FreightWaves Ocean

Container lines score huge negotiating advantage as spot-rate surge set to persist through annual contract season.

Asia-U.S. liner sailings are now being canceled because too many container ships are stuck at anchor off California.

In Africa, one seafarer is dead and 15 have been kidnapped. Worldwide, more seafarers are being barred from travel as COVID fears rise.

Nearly 700 dockworkers in California have COVID. Hundreds more are out due to quarantines. Pleas for fast-track vaccinations intensify.

This has been the best January for dry bulk shipping rates in a decade. Is this the long-awaited turning point or yet another head fake?

Higher fuel prices are bad news for box shippers. Higher fuel spreads are good news for owners with scrubber-fitted fleets.

There are more container ships stuck off California than at any time since 2004. What’s behind the pileup? When can it be cleared?

An LNG ship is now earning more than any other vessel in history. Extreme weather in Asia has propelled LNG rates into the stratosphere.

Even after a wave of just-ordered container ships is delivered by yards, cargo shippers are unlikely to see lower freight rates.

A Biden administration teamed with a Democratic Congress should lead to even more stimulus, a recipe for even more container imports.

How surprise Saudi production cuts and escalating Mideast tensions could impact timing of crude-tanker rate recovery.

Like clockwork, liner operators sharply reduce their sailings each year during the Chinese New Year holiday. Not in 2021.

Successful IPO by ZIM would offer investors direct exposure to trans-Pacific freight-rate craziness, but not without risks from debt load.

Asia-U.S. container rates had held firm at a record high since September. Now they’re on the move again — and headed even higher.

A look back at 2020’s shipping roller coaster: how container sector emerged as ‘surprise rock star’ and tankers peaked early, then plunged.

Chances slim for 2021 shipping equity offerings, but a container-liner IPO prospect remains on the table.

Container imports far exceed sales, raising concerns that 2020’s transport binge could lead to a big headache in 2021.

Will your cargo ship arrive on time? Globally, the chances are now 50-50. In the Asia-U.S. container trade, it’s less than one in three.

Ocean carriers toed the line on capacity control in 2020. What does this new normal mean to shippers, yards and leasing companies?

It’s not just container shipping that’s rolling in profits. LPG tanker rates are hitting new highs on Asian demand for U.S. propane.

The trans-Pacific surge will persist through Q1 and January could see all-time-high container volumes, predicts Flexport’s Nerijus Poskus.

Trans-Pacific spot index rates haven’t budged from the same peak band for the past 10 weeks. How is this possible in a competitive free market?

Container shipping stocks are back to pre-COVID levels whereas many tanker and bulker stocks are down by double-digits year-to-date.

There will be no letup in booming container imports in 2020. The only question now is how long it lasts into 2021.

The pandemic is driving people to drink more. Bulk ocean shipments of wine in flexitanks are up 30% this year.

Panama Canal congestion is not impeding transits of container ships but it is pumping up spot rates for LNG and LPG carriers.

The total market capitalization of U.S.-listed ocean shipping stocks has plunged 34% in 2020, but there are reasons for hope in 2021.

Worries mount for crude tankers: dividend cuts, the pandemic, a stubborn floating-storage hangover … and now newbuild chatter.

Bulk soybean and corn exports are way up, but containerized ag exports are waylaid by equipment shortfalls and Chinese inspections.

Mirroring bullish comments by Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, container line CMA CGM reports a strengthening market in the fourth quarter.

As COVID hospitalizations surge and business restrictions mount, could U.S. importers be overshooting the mark?

Maersk confirms that cargo demand looks strong through year-end, bucking the usual seasonal trend.

“Winter is Coming” is a warning in House Stark and usually a blessing for tankers. But there’s nothing usual about 2020.

Hapag-Lloyd sees strength until “at least Chinese New Year” and a challenge to “get containers where they need to be.”

There are not enough containers in China to handle all the U.S.-bound cargo — and box factories are now sold out into Q2.

The one-two punch of the Pfizer vaccine and Joe Biden’s victory will affect container and tanker shipping in multiple ways.

The trans-Pacific capacity crunch continues. Container volume that’s either inbound to Los Angeles or stuck at anchorage is surging.

Euronav exec curses crude-tanker market (literally). Scorpio exec pitches product-tanker promise and throws shade at crude side.

A look back at the days after the 2016 presidential election and the strange case of “The Donald Trump Shipping Stock Boom.”

U.S.-listed carrier reveals the latest on trans-Pacific holiday rush, restocking, e-commerce spike and port congestion.

Positive COVID recovery signal: LNG shipping is behaving normally again, with a typical seasonal spike.

The trans-Pacific market is bursting at the seams as shippers rush in holiday cargoes.

What happens next at the IMO will affect oceangoing ship capacity — and freight rates — for decades to come.

