Container lines

Conrad H.C. Everhard, who spent decades leading shipping lines serving the United States, has died.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — No, container lines won’t be able to get freight rates to sustainable levels for some years to come.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — INTTRA is launching a new program that will enable small shippers to get better visibility into their supply chains and also help carriers clean up errors and gaps in the data they collect on container movements. The result, INTTRA says, will provide substantial time and cost savings for both.

It is possible to think up all kinds of scary scenarios that could play out as container lines form new vessel-sharing alliances or expand existing alliances, but the primary goal of carriers is to deploy the largest ships at their disposal in order to reduce their per-unit costs.

Container lines will continue to face challenging times in 2014 and 2015, but if they do not order a slew of new container ships over the next two years, the supply-demand economics in the major trade lanes will be brighter by 2016, according to an industry analyst.

Ship Finance International yesterday announced the acquisition of seven Panamax container ships from a German KG fund

Vessel capacity is exaggerated but container ship lines continue to struggle to raise rates to cover costs and meet service demands, carrier executives told the JOC’s 14th annual TPM conference.

2014 is shaping up as a hopeful year for the trans-Pacific trade, at least compared with the recent past. But if you’re looking for things to worry about, you don’t need to look far.

DFDS is eyeing further acquisitions to consolidate its position as northern Europe’s largest short sea shipping and logistics group following strong profit growth in challenging market conditions in 2013.

CSAV has agreed to plead guilty and pay a criminal fine of $8.9 million for its involvement in a conspiracy to fix prices, allocate customers and rig bids of international shipping services...

Maersk Line today posted a lower profit for the fourth quarter of 2013, but its full-year profit tripled, thanks to higher volumes and steep cost cuts, which offset lower freight rates.

Rickmers Maritime Trust posted a fourth quarter loss of $8.0 million, a swing of $10.2 million from the $2.2 million profit it made in the same quarter of 2012.

CMA CGM has launched the Equatorial Guinea Express, a weekly, direct service from Tanger-Med to the ports of Bata and Malabo in Equatorial Guinea.

Japan’s exports to the United States rose for the 13th straight month in January on a year-on-year basis, soaring 21.9 percent to ¥1.0 trillion (US$9.9 billion), according to preliminary figures released by the Finance Ministry on Feb. 20.

Mega-ships and carrier alliances could prove to be the financial savior of the container shipping industry, but they are also straining the operations of marine terminals and motor carriers.

The six members of the G6 – Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line, OOCL, Hyundai Merchant Marine, APL and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines – today released details on the port rotations...

Evergreen Line and the four members of the CKYH Alliance have agreed in principle to form a new alliance that will share ships on trades between Asia and North Europe and the Mediterranean.

NOL Group posted a fourth quarter loss of $137 million, which was $46 million bigger than the $91 million loss in the same period last year, as revenue from its container shipping business was hit by overcapacity and falling freight rates.

In mid-March, Hapag-Lloyd plans to launch its fixed-day, weekly Sweden Denmark Express service...

Two U.S. security officers have been found dead on the Maersk Alabama, according to a statement by Seychelles police today, CNN reports.

A depressing air of déjà vu enveloped the Hamburg shipping community when Greek container ship owner Danaos announced that it is taking a $19 million hit on the debt restructuring of Zim as it cuts the charter rates of six ships on hire to the Israeli ocean carrier.

The global container ship fleet this year is expected to grow at the slowest rate in a decade, but large and small shipping lines continue to order more new ships than the forecast growth of global container cargo can fill over the next two years, especially on the Asia-Europe trade.

Not a great deal is known yet about the “Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement” signed this week by COSCO and China Shipping. But the very fact an agreement of any kind was publicly unveiled in Beijing (at the COSCO headquarters), shows how times have changed in China and worldwide.

Evergreen Line has confirmed that it is in negotiations with the CKYH Alliance to form a new alliance...

CMA CGM has extended its FEMEX service in the Black Sea with the addition of three new calls in Samsun, Turkey; Novorossiysk, Russia; and Constanta, Romania.

The Maersk Svendborg container ship lost a “significant number” of containers over board during “very rough” weather in the Bay of Biscay on Feb. 14, according to Maersk Line.

Major carriers aim to hike rates in a variety of trade lanes in March, although any increases achieved could be temporary.

China confounded analysts in January as export and import growth accelerated despite the expected negative impact of Chinese New Year and forecasts of slowing economic expansion.

Singapore-based Bengal Tiger Line has introduced a new container feeder service linking Krishnapatnam Port, India, with Colombo, Sri Lanka, effective this month.

Chilean carrier CSAV said it plans to add up to $600 million in capital to complete the financing of ships under construction and to help finance a proposed merger with German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd.

Zim has canceled its remaining orders for four 12,552-TEU ships from Samsung Heavy Industries and four 8,800-TEU ships from Hyundai Samho...

Containerized imports at U.S. ports are projected to drop to their lowest level of the year in February, but should rebound strongly in the ensuing months, according to the Global Port Tracker published by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Danaos, the Greek container ship owner, remained in the red in the fourth quarter of 2013, but swung to a profit for the full year from a loss in 2012.

New estimates on postponement of ship deliveries and scrapping are already tamping down estimates on capacity tonnage growth this year.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has confirmed to the JOC that it has filed a lawsuit in Tokyo against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for damages related to the MOL Comfort incident.

Middle East-based Simatech Shipping has announced the launch of a new container service connecting Vallarpadam Transshipment Terminal, India, with Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates, starting this month.

Goldenport, the Greek shipowner, trimmed its losses in 2013 as a recovering dry bulk market countered the impact of a fifth consecutive year of weak container ship charter rates.

Japanese carriers NYK Line, MOL and “K” Line posted combined losses of more than 14.5 billion Japanese yen (about US$144.4 million) in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2013...

South Korea’s economy is expected for perform better this year as export demand picks up.