Container lines

Shanghai Containerized Freight Index spot rates from Asia to Europe continued a downward spiral this week, sinking below the $700 per 20-foot container mark to $697 per TEU.

Port congestion in Southern California is driving cargo to third-party logistics providers that have access to capacity from ocean and overland carriers, and the information technology systems to link these services together in an end-to-end supply chain solution, according to a 3PL executive.

The massive congestion affecting the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is creating a fresh wave of diversions to other ports as shippers flee the worst congestion that the largest port complex in the Americas has seen in at least a decade.

Chiquita International and Irish banana seller Fyffes are busy wooing shareholders, saying the synergies of a combined company would result in $60 million in annual savings, much of it from lower transportation and fuel bills.

Antwerp’s container traffic grew 5 percent year-over-year in the first three quarters of 2014, putting the Belgian port on track for a record total throughput in 2014.

Aided by a Pennsylvania incentive program, Mediterranean Shipping Co. will continue to operate a direct service between North Europe and Boston and Philadelphia alongside its forthcoming 2M Alliance with Maersk Line.

Japan’s trade surplus with the United States expanded for the first time in eight months in September on a year-over-year basis, as exports posted relatively strong growth despite a decline in auto shipments, according to preliminary trade figures released by the Japanese Finance Ministry today.

Construction on Crowley’s two vessels powered by liquefied natural gas began today, with the first of the pair slated for delivery in second-quarter 2017 and the second expected later that year.

General rate increases in the trans-Pacific count on participation from all carriers to be successful, and are hurt when one carrier or several discount prices on the eve of a hike, Transpacific Stabilization Agreement executive administrator Brian Conrad says.

Hamburg Süd said it has taken steps to combat significant delays in vessel arrivals and departures at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as severe congestion at the largest port complex in the Americas has reached a new level of intensity.

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka assured footwear importers meeting in Long Beach Tuesday that the Southern California ports have proposals that could provide some immediate relief to the worsening congestion problem in the harbor.

The Ocean Three Alliance of CMA CGM, China Shipping and United Arab Shipping Co. has received U.S. regulatory clearance without the standard 45-day review by the Federal Maritime Commission, but Commissioner Richard Lidinsky isn’t happy about it.

With reefer volumes surging, the world's third-largest carrier says it bought new refrigerated containers as part of a larger effort to handle 1 million reefer TEUs annually by 2015

The CKYHE Alliance said today it would expand its coverage once again — this time opening up the scope of the alliance's trade loops to the United States.

The largest group of carriers in the trans-Pacific trade lane today unveiled a revised low-sulfur surcharge meant to tackle the costs associated with switching to the fuel in emissions control areas in North America on Jan. 1.

A sharp drop in spot rates from Asia to the Mediterranean was facilitated by slowing cargo volumes and overcapacity, Drewry Maritime Research says.

Members of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement have filed for their 11th general rate increase this year in a continuing effort by carriers to shore up spot rates from Asia to North America.

The HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. estimates it can complete a Nicaragua canal in five years at a cost of $40 billion, but more realistically, it will cost at least twice that amount and take 10 or more years to build the 173-mile-long waterway.

The slump in crude oil prices over the past three months has sharply reduced ocean carriers’ unit costs as they face declining cargo volumes in the seasonally slack fourth quarter.

Growing U.S.-Mexico trade has attracted a new player into the sparse short-sea market connecting the two countries, with a service aimed at the U.S. Southeast market for northbound cargo.

U.S. imports of ocean containers reached a record high in September, as retailers expect a robust holiday season, but exports continued to decline from soft global demand, making 2014 so far the worst year for container exports in the past four years.

An environmental accident was averted Friday after a Canadian tugboat rescued a stranded Russian container vessel hauling hundreds of tons of fuel, according to the Canadian Press.

Trans-Pacific carriers received a small boost from a planned Oct. 15 rate increase this week, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index shows.

Spot freight rates on the Far East-North Europe route have sunk to $705 per 20-foot container, down $33 on the previous week to a new low for the year.

The Far East-U.S. East Coast container trade is shaping up as the potential “battlefield” of the future as an enlarged Panama Canal allows carriers to cascade larger ships from the Far East-Europe trade, according to Bimco.

The shift of freight from air to ocean is just a blip for container lines but has hit the air cargo industry hard, with few signs of relenting, a maritime consultant said Thursday.

Cross-border trade between Southeast Asia neighbors Thailand and Myanmar in 2014 is expected to grow 10 percent year-over-year to more than $6 billion.

Drewry’s benchmark spot rate from Hong Kong to Los Angeles rose as a result of a mid-October trans-Pacific general rate increase this week, though analysts with Drewry Maritime Research believe the eastbound spot rate will remain stable in the coming weeks.

The east-west ocean container trades will experience volatile spot freight rates through the end of 2015, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants.

It’s taking longer for containers to move through U.S., European and Asian ports served by ever-larger container ships, according to data from INTTRA, the world’s largest multicarrier e-commerce network.

Some container lines are better than others at dealing with port congestion irrespective of whether they have stakes in marine container terminals, Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said, referring to recent woes at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex.

A record number of ship deliveries will combine with declining scrapping rates and mid-single-digit growth in volume to extend the gap between container ship supply and demand through 2015, according to a leading maritime research consultant.

Even as Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV reach the homestretch in merging, Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of the German carrier, said Wednesday not to expect container line consolidation to speed up in the coming years.

The Panama Canal Pilots Union will not try to renegotiate its contract with the Panama Canal Authority this year as both parties are allowed under the existing contract.

Israel Corp. will shift its stake in Zim Integrated Shipping Services, along with several other companies, to a holdings company that will be listed on stock exchanges in New York and Tel Aviv, the company announced.

The idle container ship fleet has fallen to its lowest level since August 2011 with just 1.1 percent of vessels above 500 20-foot-equivalent units without work, according to Alphaliner.

Although most U.S. companies view China as one of their top-five markets globally, there has been a steady 30 percentage point shift over the past four years regarding how U.S. firms view their prospects in China’s market.

China’s exports and imports in September grew well above expectations on the back of a strong rebound in foreign trade, but not enough to dispel warnings from analysts that hard times lay ahead.

A strategic agreement between China Shipping Group and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China could help the company become more competitive in the container shipping market.

Protesters were unsuccessful in delaying the arrival of the Zim Alabama at the Port of Tampa Bay over the weekend, though demonstrations against the Israeli-owned carrier are beginning to spread to more U.S. ports.