The global shipping industry is constantly evolving, and the COVID-19 pandemic began a marked shift in how container shipping operates. Disruption caused by the pandemic has forced the industry to expand its capacity and reduce costs to remain profitable.
At the peak of the pandemic, containers essentially stopped moving. As manufacturers went into lockdown and closed factories, many of the containers used to ship those manufactured goods were left stranded at ports or storage depots, where they weren’t needed. Simultaneously, freight shippers were reducing the number of vessels in use due to the manufacturing slowdown. This limited global shipping capacity and disrupted the worldwide flow of containers and goods. As a result, some regions were left with an excess of stored containers, while other places were left with no containers at all.
As the pandemic slowed and the global economy began to rebound, labor shortages and congestion at ports have left many of these stored containers stuck where they aren’t needed. Now, instead of a shortage of shipping containers, the industry is dealing with too many. Many container storage depots are turning away new clients due to lack of space, and some shippers are even giving containers away to make room. Blank and cancelled sailings are increasing as well, as shippers decide to skip a port or cancel a trip altogether in order to manage changes in demand and capacity.
Check back here for the latest news and insights on the state of the container shipping industry. You can also visit our maritime news archive to learn more about cargo shipping, or our American Shipper archive for air cargo shipping industry news.
Spot rate indexes look like they’re stabilizing — at least temporarily — after double-digit plunges in August and September.
Kuehne+Nagel is the largest logistics company in the world. It sees opportunities to capture more business as shipping demand falls.
Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd, gives his take on the “bullwhip effect,” rates and global trade.
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.
Declining imports have led to fewer container ships waiting off ports, injecting more capacity into the market, a negative for spot rates.
Supply chain planners will walk a precarious path in 2023, according to S&P Global transportation expert Paul Bingham.
Maersk, a major container shipping line, is set to debut its U.S. air cargo service and has focused its resources on the Chicago area.
Although Hurricane Ian dented volumes at Georgia’s ports, Georgia Ports Authority still saw quarterly volumes grow by 9.6% year over year.
New disclosures by Asian ocean carriers confirm that container shipping lines remain extraordinarily profitable.
Despite reports that U.S. imports are slowing down, South Carolina Ports reported a nearly 11% increase in overall volumes in September year over year.
Demand for Asian goods began dropping earlier this year. This is now having a delayed — and highly negative — effect on U.S. imports.
Shipping adheres to a time-honored tradition: When shipowners make exceptionally high profits, they order a lot of new vessels. When those newbuilds are delivered by the yards, it kills shipowners’ […]
CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said the SM SAAM S.A. acquisition is part of Hapag-Lloyd’s strategy to build “a robust and attractive terminal portfolio.”
The ports of Halifax and Saint John in Atlantic Canada seek opportunities to bolster volumes and greening efforts.
BNSF is planning to invest more than $1.5 billion to develop a Southern California facility aimed at easing congestion at the West Coast ports.
Measures of supply chain bottlenecks, cargo transit times, bookings and spot rates are all down, yet inflation remains historically high.
Supply-demand dynamics that supercharged pandemic-era rates are now “exactly the opposite,” says Maersk CEO Soren Skou.
Mediterranean Shipping Co. is taking to the skies with a new cargo airline, following on the heels of other ocean shipping lines with air divisions.
The ports of Halifax and Saint John are taking steps to protect operations as Hurricane Fiona approaches Atlantic Canada.
East and Gulf coast ports handled more volume than ever before in August, pulling far ahead of West Coast rivals.
FreightWaves founder and CEO Craig Fuller outlines how FreightWaves SONAR pointed to the global freight recession months ago.
The ports of Halifax and Saint John could be affected by Hurricane Fiona.
Container lines are pulling back fast from the ship-leasing market, signaling less confidence in future freight income.
Container shipping rates — particularly from Asia to the U.S. — are still falling hard and show no sign of finding a floor.
Crowley Maritime’s Isla Grande Terminal suffered no significant damage when Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico on Sunday.
