Container lines

While there is no widespread drying up of fuel in the worst-hit ports, availability is steadily tightening in specific regions, particularly around low-sulfur blends.

Carriers and their affiliates now own about 50% of worldwide terminal capacity, coming close to double what it was 10 years ago, according to various industry estimates.

The ocean carrier halted the Pearl service about a year ago due to weak market fundamentals, but said current demand merits its return.

The end of the Indus Express service comes as Indian exports to the US East Coast in April were down 25% year over year.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed responsibility for the attack on the 3,900-TEU vessel, which the ocean carrier said was “completely unjustified.”

Current indications are that the normal schedule program for the “Epic” service will begin with a late-June westbound vessel departure out of India’s Nhava Sheva Port, sources say.

Huge rail bottlenecks are being reported across the busy network, with carriers, forwarders and rail freight operators battling to keep cargo flowing as demand begins to build in an early start to peak season.

Strong regional cargo demand, buoyant market sentiment and higher bunker costs signal continued upward movement on intra-Asia rates, executives and analysts warn.

The US maritime regulator said the ocean carrier will also refund third parties that paid detention bills and will limit future billing to shippers and consignees.

TMV said the new funding will seed companies that want to apply new technologies to the maritime industry, shipbuilding and related infrastructure.

The move is likely to raise costs for forwarders and carriers as they devote more resources to ensure compliance with rate filing procedures, and it could hasten a wider shakeup in China’s logistics sector.

The South Korean electronics conglomerate said it should not be held liable for more than $1 million in charges resulting from container delays that Wan Hai-contracted truckers experienced between 2020 and 2022.

Costs rose sharply following the start of the war, and although emergency fuel surcharges were quickly levied on spot shipments, cargo under contract was locked into quarterly BAFs.

Ag exporters have always faced logistical challenges because their crops are grown in the interior US and shipped through ports located hundreds of miles away; those challenges seem to be growing, the AgTC conference heard this week.

The carrier’s first-quarter financials, which included a sharp drop in net profit, were generated in a market roiled by ongoing tensions in the Middle East, rising oil prices and increasing operating costs.

Volumes under contract when the Middle East war began were locked into quarterly bunker fuel adjustments, and those costs are set to be passed on to shippers at the start of the third quarter.

The alignment between demand and the supply of capacity has individual dynamics across each trade lane and different consequences for the newbuild, second-hand and charter markets, writes Jeremy Masters.

The Shanghai-based carrier has launched two new services connecting Asia to the Middle East as the Persian Gulf trade corridor presents strong green shoots of capacity demand amid ongoing mainline service disruptions.

Justice Department indictments against four of the world’s biggest box manufacturers follow reciprocal port fees and tariffs on China-made port equipment.

CEO Eli Glickman did not offer earnings guidance due to the pending merger with Hapag-Lloyd, but said the war-driven surge in oil prices will likely drag Zim’s results down further in the second quarter.

The underlying strength of that peak is unclear, however, with blank sailings, fuel-linked surcharges and a changeover in annual service contracts all putting upward pressure on spot and FAK rates.

Collaboration with global forwarders is allowing the carrier and its customers to significantly reduce carbon footprints in the difficult-to-monitor area of Scope 3 emissions.

The largest forwarding software provider globally adds heft to DCSA’s push to drive electronic standards in the ocean freight industry.

Yet liner executives insist that much of the surplus tonnage can be absorbed by a combination of vessel management, trade imbalances, increased scrapping and the ongoing effects of geopolitical disruptions.

The BCO technology provider, in a bid to avoid costly dispute resolution, has identified 20 use cases under which shippers, consignees and carriers can agree to be held responsible for container storage.

Highlighting the impact of lower freight rates in its first-quarter financials, Taiwan’s largest ocean carrier recorded a 22% year-over-year drop in average revenue per TEU, to $968/TEU.

Taiwan’s number two carrier has been involved in three service launches this year, with plans to add 22 container ships to its fleet between now and early 2030.

Weather-related port congestion in January and February caused higher terminal storage costs while the war in the Middle East raised operating expenses late in the quarter.

The carrier is increasing capacity in response to growth in Indian imports from China and other Asian production markets in recent years, propelled by input sourcing to support rapid industrial development.

Without the funding element, shipping groups and environmental campaigners argue that the so-called net-zero framework will be unable to provide crucial funding for shipping’s decarbonization journey.

The issue of carrier terminal control is front and center with the coming sale of Maher given that carriers overall have become aggressive acquirers and developers of terminal capacity globally, including on the US East Coast.

The 15,900-TEU container ships will be delivered between November 2028 and September 2029 and reflect the continuing dominance of LNG as the new generation fuel of choice for vessel operators ordering new ships.

But CEO Vincent Clerc said while the carrier assesses the situation with the view of eventually restarting some services through the region, Maersk would be taking a cautious approach, with the safety of seafarers the “first priority.”

The software vendor said shippers can move away from having intermediaries manage bookings by automating the process and tying it to performance data that FourKites holds.

But the carrier’s ability to continue that cost recovery will depend on the long-term impact of high energy prices on consumer demand and how the industry manages its fast-growing order book, Vincent Clerc says.

Rates to the US East Coast and Europe are down by as much as $500 per FEU in recent weeks as ocean carriers look to lift volumes that softened in April.

The 14-day lead time now in place at Asian hubs would become a “global standard” for vessels seeking bunker fuel should the key waterway remain closed for another month, says S&P Global’s Fotios Katsoulas.

Cosco’s transaction is a charter deal with New York-listed, Greece-based Costamare Inc. for 16 container ships — a dozen 9,300-TEU vessels and four 3,100-TEU ships.

The services, which include land bridge options to circumvent the still-effectively closed Strait of Hormuz, appear to be an acknowledgement by the liners that Hormuz will remain a no-go zone for the foreseeable future.

Bunker fuel surcharges and surging diesel prices linked to the war in the Middle East come on top of higher tariff costs that have hurt the competitiveness of US agricultural products abroad.