Trans-Pacific

How the new vessel carbon intensity rating measure will be applied from January continues to rile the global shipping community, with BIMCO facing the latest maritime industry broadside.

Danish power company Ørsted says policymakers must provide a regulatory environment that allows companies to commit to the huge investment required in developing shipping’s fuel of the future.

Carriers, forwarders, and shippers say there will be no pre-Lunar Year bump in rates because they expect US demand to remain weak while exports from China decline further.

China’s exports fell almost 9 percent in November, while carriers continue to pull significant levels of capacity on trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services.

The decline in US imports from Asia is expected to accelerate in the coming months as earlier-than-usual Lunar New Year factory shutdowns in China cause production to plummet.

Shipping’s transition to zero-carbon energy sources will be costly, but shippers are showing a growing willingness to pay to decarbonize their ocean transport supply chains.

The expanding platform provided by shippers seeking green transport has allowed Maersk to ramp up its ocean sustainability efforts, with greening landside logistics the next target.

Sources with knowledge of the Port of Oakland’s operations called Monday’s action by the ILWU an obvious attempt to exert pressure on stalled contract negotiations with the Pacific Maritime Association.

Hapag-Lloyd’s CEO says the slide in ocean rates coupled with weakening demand would likely cause pop-up carriers — mainly intra-Asia lines that entered the trans-Pacific trade when rates hit historic highs — to pull out.

The carrier said it aims to tackle the challenging outlook by securing high-yield cargo to maximize profitability and improve operational efficiency to cut costs.

US containerized imports are expected to decline through the first quarter of 2023 at a faster clip than retailers forecasted just months ago, with consumers concerned over rising prices and interest rates.

The accelerated blankings in the eastbound trans-Pacific come after US imports in September and October “can at best be described as a complete collapse in demand growth,” according to Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis.

Matson’s CEO expects to see even more capacity reductions and schedule changes in the next two quarters to meet lower consumer demand in the expedited market, especially as air cargo and conventional ocean market rates continue to fall.

A work stoppage in Oakland only served to further stoke the fears of US cargo interests who have been routing discretionary cargo away from West Coast ports to avoid disruptions linked to ongoing longshore labor talks.

Maersk reported a record Q3 result as shippers locked into long-term contracts continued to drive profitability for the carrier despite sharply declining volumes.

Singapore-based carrier ONE expects to end its fiscal year with profits below the record earnings generated in FY2021 with no short-term improvement likely in container shipping markets.

Carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific continue to improve their on-time vessel arrivals at US ports as softer import volumes contributed to reductions in vessel backlogs and marine terminal congestion.

US ports saw a jump in shipments from Bangladesh this year through August, mostly from apparel and clothing accessories, as importers support a “China-plus-one” sourcing strategy.

Reduced backlogs in Southern California due primarily to the diversion of cargo to the East and Gulf coasts have shifted the congestion problems to ports in those regions.

While retailers normally divert some discretionary cargo to ports on the East and Gulf coasts in years when the ILWU and PMA negotiate a new contract, the shift away from the West Coast has been particularly dramatic this year.

Although trans-Pacific carriers are now rushing to blank sailings, the capacity overhang in the trade lane is so great that industry analysts say excess space will continue to plague the trade lane.

The effects of an earlier-than-normal peak season and canceled retail orders have begun to show in US import data, with volumes from Asia in September falling to their lowest level of the year.

As carriers get even more aggressive in pulling trans-Pacific capacity, they are setting up the market for a spot rate rebound at the first sign of a pick-up in volumes.

Highlighting the buoyant market conditions for the first nine months of 2022, Cosco Shipping said export freight rates on the main trade routes “were maintained at a high level.”

US retailers are forecasting declining imports through the end of the year even though holiday merchandise sales are expected to be strong.

Rates and volume on the major trade lanes out of Asia fell during the third quarter, but not enough to slow OOCL’s revenue growth.

A vigorous blank sailings program on the Asia-North Europe trade lane has yet to stem the rapid decline in spot rates that have fallen more than 50 percent since Jan. 1.