Chinese container production still trails torrid demand. Ever Given accident was ‘icing on the cake’ — making box shortfall worse.
Now that shipping lines hold the pricing cards, importers must reset strategies, says Sea-Intelligence’s Jochen Gutschmidt.
West Coast congestion could last into the fall as retailers face stockouts on essential goods, says ocean carrier Matson.
Trans-Pacific container crunch is about to become even more severe, warns Flexport, with May sailings now effectively sold out.
Liners are paying historically high rates to charter ships and maximize their exposure to the booming freight market.
U.S. importers will be paying a lot more for annual ocean contracts this year, but pricing inflation has eased.
Dry bulk shipping rates are now double to triple five-year averages. Stock prices of dry bulk owners are on the ascent.
Savannah’s record March underscores why it’s investing hundreds of millions on new capacity upgrades.
U.S. ports just booked their largest import hikes in memory, according to The McCown Report.
Imports into Los Angeles at not slowing down. Can the backlog be cleared before the peak-season swell begins?
More than a third of the crew on the MSC Gayane smuggled cocaine in June 2019. The first prison term has just been handed down.
As cargo shippers struggle, container-vessel companies rake in massive profits. Early signals point to record Q1 results.
Container shipping spot rates haven’t budged from COVID-fueled peaks. Cargo shippers’ hopes for a rate pullback are fading.
Glimmers of hope for the beaten-down tanker sector: more OPEC+ crude production and more long-haul exports from the U.S. to India.
Days after Ever Given backlog was declared cleared, the number of ships waiting to transit the Suez Canal remains high (with video).
FourKites CEO Matthew Elenjickal explains the importance of value-adding tools.
Twenty tons of coke was found aboard an MSC ship in 2019. MSC just revealed that it’s spending $100 million more on security in response.
Bad timing: Still-rising cargo demand is coinciding with container-shipping constraints in the wake of the Suez Canal crisis.
‘Bigger is better’ is the mantra of public tanker companies. The just-announced INSW-Diamond S merger is a step in that direction.
Suez Canal accident aftermath: Extensive disruptions are ahead for key Asia-East Coast container shipping services.
Back in the Aristotle Onassis era, a Suez Canal closure was a tanker game changer. Today, tanker upside from the canal accident is limited.
California’s container-ship traffic jam is slightly less jammed but import pressure remains high. One analyst warns the worst may be yet to come.
Ocean carrier ZIM just released record results and confirmed huge gains for contract rates. So why did its stock sink?
Newbuild-to-fleet ratio now 15.3%, up from 9.4% in mid-2020. But orders are not high enough yet to wave red flags.
There’s no time for deliberation these days if you want to get high-value cargo shipped by air. It’s a strong seller’s market in the air cargo world. If you see it, book it and don’t worry about the price.
“Our goal at FreightFlows is to make near-term market predictions to help vessel owners, traders, brokers and charterers have much better decision-making power in the international freight markets today,” said CEO Matt Morgan.
Deutsche Bank’s Amit Mehrotra on how long import surge could last and upside potential for container, dry bulk and tanker stocks.
As part of Women’s History Month, FreightWaves spotlights the first American woman to make it to the top at sea.
Ocean Audit CEO Steve Ferreira takes you through the important steps for contract success on this episode of Navigate B2B.
Anchorages are filling up with ships off multiple ports — not just California’s. Yet the reasons behind the traffic jams are not always the same.
How does California congestion rank versus 2015 logjam caused by tensions with dockworkers union? It’s not even close: 2021 wins by a long shot.
On this episode of Midday Market Update, Kevin Hill and Michael Vincent discuss lingering port congestion and how delays are driving a hot air cargo market.
If ocean freight rates have legs, analysts see much more room for the secondhand ship values to run — which should, in turn, boost stocks.
Jefferies senior analyst Randy Giveans outlines why it is now a particularly good time to buy container-shipping stocks.
Today’s container market chaos underscores the need for enforceable ocean contracts as opposed to loose agreements, argues consultant Tom Craig.
Evan Efstathiou discusses why VCs are looking to invest more in maritime just as shipowners are looking to partner more with startups.
BIMCO’s Peter Sand discusses whether container shipping’s ‘new normal’ has legs and what’s next for the sector.
It’s not just small and midsized importers that face massive contract rate hikes. Even the biggest shippers will feel the pain.
AgTC’s Peter Freidmann highlights the hurdles U.S. food exporters confront as they vie for containers to transport their goods.
Peloton is riding a wave for the history books right now. It has grown revenues by triple digits year-over-year for three consecutive quarters while building one of the most recognizable brands in not just fitness, but all consumer segments. If it should continue this meteoric rise, it must sort its supply chain issues before either the vaccines or competition prematurely puts out its flame.
Cargo shippers hamstrung by the global container shortage should not expect a box building spree in China to come to their rescue.
More venture capital flowing to maritime tech startups – and more shipping companies giving those startups a trial run.
Here’s a helicopter view courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard of container-ship armada off Los Angeles and Long Beach (WITH VIDEO).
ZIM, newest Wall Street shipping entrant, is riding wave of record-high freight rates. Shares fully recovered from rocky start.
Maersk, the world’s largest container carrier, just reported record quarterly results. And its next quarter looks even better.
California calls on feds to protect exporters. Shipping groups claim California export cure will worsen congestion — including for importers.
Maritime rates are still soaring as ports stay backlogged, but could a federal mask mandate help alleviate some of the issues?
Container lines score huge negotiating advantage as spot-rate surge set to persist through annual contract season.
Wall Street volatility is top of the headlines, but what about maritime shipping volatility? Steve Ferreira breaks down what you need to know before the ocean market gets flooded too.
ZIM just completed the first U.S. shipping IPO in over five years. Here’s a look back at shipping’s wild multidecade ride on Wall Street.
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.
Ocean carrier ZIM has hiked its fleet capacity with new charters and is planning to price its New York IPO next week.
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?
Asia-West Coast spot rates are up 173% year on year. Rail and trucking volumes from ports are up double digits.
Higher fuel prices are bad news for box shippers. Higher fuel spreads are good news for owners with scrubber-fitted fleets.
Steve Ferreira discusses the “rocket-powered” ocean freight market ahead of Chinese New Year.
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.
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.
Disruptions in one corner of the world can impact operations at home. With the turbulence of 2020 hopefully behind us, Global Supply Chain Week will examine where the dust has settled and share lessons on reacting to the enormous disruptions of the previous year.
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.
Container flows into U.S. ports have grown faster over the past three months than they have at any other time in the past decade.
Vaccine distribution won’t delay deliveries of your Honey Baked Ham and toilet paper, says CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco.
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.
“This is one of the most difficult seasons we’ve been facing trying to move our cargo out of the United States,” says a California almond producer.
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.
First, Spire collects the ship-movement data from orbit. Then algorithms use that data to reveal the patterns of global shipping.
Transfix will integrate project44’s visibility platform into its shipment tracking technology as the first initiative under a multiyear strategic partnership.
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.
Ocean Audit founder and CEO Steve Ferreira talks latest maritime shipping trends on Black Friday.
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.
