Shipping along the Arctic northern sea route is set to grow more than 30-fold over the next eight years and could account for a quarter of the cargo traffic between Europe and Asia by 2030.

INTTRA recently conducted a global e-invoicing study that showed 100 percent of surveyed shippers/freight forwarders want to receive invoices electronically from their carriers, with 81 percent requesting it before the end of 2013. Yet today, most carriers still process their invoices manually, and therefore, so must their customers.

Attempts by carriers to tackle the capacity overhang are being undone as new orders for Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) continue to make the headlines, according to Drewry's monthly report, Sea & Air Shipper Insight.

When the MSC Napoli ran aground off the UK's south coast in January 2007, 137 out of the 600 containers it was carrying on deck were at least 10 percent heavier or lighter than was declared on the ship's manifest. In another high-profile accident, the capsizing of the Xpress Container Line vessel Deneb during unloading at Algeciras in June 2011, an even higher percentage of boxes - 64 out of 150 - were not laden as recorded.