columbus, Cleveland, Chicago, Memphis, Atlanta, Nashville, and Louisville.

Equipment availability remains an issue at locations such as Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Memphis, Nashville, Omaha, St. Louis, South Florida, and Seattle.

01/18/2021

Article from More Than Shipping: 2020 WILL BE REMEMBERED AS A YEAR WITH MANY SURPRISES AND UNFORTUNATE EVENTS FOR MANY YEARS FROM NOW.
Its effect on ocean shipping has been fundamental and in many areas, 2020 has had permanent effects – some of which are positive – on the shipping industry. When the pandemic first began and countries started to close back in mid-March, there was a big unknown and many question marks. However, the biggest fear, a total shipping slump, didn’t happen. After brief volume decreases in April, there was a quick rebound as we forecasted in this article during the worst time of the pandemic when there were too many unknowns to plan too far ahead.

WE ARE GOING INTO 2021 WITH SOME POSITIVE NEWS BUT ALSO WITH MANY UNKNOWNS.
The latest vaccine news is definitely good news, but it will test the strength of supply chains once more as some vaccines require extremely low temperatures to keep them effective. This will be a huge challenge for developing countries. U.S.-China trade tensions are still a big shadow on trade, as well as the planned U.S. tariffs on some certain commodities from Vietnam and elsewhere.

WHAT IS AHEAD FOR US IN OCEAN SHIPPING? WHAT CHANGES AND BIG TOPICS WILL BE DISCUSSED IN 2021 AND THE YEARS AHEAD? HERE IS MY ANALYSIS BELOW:
1. Freight rates

Due to increased demand and successful capacity management compared in December 2020 vs. December 2019, ocean freight rates from Shanghai to USWC tripled from average $1,500/40hc levels to $4,500+ levels. Ocean carriers published record profits in 2020 after so many years. However, this type of extraordinary increase is not sustainable and it will not continue the same way. However, carriers have now found another tool to implement higher rates under premium services; when it was first introduced, premium services received mix reviews from industry stake holders. Right now, almost every carrier offers it, where they charge up to $2,000 per container and still add subject to roll cause. There are a limited number of new vessels coming into the market in 2021 and there won’t be much change on the currently-offered capacity. Carriers also took extraordinary measures to keep up with the demand in TP trade and address the equipment shortage by allocating equipment from other trades to the profitable Asia trade. Its effects are felt worldwide as other trades now suffer from the equipment shortage.
We predict that negotiated freight rates will be much higher than the 2019-2020 contract season. Based on the initial discussions that large BCOs are having with the ocean carriers, it is understood that importers are ready to pay higher freight rates and rather have vessel space than saving on freight costs. Carriers have the upper hand right now.

2. Increased carrier discipline

At the beginning of 2020, there was a big difference with the carriers in terms of how they managed capacity compared to past years. An increase in efficiency of capacity management is also a result of industry consolidation and there are only a handful of carriers that can make an impact on the market rather than twenty different carriers. In 2020, during the worst times of the pandemic, when cargo volumes went down the same type of decrease didn’t happen with freight rates, thanks to more disciplined carriers which managed the capacity much better by cutting capacity by blank sailings, reducing costs, taking advantage of lower fuel costs and focusing on the profitability rather than market share. Consequently, spot rates were stable even at the peak of the pandemic when there was less cargo. These tested and so far working strategies will continue in 2021. Blank sailings come with a cost to carriers, as it costs about 40 percent of the operating cost of a vessel (per Drewry) and have an impact on revenue due to capacity withdrawals. In spite of this, carriers will continue with their working strategy.

3. Carrier differentiation

Different service offerings increased end-to-end logistics solutions. After Maersk’s decision to offer end-to-end logistics solutions and offer more value-added services, we will see more differentiated service offerings from carriers. One size fits all types of services are coming to an end. Guaranteed loadings, early and faster discharge with a specific area to pick up the chassis in ports, and increased customer service support for premium services have been tested and are already in place. Although it is not working perfectly now, it will be more widespread and eventually will lead to other more value-added services in an industry where change happens very slow and rarely.

4. Regulatory involvements

We may see more regulatory involvements including the FMC as volumes grow and importers and all other stakeholders suffer from the consequences of extraordinary volume increases. Recent applications to the FMC regarding port demurrage and detention charges may be the start of broader regulatory interventions including recent carrier pricing practices. China’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications has also got involved in order to prevent further price hikes from carriers and has asked carriers to try to increase capacity rather than freight rates from China. COSCO and OOCL immediately followed this along with other carriers. This type of interventions will prevent rates from climbing to even-higher levels than their current levels. This is something to watch in 2021.

