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<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>Maersk Group will not make a major forward asset investment in Indonesia’s port or domestic shipping sector until the government addresses a range of investment concerns, according to the president director of Maersk Indonesia.</p></div>

Maersk Group will not make a major forward asset investment in Indonesia’s port or domestic shipping sector until the government addresses a range of investment concerns, according to the president director of Maersk Indonesia.

<div><p></p><p><a>Maersk Group</a> will not make a major forward asset investment in <a>Indonesia’s</a> port or domestic shipping sector until the government addresses a range of investment concerns, according to the president director of Maersk Indonesia.</p><p>Indonesia is currently working to reduce logistics costs as a percentage of GDP through policy initiatives and investments, but the task will only be that much more difficult if large, private foreign investors do not feel comfortable making investments.</p><p>“We are here as a service company at the moment and have not made a major asset investment because a number of things are still a concern to foreign...

Maersk Group will not make a major forward asset investment in Indonesia’s port or domestic shipping sector until the government addresses a range of investment concerns, according to the president director of Maersk Indonesia. Indonesia is currently working to reduce logistics costs as a percentage of GDP through policy initiatives and investments, but the task will only be that much more difficult if large, private foreign investors do not feel comfortable making investments. “We are here as a service company at the moment and have not made a major asset investment because a number of things are still a concern to foreign investors and those things need to be addressed. Under current conditions, I cannot present an investment document that would be approved at head office,” Jakob Friis-Sorensen told JOC.com Simplifying bureaucracy and investment processes and removing restrictions on foreign ownership are important measures the government needs to take before the levels of foreign investment required in the shipping sector can be realized, Sorensen said. “They need to remove the limitations on foreign ownership that exist in a number of sectors. The reality is direct and indirect restrictions mean foreign ownership is limited to 49 percent in many cases. Making things less complicated is also important. But there also needs to be a fundamental change in outlook: Indonesia needs to decide if it wants to be part of the global community. If it decides that it seriously wants to open up and realize its potential, then there is a lot of work to do.” Maersk started business in Indonesia in 1928 when it began shipping coffee from the island nation to countries in the west. Its logistics arm, Damco , has warehouse and logistics operations in the country and Maersk Drilling has a presence, while its terminal operating arm APM Terminals has been trying for years to establish a footprint in the country’s ports. APM Terminals was runner-up in the contest to operate the container terminal at Kalibaru in north Jakarta, a tender that was won two years ago by Mitsui & Co. of Japan , and it continues to seek sustainable opportunities for investment, primarily around Jakarta and its feeder ports. Sorensen said he is confident the necessary reforms will come and the country will eventually start to realize its potential “I am very optimistic that it will happen. The potential is enormous. I describe it as ‘the best untold story on CNN’: there is a new democracy with lots of reforms being taken; the army is out of politics and business. It is like a gentle giant that is slowly awakening from its slumber.” Underinvestment in shipping infrastructure has cost Indonesia dearly in terms of lost business to Singapore and Malaysia. Although the cost to feeder a container to Singapore is only $100, this is a continuous variable cost and leaves Indonesia with less control over its export and import trade, said Sorensen. Recent media reports stating Maersk was planning to invest $3 billion in the country over the coming five years were not accurate and the figure did not come from Maersk, Sorensen said. “The $3 billion corresponds to equivalent spend on the entire Port of Jakarta masterplan for the next ten or 20 years, including power plants, hinterland access, port expansion, and so on. Or it would probably fund the purchase of the entire domestic shipping fleet.” Maersk recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian government to improve the flow of cargo through the eastern port of Bitung. The aim of the project is to support the development of eastern Indonesia by understanding the challenges and opportunities for the supply chains of key commodities such as tuna, coconut and their downstream products, as well as the potential of aquaculture development and the need to improve vocational skills in the area. “The idea is to make Bitung state-of-the-art in terms of its cargo processes. We thought instead of trying to reform a big port such as Jakarta, we can first prove what the potential is on a smaller level.” Contact Turloch Mooney at Turloch.Mooney@ihs.com and follow him on Twitter: @TurlochMooney .

Container lines

Maersk wants reforms before investing in Indonesia

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>The deal will create a company with more than $5 billion in revenue across truckload brokerage, managed transportation services, and port-related offerings.</p></div>

The deal will create a company with more than $5 billion in revenue across truckload brokerage, managed transportation services, and port-related offerings.

Feature image

<div class="phx-topic"><p>Freight broker Echo Global Logistics has acquired third-party logistics provider and drayage specialist ITS Logistics, the companies announced Wednesday.  </p><p>The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, gives privately held Echo, the fifth-largest brokerage in the US, a major network of drayage, intermodal and drop trailer assets. </p><p>The combined entity would create a company with $5.4 billion in revenue, Echo said in a statement. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year. </p><p>”This acquisition represents a meaningful strategic opportunity for Echo and our customers,” Echo CEO Doug Waggoner said, calling ITS’ products “highly differentiated.” </p><p>”By applying Echo’s proprietary technology, advanced analytics, and growing AI capabilities to the ITS solution set, we will strengthen our value proposition for a broader range of customers,” Waggoner added. </p><p>Founded in 1999, ITS has grown to be a top 10 provider of drayage services. </p><p>"Echo's truckload brokerage scale, managed transportation platform, strong cross-border capabilities, and broad multimodal offering — combined with its technology platform and AI-driven innovation — will enable us to elevate our service offerings and provide enhanced value to our customers,” ITS CEO Scott Pruneau said in the statement. </p><p>Echo, which was taken private in 2021, said ITS will continue operating with its existing leadership team and customer-facing structure, but will hook into Echo’s technology platform, carrier network, and enterprise commercial capabilities. </p><p>ITS also has a robust truckload brokerage and dedicated truckload model that would integrate with Echo’s truckload and intermodal brokerage businesses. </p><p>The acquisition represents Chicago-based Echo’s biggest acquisition since its $420 million purchase of fellow broker Command Transportation in 2015. Its most recent acquisition came in August, when it bought California-based 3PL FreightSaver for an undisclosed amount. </p><p><i>Contact Eric Johnson at </i><a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com"><i>eric.johnson@spglobal.com.</i></a></p></div>

