Container lines

Tung took over running the family shipping interests, which included Orient Overseas Container Line and bulk operator Island Navigation, in 1982 following the death of his shipping magnate father, but immediately faced the fallout from a global shipping industry crisis.

That comes as ONE said the port would be temporarily omitted from 11 Premier Alliance US East Coast sailings through mid-October to maintain schedule reliability.

The proposed $4.2 billion acquisition raised national security fears in Tel Aviv, sparking strong opposition since the deal was announced in February.

 The electronics maker, seeking $186 million in restitution, alleges the ocean carrier did not perform its promised merchant haulage moves across US ports during the pandemic, saddling Samsung with excess late fees.

Container services to the US East Coast have seen a rash of one-off schedule changes that stem from draft limits hitting the Panama Canal and recent typhoons that shut big Chinese ports.

The contract with South Korean shipyard Hanwha Ocean pushes the global order book for LNG-fueled vessels to more than 6.8 million TEUs.

There is a good business case for buying assets that will reduce costs and increase efficiency, but the cycle that generates the cash for those deals doesn’t last forever, writes Jeremy Masters.

The latest move in that direction came Monday with MSC announcing it is shifting its Albatros, Jade, Himalaya and Tiger strings back to Red Sea transits, following similar moves by competitors.

The larger of the two orders is for a dozen 22,000-TEU ships that the carrier said will “boost [its] competitive advantage” on routes such as the Far East to Northwest Europe.

An active participant in the port’s clean-air initiatives, Yusen has agreed to spend $200 million on zero-emission equipment at its terminal under terms of the lease extension.

Demand for car-carrying capacity now far exceeds the current capability of the global fleet, prompting a raft of newbuild orders.

Potential pitfalls, from tighter Panama Canal restrictions to stronger-than-expected import volumes, should send a warning to shippers importing from Asia to the Americas, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

With demand softening on the westbound trade lane, carriers continue to withdraw capacity, resulting in slow but steady rate gains through August on routes out of North Europe and the Mediterranean.

Vessels deployed on MSC’s India-Europe “Himalaya Express” service will return to the traditional, shorter route effective with a late-August voyage; the carrier’s five other Asia-Europe strings will follow.

The overheated market and its resilience through September would represent a sharp reversal of the general thinking among industry participants from just one month ago.

It is the carrier’s second massive terminal investment in the Middle East in the past few months and highlights the important role Jeddah plays as an alternative gateway to the war-torn Persian Gulf.

Almost a half-million TEUs of capacity at three of China’s main ports went by the boards in the aftermath of Typhoon Dolphin, with Asia-Latin America and Asia-Europe services the most heavily disrupted.

While container lines are aiming for a gradual return to Red Sea transits to avoid overloading European terminals, the amount of reactivated proforma capacity is still rising sharply.

The volatile weather pattern poses a growing concern for refrigerated container shipments from Latin America, market experts told a TPM cold-chain webcast.

The Maersk/Hapag-Lloyd alliance would send ad-hoc sailings through the canal during the rest of 2026 as part of an operational risk assessment and roll out regular Suez transits on the trade lane from January 2027.

The short-sea shipping specialist said its new service connecting Guatemala and Honduras with Houston will begin in September.

The Hong Kong conglomerate said this case is separate from the contract rights arbitration launched by its Panama Port subsidiary in February following the loss of the concession and seizure of the two terminals.

High rates and strong demand, particularly on the trans-Pacific, are expected to continue through the second half of 2026, the Israeli carrier says, as opposition grows to its takeover by Hapag-Lloyd.

Despite an attack on a cargo ship this week that killed six, Vincent Clerc says the carrier’s own analysis, together with input from military and intelligence officials, indicates Maersk is not a target of Houthi militants.

The carrier’s CEO expects solid demand out of Asia to continue through much of the year, putting a floor under rates while congestion at key ports and geopolitical disruption absorb excess capacity.

The increasing restrictions are preventing some carriers from maximizing their stowage but haven’t yet deteriorated to the disruption-creating levels seen three years ago.

The liner was commenting after unveiling mixed financial results, with declines in both second-quarter and half-year net profit despite an increase in revenues.

The ability of ports and inland infrastructure to absorb growing and increasingly imbalanced trade flows has become the new constraint on industry growth, Vincent Clerc says.

The carrier said the surge in cargo demand and higher freight rates driven by the early peak season led the second quarter to outperform the first-quarter and year-ago periods.

The deaths of three seamen off the coast of Yemen could dramatically change the risk assessment of carriers and delay moves that have been steadily routing more services through the Bab el-Mandab Strait.

Forwarder sources say the lead services operated by European carriers are already sold out through the end of the month or even until early September on certain sailings.

A string of major port investments this summer highlights how ocean carriers are increasingly locking in marine terminal capacity.

The voluntary liquidation by the Singapore-registered liner means its main container line services between Asia and the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Baltic have ceased.

The US-based carrier said momentum in the trans-Pacific market was strong during the second quarter and expects the trend to continue until October.

It is shaping up to be a profitable year for the ocean carrier’s new CEO Till Ole Barrelet, who took over the top job from Jeremy Nixon on July 1.

The modernization project is meant to enhance the competitive position of Seattle-Tacoma among other ports along the West Coast of North America that have outperformed the NWSA this year.

But the growth is overwhelming the port and inland logistics infrastructure needed to support it as enormous volumes from Asia flood the continent.

Major carriers on the trade lane have notified customers of spot rate increases in excess of $1,000 per FEU effective Aug. 1, with forwarders saying the hikes could stick.

Industry sources in Mumbai told the Journal of Commerce that ONE plans to offset its downsized West India-US East Coast capacity by routing cargo via Colombo in Sri Lanka.

The carrier, while releasing solid second-quarter financial results, said it has seen very high cargo volumes in July, but acknowledged there is a question mark over whether that strong demand will sustain in the coming months.