Maritime

Are falling commodity shipping spot rates the result of normal seasonality or a symptom of global economic malaise?

White House economic adviser Brian Deese points to supply chain improvements while new pressures loom overseas.

American imports remain a tale of two coasts, with continued strength in container volumes headed to Atlantic ports.

The 9,133,657 twenty-foot equivalent units the Port of Long Beach handled in 2022 were only 2.7% off the record-setting 2021.

South Carolina Ports moved nearly 2.8 million TEUs in 2022, the most in the state’s history.

Annual volumes at the Nova Scotia port exceeded 600,000 twenty-foot equivalent units for the first time in its history.

RoadOne IntermodaLogistics has acquired The Transporter Inc., an intermodal service provider with facilities in Houston, Dallas and Laredo, Texas.

2023 was a banner year for the Port of Virginia, with annual volumes higher year over year as more traffic went to East Coast ports.

“It was a challenging year, but collaborative effort across Georgia’s supply chain ensured cargo movement remained fluid,” Executive Director Griff Lynch said.

FTR Transportation Intelligence expects a competitive truck market and port activity shift to put pressure on rail intermodal in 2023.

The railroads must work with other supply chain stakeholders and even consider sharing infrastructure in order to maintain an integral role within the broader freight transportation network, experts said at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting.

The biggest container ships sailing on the oceans can carry more than 24,000 TEUs and are as tall as the Empire State Building.

Legislation aimed at “fixing the supply chain” would allow drivers under age 21 to haul freight to and from ports.

Marine fuel rules have become a key factor in diesel prices, but a new set of regulations may actually push downward on the market.

A first-ever strategy aimed specifically at decarbonizing transportation encourages maritime and rail over highway freight.

Imports continue to decline and are close to where they were before COVID-19, but the coastal mix is very different.

Sanctions on Russian crude exports have yet to boost tanker rates. Some question whether sanctions on Russian diesel will either.

The East and Gulf coasts combined have overtaken the West Coast in port market share, but there are limitations the East needs to deal with, said panelists at a meeting of the Transportation Research Board.

Remaining queues of waiting ships are dwindling, another sign that supply chain pressure is winding down.

Port Houston plans to begin implementing fees for long-dwell containers beginning Feb. 1.

The top 10 liner operators hiked aggregate capacity by 13% in 2000-22 and continue to control 85% of the global fleet.

As cars gained popularity, ships were converted and built specifically for transporting vehicles overseas.

The predicted boost to tanker rates from Russian crude disruptions has yet to materialize. Instead, rates have declined.

Just as the pandemic wound down, another market-altering event for shipping — the Ukraine-Russia war — ramped up.

Container shipping lines are gradually getting their services back on schedule, but they still have a long way to go.

Trans-Pacific spot rates fell first. Trans-Atlantic spot rates and Asia-U.S. contract rates look like they’re next in line.

Backers of a shipping regulation that begins Jan. 1 believe it will reduce carbon emissions. Critics warn it could backfire and increase them.

Over the past five years, Port X Logistics has grown from a startup to a major player in the drayage, transloading and trucking worlds. This level of growth — especially in the midst of a pandemic — has required serious planning, hard work and commitment.

By the start of the 1900s, about 40 U.S.-flag ships were operated by the country’s lumber titans, proving to the industry at the time that marine transport was more efficient than rail.

Auto imports, crude oil and petroleum shipments rose as ports in Houston, Corpus Christi and New Orleans recorded mixed freight volumes in November.

The spending bill to keep the federal government running through fiscal 2023 includes updated measures for trucking and maritime sectors.

The U.S. could seek forfeiture of the MSC Gayane, a large ship involved in an infamous smuggling operation, says Bloomberg Businessweek.

Foreign-flagged vessels working in the U.S. offshore energy sector would face new restrictions under a proposal before Congress.

Containerized imports to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have now fallen well below pre-COVID levels.

The Port of New Orleans has received $800 million from two major trade operators toward a planned $1.8 billion container facility.

The Georgia Ports Authority last month handled 464,883 twenty-foot equivalent units, a decline of 6.2% from the 494,699 TEUs moved in November 2021.

November saw another double-digit drop in America’s containerized imports, driven by sinking volumes from Asia.

Shipping giant Maersk changes leadership as it transitions from a period of massive profits to one of challenging market conditions.

AskWaves looks at GAO’s warning that the U.S. needs to step up capabilities and oversight in the Arctic region as emerging shipping routes gain steam.

Faster easing of China’s COVID restrictions could provide eventual support for container and dry bulk markets and a more immediate boost for tankers.

The pilot of the Ever Forward could face civil charges as a result of the vessel being stuck in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay for more than a month.

GCT will sell its terminal operations in Staten Island, New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, to shipping giant CMA CGM.

Water levels on the Mississippi River have been rising near Memphis, Tennessee, and that’s good news for barge movements.

Declining ship fuel prices equate to savings for containerized cargo shippers and lower costs for tanker and bulker owners.

GPA will shift breakbulk cargo carried by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean to the Port of Brunswick so that it can “optimize cargo movement” at both the ports at Brunswick and Savannah.

Spot shipping rates continue their historic slide, putting even more pressure on container lines’ contract business.

Three laid-up Mission tankers were enlisted to help get a man on the moon.

GPA is working hard to meet growing demand. To achieve this goal, it has focused on infrastructure improvement and expansion.

Even if no oil moves under price caps, Russian exports could face deep discounts and continue to flow via “shadow tankers.”