Freight broker Echo Global Logistics has acquired third-party logistics provider and drayage specialist ITS Logistics, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, gives privately held Echo, the fifth-largest brokerage in the US, a major network of drayage, intermodal and drop trailer assets. The combined entity would create a company with $5.4 billion in revenue, Echo said in a statement. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year. ”This acquisition represents a meaningful strategic opportunity for Echo and our customers,” Echo CEO Doug Waggoner said, calling ITS’ products “highly differentiated.” ”By applying Echo’s proprietary technology, advanced analytics, and growing AI capabilities to the ITS solution set, we will strengthen our value proposition for a broader range of customers,” Waggoner added. Founded in 1999, ITS has grown to be a top 10 provider of drayage services. "Echo's truckload brokerage scale, managed transportation platform, strong cross-border capabilities, and broad multimodal offering — combined with its technology platform and AI-driven innovation — will enable us to elevate our service offerings and provide enhanced value to our customers,” ITS CEO Scott Pruneau said in the statement. Echo, which was taken private in 2021, said ITS will continue operating with its existing leadership team and customer-facing structure, but will hook into Echo’s technology platform, carrier network, and enterprise commercial capabilities. ITS also has a robust truckload brokerage and dedicated truckload model that would integrate with Echo’s truckload and intermodal brokerage businesses. The acquisition represents Chicago-based Echo’s biggest acquisition since its $420 million purchase of fellow broker Command Transportation in 2015. Its most recent acquisition came in August, when it bought California-based 3PL FreightSaver for an undisclosed amount. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com.

Surface

Drayage

Truck brokers

Broker Echo buys ITS Logistics to build drayage, intermodal presence

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>Shippers should heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint.</p></div>

Shippers should heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint.

<div class="phx-topic"><p>It’s a buyer’s market during this annual trans-Pacific service contract cycle and importers of Asia-sourced goods — particularly smaller shippers — are under some of the strongest C-Suite pressure in years to reduce costs. But shippers should also heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint.  </p><p>A few container line executives privately acknowledge what preliminary contract benchmark readings reflect: The starting point for contract rate levels are lower than during last year’s negotiation cycle. Demand is weaker than a year ago, and capacity is more plentiful as evidenced by the swelling order book.  </p><div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/6155716_0.1.jpg"></img></div><p> In the first two rounds of bids in this annual service contract cycle, tendered rates for Asia to the US West Coast were down roughly 25% from levels in January 2025, according to a Xeneta analysis. However, the tendered rates in this cycle have been rising since the beginning of the year, said Emily Stausbøll, senior analyst at Xeneta. </p><p>“We certainly expect that as more US shippers start tendering, they should be saving money compared to last year, but how much depends on shippers’ individual negotiations and whatever happens in the market over the next few months before many of those contracts are finalized,” Stausbøll said.  </p><h3>C-Suite calling  </h3><p>The pressure on logistics managers to cut costs has risen dramatically in less than a year, making it infeasible to simply pass on the additional costs to suppliers and/or suffer weaker margins.  The US tariff rate on imports from China more than doubled to 47.5% between January 2025 and November, according to the latest available analysis from the Peterson Institute for International Economics.  </p><p>No wonder then that a recent Goldman Sachs survey found that between April and August of last year, surveyed businesses passed 37% of higher tariff costs to consumers and 9% onto suppliers. The companies absorbed the remaining 51%, according to the study released in October.  </p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="a08410a8-0b00-4c48-9ef6-78b6354f0678"></dynamic-object></div><p>Small and medium-sized importers are ordering only what they know they can sell and taking an even harder look at their own transport costs, said Serkan Kavas, executive vice president for imports at the forwarder MTS Logistics. </p><p>For example, shippers who booked before a general rate increase (GRI) was imposed but didn’t ship until after it was implemented have become more sensitive to the higher transport cost they’ve accrued, and often with one day or less of notice, he said.  A cost difference of $50 per TEU matters more now.  </p><p>“It’s all about cost,” Kavas said. “The service reliability has not been too bad.  There is an abundance of space. On the carrier side, there is not too much difference to the level of service.”   </p><p>In a down market, in which analysts expect US imports to barely register any growth in 2026 compared to 2025, some ocean carriers are targeting smaller shippers that they would have normally left to forwarders. One of Kavas’ customers, he said, was approached by a major carrier for annual volumes of no more than 1,000 TEUs. </p><h3>Holding the line so far  </h3><p>While volumes are plunging, pricing isn’t. US imports from China in December dropped 22.3% year over year while total volumes from Asia fell 6.1% in the same period, according to PIERS, a sister company of the <i>Journal of Commerce</i> within S&amp;P Global. </p><p>Yet container spot rates, as measured by Drewry, Platts and the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, have shown resilience, rising about 40% since early December. Implementing blank sailings and moderately sized GRIs while holding the price line on freight-all-kind rates appears to have worked for carriers. </p><p>“Ocean carriers need another catalyst to keep the rates at certain levels, or they will continue to perform blank sailings which they have mastered,” Kavas said. “They are doing this in a very disciplined manner, and considering the number of carriers in the market at the moment, ocean freight rate fluctuations will continue to be present, but I don’t see rates are diving.” </p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="a2606c91-b30c-4219-b617-9491b44b6af1"></dynamic-object></div><p>Ocean carriers are adjusting further to expectations of reduced demand. Carriers will reduce the available capacity from Asia to North America to 2.5 million TEUs in the first quarter from 2.6 million TEUs in the fourth quarter, according to Xeneta forecasts and an analysis of blanked sailings, including those not announced by carries.  </p><p>The semblance of carrier control on the trans-Pacific despite weakening volumes should give importers pause amid negotiations on annual contracts, which generally run from May 1 through April. The market may be down, but capacity discipline so far isn’t, and shippers who push too hard on contract rates or are too exposed to spot rates could end up paying if the market turns.  </p><p><i>Contact Mark Szakonyi at </i><a href="https://www.joc.com/article/mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com"><i>mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com.</i></a></p></div>

