container shipping

Suppliers, traders and ship operators will need to increase credit lines and be more diligent about counterparty risk.

Suezmax tankers can carry half as much crude as VLCCs, but now command twice the VLCC rate.

Nicholas Press, Founder and President of CEC Systems, explores the maritime industry’s problem with empty containers and explores potential solutions to deal with them.

As U.S.-China trade tensions escalate, data appears to be pointing to a volume slowdown.

Every corner of the ocean shipping world is completely distinct from the others. What fuels the tanker business is almost entirely different than what steers dry bulkers or container ships. […]

South Korean ocean carrier HMM may have a shiny new corporate identity but its first quarter results were written in the same dreadful red ink as last year. Although the ocean carrier generated large increases in revenues, its costs surged, which led to large losses in the first three months of 2019.

There are some positive signs for shipping rates, but overall, disappointment prevails.

A more flexible shipping loan concept is good for borrowers and their clients, but may have limited scope.

Large ships may provide liner operators with economies of scale, but they are proving more expensive in the chartering market.

Yang Ming Marine Transport (TSE: 2609) narrowed its first quarter 2019 loss thanks to higher volumes of container shipments. The Taiwanese liner operator reported first quarter revenue of $1.14 billion, […]

Danaos CEO does not believe trade dispute will cut box-ship ton-mile demand.

Shipping’s ‘trade war’ equation is not measured in tons at sea, it’s measured in tons times miles at sea.

U.S.-based container ship operator Matson (NYSE: MATX) reported first quarter 2019 results that were above analysts’ estimates, thanks to strength in the company’s logistics business. The Honolulu-based Matson reported net […]

Shipping container maker Singamas Container Holdings (HKEX:716) has announced that it will sell five of its subsidiary companies to Cosco Shipping Financial Holdings for RMB 3.8 billion. That’s about US$565 million.

NYSE-listed Global Ship Lease is reporting improved conditions in the container ship chartering market.

According to Seaspan Corporation, the largest U.S.-listed container-ship lessor, liner companies are pulling vessels from service to install scrubbers, which is increasing demand for new charters.

Momentum is building to limit the speed of ocean-going vessels to curtail harmful emissions. The debate will focus on how this could impact charter rates, and whether it could have the unintended consequence of creating even more emissions-generating ship capacity.

In the second-part of its series on the Panama Canal, FreightWaves interviews a canal authority executive on trends for container-ship transits and expectations for ship size growth in the years ahead.

Nick Brown, head of marine at classification society Lloyd’s Register, is at the front lines of ocean shipping’s technological evolution. He explains how he sees this transformation playing out.

Australia’s import, export and logistics industries are in dismay at a massively escalating series of surcharges that are being unilaterally charged to truckers and shippers by the nation’s main box terminal operators. There have been hikes in surcharges of hundreds of percentage points. And, in one case, an imposed surcharge was literally increased over a couple of years by 2,372 percent. Industry executives are furious.

Containerized freight rates are continuing to decline. And where gains are made, these are only marginal gains. International maritime consultant Drewry expects that ocean carriers “will struggle to recover rates” in the coming week.

Keelung, Taiwan-headquartered ocean container carrier Yang Ming has announced that it signed charter agreements on April 10 for four box ships of 11,000 TEU with ship-owning specialist Shoei Kisen Kaisa of Imabari City, Japan.

World Shipping Council reigns in predictions of severe price spikes resulting from low-sulfur fuel regulation.

Panelists discussed current market data and how the TCA educates its members to operationalize data in their businesses.

Down, down, down – freight rates are down, nearly across the board, on export and import routes to and from China, according to indices published by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.

Marseille, France-based maritime container shipping giant CMA CGM generated record revenues of over USD$23 billion but suffered a huge 91 percent slump in profitability after the group experienced several massive cost increases.

Wharfies are eyeing strikes at DP World Australia in pursuit of better terms and conditions in their next collective employment contract. Asian maritime shipping schedules and landside Australian logistics timetables could be thrown into disarray.

Container shipping line Maersk will move 16 containers on river Ganges (National Waterway-1) from Varanasi to Kolkata in India on February 12, marking the entry of commercial shipping players in India’s nascent inland water transport network.

Capacity constraints, strong demand, and chaotic tariff-related traffic pushed transpacific containers rates to new heights, but the current inbound container surge, unrelated to consumer demand, will create a steeper drop off in Q1 2019.

West Coast ports post strongest volumes ever; Norfolk Southern is moving to Atlanta; flatbed tender rejections stay down; expect electric trucks in 2020; pregnant XPO Logistics warehouse workers suffer miscarriages; E2open buys Inttra; Iraq produces more oil but can’t rebuild.

SONAR’s signature index has a birthday; Ocean Network Express to lose $600M; oilfield service companies guide for tight margins in Q3; President Trump bails on coal industry incentives; pros and cons of blockchain in container shipping; spending 60,000 hours reverse-engineering a Tesla Model 3.

Oil Major Shell has announced upcoming availability its newly developed Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) ahead of the IMO 2020 – 0.50% global sulphur limit for marine fuels. FreightWaves has the charts.

UN trade and development body UNCTAD has outlined seven key challenges to maintain a positive momentum for the freight markets in global trade.

UNCTAD expects volumes across all maritime segments to grow in 2018. However, it warns that trade wars can disrupt the global trading system and there is a need to assess the implications of vertical integration within the industry, addressing any potential negative effects.

US East Coast ports such as Charleston are seeing double-digit growth.

State-backed Asian container lines have plans to rapidly expand their capacity; meanwhile Maersk cuts its guidance for 2018 by nearly a billion dollars in EBITDA.

Donald Broughton says that the oil boom and Trump tax cuts are driving a young industrial expansion cycle; shippers continue to adjust supply chains to minimize transport costs; Google invests $550M in Chinese e-commerce site JD.com; China may put a tariff on US oil imports; Brazil’s trucker strike shattered economic growth outlooks; Asia-North America container rates are softening.

Mexico, Canada, and the EU announce retaliatory tariffs; Dow Transports still above 200 day average; the US asks OPEC for a production hike; DHL remains largest air freight forwarder; containership loses 86 boxes in storm off Australia; how China beats US steel tariffs.

Fleet idle capacity is at 1% and rates to both US coasts are climbing week-over-week, but wait for the summer peak season for large container box rate increases.

Trucking contract rate increases tamp down volatility; Nikola Motor Company returns deposits on truck orders; Hunter Harrison was one of the highest paid CEOs in 2017; Xi Jinping takes the stage to defend Chinese trade practices; container lines enter bid season with a weak hand.

Container traffic into the Port of Seattle is down 22.6% YTD, starving the city of freight. Trucking spot rates have cratered, and turndowns have dropped 75% since their peak in October as carriers are forced to accept lower prices.

Geely, owner of Volvo Cars, has acquired a stake in Daimler AG and it has upset AB Volvo, which has decided not to put Volvo Cars’ chief executive up for re-election to its board.

The CEO of Maersk says that in 3-5 years, Maersk will be competing with UPS and FedEx, and recognized as one of their peers. But what’s the strategy?

2018’s unusually late Chinese New Year means that port traffic will normalize and then accelerate for pre-summer shipments at the same time as California’s March harvests, causing a truckload capacity crunch.

Yesterday Maersk Line announced that it joined the New York Shipping Exchange (NYSHEX), a new digital platform offering standardized contracts, locked-in prices, and space security for ocean container shipping.