Latest news

The availability of IMO-compliant 0.5 percent sulfur fuel oil in Bangladesh’s main port will help lower costs for carriers, particularly the feeder operators that work vessels calling from major regional hubs.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. announced a new weekly service from Asia to the US West Coast to meet import demand that has risen significantly in the past two months.

Despite a COVID-19-driven construction slowdown and a complex permitting regime, the second wave of breakbulk cargo will soon begin delivery to the $40 billion LNG Canada project.

The correlation between blank sailings and volume through the coronavirus-hit second quarter can be used to predict upcoming demand with reasonable accuracy, says Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis.

In proactively and successfully influencing the direction of the market as container lines have done this year, leading to higher rates and stronger profit, the carriers will inevitably provoke a regulatory reaction.

APL Logistics has added Haiphong to its OceanGuaranteed product as demand for premium services from Vietnam increases with the shift of some manufacturing from China.

Port authorities in the US Southeast are closely monitoring terminal fluidity as volume picks up, and making adjustments to ensure cargo owners don’t see service degrade.

Stable high-and-heavy cargo volumes reduced loss margins for Wallenius Wilhelmsen as the carrier slow steams and puts 15 ships in cold layup to cut costs.

Leaders from the Maritime Employers Association and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) say they are confident they can agree to a new contract before the truce expires in March 2021.

Forwarders say shipping lines in the eastbound trans-Pacific are telling them to prepare for a Sept. 1 general rate increase (GRI) that could push West Coast spot rates above $4,000 per FEU.

Container lines have displayed an ability to flex capacity in response to short-term demand changes, and this strategy has paid off across the board despite stunted volumes in the second quarter.

Flagging volumes to and from China trade dragged down first-half throughput at Europe’s third-busiest container port, and Hamburg does not expect volume to reach pre-COVID-19 levels anytime soon.

A chassis dispute between trucking executives and ocean carriers has reached an impasse, spurring American Trucking Associations to seek a resolution from the US Federal Maritime Commission.

DP World subsidiary Unifeeder ISC has agreed to purchase three business units of the Mumbai-based Transworld Group, including the short-sea and transhipment carrier Shreyas Shipping and the forwarder Avana Logistek.

For the third time this month, Union Pacific has increased spot rates and its peak season surcharge in Los Angeles, raising prices on small shippers to record levels and likely pushing excess cargo back to trucking.

With record parcel volumes expected to continue into the holiday peak season, carriers are implementing surcharges to manage demand while shippers struggle to secure capacity and mitigate costs.

New priority services from Asia to the US will allow shippers to move their containers quickly through Los Angeles and to inland destinations.

Freight forwarders in the US Midwest and Eastern Canada fear the rail problems plaguing Vancouver could quickly result in excessive delays in delivering containers to the eastern half of the continent.

The federal government shows no signs of intervening in the Montreal strike, which has caused carriers to send several vessels to the alternative ports of Halifax and Saint John.

Growth of Maersk Spot indicates the industry is past the point of no return on adoption of instant quoting tools, with container lines not having this capability lagging behind.

Earnings season is drawing to a close, with carriers shrugging off the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on demand in the second quarter and significantly boosting their earnings due to capacity management.

Half of the 18,310 MW of wind projects in advanced development in the US will be built in federal waters off the East Coast, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

Seeing the long-term decline in carload volumes tied to North American industrial activity, CN is trying to tie itself closer to supply chains feeding the retail and service industries.

Maersk is the latest carrier to produce a healthy interim result, which has encouraged the market leader to not only reinstate its suspended full-year earnings guidance, but to increase it.

A federal regulatory change will safely expedite the training process and address the pressing national need for more chassis mechanics, according to the Intermodal Association of North America.

Fewer sailings in the first half of the year as carriers canceled capacity have cut the volume of Europe’s imports, but the bigger ships deployed on the trades from Asia continue to record huge call sizes.

US brewer Anheuser-Busch is upgrading its clean-truck fleet, but the shipper’s 2025 sustainability goals will require collaboration across the supply chain.

Even as the number of container ship calls tumbled due to large-scale carrier sailing cancelations, the COVID-19 disruption became a thorn in the side of key Indian terminals striving to build on efficiency momentum.

Asian gateways continued to increase their dominant share of the global port market in 2019, handling nearly 80 percent of the total throughput of the top 50 container ports worldwide.

Although factors such as congestion at marine terminals and shortages of workers at warehouses have generated longer chassis dwell times in Southern California, truckers say the unusually large number of out-of-service chassis is contributing to equipment shortages.

Li & Fung moves to transform its business model as the loss of large retailers, rise in e-commerce, trade wars, and COVID-19 change the sourcing game.

NFI intermodal and its truck brokerage businesses will expand following logistics unit purchases from CAI International.

While cargo flow through New York–New Jersey is mostly fluid, tightening chassis supply and warehouse capacity are a growing concern for both carriers and shippers as volumes increase.

The new service will significantly shorten the transit time for Bangladeshi cargoes to reach their final destination in the US by — at least 10 days, according to officials.

An unexpected 40 percent increase in import volumes since May overwhelmed the Southern California supply chain and infrastructure, creating logistical headaches for truckers and equipment providers.

The largest US and Canadian truckload and LTL carriers have grown substantially over the last decade, despite short-term economic woes, according to data from SJ Consulting Group.

Container line, rail and forwarder executives tell JOC.com they aren’t holding their breath for an immediate response from the Trudeau government for calls to end the ongoing strike at the Port of Montreal.

Taiwanese carrier Yang Ming was unable to turn around its string of financial losses in the first half, but the shipping company continues to inch its way closer to a positive result.

Technology has the potential to solve long-running financing tensions between suppliers and importers, and logistics networks and service providers are likely to be the focal point for these solutions.

A steep drop in Hapag-Lloyd’s volume during the second quarter was matched by capacity cuts and lower operating costs that delivered a solid first half result for the carrier.