It’s a buyer’s market during this annual trans-Pacific service contract cycle and importers of Asia-sourced goods — particularly smaller shippers — are under some of the strongest C-Suite pressure in years to reduce costs. But shippers should also heed signs that ocean carriers have managed to keep the decline in Asia imports from sinking the market, reflecting a modicum of control and price restraint. A few container line executives privately acknowledge what preliminary contract benchmark readings reflect: The starting point for contract rate levels are lower than during last year’s negotiation cycle. Demand is weaker than a year ago, and capacity is more plentiful as evidenced by the swelling order book. In the first two rounds of bids in this annual service contract cycle, tendered rates for Asia to the US West Coast were down roughly 25% from levels in January 2025, according to a Xeneta analysis. However, the tendered rates in this cycle have been rising since the beginning of the year, said Emily Stausbøll, senior analyst at Xeneta. “We certainly expect that as more US shippers start tendering, they should be saving money compared to last year, but how much depends on shippers’ individual negotiations and whatever happens in the market over the next few months before many of those contracts are finalized,” Stausbøll said. C-Suite calling The pressure on logistics managers to cut costs has risen dramatically in less than a year, making it infeasible to simply pass on the additional costs to suppliers and/or suffer weaker margins. The US tariff rate on imports from China more than doubled to 47.5% between January 2025 and November, according to the latest available analysis from the Peterson Institute for International Economics. No wonder then that a recent Goldman Sachs survey found that between April and August of last year, surveyed businesses passed 37% of higher tariff costs to consumers and 9% onto suppliers. The companies absorbed the remaining 51%, according to the study released in October. Small and medium-sized importers are ordering only what they know they can sell and taking an even harder look at their own transport costs, said Serkan Kavas, executive vice president for imports at the forwarder MTS Logistics. For example, shippers who booked before a general rate increase (GRI) was imposed but didn’t ship until after it was implemented have become more sensitive to the higher transport cost they’ve accrued, and often with one day or less of notice, he said. A cost difference of $50 per TEU matters more now. “It’s all about cost,” Kavas said. “The service reliability has not been too bad. There is an abundance of space. On the carrier side, there is not too much difference to the level of service.” In a down market, in which analysts expect US imports to barely register any growth in 2026 compared to 2025, some ocean carriers are targeting smaller shippers that they would have normally left to forwarders. One of Kavas’ customers, he said, was approached by a major carrier for annual volumes of no more than 1,000 TEUs. Holding the line so far While volumes are plunging, pricing isn’t. US imports from China in December dropped 22.3% year over year while total volumes from Asia fell 6.1% in the same period, according to PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Yet container spot rates, as measured by Drewry, Platts and the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, have shown resilience, rising about 40% since early December. Implementing blank sailings and moderately sized GRIs while holding the price line on freight-all-kind rates appears to have worked for carriers. “Ocean carriers need another catalyst to keep the rates at certain levels, or they will continue to perform blank sailings which they have mastered,” Kavas said. “They are doing this in a very disciplined manner, and considering the number of carriers in the market at the moment, ocean freight rate fluctuations will continue to be present, but I don’t see rates are diving.” Ocean carriers are adjusting further to expectations of reduced demand. Carriers will reduce the available capacity from Asia to North America to 2.5 million TEUs in the first quarter from 2.6 million TEUs in the fourth quarter, according to Xeneta forecasts and an analysis of blanked sailings, including those not announced by carries. The semblance of carrier control on the trans-Pacific despite weakening volumes should give importers pause amid negotiations on annual contracts, which generally run from May 1 through April. The market may be down, but capacity discipline so far isn’t, and shippers who push too hard on contract rates or are too exposed to spot rates could end up paying if the market turns. Contact Mark Szakonyi at  mark.szakonyi@spglobal.com.

