The acute shortage of 40ft high-cube containers has been hampering the shipment of export cargo from Bangladesh, with MSC and Hapag Lloyd among the major liner operators trying to reposition equipment from nearby ports.

The situation has been exacerbated by the congestion at Singapore, where hundreds of Bangladesh-bound containers are stranded, due to berthing delays, stakeholders claimed.

Also, a significant numbers of 40ft containers are stuck at Chittagong port, as importers are not collecting their boxes because of the Eid holidays.

Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary general of the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association, said the depots had experienced carrier-wide shortages of 40ft boxes.

On Wednesday, a China-Europe international rail freight train loaded with 29 containers containing 290 Chinese-made cars departed from the Shalyan Logistics Park located in Huh-Hoto city /adm. center of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, North China/.

This is the first China-Europe train, specially designed for car transportation, departed from Huh-Hoto. It will arrive in Moscow via the Alashankou checkpoint in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region /Northwest China/.

n index of export container transportation / in May 2024 increased by 14.3 percent. compared to the previous month, showed the data of the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.

At the end of last month, the average index of export container transportation amounted to 1358.71, the exchange said.

During the period, the subindex of routes to West Africa showed the highest growth, increasing by 53.3 percent in monthly terms.

It is followed by subindices of routes to South America and South Africa, which increased by 50.6 percent and 29.6 percent, respectively, in monthly terms.

On January 1, 1998, this index was set at 1,000.

China's Air China has increased the frequency of flights to the UK by adding a direct route between Beijing's Shoudou International Airport and London's Gatwick Airport.

A ceremony to launch the air route was held at Gatwick Airport on Saturday. Flight CA851/2 will operate once a day.

Jonathan Pollard, commercial director of Gatwick Airport, which is the second largest airport in Britain, said the increase in the number of flights on the London -- Beijing route will promote exchanges and cooperation between Britain and China in the fields of trade and tourism, Xinhua Correspondent Jonathan Pollard told Xinhua.

“I believe today's new service is indicative of the growth we are seeing in the UK and Chinese markets,” he added.

According to an Air China press release given to Xinhua on Sunday, nearly 250 passengers took a direct flight to Beijing the day before. Many of them were on their first trip to China since the pandemic to visit relatives, vacation or for business purposes.

中国国际航空公司增加了飞往英国的航班频率，开通了北京首都国际机场和伦敦盖特威克机场之间的直飞航线。

该航线的开通仪式于周六在盖特威克机场举行。CA851/2 航班每天一班。

英国第二大机场盖特威克机场商务总监乔纳森-波拉德

对新华社记者说，伦敦-北京航线航班数量的增加将促进英中两国在贸易和旅游领域的交流与合作。

“他补充说：”我相信今天的新航线表明了我们在英国和中国市场看到的增长。

根据国航周日向新华社提供的一份新闻稿，近 250 名乘客在前一天搭乘了直飞北京的航班。其中许多人是疫情发生后第一次来中国探亲、度假或出差。