Executive Director Mario Cordero says the Port of Long Beach is “making great strides in reducing the number of ships queuing to enter the San Pedro Bay ports complex and quickly moving imports and empty containers out of the terminals.”
U.S. containerized imports are still near record highs, but not in Los Angeles, where they’ve fallen sharply.
Senior executive says “strategic assets along the supply chain are a key part of Hapag-Lloyd’s Strategy 2023.”
Labor actions are creating great uncertainty for rail shippers in the U.S. and for air and sea cargo in Europe.
The Georgia Ports Authority is on track to move a record-setting 6 million twenty-foot equivalent units this fiscal year.
Spot container rates for U.S.-bound cargoes are falling fast, yet import numbers at U.S. ports remain near their peak.
Shipping volumes are weakening in and out of China. Is this a temporary pullback or a sign of more serious trouble ahead?
Container and dry bulk shares soared last year, leaving tanker stocks behind. This pattern has now reversed.
A slowing eurozone may pull ocean container rates down further.
IMC Companies says its SmartStacks app increases driver productivity and eliminates unnecessary container lifts.
The Georgia Ports Authority says the Navis system “eliminates data silos, improves velocity across our terminals and enables us to more easily integrate with our customers to provide the data and insights they need.”
Container vessels are expected to use auxiliary engines while in port this week to help California’s struggling electric system cope with extreme heat.
California’s container-ship traffic jam is almost gone, replaced by stubbornly high backlogs off the East and Gulf coasts.
The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday blew the whistle on the planned acquisition of a large container manufacturer by a Chinese company.
The Russia-Ukraine war caused demand for LNG to surge. Owners of LNG carriers are in prime position to profit this winter.
A severe typhoon is headed for the South China region, forcing airlines and ports to take precautions and adjust schedules.
The cost of marine fuels is down sharply from the wartime peak, except for ‘clean’ LNG, which is getting even more expensive.
OOIL reports record revenue but has “legitimate concerns about the impact of inflation and interest rate rises on consumer spending.”
Spot rates on most global shipping routes continue to fall. The trans-Atlantic market is the exception: It’s holding firm near its high.
U.S. imports accelerated in July, with inbound cargo from China reaching a year-to-date high, according to Descartes.
July was a record month at the Port of Virginia. At SC Ports, July’s volumes were up from June as the Port of Charleston sought to improve port flows.
With East Coast ship queues high, port executive Gene Seroka says: “For cargo owners looking to rechart their course, come to Los Angeles.”
Trans-Pacific spot container shipping rates continue to head lower. Zim appears more at risk than some of its rivals.
Rates and sentiment in dry bulk shipping have fallen hard. Economic pressures in China appear to be a major culprit.
Inland port projects and rail cargo handling facilities are among the projects awarded grants through the Department of Transportation’s RAISE program.
The latest shipping company poised to delist has a market cap of $3.5 billion. The latest new entrant’s market cap is under $20 million.
Yang Ming summed up its second quarter and the first half of 2022 in about 150 words.
Hapag-Lloyd bookings point to a gradual unwind of the container shipping boom, not a crash.
South Korean ocean carrier HMM expects “downward pressure” on demand growth in the second half of 2022.
Tankers stocks are doing great. Dry bulk and container stocks temporarily stopped the bleeding. “Maxim stocks” still underperform.
Georgia Ports Authority kicks off the start of its new fiscal year with volumes at over a half million TEUs.
Port congestion and voyage cancellations by shipping lines are preventing a steeper slide in spot container freight rates.
The South Carolina cold chain facility opening next year will handle Port of Charleston imports and exports of proteins, fruits and vegetables.
It looks increasingly likely that war-driven changes to global crude flows will persist for an extended period.
Chinese military exercises in the Taiwan Strait will delay shipments. Further escalation could have dramatic supply chain effects.
FreightWaves chats with international trade attorney Ashley Craig about what the troubles in labor talks for both rail and maritime mean for the broader supply chain.