Buyer’s market for US importers belies risks in contract talks

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>As shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year, writes Peter Tirschwell.</p></div>

As shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year, writes Peter Tirschwell.

<div class="phx-topic"><p>This year will not be marked by freight rates collapsing due to overcapacity and shippers weary from tariff costs reaping a windfall in ocean freight discounts. Despite the largest order book in history and volumes expected to slow globally, that is not the scenario coming into focus for the year ahead, even if widespread Red Sea transits resume. </p><p>Rather, according to several sources in recent weeks, a different picture is emerging: Rates will likely moderate, perhaps by a few hundred dollars per container, and as shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year.     </p><div class="wrapper-narrow float-right-element"><img src="/images/phoenix/6155383_0.1.jpg"></img></div><p>The year ahead, in other words, reflects long-term macro trends under way in containers: capacity tightening despite cyclicality due to infrastructure limitations and carrier actions to manage capacity, and shippers in response turning their focus away from rates and toward service to mitigate risk. </p><p>“For 2026 as we move into this bid season, it won’t be all about the ocean rates,” Chantal McRoberts of Drewry Supply Chain Advisers told a recent <i>Journal of Commerce</i> webinar focused on Asia port congestion.  </p><p>“We know that we’re in a more subdued demand environment. We know that the order book is large. We know that carriers are looking to secure volume, but the key to that is, what service are you providing? Shippers are definitely starting to factor that into their bid strategies,” she said. “The number one question that comes up from BCOs [beneficial cargo owners] is, putting the rates aside, I need a reliable provider or partner to work with. I still have to answer to the CFO. I still have to justify the cost, but I now also have to ensure that I'm procuring my ocean freight to deliver my product.” </p><p>According to eeSea, ocean reliability from Asia to the US West Coast has ranged between 42% and 48% since September. </p><h3>China ‘lacking port capacity’ </h3><p>Port congestion in China is a case in point about shippers’ growing concerns about the integrity of supply chains.  </p><p>Still the source of 36% of US imports in TEUs in 2025, (down from 40% in 2024), according to S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence, the country is encountering chronic congestion at Shanghai and Ningbo, its two largest ports, where ships typically are waiting two to three days outside the port. </p><p>The fundamental reason, according to Asia sources over the past two years, was that while China ambitiously built port capacity ahead of demand in the years after entering the World Trade Organization in 2001, expansion has slowed at a time when its exports are experiencing a growth spurt.  </p><p>“I know it’s a shocker, and it feels unnatural to hear it, but China is lacking port capacity. It’s as simple as that,” Nils Roche, founder of Solvens Advisory and recently deputy head of operations at Singapore-based carrier PIL, said on the <i>Journal of Commerce</i> webinar. </p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="615c1430-acb8-4c73-9884-61992f08d1d3"></dynamic-object></div><p>Limited port capacity in China is being called upon to handle surging volumes growing out of a macro-China economic strategy to diversify away from the US and overcome weakness in other sectors such as real estate.  </p><p>China in November surpassed the $1 trillion trade surplus barrier for the first time. Its share of global exports grew from 33% to 37% between 2023 and 2025, Maersk told investors in November. Influenced by export growth, S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence in November raised Mainland China’s GDP growth forecast for 2025–27 by a quarter point, to 5.0%, 4.6% and 4.5%, respectively. “The upward adjustments primarily reflect a more positive assessment of export prospects,” S&amp;P Global said. </p><p>The intractable nature of port capacity limitations is further reflected in growing ship sizes and more containers needed to be moved per port call at ports that have not kept pace. </p><p>“The ships that you have today, they are not the ships that we had 10 years ago. If you think about it, I used to operate Panamaxes, and they were the rock stars,” Roche said, noting his skepticism that technology-driven productivity improvements can meaningfully expand capacity. “Now you have 18,000, 24,000-TEU ships coming into the ports. A Panamax calling a port is a port call, a 24,000-TEU ship calling a port, it's a major event.”   </p><p>The difficulty ports have in handling the volumes and ship sizes being thrown at them is confirmed by port performance data. The S&amp;P Global Port Performance data is based on vessel turnaround time and normalized by workload, with underlying data provided by carriers — in other words, how many hours a ship is spending in port to achieve a certain move count. The data shows ports on a global basis are operating well below pre-pandemic levels of performance. </p><p>Due to port capacity limitations, Roche says the industry should temper its expectations for the impact of a return to the Red Sea, if that occurs this year (although there is no guarantee it will).  </p><p>He said that if the Red Sea opens up, “we should not expect a massive influx of capacity, simply because the lack of capacity, or the bottleneck if you prefer, will be transferred from the ocean to the land.” </p><p>“I disagree with the narrative carried by analysts that shipping obeys 100% of the laws of supply and demand, and that more ships mean more supply ... it’s being half-blind to an entire ecosystem,” Roche said. </p><p>S&amp;P Global is the parent company of the <i>Journal of Commerce.</i></p><p><i>Contact Peter Tirschwell at </i><a href="mailto:peter.tirschwell@spglobal.com"><i>peter.tirschwell@spglobal.com</i></a>.</p></div>

