Container lines

Trans-Pacific rates are falling sharply, but the ability of carriers to withdraw capacity, the potential for continued diversions away from the Red Sea, and long-term changes to the global trade landscape due to US tariff policy mean liners have levers to pull.

The number of unique services on routes navigating through Houthi-controlled waters has doubled since the third quarter of last year, according to data from eeSea, as carriers who do not call Israel feel growing comfort sailing the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.

The sanctions list targets the shipping interests of Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, son of Ali Shamkhani, a political adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The trans-Pacific carrier said China volumes were whipsawed by the Trump administration’s trade policy, with shippers likely to slow their ordering during the third quarter.

Trade uncertainties are limiting visibility for the latter half of the carrier’s fiscal year, prompting it to significantly reduce its profit expectations.

Development of the new terminal comes as gains in transshipment volumes are outpacing the increase in gateway cargo at Busan, where transshipment business has been bolstered by the launch of the Gemini Cooperation earlier this year.

Local liner sources who spoke with the Journal of Commerce signaled that carriers would cancel increase notices scheduled for Aug. 1 and instead extend existing prices through the first half of the month.

As tariff fatigue sets in, US retailers are concentrating more on their product delivery needs rather than adjusting their supply chains on the fly to the vagaries of the Trump administration’s trade policy.

The Marseilles-based carrier said the unstable operating environment was disrupting trade flows and leading to growing uncertainty about demand in the major markets.

The company did not disclose the identity of the potential Chinese investor in the $23 billion deal, although it is widely thought to be Cosco Shipping Holdings.

Double-digit demand is expected to continue through the third quarter on the Asia-Europe trades, piling more pressure on terminals that have been overstretched for months.

The carrier announced in March it would spend $20 billion over the next four years to significantly bolster its logistics presence in the US, including expanding its US-flag fleet and increasing capacity at key US ports.

Local freight forwarders have reported rate increases in the range of $300 to $500 per FEU month over month and expect further slight gains if the pace of demand remains steady.

The joint venture is accompanied by a long-term agreement that will lock in the supply of LNG to the ocean carrier’s fast-growing dual-fuel fleet that will increase to 123 vessels by 2029.

MSC’s orders at two Chinese shipyards continue the carrier’s long association with Chinese shipbuilders, with the liner seemingly undeterred by US proposals to levy hefty port fees on Chinese-built ships.

Bigger carriers have more services and transshipment hubs and are generally able to offer more efficient connecting services, although there is still room to prosper for small and midsize carriers, writes Jeremy Masters.

US shippers have pulled forward as much cargo as they can ahead of the latest deadlines for higher US tariffs, leaving carriers little choice but to cancel more voyages.

US retailers are, not surprisingly, importing only what is “absolutely necessary” given the frequent changes in new tariffs and tariff deadlines announced by the Trump administration, writes Lars Jensen.

The investigation centers on terminal service agreements that may have required container lines to commit to route a share of their cargo through Port Houston.

But the longer voyages are also seeing container shipping companies cutting the average fuel intensity per TEU mile and ensuring vessels are sailing full.

The decline came despite a 4.4% increase in total container volumes to 2 million TEUs, the carrier said in a quarterly update Friday.

The Marseille-based liner has finalized operational plans to call off its remaining vessel-sharing agreements with the carriers after Gemini Cooperation-linked realignments.

Trans-Pacific carriers are facing rapidly declining demand and freight rates on the trade lane as the frontloading that occurred during the 90-day pause on new US tariffs — now extended to Aug. 1 — has largely lost steam.

With two attacks on commercial vessels in recent days, including one that killed three mariners, any thought that the risk in the Red Sea was easing to the point the Suez route might be restored in the near future has vanished.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. is furthering its lead in vessel tonnage so far this year as it absorbs more than double the amount of new capacity added by No. 2 carrier Maersk.

But the mini rush will be short-lived, with imports falling month to month between August and November, the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates said in their latest Global Port Tracker.

The moves by CMA CGM were made to improve westbound transit times that remain a challenge due to ongoing vessel diversions around southern Africa.

In the latest course correction in the US’ busiest trade lane, carriers are set to deploy less tonnage in August as spot rates fall and retail import forecasts weaken.

Beginning in September, the joint service will make added stops at Aarhus in Denmark, Gothenburg in Sweden and Rotterdam in the Netherlands as the last three European calls.

Instead of its 24,000-TEU ships making direct calls at West African ports, Hapag-Lloyd’s main Mediterranean hub is being used as a key transshipment point for Asia-Africa services.

Carriers are pulling back on their blanking campaigns on the Asia-ECSA lane in July after two months of blanking campaigns largely neutralized capacity additions to the lane.

Longer transits around southern Africa, restructured alliance networks and bottlenecks in Asia continue to cause ships to arrive outside their scheduled European arrival windows.

While vessels on the lead West India-US East Coast networks have continued to sail full, forwarders have linked the “sold-out” experience to capacity cutbacks and consequent cargo rollovers.

The fresh capacity carriers rushed into the US’ busiest trade lane in April and May is no longer needed, sending rates on a downward spiral and forcing carriers to shelve proposed price hikes.

The complaint from Dollar General alleges the carrier sold more of its capacity in the high-flying spot market of 2021, leaving shippers under fixed-price contracts in the lurch.

The deployment of 24,000-TEU ships on its Africa Express service allows the carrier to better leverage billions of dollars invested in West Africa in recent years, reducing exposure to congested North European ports.

The $177 million plan to enlarge Spain’s TTI Algeciras is in line with the strategy of ocean carriers to diversify revenue and exert greater control over their supply chains.

The uptick in rates comes despite a 9% surge in deployed capacity on regional services since February, according to figures from British transport consultant MDS Transmodal.

Although spot rates from Asia to the US are dropping due to waning demand and overcapacity, the carrier is zeroing in on the e-commerce sector with its expedited transit times and the quick delivery of containers upon discharge from vessels.

The trade group of ocean carriers is exempt from US antitrust scrutiny under an agreement it filed with the FMC five years ago, but the agency is now questioning that arrangement.