The blockchain-enabled global platform TradeLens will go offline by the end of the first quarter of 2023.

Hopes that China will relax its zero-COVID policy are fading, raising concerns about shipping volume fallout.

Shippers and carriers are increasing the pressure on ports and other supply chain participants to roll out “green corridors” using digital technology.

Gulf Coast ports got a boost in October from imports of steel, plywood and bagged goods, as well as exports of crude oil.

Southern California’s container-ship logjam ends as congestion eases at East and Gulf Coast ports.

New bookings data suggests volume softness is here to stay.

Expeditors’ stock is too high priced, Wells Fargo says, as it cuts its rating to a level tantamount to “sell.”

Ocean carriers have been shielded by lucrative annual contracts with cargo shippers, but contract coverage is starting to crumble.

Stratospheric LNG shipping rates offer a lesson on the do’s and don’ts of measuring earnings momentum.

Global energy trades face even more tumult ahead. “This could get crazy,” says Scorpio Tankers’ Robert Bugbee.

Canadian government official introduces new legislation that represents the culmination of multiyear efforts to address port funding and railway safety needs.

FreightWaves Classics examines storied ocean carrier U.S. Lines, which was persistent in its desire to operate a successful cargo ship named the American Shipper.

Ed Aldridge is retiring from CMA CGM America, and Uffe Ostergaard is leaving Hapag-Lloyd.

Earnings for Zim, the world’s 10th largest ocean carrier, peaked in the first quarter and continue to slide as rates fall.

The CEOs of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern on Tuesday talked up the benefits of their railroad consolidation at the RailTrends conference in New York.

The head of Los Angeles’ port is on a worldwide sales blitz, trying to convince shippers and carriers to come back.

Container volumes were up year over year in Savannah and Charleston, while crude oil exports set a record in Corpus Christi.

Drop in imports from China in recent months comes on the heels of years of gains by exporters in the rest of Asia.

Container shipping fundamentals are not as bad as spot rates imply, says the head of the world’s fifth-largest ocean carrier.

“Container demand is expected to be under downward pressure due to considerable uncertainties,” HMM said in its third-quarter earnings release.

Nicole is forecast to move through Florida to Georgia on Thursday and then to the Carolinas on Friday.

German shipping and logistics giant Deutsche Post DHL has raised its full-year profit guidance to a record of $8.38 billion.

Imports remain 7% higher than pre-pandemic levels, with volumes steadying last month after September’s plunge.

Revenues and expenses were little changed from last year at Expeditors but profitability rose.

Some VLGCs carrying propane and VLCCs carrying crude have joined LNG carriers in shipping’s six-figures-per-day club.

The Port of Houston announced it will begin implementing fees for long-dwell containers beginning Dec. 1.

project44 has secured $80 million in funding to create a system to measure supply chain emissions globally.

Europe must replace all seaborne crude imports from Russia within the next few weeks. Crude tanker owners stand to gain.

Flexport sees lower spot rates giving certain retailers a pricing advantage at the store.

Maersk’s guidance implies fourth-quarter earnings will plunge 39% compared to the third-quarter peak.

Most politicians are clueless about supply chains, so it’s a shame when industry veteran Mike Erickson runs for Congress and pins inflation on ocean carriers.

Product-tanker share prices are up triple digits year to date as investors position for sanctions upside.

The world’s seventh-largest ocean carrier expects profits to fall, yet its projections remain vastly higher than pre-COVID levels.

Jaxport CEO Eric Green said the $23.5 million grant “marks a milestone in our initiatives to build the port of the future and move cargo in the most efficient and eco-friendly way possible.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation is awarding the Port of Long Beach a $30.1 million grant to replace diesel yard tractors with zero-emissions cargo-handling equipment.

Last week saw a number of updates on port infrastructure funding and terminal project statuses.

DOT should consider trucking and other supply chain costs in its push to expand off-site and inland container facilities, transportation executives caution.

Maersk is a giant in the ocean shipping industry. It is also heavily investing to grow its all-cargo airline.

Spot rate indexes look like they’re stabilizing — at least temporarily — after double-digit plunges in August and September.

Ocean carrier contracts and carriers’ ability to make a profit are put to the test in a proposed rule, according to reaction from shippers and carriers.

Kuehne+Nagel is the largest logistics company in the world. It sees opportunities to capture more business as shipping demand falls.

The “shadow fleet” is not large enough to save Russian oil exports from Western sanctions, according to multiple analysts.

Barge movement on the Mississippi River continues to be impaired by low-water levels with no end in sight.

Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd, gives his take on the “bullwhip effect,” rates and global trade.

FreightWaves founder and CEO Craig Fuller provides insight into 2022’s peak season.

“At MSC, we want to continue to improve towage service efficiency and expand Rimorchiatori Mediterranei, building on the impressive work of the Genoese families that have developed the company the past 100 years,” MSC CEO Soren Toft said.

Shipping lines face a minefield of surging capacity and sinking demand, but there is a path to safety, claims one industry expert.

South Florida Container Terminal has ordered 12 electric, emission-free, rubber-tired gantry cranes and welcomed the launch of CMA CGM’s Medgulf service at PortMiami.

Southern California ports are being hit by double-digit import drops as the COVID-19 cargo boom winds down.

As container shipping stocks get battered by collapsing rates, tanker shares could be poised for a long bull run.

The South Carolina Ports Authority will join other major East Coast ports in providing near-dock rail via the planned Navy Base Intermodal Facility at the Port of Charleston.