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.
The reversion in spot rates is pulling down contract rates, with a significantly delayed effect on ocean carrier earnings.
The 2M partnership between MSC and Maersk — which is breaking up — is the smallest of the three alliances. The Ocean Alliance is much larger.
ONE’s profit dropped by 50% quarter over quarter to $2.76 billion.
German ocean shipping company Hapag-Lloyd said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization jumped by $7.6 billion year over year.
Container shipping rates from Europe to the U.S. are finally falling, but they’re still exceptionally high.
Speculation is swirling on how the end of a global container shipping alliance will affect ocean carriers and cargo shippers.
“Terminal and infrastructure investments are a crucial element of our strategic agenda and India is one of our key growth markets,” Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said.
Shipping services around the globe will be reconfigured after the top two carriers end their vessel-sharing agreement.
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.
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.
Imports continue to decline and are close to where they were before COVID-19, but the coastal mix is very different.
Remaining queues of waiting ships are dwindling, another sign that supply chain pressure is winding down.
The top 10 liner operators hiked aggregate capacity by 13% in 2000-22 and continue to control 85% of the global fleet.
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.
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.
The U.S. could seek forfeiture of the MSC Gayane, a large ship involved in an infamous smuggling operation, says Bloomberg Businessweek.
Containerized imports to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have now fallen well below pre-COVID levels.
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.
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.
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.
Hopes that China will relax its zero-COVID policy are fading, raising concerns about shipping volume fallout.
Southern California’s container-ship logjam ends as congestion eases at East and Gulf Coast ports.
Ocean carriers have been shielded by lucrative annual contracts with cargo shippers, but contract coverage is starting to crumble.
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 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.
Imports remain 7% higher than pre-pandemic levels, with volumes steadying last month after September’s plunge.
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.
The world’s seventh-largest ocean carrier expects profits to fall, yet its projections remain vastly higher than pre-COVID levels.
Last week saw a number of updates on port infrastructure funding and terminal project statuses.
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.
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.
