Container lines

It was a hefty loss for Hyundai Merchant Marine in 2017, despite the South Korean flagship posting a far better operating result.

Beneficial cargo owners are enjoying some of the lowest pre-Lunar New Year spot rates of the past six years, but they should not necessarily expect that this will give them extra leverage in service contract negotiations beginning next month.

The rising price of bunker fuel, which jumped 25 percent in 2017, is eroding unit cost benefits and Maersk says that higher cost is being reflected in its new contracts.

Maersk Line sailed to a half a billion profit in 2017, but earnings were dragged down by the cyber attack and rising unit costs.

HMM has been South Korea’s flagship container carrier since the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping in February 2017.

Consumers in Puerto Rico actually benefit from lower freight rates in the efficient Jones Act services that are marked by dedicated vessels and terminals, versus foreign-flag services to other Caribbean islands, Matson CEO Matt Cox said.

PIL has broken rank from the three large vessel sharing agreements that currently share the Asia to East Coast of South America trade lane and is introducing a new fortnightly container service.

The new AAL-HMM joint-service will operate five ships — four 30,100-deadweight-ton vessels (dwt) from HMM and one 31,000-dwt vessel from AAL.

Price-wise, the Asia to East Coast of South America is one of the most volatile trade lanes in global trade — which is why analysts argue shippers should not use the trade’s spot rate to predict May service contract rates.

Schedule reliability of the carriers in 2017 was the second lowest ever recorded, but the on-time performance has been improving steadily since February last year.

“Carriers face an increasing threat from digital attackers,” — competitors that have embraced technology, a Boston Consulting Group report released Friday argues.

The modest increases — two weeks before the Lunar New Year, when factories will close for a week or two — indicates that retailers are restocking their inventories and preparing for the spring shopping season at a measured pace.

Container ships are getting too wide and too deep for Australian container ports, officials say. And that leaves the nation with a choice: find ways to accommodate bigger container ships or risk a negative outcome.

Spot rates on the Asia–Europe and Med trades have remained subdued in the run up to Lunar New Year.

Riding volume gains from new Maersk calls, APMT Pipavav increased its October–December quarter throughput by 8 percent from the prior three months and 3.5 percent from the corresponding period in 2016.

The improving container shipping market is reflected in the nine-month financial results of Japan's big three carriers.

Hamburg Süd has withdrawn from a vessel-sharing agreement on the Asia-west coast of South America routes and will offer new services on the fast-growing trade.

The carrier's Marseille, France-based incubator, known as Ze Box, will host a dozen startups, which have yet to be identified.

Cosco is heading for a solid 2017 profit, turning around a $1.4 billion loss, with Beijing subsidies lending a helping hand.

The sheer scale of China’s waste import business means exporters need to find alternative markets for their recyclable products.

A new schedule outlined by Mediterranean Shipping Co. will substantially cut the time needed to send cargo from Europe to the US East Coast.

The new container service will be Pensacola’s first. World Direct said the port near the tip of Florida’s panhandle will complement the carrier’s current calls at Port Manatee.

In launching a joint venture company with IBM, with whom it has had a relationship going back to the 1950s, Maersk would seem to be in the pole position to exploit blockchain’s potential in container shipping.

TOTE’s decision means Matson and Pasha Hawaii will not face a three-way competition that analysts and TOTE's CEO had warned would produce overcapacity and rate wars in the US West Coast-Hawaii trade.

The small change in spot rates this week suggests carriers are satisfied with the current capacity/demand economics in the Pacific.

The mega-ships continue to flood in to the Asia-North Europe container trade lane.

Spot rates on Asia-Europe/Asia-Mediterranean are holding steady, but rate increases for Feb. 1 are in the cards as the peak Lunar New Year shipping period approaches.

Hong Kong-listed OOCL, soon to be part of Cosco, reported a massive increase in container volume and revenue for 2017.

The writing was on the wall for the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement after language in a US House of Representatives bill was introduced that would force carriers to choose between membership in rate discussions and ocean carrier alliances.

The first sailing of MSC’s fortnightly roll-on, roll-off West Africa service will begin Feb. 19 from Le Havre.

The Trump administration announced the tariffs Monday in response to complaints from US-based manufacturers that foreign competition was unfairly flooding the US market with cheap imports.

Carrier consolidation and projections for continued growth in imports alert beneficial cargo owners to the growing possibility of rate restoration in 2018, but a former shipping executive said carrier discipline is crucial, if service contract rates are to exceed those of last year.

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.