Container lines

Space availability on the trade lane has tightened as a result of MSC withdrawing its Indus Express service, while other competing networks reported schedule disruptions in the form of six blank sailings.

The Marseille-based carrier has ended a 14,000-TEU per week service that called Asia and both US Coasts, deploying bigger ships on an existing East Coast service and a new West Coast express service.

Encouraged by the stickiness of early June rate hikes, carriers are capitalizing on robust demand as an early start to peak season keeps ships full on North Europe and Mediterranean trades.

Empty containers trapped on the wrong side of the Strait of Hormuz are impacting export markets, forcing ocean carriers to seek out lessors for more equipment.

Forwarders have linked the sudden boost in rates to lower vessel capacity rather than an indication of resurgent demand, with liners shifting vessels to the more lucrative eastbound trans-Pac trade out of China.

Spot rates from North Asia to Brazil are pushing near two-year highs after blanks on the trade lane last month jumped to their highest in at least three years.

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.