This year will not be marked by freight rates collapsing due to overcapacity and shippers weary from tariff costs reaping a windfall in ocean freight discounts. Despite the largest order book in history and volumes expected to slow globally, that is not the scenario coming into focus for the year ahead, even if widespread Red Sea transits resume.  Rather, according to several sources in recent weeks, a different picture is emerging: Rates will likely moderate, perhaps by a few hundred dollars per container, and as shippers realize that threats to service are not periodic but systemic, their focus on reliability will only intensify this year. The year ahead, in other words, reflects long-term macro trends under way in containers: capacity tightening despite cyclicality due to infrastructure limitations and carrier actions to manage capacity, and shippers in response turning their focus away from rates and toward service to mitigate risk.  “For 2026 as we move into this bid season, it won’t be all about the ocean rates,” Chantal McRoberts of Drewry Supply Chain Advisers told a recent Journal of Commerce webinar focused on Asia port congestion.   “We know that we’re in a more subdued demand environment. We know that the order book is large. We know that carriers are looking to secure volume, but the key to that is, what service are you providing? Shippers are definitely starting to factor that into their bid strategies,” she said. “The number one question that comes up from BCOs [beneficial cargo owners] is, putting the rates aside, I need a reliable provider or partner to work with. I still have to answer to the CFO. I still have to justify the cost, but I now also have to ensure that I'm procuring my ocean freight to deliver my product.”  According to eeSea, ocean reliability from Asia to the US West Coast has ranged between 42% and 48% since September.  China ‘lacking port capacity’  Port congestion in China is a case in point about shippers’ growing concerns about the integrity of supply chains.   Still the source of 36% of US imports in TEUs in 2025, (down from 40% in 2024), according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the country is encountering chronic congestion at Shanghai and Ningbo, its two largest ports, where ships typically are waiting two to three days outside the port.  The fundamental reason, according to Asia sources over the past two years, was that while China ambitiously built port capacity ahead of demand in the years after entering the World Trade Organization in 2001, expansion has slowed at a time when its exports are experiencing a growth spurt.   “I know it’s a shocker, and it feels unnatural to hear it, but China is lacking port capacity. It’s as simple as that,” Nils Roche, founder of Solvens Advisory and recently deputy head of operations at Singapore-based carrier PIL, said on the Journal of Commerce webinar. Limited port capacity in China is being called upon to handle surging volumes growing out of a macro-China economic strategy to diversify away from the US and overcome weakness in other sectors such as real estate.   China in November surpassed the $1 trillion trade surplus barrier for the first time. Its share of global exports grew from 33% to 37% between 2023 and 2025, Maersk told investors in November. Influenced by export growth, S&P Global Market Intelligence in November raised Mainland China’s GDP growth forecast for 2025–27 by a quarter point, to 5.0%, 4.6% and 4.5%, respectively. “The upward adjustments primarily reflect a more positive assessment of export prospects,” S&P Global said.  The intractable nature of port capacity limitations is further reflected in growing ship sizes and more containers needed to be moved per port call at ports that have not kept pace.  “The ships that you have today, they are not the ships that we had 10 years ago. If you think about it, I used to operate Panamaxes, and they were the rock stars,” Roche said, noting his skepticism that technology-driven productivity improvements can meaningfully expand capacity. “Now you have 18,000, 24,000-TEU ships coming into the ports. A Panamax calling a port is a port call, a 24,000-TEU ship calling a port, it's a major event.” The difficulty ports have in handling the volumes and ship sizes being thrown at them is confirmed by port performance data. The S&P Global Port Performance data is based on vessel turnaround time and normalized by workload, with underlying data provided by carriers — in other words, how many hours a ship is spending in port to achieve a certain move count. The data shows ports on a global basis are operating well below pre-pandemic levels of performance. Due to port capacity limitations, Roche says the industry should temper its expectations for the impact of a return to the Red Sea, if that occurs this year (although there is no guarantee it will).   He said that if the Red Sea opens up, “we should not expect a massive influx of capacity, simply because the lack of capacity, or the bottleneck if you prefer, will be transferred from the ocean to the land.”  “I disagree with the narrative carried by analysts that shipping obeys 100% of the laws of supply and demand, and that more ships mean more supply ... it’s being half-blind to an entire ecosystem,” Roche said.  S&P Global is the parent company of the Journal of Commerce.Contact Peter Tirschwell at peter.tirschwell@spglobal.com .

Supply chain certainty, rather than price, will shape shipping in 2026

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>The carrier has inked a slot charter agreement on a service that is operated by Taiwanese rivals Yang Ming and Wan Hai, as well as Singapore’s PIL.</p></div>

The carrier has inked a slot charter agreement on a service that is operated by Taiwanese rivals Yang Ming and Wan Hai, as well as Singapore’s PIL.

