The impact of the coronavirus on container shipping finances continues to grow, and with collapsing demand come questions on whether all the debt-strapped global carriers can survive losses of up to $23 billion.
Monday April 6, 2020
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Maritime News
Maritime News
Maritime news articles about every aspect of the industry, including ports, container and breakbulk lines; and ships and ship chartering. Coverage also includes the impact of recent industry mergers and acquisitions, and of emerging new technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.
From the largest container lines such as Maersk Line, MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Co.), COSCO Shipping/OOCL, CMA CGM and Ocean Network Express (ONE), to smaller carriers such as SM Line and Eimskip, JOC.com covers the entire industry with unequaled intelligence, data, insight, statistics, and analysis. JOC.com regularly updates its proprietary data about the activity of largest ports, container lines, breakbulk lines and other stakeholders in the maritime shipping sector,
News & Analysis
06 Apr 2020
Non-essential shipments face being left at the docks with goods unable to be sold at shuttered retail stores, with little space in terminals and warehouses to provide longer term storage for the incoming cargo.
03 Apr 2020
Maersk’s ability to gain greater control of shipments as they move through the supply chain is key to the largest container line transforming itself into a provider of integrated end-to-end logistics.
02 Apr 2020
Singapore-based carrier ONE plans to roll out globally an electronic bill of lading through its customer portal starting in the second quarter of 2020.
02 Apr 2020
As consumer demand in the US plummets due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), trans-Pacific carriers are suspending entire strings in addition to blanking additional sailings from Asia in the second quarter.
02 Apr 2020
The risk in the coming week is that more US retailers and manufacturers fail to pick up containers because warehouses are full or closed due to not being deemed essential service providers responding to coronavirus disease COVID-19.
02 Apr 2020
A wave of containers is about to hit ports in the US and Europe while retail stores are closed and consumers are shut inside their homes to avoid contracting and spreading the coronavirus.
01 Apr 2020
Former Lykes Bros. Steamship Line President Jim Amoss was a respected and influential advocate for the US-flag liner industry.
01 Apr 2020
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and its largest tenant, GCT Canada, agree that Vancouver risks a scenario in which marine terminals will be clogged within roughly 10 years, but they disagree on how to add capacity.
01 Apr 2020
Carriers are making huge cuts in capacity with little warning, reflecting the speed with which demand is falling amid deepening lockdowns across major markets.
31 Mar 2020
The container line offering reflects the new reality of Western importers increasingly canceling, reducing and delaying shipments as consumer consumption craters under stay-at-home safety precautions linked to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
30 Mar 2020
Carriers are battling to match their available capacity with demand that is drying up from major economies in Europe that are under lockdown.
27 Mar 2020
Just as US agricultural exports received a boost from the US-China phase one trade deal, the global economic impact of the coronavirus threatens to put the brakes on ag exports to Asia.
27 Mar 2020
Pressure is building as some shippers fail to pick up containers because warehouses are full or closed due to not being deemed essential service providers responding to COVID-19, or because retailers have requested delayed deliveries at distribution centers.
26 Mar 2020
Longshore unions continue to assign work through hiring halls on the East, Gulf and West coasts as the unions balance the need for safety measures that protect workers from COVID-19 with the demands of keeping ports open and efficient.
25 Mar 2020
Extensive cutbacks in air and sea capacity are making life difficult for cargo owners, but expedited less-than-container-load (LCL) services and space guarantees from liner carriers offer alternatives for shippers of time-sensitive products.
25 Mar 2020
Measures taken by China to limit the spread of the coronavirus, including shutting down factories and its economy for the better part of a month, will drag down container throughput this year.
25 Mar 2020
Reports of cancelled Asia to North America ocean bookings are a sharp reversal from just a few weeks ago, when shippers were looking to accelerate shipments through the supply chain to replenish inventories depleted due to the prolonged China shutdown.
24 Mar 2020
The European Commission had already indicated it was planning to extend the carrier antitrust block exemption, but the decision to renew the regulation without any changes will have taken carrier customers by surprise.
24 Mar 2020
Confirmation of PIL's debt woes follow weeks of speculation about the world's 10th- largest container line, which since mid-February has pulled out of the trans-Pacific trade, sold six 11,923-TEU container ships, and divested ts South Pacific subsidiary, Pacific Direct Line.
24 Mar 2020
TPM20 may have been canceled because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, but JOC.com is presenting some of the major sessions from the TPM20 program in a series of half-day webcasts available for anyone.
23 Mar 2020
Demand for container shipping depends on the return of consumer spending in North America and the European Union, but most businesses in those regions are shut and consumers are holed up inside their homes
23 Mar 2020
Growth in trade between the United States and Europe decelerated only slightly in 2019, even as antagonism over tariffs, taxes, and subsidies on both sides of the Atlantic deepened.
20 Mar 2020
Non-vessel operating common carriers say the small drop in trans-Pacific eastbound spot rates is a temporary blip.
20 Mar 2020
The world’s container lines face an uncertain 2020 with the coronavirus impact on demand still to be felt as the major markets of Europe and the US struggle to contain the spread of the disease.
19 Mar 2020
Global oil prices have crashed in recent weeks, driven lower by a dramatic drop in demand due to COVID-19 and the collapse of a crude production alliance between OPEC and Russia.
19 Mar 2020
“The industry is much better prepared,” to ride out the impact from COVID-19. There’s little risk of bankruptcy or major merger and acquisition activity this year, said Rahul Kapoor, head of research and analytics, maritime and trade at IHS Markit.
18 Mar 2020
Cosco Shipping is adding a route linking the US Gulf Coast with Brazil and other parts of South America, despite data showing trade growth between the US and Latin America slowed last year.
18 Mar 2020
The dearth of Asia volumes will give way to surges hitting North American and European ports that may be short-lived as recessionary conditions dampen demand.
18 Mar 2020
It comes as no surprise that carriers will be hit hard by falling demand and deteriorating earnings this year, but the scale of the expected impact will raise concerns.
18 Mar 2020
The narrower the spread between high- and low-sulfur fuel, the longer the payback for installing exhaust cleaning systems on container ships will be.
17 Mar 2020
While Chinese manufacturing and trucking capacity is recovering as workers return from quarantine, the surge of containerized exports being produced threaten to overwhelm some North American ports and inland networks.
16 Mar 2020
BCOs, trucking groups, and transportation intermediaries urge the Federal Maritime Commission to adopt its proposed rule to provide shipping lines guidance as to when they should be able to charge detention and demurrage fees.
16 Mar 2020
Several European countries have closed borders and businesses to tackle the spreading coronavirus, raising doubts about the speed of any recovery in container volume.
13 Mar 2020
Double-digit week-over-week increase in West Coast spot rate Friday reflects a surge in US imports leaving Chinese ports, as well as the tightening of capacity due to blank sailings.
12 Mar 2020
Wracked by the US-China trade war and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), US imports from Asia and China in February hit three and four-year lows, respectively.
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Commentary
Three issues certain to impact 2019 trade
The collapsible container’s superior economics
A strategy that will reduce empty container costs
How blockchain will lead to fair, efficient logistics transactions
How was 2018 for container shipping? That depends.