Container Shipping News

The certification that Houston can handle cargoes treated for pests while in transit means more fresh produce such as grapes and berries can move quickly through the port.

The collaboration comes barely a month after Google researchers said they could help shipping lines improve their network designs and profitability.

Maersk seems to be leading the race to scale the supply chain for Bangladesh’s booming ready-made garment verticals, with the carrier opening a third weekly Bangladesh-China loop.

Shippers advancing orders for Asian imports to avoid supply chain disruption and mitigate longer voyages around southern Africa lifted container throughput at Europe’s two largest ports.

There is growing pushback against the pending regulation that some sectors believe poses an impossible challenge in tracing and verifying the origins of certain products that could lead to their exclusion from the EU market.

A landmark ruling from the nation’s high court weakens the powers of federal maritime regulators ahead of imminent rulemaking that ocean carriers may challenge in the courts, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Key to those questions is whether the first-half volume growth was primarily a result of robust underlying demand or rather logistics decisions by skittish shippers to advance the peak season in the face of second-half risk.

The overall market share of the top 25 non-vessel-operating common carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific rose 0.8% year over year from January through May, signaling that the largest NVOs weren’t able to take much volume from mid-market peers.

Carriers over the past two months have launched or reinstated seven services from Asia to Los Angeles-Long Beach, and three to Vancouver and the Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma.

Spot booking prices from West India to the US East and West coasts have seen four- to five-fold gains in the last week or so, according to local freight forwarders.

Spot booking prices from West India to the US East and West coasts have seen four- to five-fold gains in the last week or so, according to local freight forwarders.

The capacity deployments during the first half of 2024 show that smaller carriers have been deploying many of the new large ships serving the North America trade, while major alliance carriers have deployed most of their big vessels on Asia-Europe.

Midsize NVOs are always under pressure from an M&A perspective, say market observers, and the current freight rate environment is making it hard to value them accurately.

The Cosco subsidiary benefited from a sharp increase in rates as early peak season demand on the main trades out of Asia filled all available vessel capacity.

Colombo in recent months has found itself suffering serious capacity issues — an opportunity the Indian government and the country’s port stakeholders are looking to take advantage of.

The president of the International Longshoremen’s Association said maritime employers “are running out of time” to sign a new contract before the current deal’s expiration on Sept. 30.

The US maritime regulator said the initial information the two carriers filed with the agency about the operational partnership “lacks sufficient detail to allow for a complete analysis of its potential competitive impacts.”

The deal marks MSC’s return to the booming car carrier market that it exited in March 2023 when it sold its two vehicle carriers to focus on transporting vehicles in containers.

The liner follows MSC, Cosco and CMA CGM in rolling out new services that cater to the growing container trade between China and Mexico.

The carrier wants a third of its air cargo volume to be handled within an owned and controlled network as part of its integrated logistics strategy.

The former CEO of the now bankrupt logistics software vendor has landed in federal prison after a high-profile saga that began with Slync employees not getting paid for weeks in 2022.

Forwarders expect the rate decline to accelerate in the coming weeks after carriers launched or reinstated 10 services into the eastbound trans-Pacific.

Ocean carriers have seen freight rates on key trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades double and triple since the start of the year amid a capacity crunch and supply chain disruptions.

Some imports from Asia are being priced out of the market with container shipping costs on the westbound trade almost seven times higher than this time last year.

While the industry has focused on areas such as tracking and quoting, advancements in booking technology portend new potential for digitizing containerized supply chains.

Electronic booking standards across ocean carriers would make it easier for shippers and forwarders to do business with a range of capacity providers, says the Digital Container Shipping Association.

Forwarders cited two plausible factors for the price move — excess capacity pumped into the market and a moderation in cargo booking demand due to improved shipper inventory levels.

An ongoing wage dispute between the ver.di union and port employers is continuing to disrupt operations at some of the busiest container shipping hubs in North Europe.

The port was able to clear all the recently anchored vessels, helped by a temporary reopening of all Wando Welch’s berths last week amid a 10-day pause in project work.

The revised forecast from the National Retail Federation comes as US consumer spending remains strong despite higher prices for merchandise and various supply chain challenges that have increased shipping costs.

Shippers and forwarders now have a range of options to book with ocean carriers, who themselves have developed direct online portals to lure smaller ocean freight buyers.

Ocean carriers calling at European ports are having to navigate an increasingly complex and costly decarbonization landscape.

An appellate court ruled the US Federal Maritime Commission erred when it solely applied its “incentive principle” to a detention case involving container carrier Evergreen Line.

The opening of the first of three new container berths last week at the Tuas mega container terminal is part of a larger effort to shift operations away from the city center.

Shippers and carriers are better prepared to deal with large-scale disruptions following the supply chain chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CEVA Logistics CEO Mathieu Friedberg.

NVO sources who spoke with the Journal of Commerce noted that carriers active on the regional trade lane have pulled tonnage out of the short-haul market for redeployment to China-centric longer-distance services.

Some shippers still raw from two years of pandemic disruptions are willing to pay thousands of dollars more to ensure they secure slots and equipment on container ships, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The CMA CGM subsidiary is centralizing its organizational structure following a string of high-profile and expensive acquisitions, making use of its critical size in key product sectors.

It was only when assets stopped circulating that ocean carrier profits took off, thanks to containers stranded on idle ships that lined up outside of congested ports during the worst of the pandemic disruption.

The Biden administration’s attempts to build a homegrown crane industry due to cybersecurity concerns drew little interest from the National Association of Waterfront Employers, which doesn’t see a threat from Chinese-made cranes.