<div class="phx-topic"><p>Evergreen Marine is strengthening its Asia-Latin America links with a slot charter agreement on the Asia-West Coast South America 6 service (WSA6) in a move that comes amid a surge of capacity on the Asia-Latin America trade. </p><p>Antonella Teodoro, senior consultant for MDS Transmodal, said capacity direct services have increased almost 50% over the past year. </p><p>“Having been relatively stable the past three years, scheduled deployed TEU capacity on the direct Far East-Latin America trade lane increased by some 46% between January 2025 and 2026,” Teodoro told the <i>Journal of Commerce.</i> </p><p>Total capacity over the past 12 months soared to 4,112,888 TEUs compared with 2,812,495 TEUs in the prior period, according to MDS Transmodal data. </p><p>“This increase is mainly due to the three new services that started in 2025, namely MSC’s Alpaca service, CMA CGM with Maersk on the SAES3/ASAS2, and HMM and ONE jointly initiating their FL2/SX2 service,” Teodoro said. </p><p>Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s Asia to West Coast South America Alpaca service is the most recent of the three, having been inaugurated last September by the 4,600-TEU <i>MSC Lome V</i>, one of eight ships deployed on the route. </p><p>Teodoro said the MDS data did not include services with intermediate calls in other markets including the US, Middle East and Indian sub-continent. </p><p>By comparison, data from eeSea carried on the <i>Journal of Commerce</i>’s Gateway platform also shows a significant capacity increase on the Asia-Latin America trade. Actual deployed capacity rose 21% to 6.5 million TEUs last year from 5.4 million TEUs in 2024 based upon monthly capacity figures. </p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="0a4c1e7e-2956-4186-b6de-e38dce7f57e0"></dynamic-object></div><p>Evergreen’s inclusion on the WSA6 service coincides with a continued fall in freight rates on both the Asia-South America West Coast and East Coast services. </p><p>Data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange carried on the Gateway platform shows spot rates from Shanghai to Santos were down to $1,195 per TEUs on Jan. 16, the lowest since January 2023, while spot rates from Shanghai to Manzanillo were down to $1,001/TEU, the lowest for at least two years. </p><h3>Operated by Taiwanese rivals </h3><p>Evergreen confirmed its involvement in the WSA6 service in updated service schedules published over the weekend. </p><p>Taiwan’s top container line will take space on the service that is operated by rivals Yang Ming Marine Transport, Wan Hai Lines, and Singapore’s Pacific International Lines. </p><p>Evergreen said the slot charter will begin with the 8,533-TEU <i>Kota Manzanillo</i> that is due to depart Ensenada on Feb. 21 with a scheduled 56-day transit to Shanghai. Other ships deployed on the route, including<i>YM Fountain</i> and<i>YM Success</i>, have a nominal capacity of 5,560 TEUs. </p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="1ac6ad07-0f60-4109-bf91-3409ff42996a"></dynamic-object></div><p>The full rotation is Ningbo, Shanghai, and Qingdao in China; Pusan (South Korea), Ensenada, Manzanillo, and Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico; Puerto Quetzal (Guatemala), Buenaventura (Colombia), Callao (Peru), San Antonio (Chile), and Ningbo. </p><p>The WSA6 service is Evergreen’s sixth linking the Asia and South American markets and the third connecting the West Coast of South America. </p><p><i>Contact Keith Wallis at </i><a href="https://www.joc.com/article/keithwallis@hotmail.com."><i>keithwallis@hotmail.com</i></a>.</p></div>

Evergreen Marine is strengthening its Asia-Latin America links with a slot charter agreement on the Asia-West Coast South America 6 service (WSA6) in a move that comes amid a surge of capacity on the Asia-Latin America trade.  Antonella Teodoro, senior consultant for MDS Transmodal, said capacity direct services have increased almost 50% over the past year. “Having been relatively stable the past three years, scheduled deployed TEU capacity on the direct Far East-Latin America trade lane increased by some 46% between January 2025 and 2026,” Teodoro told the Journal of Commerce.  Total capacity over the past 12 months soared to 4,112,888 TEUs compared with 2,812,495 TEUs in the prior period, according to MDS Transmodal data.  “This increase is mainly due to the three new services that started in 2025, namely MSC’s Alpaca service, CMA CGM with Maersk on the SAES3/ASAS2, and HMM and ONE jointly initiating their FL2/SX2 service,” Teodoro said.  Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s Asia to West Coast South America Alpaca service is the most recent of the three, having been inaugurated last September by the 4,600-TEU MSC Lome V, one of eight ships deployed on the route.  Teodoro said the MDS data did not include services with intermediate calls in other markets including the US, Middle East and Indian sub-continent.  By comparison, data from eeSea carried on the Journal of Commerce’s Gateway platform also shows a significant capacity increase on the Asia-Latin America trade. Actual deployed capacity rose 21% to 6.5 million TEUs last year from 5.4 million TEUs in 2024 based upon monthly capacity figures.  Evergreen’s inclusion on the WSA6 service coincides with a continued fall in freight rates on both the Asia-South America West Coast and East Coast services.  Data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange carried on the Gateway platform shows spot rates from Shanghai to Santos were down to $1,195 per TEUs on Jan. 16, the lowest since January 2023, while spot rates from Shanghai to Manzanillo were down to $1,001/TEU, the lowest for at least two years.  Operated by Taiwanese rivals  Evergreen confirmed its involvement in the WSA6 service in updated service schedules published over the weekend.  Taiwan’s top container line will take space on the service that is operated by rivals Yang Ming Marine Transport, Wan Hai Lines, and Singapore’s Pacific International Lines.  Evergreen said the slot charter will begin with the 8,533-TEU Kota Manzanillo that is due to depart Ensenada on Feb. 21 with a scheduled 56-day transit to Shanghai. Other ships deployed on the route, includingYM Fountain andYM Success, have a nominal capacity of 5,560 TEUs.  The full rotation is Ningbo, Shanghai, and Qingdao in China; Pusan (South Korea), Ensenada, Manzanillo, and Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico; Puerto Quetzal (Guatemala), Buenaventura (Colombia), Callao (Peru), San Antonio (Chile), and Ningbo. The WSA6 service is Evergreen’s sixth linking the Asia and South American markets and the third connecting the West Coast of South America.  Contact Keith Wallis at keithwallis@hotmail.com .