Container shipping giant Maersk sees continued strength in U.S. imports and ongoing supply chain disruptions globally.
The drop in ships waiting off Southern California is deceiving. The number of ships off all three coasts is back to all-time highs.
The new rail hub is designed to respond to a growing need to expand domestic intermodal capacity within the greater Seattle region.
Shipping lines are still racking up extraordinary profits. Hapag-Lloyd forecasts continued strength in the second half.
UAE-headquartered port operator Gulftainer says it has turned a “poorly performing past two years into a significantly positive first half of 2022.”
Consumer demand, vessel diversions and efforts to avoid congested West Coast ports drove the Georgia Ports Authority to break its record for annual volumes.
Last year was historically strong for some maritime businesses, terrible for others. No matter what the sector, maritime CEOs made millions.
Kuehne + Nagel continued profit growth in Q2 by charging customers more for extra service to keep supply chains fluid.
As truckers protest for the fifth day, workers at the Port of Oakland have been busy setting up orange barricades at all four of the marine terminals in case demonstrations over controversial state law AB5 spill over into next week.
Exhaust gas scrubbers are allowing tankers, bulkers and container ships to keep burning dirtier — and much cheaper — marine fuel.
Cargo vessels allegedly are meeting at sea to transport stolen Ukrainian grain to Turkey and Syria.
America’s goods imports hit a capacity ceiling during the COVID-era boom. Volumes are still bouncing around near the top.
Tankers are very busy loading up with American crude oil and refined products sold to overseas buyers.
Container shipping spot rates continue to ease but are still many times higher than they were pre-pandemic.
Yang Ming’s newest 11,000-TEU container ship will call the Port of Los Angeles on its maiden voyage.
Insurance and risk management firm TT Club says “Book it right and pack it tight” provides guidance for preparing unitized consignments of dangerous goods for carriage by sea.
Ocean carrier HMM announced Thursday it will invest $7.5 billion over the next five years on ships, terminals and logistics facilities.
Drayage provider ContainerPort Group has announced the addition of truck capacity in key port markets.
Peak season imports are expected to remain strong but rail delays require ‘immediate’ attention, says Port of LA’s Gene Seroka.
Higher amounts of loaded imports and empty export boxes contributed to a nearly 15% increase in volumes.
Work is underway to develop container-handling terminals in as many as five states along the Mississippi River.
Southern California ports can’t evacuate import containers fast enough. The backlog has yet again reached critical levels.
There were 125 container ships waiting offshore on Friday, including 36 off Savannah, 24 off Southern California and 20 each off Houston and New York.
In the second quarter, new highs were set for Cosco profits, OOCL revenue per container, and Evergreen operating revenues.
The number of import containers sitting at LA/LB terminals for nine days or more has more than doubled since February.
West Coast port employers and labor won’t extend their contract during bargaining, as business groups would like them to do.
Spot freight rates are easing, but in a sign of resilience, container-ship charter rates remain near all-time highs.
A flood of newly built container ships will be delivered by shipyards in 2023-25. Can liners maintain pricing power?
Trailer Bridge signed a $62 million lease agreement with the Jacksonville Port Authority to continue operating a Blount Island terminal through at least 2041.
Both Democrats and Republicans representing the Pacific Northwest say the creation of a ship-to-rail container port at the existing Port of Coos Bay could boost West Coast port capacity by as much as 10%.
Three commissioners of the Federal Maritime Commission contend a merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern would result in diverting U.S.-bound intermodal traffic to Canadian ports.
Container shipping rates remain far above pre-COVID levels, yet there are more signs of prices easing.
The first half has been phenomenal for product tankers. How much of shipping upside is due to the war?
FreightWaves founder and CEO Craig Fuller analyzes the bullwhip effect on the current retail and trucking environments.
Retail sales are still up double digits compared to pre-COVID. Inventory-to-sales ratios have yet to fully recover.
