Container Shipping News

While large ocean shippers can get information about where their containers are on the high seas or elsewhere in their supply chains through electronic data interface with their ocean carriers, small shippers who don’t have EDI are often left in the dark.

More than half of Expeditors International of Washington’s revenue came from the Asia-Pacific region in 2013, which may be a good sign for the third-party logistics provider...

While an increase in the scrapping of Panamax ships may help counteract oversupply in the container shipping industry, it won’t be enough to solve overcapacity.

Rickmers Maritime Trust posted a fourth quarter loss of $8.0 million, a swing of $10.2 million from the $2.2 million profit it made in the same quarter of 2012.

Following a frenetic decade of ups and downs in volumes and rates, the steamship industry is seeking stability through alliances and cost-cutting that has lengthened voyage transit times. While many shippers don’t see much of a problem in slow-steaming, exporters of refrigerated goods have more reason to be concerned.

CMA CGM has launched the Equatorial Guinea Express, a weekly, direct service from Tanger-Med to the ports of Bata and Malabo in Equatorial Guinea.

Japan’s exports to the United States rose for the 13th straight month in January on a year-on-year basis, soaring 21.9 percent to ¥1.0 trillion (US$9.9 billion), according to preliminary figures released by the Finance Ministry on Feb. 20.

Mega-ships and carrier alliances could prove to be the financial savior of the container shipping industry, but they are also straining the operations of marine terminals and motor carriers.

Westwood Shipping has found new use for its fleet of four BulkCon ships. The carrier, which has specialized in transporting forest products since 1892, added refrigerated cargoes to the mix in the summer of 2013.

The six members of the G6 – Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line, OOCL, Hyundai Merchant Marine, APL and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines – today released details on the port rotations...

Evergreen Line and the four members of the CKYH Alliance have agreed in principle to form a new alliance that will share ships on trades between Asia and North Europe and the Mediterranean.

NOL Group posted a fourth quarter loss of $137 million, which was $46 million bigger than the $91 million loss in the same period last year, as revenue from its container shipping business was hit by overcapacity and falling freight rates.

The settlement of the dispute over cost overruns between the Panama Canal Authority and the engineering consortium building its new set of larger locks leaves unanswered the questions of when the $5.25 billion expansion project will be completed and how much more it will cost in the end.

In 2013, container shipments from Europe to the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent declined 3 percent year-over-year to 3.0 million TEUs...

In mid-March, Hapag-Lloyd plans to launch its fixed-day, weekly Sweden Denmark Express service...

Two U.S. security officers have been found dead on the Maersk Alabama, according to a statement by Seychelles police today, CNN reports.

A depressing air of déjà vu enveloped the Hamburg shipping community when Greek container ship owner Danaos announced that it is taking a $19 million hit on the debt restructuring of Zim as it cuts the charter rates of six ships on hire to the Israeli ocean carrier.

The global container ship fleet this year is expected to grow at the slowest rate in a decade, but large and small shipping lines continue to order more new ships than the forecast growth of global container cargo can fill over the next two years, especially on the Asia-Europe trade.

Not a great deal is known yet about the “Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement” signed this week by COSCO and China Shipping. But the very fact an agreement of any kind was publicly unveiled in Beijing (at the COSCO headquarters), shows how times have changed in China and worldwide.

Evergreen Line has confirmed that it is in negotiations with the CKYH Alliance to form a new alliance...

CMA CGM has extended its FEMEX service in the Black Sea with the addition of three new calls in Samsun, Turkey; Novorossiysk, Russia; and Constanta, Romania.

The Maersk Svendborg container ship lost a “significant number” of containers over board during “very rough” weather in the Bay of Biscay on Feb. 14, according to Maersk Line.

For a second consecutive year, Container Trade Statistics data showed that the global container market witnessed a “slightly accelerated pace” in global output in December 2013...

Major carriers aim to hike rates in a variety of trade lanes in March, although any increases achieved could be temporary.

China confounded analysts in January as export and import growth accelerated despite the expected negative impact of Chinese New Year and forecasts of slowing economic expansion.

Singapore-based Bengal Tiger Line has introduced a new container feeder service linking Krishnapatnam Port, India, with Colombo, Sri Lanka, effective this month.

Chilean carrier CSAV said it plans to add up to $600 million in capital to complete the financing of ships under construction and to help finance a proposed merger with German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd.

Zim has canceled its remaining orders for four 12,552-TEU ships from Samsung Heavy Industries and four 8,800-TEU ships from Hyundai Samho...

Harbor truck drivers returned to their jobs on Feb. 12 after a four-day strike at the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal, a DP World facility in India’s Port of Cochin.

Air and ocean trades to and from China will remain slow until next month due to the Lunar New Year shutdown, according to a survey by JOC of leading transport operators and analysts based in Asia.

A strike by harbor truck crews has affected normal operations at the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal, a DP World facility in India’s Port of Cochin.

Containerized imports at U.S. ports are projected to drop to their lowest level of the year in February, but should rebound strongly in the ensuing months, according to the Global Port Tracker published by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Danaos, the Greek container ship owner, remained in the red in the fourth quarter of 2013, but swung to a profit for the full year from a loss in 2012.

New estimates on postponement of ship deliveries and scrapping are already tamping down estimates on capacity tonnage growth this year.

Major container lines hope to increase rates in multiple trade lanes in March, April and May, although any hikes achieved could be fleeting.

Shippers should expect declining container ship reliability over the near term.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has confirmed to the JOC that it has filed a lawsuit in Tokyo against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for damages related to the MOL Comfort incident.

International Shipholding Corp. plans to relocate its corporate headquarters next year from Mobile, Ala., to New Orleans, where the company was based from its founding in 1947 until 2006.

Middle East-based Simatech Shipping has announced the launch of a new container service connecting Vallarpadam Transshipment Terminal, India, with Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates, starting this month.