Europe’s second-busiest port is battling to stem falling container throughput as widespread disruption across logistics chains and the war in Ukraine affect its handling ability.

South Korea’s highly profitable HMM has announced a massive investment plan that will extend the carrier’s reach deeper into the container supply chain.

Wage negotiations between a German union and port employers have again failed to reach a settlement, with a two-day strike set to start Thursday as vessel congestion persists.

Peak season has begun for air travel between Europe and North America, but forwarders making use of belly cargo capacity on passenger planes do not expect the below-deck boon to last.

The competition regulations applied to container shipping are no longer fit for purpose and need a major revamp, according to the OECD’s International Transport Forum.

An ongoing shortage of capacity on the main trade lanes out of Asia and growing signs of declining demand are clouding the air cargo outlook for the remainder of the year.

The massively profitable container shipping environment was highlighted yet again in a first-half profit alert by Cosco Shipping Holdings, which would seem to put the carrier — and the industry — firmly on course for another record-breaking year.

Signs of a weakening container shipping market have yet to make their presence felt in the financial performance of OOCL, with the carrier continuing its run of stellar revenue gains through the second quarter.

Falling import volumes into North Europe amid rapidly deteriorating economic conditions have not provided any relief for hub ports in the region as logistics challenges mount.

German port union ver.di and port employers are locked in their sixth round of wage negotiations this week in a dispute over inflation-matching increases.

French carrier CMA CGM has responded to a government call for price cuts to help inflation-hit consumers by announcing a 500 Euro cut in long-term rates for imports of essential household goods through French ports.

A global shippers’ group believes US regulatory probes into container shipping practices through the pandemic will add pressure on the European Commission to formally review its carrier exemption from antitrust law.

French carrier CMA CGM is investing in a green gas project that aims to ramp up the production of biomethane in support of shipping decarbonization efforts and to fuel the carrier’s own vessels.

Elevated demand for rail cargo on the only viable China-Europe rail route continues to overwhelm the existing infrastructure, with congestion building at Central Asian intermodal points.

After two years of keeping supply chains moving in a heavily disrupted logistics sector, and now facing rapidly rising inflation, transport worker unions in Europe are turning up the heat on employers.

Rate levels on the major trade lanes out of Asia should be rising as peak season begins and key destination ports remain congested, but the spot market has continued to decline.

Ocean carriers could find themselves under pressure from shippers to revisit long-term contracts as spot market rates tumble on the trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trade lanes.

The short-term cost of cutting maritime emissions in the Pacific Ocean will be relatively small compared with the market variability of rate levels, according to UNCTAD.

The air freight industry is seeing a welcome increase in the urgently needed long-haul belly cargo capacity available to the market as international travel starts picking up.

The congested North Europe hub of Antwerp is having its container terminal operations and inland logistics connections further tested by industrial action.

Global volume data shows a slowing of the container shipping market, and a new forecast does not expect any strengthening of demand this year.

CMA CGM Air Cargo will use its parent company’s extensive ocean forwarder network to drive new business as the airline readies for a rapid global expansion under its Air France-KLM partnership.

Importers in the US are finding higher volumes on the westbound trans-Atlantic are coming with soaring rate levels and record-low schedule reliability, with little relief in sight.

A breakdown in wage negotiations between German port employers and labor comes at a particularly inconvenient time, with supply chains heavily disrupted and peak season about to begin.

Member states expressed concern over the equitable use of the R&D funds as well as fair and equal access to any patents and technologies that would be created.

Already congested ports in North Europe are bracing for a spike in volume this summer following the lifting of COVID-19 lockdowns in China, but deteriorating economic conditions in Europe could cause demand to drop in the fourth quarter.

A new report is putting hard figures to the costs of high demand, port congestion, and the resulting increase in inventories.

China’s rolling COVID-19 lockdowns and significant disruption linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have left the global air freight market to face a difficult second half of the year.

Air cargo capacity is flooding back into the trans-Atlantic market via below deck belly space as travel increases and airlines ramp up their summer schedules.

The only real option at present for rail cargo from China to Europe is the so-called “middle corridor,” even though the transit is often longer than ocean and 30 percent more expensive than the largely out-of-bounds northern alternative through Russia.

A drop in air freight volumes on the Hong Kong-Europe trade lane is being caused by a lack of available capacity rather than constraints in demand, something an expanded carrier partnership hopes to address.

ONE’s order of 10 new ships designed to run on alternative fuels is part of the Singapore-based carrier’s $20 billion plan to overhaul its fleet.

If the offer by MSC and Lufthansa for ITA is successful, it will provide the ocean carrier with access to significant air freight capacity.

The drive to decarbonize the maritime industry has gained a foothold in Asia with the forming of a Lloyd’s Register-backed fuel transition alliance.

With importers taking longer to pick up their containers from overflowing terminals at hub ports in North Europe, ship delays are increasing, particularly for the largest vessels serving the Asia–Europe trade.

Powering its ships with green methanol will come with a significant increase in fuel costs for Maersk, but the carbon-free fuel offers greater scalability than other options.

The container ship orderbook currently stands at 26.7 percent of the global fleet, with much of the new capacity to be delivered in 2023 and 2024, but carriers have no intention of allowing the additional supply to undermine rates and profitability.

Executives say Zim will use its record quarterly profits to pay shareholder dividends, purchase new ships, and possibly to acquire a regional intra-Asia line, if the right opportunity arises.

It was a positive start to the year for the port of Hamburg as Baltic volume shifting from Russia and a rise in China cargo pushed up first quarter throughput.

In just 18 months, CMA CGM has gone from providing air cargo as part of its CEVA Logistics suite of services to becoming a major player in the global air freight market.