The Taiwanese carrier is joining an industrywide shift away from methanol that accelerated last year amid growing supply concerns.

The first in a series of “development flights” loaded with packages from Hong Kong landed at the Scottish west coast airport this week with a view to launching scheduled weekly services in March.

The European Commission wants member states to exert greater control over low-value imports, while its consumer watchdog has launched an investigation into e-commerce giant Shein.

Full ships from China are arriving as labor action roils container handling at major hubs in Rotterdam and throughout France, with the disruption exacerbated by bad weather.

Despite its strong performance, the South Korean carrier said uncertainty over the timing of a return to Suez Canal transits and the impact of US tariffs on trans-Pacific trade flows was clouding its 2025 outlook.

Vincent Clerc says one reason for the delay is the liner’s extreme profitability since the pandemic, a reality he said was “taking a lot of the light” from its integrated logistics plans.

The third-most-profitable year in the carrier’s history could be followed by a breakeven result if voyages through the Red Sea resume before the end of the year, the CEO told analysts Thursday.

The disruption to the Asia-Europe trade lane is expected to be limited as the transition from old services to the new alliances is being made during the traditionally slow post-Lunar New Year period.

DSV CEO Jens Lund said the size of the Schenker acquisition meant it could take up to two years before the companies were fully integrated into the world’s largest forwarder.

There has been a steady decline in average rate levels on the major trade lanes since December, and as the new alliances and MSC’s standalone network launch, there is no sign of an end to the slide.

The Singapore-based carrier reported strong demand on its two main trade lanes out of Asia in its most recent fiscal quarter, with the trans-Pacific recording 100% utilization.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have made 90% schedule reliability a core promise of their new partnership, and the pledge will be under intense scrutiny by the carriers’ customers.

It would be the 10th consecutive year the carrier has reported a profit as it capitalized on increasing demand supported by elevated rates.

Ports in the UK are already seeing rising operational delays as a string of storms moves in from the Atlantic and major ports in Europe issue high wind warnings.

China celebrates the Year of the Snake Tuesday, and while there is always a move to get export orders on the water before the holidays, the push this year came earlier than expected.

The Belgian port has restored the throughput that was lost following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, filling the gap in part by capturing market share from its northern range rivals.

With voyages around southern Africa taking up to 45 days and most carriers continuing to divert away from the Red Sea, the shorter route cuts the transit time of Kawa Shipping’s China-Europe Express to just 26 days.

Average rates hit a 2024 high in early December but have declined steadily since, with not even an early Lunar New Year able to prevent the slide.

Donald Trump, just hours after returning to the White House Monday, signed an executive order to begin the process of pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement climate change treaty.

Ocean carriers may soon finalize a series of large ship orders as the newbuilding spree that took the order book to a record 8.3 million TEUs by the end of 2024 is set to continue.

A pledge by Houthi militants to focus ship attacks on Israel-linked vessels is not enough to encourage ocean carriers to end their diversions around Africa and return to transits via the Suez Canal.

The peace deal in Gaza is highlighting the capacity overhang facing container shipping once vessels absorbed by the longer voyages around southern Africa return to the shorter route via the Red Sea and Suez.

The carrier said its ability to capture market share was directly linked to a shift in trade dynamics as mainline operators outsourced intra-regional services to more agile operators.

The Doha-based carrier will expand the digital connectivity of its containers to improve real-time visibility across the global cargo and passenger network.

The uncertainty surrounding the Red Sea was highlighted by member OOCL, and although the carrier provided both an around-Africa option and a version via the Suez, it said the Africa diversions will continue until further notice.

The carrier’s top-line financials are a clear signal that container shipping is firmly back in profitable territory following a poor end to 2023 that left several carriers nursing losses.

With the threat of a US port strike averted, the transition to new global service networks will not be accompanied by widespread disruption, the analyst believes.

Capacity will continue to be the greatest challenge facing cargo owners moving goods from Asia by air this year.

With shippers under pressure to finalize production plans with Asian factories amid ongoing vessel diversions around Africa and elevated rates, there is little point in delaying the signing of annual contracts.

Carriers adopting a “wait-and-see” approach to the new regulation will face significant penalties and a potential loss of income from decarbonization-focused customers, according to a report from the classification society.

The IMO tends to move at a glacial pace, but with 2030 emissions targets looming, it no longer has that luxury.

Despite a glut of capacity on the water, Suez Canal diversions and healthy volumes will keep container shipping vessel supply tight, analysts predict.

The market’s normal tranquility is threatened by President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to raise imports tariffs, as well as a potential second strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association.

Carriers have penciled in a return to the Red Sea and Suez Canal for the second half of the year, and some analysts are also using that as a baseline for their market outlooks, but the reality is that no one knows.

As the supply-demand imbalance drives air freight rates to levels not seen in two years, forwarders are trying to balance the contractual requirements of airlines while securing capacity at reasonable rates for customers.

Shippers on the Europe-US trade lane are facing significant rate increases in January as the potential for disruption grows from labor uncertainty and new operating alliances.

Handling large container exchanges with vessels arriving late and bunching outside import gateways is leading to bottlenecks at some of the region’s largest hubs.

Holes in the Atlantic port network are being plugged as ONE, the Ocean Alliance and HMM prepare for February’s launch of the new container shipping groupings.

Customer advisories from Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd show the carriers plan to “simplify the process” by merging compliance with the EU ETS and FuelEU regulations into one fuel surcharge.

While cargo volume is expected to grow 5.8% next year, the airline association is warning that aircraft supply chain issues will raise costs, possibly limiting that growth.