Container Shipping News

Evergreen bolsters Asia-West Coast South America links amid capacity surge

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper"><p>New Delhi has invested heavily into freight infrastructure modernization through public-private participation and pushed digital logistics solutions along with sweeping policy reforms to ease trade processes in recent years.  </p></div>

New Delhi has invested heavily into freight infrastructure modernization through public-private participation and pushed digital logistics solutions along with sweeping policy reforms to ease trade processes in recent years.  

<div class="phx-topic"><p>India’s maritime-focused economic development agenda is rapidly redefining the unnerving port flow experience that ocean carriers and shippers had to deal with out of the emerging market until a decade ago, industry stakeholders across the spectrum agree. </p><p>New Delhi has invested heavily into freight infrastructure modernization through public-private participation and pushed digital logistics solutions along with sweeping policy reforms to ease trade processes in recent years.   </p><p>Last year marked the influx of sizeable fresh terminal capacity into Indian trade, thanks to the launch of Phase 2 operations by PSA International in Nhava Sheva Port (JNPA) and the official opening of Adani Ports’ terminal in southern India, a transshipment hub designed to rival Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port, in addition to limited scaleups at relatively smaller ports. </p><p>As a result, there is sufficient box capacity across major ports — pegged at approximately 35 million TEUs annually — to handle near-term shipping demand. Looking ahead, new terminal projects in various stages of development, including at Vadhavan — about 100 miles north of Mumbai — on a landlord model led by the JNPA authority; Tuna — off Kandla Port in Gujarat State — under a concession contract awarded to DP World; and Adani Ports’ ongoing expansions at Mundra Port, could push Indian capacity to over 50 million TEUs over the next five years, industry estimates show. </p><p>Carrier and terminal executives who spoke with the <i>Journal of Commerce</i> have struck an upbeat tone on India’s port strides. </p><p>“Capacity expansion, particularly in western and southern India, combined with modernization initiatives across major ports, has delivered tangible productivity gains, positioning us well to support the country’s ambitious growth trajectory,” said Bhavik Mota, Maersk’s director of regional ocean management for India, Middle East and Africa. “We are seeing faster turnaround times, enhanced operational efficiency, and infrastructure that can genuinely compete globally.”</p><div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="b5c7e656-d66d-4f23-8a9e-01c230d7d132"></dynamic-object></div><p>JNPA Chairperson Gaurav Dayal said extensive digitization and proactive gate practices have dramatically reshaped terminal operations in Nhava Sheva, India’s largest container dock by capacity. </p><p>“Over the last decade, JNPA has evolved from a conventional port into an integrated trade facilitation hub,” Dayal noted. “There have been measurable reductions in vessel turnaround and container dwell times.” </p><p>Improving rail fluidity has also achieved heightened prominence among national policymakers and port leaders as it draws more loads away from the predominant trucking mode in order to ease pressure inland, with a freight-only rail corridor project connecting the northern interior to West Coast ports at the heart of that modal shift effort involving an infrastructure outlay of over $11 billion. </p><p>The 1,500-km double-line track able to offer double-stack container services at train speeds up to 100 km/h is set to operationalize the Nhava Sheva stretch next month, having already connected Mundra in stages. That access should help JNPA expand the share of volumes departing or arriving by rail from the current 15% to 25% in line with government target goals. </p><p>Various agencies, including the World Bank, have acknowledged the wave of recent port flow improvements at Indian ports, broadly estimating average container dwell times at three days and vessel turn times at no more than a day. </p><h3>Need to strengthen multimodal connectivity </h3><p>While the performance within the four walls of port gates has markedly scaled up, stakeholders generally believe that moving cargo between the water and the land more efficiently remains an unfulfilled aspect of the supply chain in the context of growing vessel call sizes that typically involve high container exchanges per port visit. </p><p>“The next frontier is strengthening multimodal connectivity beyond the port gates to fully unlock India’s cost competitiveness in global trade,” Mota said. </p><p>That was echoed by Girish Aggarwal, managing director of APM Terminals’ Gujarat Pipavav Port. </p><p>“As cargo profiles become more complex and supply chains more time-sensitive, the next phase of growth will require deeper integration across the logistics ecosystem, faster decision-making, and sustained investments in multimodal connectivity,” Aggarwal said. “The challenge is not just creating capacity, but ensuring predictability, reliability, and ease of doing business for our stakeholders.” </p><p>Suni Vaswani, executive director at the Container Shipping Lines’ Association (India), said despite the significant capacity strides, the Indian port sector grapples with a string of long-standing barriers — ranging from high vessel tariffs and container scanner shortages to rail delays resulting from mixed train/common marshalling yard operations — to keep moving up the ladder of global competency. </p><p>“Indian ports could do better with some improvements ... container lines have already diverted a significant portion of their transshipment volumes from neighboring foreign hubs to Nhava Sheva and Mundra,” Vaswani said. </p><p>Approximately 60% of Indian containerized freight is shipped in and out of Mundra and Nhava Sheva, with the duo handling 16 million TEUs in 2025 out of the countrywide 26 million TEUs for the year, up from 15 million TEUs and 24 million TEUs, respectively, in 2024, data obtained by the <i>Journal of Commerce</i> shows. </p><p>Additionally, with evolving “green shoots” in local manufacturing, container carrier heavyweights are increasingly diversifying investment interests in India beyond port-to-port shipping and inland verticals to vessel flagging and shipbuilding as government policies become more industry-friendly. Maersk, CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co. have already signaled that diversified push. </p><p> <i>Contact Bency Mathew at </i><a href="mailto:bencyvmathew@gmail.com"><i>bencyvmathew@gmail.com</i></a>.</p><p> </p></div>

