White Paper: The State of Freight – January 2023
Stabilizing truckload market may mean bottom is in
Stabilizing truckload market may mean bottom is in
The reversion in spot rates is pulling down contract rates, with a significantly delayed effect on ocean carrier earnings.
The tanker industry has a storied history of corporate showdowns. The latest, a three-way tussle involving Euronav, looks far from over.
The 2M partnership between MSC and Maersk — which is breaking up — is the smallest of the three alliances. The Ocean Alliance is much larger.
Merchants on the Shippo platform can now access FedEx services like Ground Economy without creating a FedEx account.
Container shipping rates from Europe to the U.S. are finally falling, but they’re still exceptionally high.
Russian crude restrictions are having the predicted effect on tanker trades, soaking up more vessel capacity as sailing distance lengthens.
Speculation is swirling on how the end of a global container shipping alliance will affect ocean carriers and cargo shippers.
Shipping services around the globe will be reconfigured after the top two carriers end their vessel-sharing agreement.
“We are proud to be part of this first-in-history interoperability launch between eBOL platforms,” said CargoX founder and CEO Stefan Kukman.
Are falling commodity shipping spot rates the result of normal seasonality or a symptom of global economic malaise?
American imports remain a tale of two coasts, with continued strength in container volumes headed to Atlantic ports.
Join FreightWaves Founder and CEO, Craig Fuller, and Head of Market Intelligence, Zach Strickland on Jan. 26 at 2pm ET for a conversation sharing critical insights from our SONAR platform, […]
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Imports continue to decline and are close to where they were before COVID-19, but the coastal mix is very different.
Sanctions on Russian crude exports have yet to boost tanker rates. Some question whether sanctions on Russian diesel will either.
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.
The predicted boost to tanker rates from Russian crude disruptions has yet to materialize. Instead, rates have declined.
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.
Is the US ready for more arctic shipping?
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.
Operating a successful business requires pinpointing — and meeting — customer expectations. XPO services thousands of customers daily, and doing that well means finding out what each of those customers needs.
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.
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.
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.
Spot shipping rates continue their historic slide, putting even more pressure on container lines’ contract business.
Even if no oil moves under price caps, Russian exports could face deep discounts and continue to flow via “shadow tankers.”
Many shippers are relying on contracts and favoring their tried-and-true carrier partnerships instead of taking advantage of plummeting spot rates.
Hopes that China will relax its zero-COVID policy are fading, raising concerns about shipping volume fallout.
Predictability is no longer the norm, but shippers can manage the uncertainty by following a few simple tips to ensure a smooth holiday delivery season.
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.
Stratospheric LNG shipping rates offer a lesson on the do’s and don’ts of measuring earnings momentum.
The transportation industry experienced a freight frenzy like no other last year. Following one of the most disruptive years in economic history, 2021 proved to be the rebound that the […]
Global energy trades face even more tumult ahead. “This could get crazy,” says Scorpio Tankers’ Robert Bugbee.
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.
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.
Imports remain 7% higher than pre-pandemic levels, with volumes steadying last month after September’s plunge.
Some VLGCs carrying propane and VLCCs carrying crude have joined LNG carriers in shipping’s six-figures-per-day club.
project44 has secured $80 million in funding to create a system to measure supply chain emissions globally.
Europe must replace all seaborne crude imports from Russia within the next few weeks. Crude tanker owners stand to gain.
Maersk’s guidance implies fourth-quarter earnings will plunge 39% compared to the third-quarter peak.
Product-tanker share prices are up triple digits year to date as investors position for sanctions upside.
The world’s seventh-largest ocean carrier expects profits to fall, yet its projections remain vastly higher than pre-COVID levels.
Spot rate indexes look like they’re stabilizing — at least temporarily — after double-digit plunges in August and September.
The “shadow fleet” is not large enough to save Russian oil exports from Western sanctions, according to multiple analysts.
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.
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.
Port Houston reported a 26% year-over-year increase in cargo volume in September.
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.
New disclosures by Asian ocean carriers confirm that container shipping lines remain extraordinarily profitable.
Demand for Asian goods began dropping earlier this year. This is now having a delayed — and highly negative — effect on U.S. imports.
Major ocean carriers are likely to survive the ongoing dip in shipping rates. But other companies may soon struggle.
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’ […]
With war raging and pipelines sabotaged, shippers are paying astronomical sums to transport LNG across the oceans.
Measures of supply chain bottlenecks, cargo transit times, bookings and spot rates are all down, yet inflation remains historically high.
Driver turnover is expensive, and trucking operators cannot afford to keep turning over virtually their entire workforces on a yearly basis if they hope to bolster their bottom lines.
Supply-demand dynamics that supercharged pandemic-era rates are now “exactly the opposite,” says Maersk CEO Soren Skou.
One area that carriers have emphasized this year is “ugly freight” – or non-conveyable shipments. These are packages that are hard to put through their automated systems.
The EU is going to ban imports of Russian crude and petroleum products. It still has a long way to go to find replacement supplies.
The G-7 plan to squeeze Russia’s oil profits hinges on the EU revising its own sanctions. Those revisions face opposition.
East and Gulf coast ports handled more volume than ever before in August, pulling far ahead of West Coast rivals.
Retailers are coming together to send demand signals for zero-carbon shipping fuels.
USPS Holiday preparations
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.
By consolidating storage and utilizing 3D robotics, Attabotics’ bin-carrying robot makes its commercial debut as part of the world’s first 3D robotics supply chain system.
U.S. containerized imports are still near record highs, but not in Los Angeles, where they’ve fallen sharply.
“Right now, shipping companies around the world are looking at this and scratching their heads,” says sanctions expert Bruce Paulsen.
Tanker stocks are proving to be a shelter from the Wall Street storm as demand grows for ships that transport oil and natural gas.
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?
Lower shipping rates – 10 Steps
Container and dry bulk shares soared last year, leaving tanker stocks behind. This pattern has now reversed.
If the U.S. curbed gasoline and diesel exports, tankers would sail longer distances to replace lost volumes — a plus for tanker earnings.
California’s container-ship traffic jam is almost gone, replaced by stubbornly high backlogs off the East and Gulf coasts.
Just two supertankers have been ordered in the past 14 months, raising the risk of a future shortfall in oil transport capacity.
The Russia-Ukraine war caused demand for LNG to surge. Owners of LNG carriers are in prime position to profit this winter.
The cost of marine fuels is down sharply from the wartime peak, except for ‘clean’ LNG, which is getting even more expensive.
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.
With East Coast ship queues high, port executive Gene Seroka says: “For cargo owners looking to rechart their course, come to Los Angeles.”
This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves’ Supply Chain Meets FinTech event on Wednesday. FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: The future of getting paid from shippers DETAILS: Everyone wants to know how […]
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.
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.
Hapag-Lloyd bookings point to a gradual unwind of the container shipping boom, not a crash.
Shipping’s carbon footprint has only increased in recent years. Can we trust Big Oil to decarbonize the industry?