Container lines

Importers are shipping with a sense of urgency to bring their merchandise into the United States before factories in Asia close down for the Lunar New Year celebrations on Feb 16.

The supply-demand balance will become more favorable to carriers in the second half, believes Jefferies.

Spot rates have flattened on trades from China to Europe and the Mediterranean with Lunar New Year peak season yet to materialize.

CMA CGM is strengthening its presence on the east coast of South America.

Two joint, weekly intra-Asia routes — connecting major ports on India's east and west coasts — are scheduled to start from Shanghai, China, at the end of this month.

With an expanding US economy boosting imports, and carrier consolidation providing leverage on the capacity side, industry experts are putting beneficial cargo owners on notice that the 2018 to 2019 service contracting season could be difficult.

Expanding SM Line will add another China-US West Coast service to its growing portfolio as the carrier continues to grow its market share.

IBM and Maersk estimate the initiatives could save the industry billions of dollars.

When OOCL is part of Cosco and the three Japanese lines merge soon, most of the container ship capacity will be concentrated in just a few hands.

The orders come after Cosco and Yang Ming delayed delivery of roughly 200,000 TEU of capacity to 2019 amid signs overcapacity remains in the market.

The health scandal, called Carne Fraca, disrupted shippers and container operations and resulted in several importers — including China, Chile, the European Union, and South Korea — imposing temporary bans.

Spot rates are rising into a late Lunar New Year, with a host of carrier rate increases scheduled for early February.

From air freight to ocean to trucking, e-commerce is exerting palpable influence on the various transport markets.

Maersk initially set up the program for its own needs and used it to, for example, monitor the temperature of each box and change it if it was too low or high, and also to track the maintenance needs.

In a recent interview, Soo Cheon Lee, co-founder and chief investment officer at investment bank SC Lowy, said SM Line would have to find partners on the trans-Pacific if it was to maintain its competitive edge.

GTI is poised to receive the first call from a new intra-Asia service, jointly announced by Cosco Shipping Lines and Wan Hai Lines.

As capacity floods into service, some carriers have started to delay the delivery of new mega-ships.

Excess capacity in the market is doing carriers no favors in contract talks with shippers, and even though demand is growing, it will not be strong enough to address the surplus in supply.

China last year announced bans on imports of certain types of scrap products from all countries in order to reduce the harmful effect of contaminated waste products.

Solid spot rates this week position carriers for possible rate hikes as the Lunar New Year approaches.

In a series of conversations, JOC executive editor Mark Szakonyi surveyed three shippers on how 2017 fared for their supply chains and what 2018 holds.

Economic health is driving growth in cargo volumes.

Carriers have little track record of self-policing in pursuit of overall industry gains. Can carriers change their operational stance?

It would appear that managing infrastructure needs for bigger ships and environmental responsibility are at cross-purposes. But heading into 2018, North American ports have a plan.

Spot rates in the major east-west trades ended 2017 on a high note.

As experienced trade professionals know, how 2018 will play out is not something shippers have any influence over and the business of shipping containers in the Asia-Europe trade could take three directions.

Key north-south parties expect the positive trade pattern to continue in the year ahead, but there are challenges that could dent that forecast.

The third direct service supplements the carrier's CIMEX 6 and CIMEX 8 service.

Eastbound trans-Pacific spot rates are also down substantially from 2016, but there is a qualification. Those 2016 spot rates were boosted by the Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy.

There was no movement in Asia-Europe and Asia-Mediterranean rates this week as the holiday season begins.

SM Line is hoping to partner with its larger Korean rival HMM as the carrier plans to launch a new trans-Pacific service.

The impact of mega-ships and consolidation will see the alliances needing to revise their network offerings in 2018, creating new uncertainty for shippers already concerned at potentially large numbers of canceled sailings.

The pre-Lunar New Year push so far this year has been erratic.

Several port authorities told JOC’s Port Performance North America Conference on Wednesday that they take the threat very seriously.

The intra-Asia trade continues to grow, attracting new services from carriers in the region.

The rate increases announced by several carriers may not have lifted rates by much, but they at least have prevented a slide deep in the low season.

Trans-Pacific rate volatility is likely to continue through 2018, as carriers add capacity and the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement loses another member.

APL was No. 13 on the trans-Atlantic trade in the first three quarters.

The Asia-Europe trade has seen greater volume and higher rates this year, but the backhaul trade has outperformed its larger headhaul counterpart.

The latest JOC port productivity data show call sizes continued to increase globally through the first half of 2017.