India’s maritime-focused economic development agenda is rapidly redefining the unnerving port flow experience that ocean carriers and shippers had to deal with out of the emerging market until a decade ago, industry stakeholders across the spectrum agree.  New Delhi has invested heavily into freight infrastructure modernization through public-private participation and pushed digital logistics solutions along with sweeping policy reforms to ease trade processes in recent years.    Last year marked the influx of sizeable fresh terminal capacity into Indian trade, thanks to the launch of Phase 2 operations by PSA International in Nhava Sheva Port (JNPA) and the official opening of Adani Ports’ terminal in southern India, a transshipment hub designed to rival Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port, in addition to limited scaleups at relatively smaller ports.  As a result, there is sufficient box capacity across major ports — pegged at approximately 35 million TEUs annually — to handle near-term shipping demand. Looking ahead, new terminal projects in various stages of development, including at Vadhavan — about 100 miles north of Mumbai — on a landlord model led by the JNPA authority; Tuna — off Kandla Port in Gujarat State — under a concession contract awarded to DP World; and Adani Ports’ ongoing expansions at Mundra Port, could push Indian capacity to over 50 million TEUs over the next five years, industry estimates show.  Carrier and terminal executives who spoke with the Journal of Commerce have struck an upbeat tone on India’s port strides.  “Capacity expansion, particularly in western and southern India, combined with modernization initiatives across major ports, has delivered tangible productivity gains, positioning us well to support the country’s ambitious growth trajectory,” said Bhavik Mota, Maersk’s director of regional ocean management for India, Middle East and Africa. “We are seeing faster turnaround times, enhanced operational efficiency, and infrastructure that can genuinely compete globally.” JNPA Chairperson Gaurav Dayal said extensive digitization and proactive gate practices have dramatically reshaped terminal operations in Nhava Sheva, India’s largest container dock by capacity.  “Over the last decade, JNPA has evolved from a conventional port into an integrated trade facilitation hub,” Dayal noted. “There have been measurable reductions in vessel turnaround and container dwell times.”  Improving rail fluidity has also achieved heightened prominence among national policymakers and port leaders as it draws more loads away from the predominant trucking mode in order to ease pressure inland, with a freight-only rail corridor project connecting the northern interior to West Coast ports at the heart of that modal shift effort involving an infrastructure outlay of over $11 billion.  The 1,500-km double-line track able to offer double-stack container services at train speeds up to 100 km/h is set to operationalize the Nhava Sheva stretch next month, having already connected Mundra in stages. That access should help JNPA expand the share of volumes departing or arriving by rail from the current 15% to 25% in line with government target goals.  Various agencies, including the World Bank, have acknowledged the wave of recent port flow improvements at Indian ports, broadly estimating average container dwell times at three days and vessel turn times at no more than a day.  Need to strengthen multimodal connectivity  While the performance within the four walls of port gates has markedly scaled up, stakeholders generally believe that moving cargo between the water and the land more efficiently remains an unfulfilled aspect of the supply chain in the context of growing vessel call sizes that typically involve high container exchanges per port visit.  “The next frontier is strengthening multimodal connectivity beyond the port gates to fully unlock India’s cost competitiveness in global trade,” Mota said.  That was echoed by Girish Aggarwal, managing director of APM Terminals’ Gujarat Pipavav Port.  “As cargo profiles become more complex and supply chains more time-sensitive, the next phase of growth will require deeper integration across the logistics ecosystem, faster decision-making, and sustained investments in multimodal connectivity,” Aggarwal said. “The challenge is not just creating capacity, but ensuring predictability, reliability, and ease of doing business for our stakeholders.”  Suni Vaswani, executive director at the Container Shipping Lines’ Association (India), said despite the significant capacity strides, the Indian port sector grapples with a string of long-standing barriers — ranging from high vessel tariffs and container scanner shortages to rail delays resulting from mixed train/common marshalling yard operations — to keep moving up the ladder of global competency.  “Indian ports could do better with some improvements ... container lines have already diverted a significant portion of their transshipment volumes from neighboring foreign hubs to Nhava Sheva and Mundra,” Vaswani said.  Approximately 60% of Indian containerized freight is shipped in and out of Mundra and Nhava Sheva, with the duo handling 16 million TEUs in 2025 out of the countrywide 26 million TEUs for the year, up from 15 million TEUs and 24 million TEUs, respectively, in 2024, data obtained by the Journal of Commerce shows.  Additionally, with evolving “green shoots” in local manufacturing, container carrier heavyweights are increasingly diversifying investment interests in India beyond port-to-port shipping and inland verticals to vessel flagging and shipbuilding as government policies become more industry-friendly. Maersk, CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co. have already signaled that diversified push.   Contact Bency Mathew at  bencyvmathew@gmail.com .  

Indian port flow boosted by infrastructure, technology investment efforts

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