Container Shipping News

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.

The carrier said vessels on the five-day transit to Philadelphia will carry food, apparel, industrial products and consumer goods.

Swire, UWL’s original partner for the express service to Seattle, will phase out its vessels during July while new partner Emirate Shipping Line rotates into the loop.

Tariff uncertainty, weakening demand and an abundance of capacity are hanging over the container shipping industry, the global bank said in a report Thursday.

A new service from Green Tide Logistics will connect Veracruz to Philadelphia in five to six days via truck and multi-purpose vessels capable of handling 1,200 to 1,700 TEUs.

The digital solution will be available for US imports this week and is set to roll out globally in August.

Peak shipping season began early on both trade lanes, but the advancing of US orders from China will hit trans-Pacific demand in the second half of the year.

The surge, however brief, will nonetheless be a welcome boost in business for the ports after a lackluster May and early June.

CMA CGM, Maersk, MSC and Cosco are among mainliners charging add-ons on overweight containers.

The fees come as dwell times for refrigerated containers in Houston exceed a week and reefer volumes topped 10,000 TEUs for the first time in three years.

Internal and external forces in the first half of 2025 mitigated container vessel overcapacity, but steep challenges lie ahead, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Iran has yet to make good on its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, but nervous carriers are preparing contingency plans as the region moves onto a war footing.

With little relief forthcoming, cargo owners need to build delays into their shipping plans as port and ship capacity remain tight, speakers at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s annual meeting said.

But sources do not think carriers will have an opportunity to net full recovery of the proposed amounts in the current market environment unless strategic capacity cuts occur.

Consultancy MDS Transmodal said the two companies will have just under half of the almost 176,700 TEUs in feeder ship capacity deployed in Europe and the Mediterranean.

Strong demand for much of the year has kept North European ports under pressure, slowing attempts to ease the bottlenecks.

A more than 30% one-week drop in rates from Asia to the US West Coast is showing that the import rush sparked by the temporary pause in higher US tariffs will apparently be short-lived.

Despite ongoing efforts to clear out logjams triggered by the brief work stoppage, berth waiting times for vessels arriving at the country’s busiest port have risen to their highest this year.

The China-based liners carried a combined 1.09 million TEUs in imports to the US through April, up 23% over the same period in 2024, according to Journal of Commerce rankings.

A wide-ranging report commissioned by Canada’s Labor Ministry says British Columbia’s ports are vulnerable to strikes in part because of disparate longshore unions involved in contract talks.

It is reasonable to assume the larger container carriers are now going to earn above historical returns, but they will not be immune from significant dips when supply significantly exceeds demand, writes Jeremy Masters.

While just 2% to 3% of global container traffic transits the key chokepoint, any restrictions would further tie up global vessel capacity and cut off the ports of Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi.

Forwarders moving cargo on monthly contracts have pegged average week-to-week gains at $200 to $300 per FEU for bookings from West India to Felixstowe/London Gateway or Rotterdam.

Sea-Intelligence said elevated freight rates are drawing small carriers to the eastbound trade lane, but the additional capacity should dwindle by mid-August.

Liners have enjoyed the higher rates and profits that come from external market shocks, but it’s fair to wonder how sustainable that is, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Organic growth in the logistics business is hard to find with the global economy slowing and trade heavily disrupted by US tariffs, so forwarders have moved into acquisition mode.

A widening spread between the West and East coasts comes as carriers have added fresh capacity, especially to Southern California, to take advantage of what had been a sharp jump in demand and rates following the US pause on higher tariffs against China.

But all eyes are on the July 9 end to the 90-day pause on US tariffs that forwarders believe will determine the level of demand through the rest of the year.

The group that oversees maritime contracts said the complex nature of the USTR’s new port fees needs to be made clear through a standard clause in shipping contracts.

The terminal operator said it has reduced the inventory of rail-bound containers at its Elizabeth facility to about 1,600, down from about 4,000 in early May.

The shift of some capacity to the Asia-US trade to meet surging demand there is contributing to tighter vessel space in the ECSA market, forwarders tell the Journal of Commerce.

The hub in northern Germany is expecting rapid volume growth for the rest of the year following a record first quarter spurred on by the launch of the carrier alliance.

The carrier continues to ramp up its non-ocean businesses that were acquired from Performance Team with the lease of a new warehouse located about 10 miles from the Port of Philadelphia.

Adding to recent capacity cutbacks, the carrier has redeployed vessels serving its premier Himalaya Express service between India, Europe and the Mediterranean onto Asian trades.

Carriers are looking to ride the higher rates as long as they can before the fresh vessel capacity that is making its way to the trans-Pacific begins to dull the momentum.

Despite sustained and pending capacity injections, major liners have the ability to alleviate short-term losses and produce healthy profits, writes Jeremy Masters.

While terminal operators had hoped that problems stemming from the mid-May work stoppage would be mostly over, forwarders are still reporting cargo delays.

Labor shortages and low water levels in Europe are intensifying persistent port bottlenecks, while the trans-Pacific demand is pulling vessels out of Asia-Europe.

Ocean carrier profits this year are expected to be less than half of what they were in 2024 amid an uncertain macroeconomic outlook.