January the first month of the year 2021 was started under the shadow of the pandemic COVID-19 with mixed feelings of hopes and fears at the same time. Hopes were because of the announcements of several promising anti-COVID vaccines during the months of November and December of the year 2020.
On the other hand, fears were because of the new variant of the COVID-19 spreading in the United Kingdom and in France. This new variant is more contagious and more dangerous which makes it more fearful for governments and people.
However, there were also other important and interesting events that happened in this month. In Europe, the EU and UK reached an agreement about the Brexit case and the agreement came into force on Friday.
In America, the most important news was the transition of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. He was sworn as the 46th president of the United States on the 20th of January 2021 which was a remarkable event. As a first initiative, the new president brought the United States back to the Paris Climate Agreement after being withdrawn under the administration of Donald Trump.
Besides the political events, there was also important news in the sourcing and logistics fields. Amazon signed a contract of buying 11 aircraft to boost its air freight services and Walmart built an automated picking and packing system which is a revolutionizing event in the logistics field. Meanwhile, ocean frights rates increased as a result of loaded ports around the world.
We discuss all those events and more that occurred during the month of January 2021 with more details in this post.
4 January 2021
Brexit deal affects as it goes into force
After two years of long negotiations and talks between the United Kingdom and the European Union upon the UK withdrawal from the EU the two sides came to an agreement and it went into force Friday. The good news is that there is no new tariffs or quotas between the two sides, however, additional paperwork and declaration at borders are required.
Upon the call of some corporations, for a grace period, the UK has offered a six months delay for the grace period but not the EU.
Emma Cosgrave
5 January 2021
Amazon Procures eleven airplanes to improve airfreight
Amazon buys 11 airplanes from Delta Air Lines and WestJet Airlines to add to its airplanes that are used for the purpose of product delivery to the customers and they will join the air cargo network in 2021 and 2020.
Amazon also has leased aircraft and according to the Vice President of Amazon Global Air, adding its own aircraft with leased ones allows the company better manage the companies operations.
8 January 2021
Walmart makes order picking and packing automated
The automated system of picking and packing is working much faster and effectively than a human. It's a competitive approach by Walmart against its competitors such as Amazon and Kroger in the field of shoppers' grocery spending. The automated machine is part of a system called Alphabot and it's built-in a 20k square foot facility store in Salem, New Hampshire.
Haley Peterson
13 January 2021
Transports services suspension between UK and EU
The long negotiations between the UK and EU concerning the border customs and regulations seem that hasn't ended yet. As a result, some logistics companies suspended their transport services between the UK and the EU. For example, LSP stopped its services since there are missing and incomplete customs documents that cause delays in the delivery of products to the UK.
20 January 2021
Joe Biden inauguration
Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on 20 January 2021. Joe Biden said: " Today, on this January, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation".
Meanwhile, Kamala Haris made history by becoming the country's first female, first Black, and first South Asian vice president.
The US rejoin Paris climate Agreement
The United States joined and made effort to bring countries to join Paris Climate Agreement in 2015. However, the United States was the only county that withdrew from the agreement under the Donald Trump administration.
Nonetheless, the United States rejoint to the Paris Climate accord in 20 January 2021 after few hours of Biden's inauguration as the 46th president of the United States.
'Morgan Bazilian' among others
21 January 2021
Biden’s executive order to strengthen COVID supply chains
Due to shortages in COVID equipment the president of the United States, Joe Biden signed executive orders to facilitate government coordination in monitoring and strengthening supply chains.
John Gallagher
22 January 2021
Seafreight rates rose through January
Drewry World Container index shows the highest rates since 2011 at 5,30.30 per foot container as rates increased on several ocean shipping lanes. Prices from China/East Asia to both North America and Northern Europe are in steady growth as ports around the world are loaded as of December and all of 2020.
Matt Leonard
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