More recovery signals: container lease pricing up over 50% versus second quarter, new container prices up 40% year-to-date.

High cost of repositioning reefer equipment is hitting food exporters hard amid ongoing tariff fallout.

New Kpler data reveals slow pace of floating-storage unwind and steady fall in crude-tanker utilization.

On a collision course: holiday timing, surging consumer demand, thin inventories, and capacity constraints for container liners and ports.

Sequel to “The Shipping Man” asks whether ESG will kill the old-school style of traditional shipowners.

Cargo mix and larger locks kept Panama Canal volumes rising despite headwinds.

A “blue sweep” win for Democrats could be good for container ships, bad for tankers.

Former JOC Group COO joins the FreightWaves Board of Directors. With her appointment, the company has big plans to expand coverage beyond North American surface freight transportation.

Listed carriers are poised to post stellar third-quarter numbers on higher rates and volumes.

Banks, charterers, shipowners and governments want to clean up ocean transport. Not necessarily in the same way.

Shipping CEOs see an increasing risk of a global economic crisis in the decade ahead.

Another key bellwether — the cost of dry bulk freight — is pointing to an economic recovery.

‘Get ready for the biggest restocking cycle on record,’ says Jefferies.

As NYSHEX expands and Maersk Spot nears U.S. approval, ocean transport contracts could become more binding.

Marine fuel prices are down 30% year-on-year despite the IMO 2020 regulation.

Bullish signal: Strong demand for box equipment extends into 2021.

Analysts point to upside prospects for container-ship stocks as charter rates rebound.

Ocean shipping stocks remain mired in a sea of red. A bad year is getting worse.

China could decide enough is enough if trans-Pacific rates rise too high.

Amid talk of more floating storage, Kpler data reveals most of round-one storage volume is still on the water.

As prosecutors rack up guilty pleas in 2019 case, more coke crosses via ship from South America to Europe in 2020.

U.S. importers now paying three times more per mile than Europeans for transport of Chinese goods.

After decades of safety improvements, a deadly stretch of casualties for ocean shipping.

CMA CGM bonds that traded at 55 cents on the dollar in March are now trading near par.

Crude-tanker rates on the benchmark Middle East-Asia run are now deep in the red.

McKinsey warns that global shocks will become more frequent and shippers must improve the resiliency of their supply chains.

Layoffs loom. Maersk maintains changes are not about cutting costs amid COVID, but about improving service.

U.S. importers turn to Chinese sellers in the wake of COVID.

Good news: Ocean volumes are recovering from COVID.

New normal for container shipping: active capacity management and digital spot bookings.

COVID-19 could ignite geopolitical clashes and cause “meltdown” in U.S. consumer demand.

Will Iran retaliate after America commandeers four Iranian gasoline shipments?

Asia crude drawdown slashes both the “tons” and the “miles” in the ton-mile equation.

Asia-U.S. ocean freight rates are hitting record highs as import demand outpaces vessel supply.

When times get tough, crude-tanker owner DHT starts buying. Times are getting tough.

M&A is being blocked by weak share pricing among buyers and lack of desperation among sellers.

Euronav and Scorpio Tankers highlight attractive fundamentals after floating storage wraps up.

Ports on the Atlantic are losing imports from Europe as well as Asia.

New data reveals just how far ship orders have sunk. The fewer ships ordered, the higher future rates could climb.

Robintrack.net data reveals what retail traders are buying and when. The question is: Why?

Dry bulk was riding high just a few weeks ago. Now it’s taking a tumble.

An analysis of daily traded values and volumes of tanker and dry bulk stocks.

Will tanker sector see summer lull or more action ahead?

A new interview with AgTC’s Peter Friedmann on how China COVID fears affect U.S. food exports.

U.S. shippers importing cargo from Asia are getting some price relief.

Nordic American Tankers is the best stock performer among larger listed ship owners. Scorpio Bulkers is the worst.

Most floating storage has yet to be unloaded while delays in China are mounting.

Tanker rates haven’t been this strong at this time of year for a half-decade.

“Optics” are bad but freight pricing doesn’t appear to meet regulatory bar for intervention.

Challenge to shipping M&A: No one wants to sell in a downturn.

Global trade fallout from the crew-repatriation crisis has begun — and looks poised to snowball.

Shipboard COVID cases will make it even harder to roll back travel restrictions that block crew changes.

E-commerce and coronavirus fallout are buoying container services from Asia to the West Coast.

Long-term institutional investors still steer clear of shipping shares — with good reason.

Tanker rates have plunged as predicted. How long until a recovery?

Retail stock pickers bet big on tankers. Dry bulk remains less enticing despite rate surge.

By artificially restricting capacity, carrier alliances have engineered rates higher and may book a profit this year.