5. Embracing technology

One positive effect of the pandemic was the push to embrace technology in ocean shipping just like many other industries. There have been very exciting technological developments which will further accelerate in 2021. Slowly but surely the industry has embraced technological developments. Digitization of the supply chain and increased and more reliable platforms where real-time tracking and tracing is offered are almost a given at the moment. Smaller-size companies that cannot keep up with this trend will lose their competitive edge. In addition to the widespread usage of shipping platforms, we will also see more discussions about the implementation of blockchain, Big Data and AI in the shipping industry. New advanced technologies will increase efficiency and also give an extremely competitive edge to those that embrace these developments.

6. Cleaner shipping and sustainable shipping

Carriers are forced to address sustainability and it will be an important driver eventually similar to cost-cutting, profits, and market share increases. Greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping are still one of the top contributors of global pollution. The IMO has put ambitious goals in place to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 compared with 2008 levels and become less dependent on traditional energy sources. The IMO 2020 low sulphur fuel usage regulation was one of the major initiative towards this goal and over the next years, sustainability will be one of the major discussion points in the industry.

COVID-19 IS STILL A BIG UNKNOWN GOING INTO 2021 BUT THE END IS IN SIGHT.
We expect 2021 will be continuation of 2020. With volumes reverting to a more organized manner, importers and all industry stakeholders will be more prepared. Once the vaccine is in widespread use, we will see commodities that have not been shipped as much will come into play and in the end it will balance against possible drops from other commodities that got shipped during the pandemic.

06/02/2020

As we work to process the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others, we wanted to send a message to you directly. To those who read this and who are hurting, angry, and scared, we want you to know that Marine Forwarding Co of VA stands with you.

Discrimination is the greatest threat to a community built on belonging and acceptance. It cuts to the core of who we are and what we believe in. Marine Forwarding Co of VA stands with Black Lives Matter, and we reject racism, bigotry, and hate. We do not believe that looting is the answer in any way shape or form but realize that desperate times are pushing desperate actions. We are Praying for our fellow Americans, who deserve so much better!

01/03/2020

Please see the below message from ZIM Lines regarding late payment fees going into effect 2020.

ZIM US Export Trade: Late Payment Fee
Dear ZIM Customer,

Effective February 1, 2020, the Late Payment Fee will be assessed for all US export cargo at the following amounts:

· $50 USD per Bill of Lading for which Prepaid Freight and Charges have not been paid within 10 business days after vessel departure

· $150 USD per Bill of Lading for which Prepaid Freight and Charges have not been paid within 20 business days after vessel departure

*Except where otherwise specified in a service contract or credit agreement between Merchant and ZIM

We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing ZIM. Please feel free to contact your respective Sales representative or Customer Service for any questions.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd.

www.zim.com

09/17/2019

Will there be uniformity in the fee structure?

We are expecting to see a highly diversified way of carriers passing this cost along to the maritime industry. Therefore we are also expecting that there will be differences in amounts that nvocc's will be forced to pass along to our customers.

For FCL it will be a similar structure of how nvocc's and contract holders are charged by carriers.

For LCL shipments, average utilizations will help break the fee down to a CBM or TON additional that then is added to the invoice.

09/17/2019

What does IMO 2020 mean for our mutual business?


Growing demand for the new fuel type is likely to result in increased prices. The ocean carriers are unable to absorb the increased cost, so it’s expected that such costs will be passed on to the cargo owners. Based on that, either ocean freight rates will increase, or a surcharge will be implemented to recover such cost increases.

09/17/2019

Who will be affected by IMO 2020?

It is expected to be a disruption for the entire maritime industry. However, the level of impact is expected to vary from region to region, based on ship size, fuel cost and carrier readiness. The impact should start to be felt from Q4 of 2019 onwards. It is expected to last for a few years, as the shipping sectors adapt to the new rule.

09/17/2019

Why is everyone talking about fuel?


The marine sector consumes about 3.8 million barrels of fuel per day, responsible for half of the global fuel oil demand. The cost difference between IMO compliant and non-complaint fuels is significant. Ship operators that now need to change to a different fuel type, will now compete for fuel directly with truckers, railroads and airlines.