Container Shipping News

The latest Global Port Tracker demonstrates the uncertainty that has overtaken global supply chains since the White House’s announcement on tariffs a week ago.

Member states voiced determination to continue work this week on essential decarbonization measures despite a strongly worded missive from Washington urging governments to reconsider their support for emissions-cutting regulations.

The ad hoc call was a precursor to the Gemini Cooperation carriers preparing to position two regular services out of the Colombo West International Terminal beginning next month, sources in Colombo told the Journal of Commerce.

Inclement weather, the lingering effects of labor disruptions and a January surge in imports contributed to the fifth consecutive month of excessive rail dwells at Canada’s largest port.

Risks in the containerized supply chain are only growing, and futures provide a potentially viable risk mitigation tool, writes Peter Tirschwell.

The parent company of Cosco Shipping and OOCL expects a 72% increase in first-quarter net profits, but the rapidly escalating trade war between the US and China is clouding its outlook for the rest of the year.

The rush appears to be linked to shippers scrambling to sidestep a new 26% US import tariff on Indian goods due to kick in April 9, industry sources say.

The carrier will enter long-term charters for 10 ships of 11,500-TEU capacity that will be deployed across various global trades and be capable of running on both regular bunkers and LNG.

The group’s secretary-general said there was “no Plan B” to fall back on, but is confident any disagreements between member states over the proposed midterm measures to reduce carbon emissions from shipping will be resolved during this week’s meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee.

While strong volume and congestion at both ends of the trade lane are filling the available capacity, the canceled sailings suggest carriers expect demand to falter.

Eighteen Republican members of Congress said the remedies laid out as part of the US’ investigation into China’s maritime dominance are unworkable for farmers, notably a port tax on Chinese vessels and the requirement that an increasing volume of US exports be shipped on US-flagged vessels.

A general rate increase implemented by carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific on April 1 has largely stuck, giving shippers less leverage in attempting to lower contract rates for 2025–26 service year.

The deal will merge “K” Lines’ traditional logistics activities in ocean and air freight with Kamigumi’s niche business in project cargo logistics.

For Singapore-based PSA, the investment cements a beachhead in a West India market primed to benefit from Asian trade diversification and burgeoning consumer demand.

While the Gemini Cooperation is hitting its schedule reliability goals, Hapag-Lloyd’s chief executive said fully unwinding its former carrier alliance and dealing with terminal congestion in some locations are providing challenges.

Some US-based shippers are racing to beat the April 9 imposition of new tariffs on most goods, while others are holding back product in Asia on the chance the levies will be reduced by President Donald Trump, whose tariff implementation strategy in recent weeks has been marked by a large dose of impulsiveness.

There is a seasonal element to the second quarter increase in capacity deployed on the trade, but the reluctance by ocean carriers to withdraw capacity comes amid increasing signs of a price war.

The change to a more freight-all-kinds strategy comes as ongoing contracts for the 2024–25 service year bundled with penalty clauses have proved to be problematic for keeping customer relationships intact.

Firms sourcing from Vietnam, India or Mexico rely heavily on components, raw materials and equipment from China, which will remain an essential link in the production supply chain even if it’s no longer the only one.

A total of 68 sailings globally are expected to be canceled during April, according to maritime consultancy Drewry, with about half of the cancellations in trans-Pacific services.

Forwarders say they are seeing utilization only near 50% on the Asia-Mexico lane amid seasonally low demand and tariff uncertainties.

The carrier is deriving an increasing share of its revenue from long-haul trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services while the contribution from the intra-Asia trade declined last year.

In creating the threat of a clearly significant penalty, the US Trade Representative essentially forced observers to not merely give a thumbs up or down to the proposal, but to offer alternative solutions.

The move comes as Hutchison is facing increasing pressure from the Chinese government over the $22.8 billion sale of its ports business outside of China to BlackRock and TiL, especially the Panama ports.

The carrier wants the tax imposed on CO2 emissions to raise the price of conventional bunkers high enough to force increased demand for low- and zero-emission fuels and narrow the yawning price gap between green and fossil energy.

Shippers, carriers and forwarders say uncertainty around consumer demand, tariffs and geopolitical disruptions has produced a wider range of service contract rates this year.

The port authority on Wednesday completed an expansion of Inland Port Greer ahead of the opening of the near-dock Navy Base Intermodal Facility (NBIF) at the Port of Charleston later this year.

Ongoing supply chain disruption and a significant increase in trading of container freight futures among speculative investors could accelerate the adoption of financial hedging tools among shippers and other physical industry players.

Brent Sadler served in the US Navy for 26 years and now works as a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Consolidation in container shipping over the last two decades and better capacity management in recent years show that the old ways of looking at vessel capacity are outdated, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Major carriers had lined up rate increases with the intention of strengthening their bargaining power during service contract negotiations, but overcapacity seems to have kept that tactic in check.

CEO Stefan Paul told the company’s annual capital markets event in London that while K+N will focus on organic growth, it will also make bolt-on acquisitions “if they make sense.”

An alliance of global shippers is calling on the IMO to use the April gathering of its Marine Environment Protection Committee to meet the “urgency of the moment” when it comes to lowering emissions from shipping.

Capacity improvements at the New Jersey facility will include optimization of the terminal layout, rebuilding berths at a higher level to allow for anticipated increases in the sea level and replacing existing cargo-handling equipment with zero-emission, electric machines.

The top 10 carriers for imports collectively hauled 2.43 million TEUs into the Gulf Coast last year and had a market share of almost 94%, according to the latest Journal of Commerce rankings.

Why the impact is so potentially profound is the way carriers would likely respond to a scenario in which a fuel standard is imposed on them, but no automatically higher cost is imposed on shippers to pay, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Cosco said changes in the shipping alliances this year will trigger competition in digitization and decarbonization.

US maritime interests said the proposed fees on Chinese ships would hit a variety of low-value, niche trades that can’t absorb the costs.

Container lines serving the India-US trade appear to be taking a hard line in the first round of annual contract negotiations amid overcapacity putting downward pressure on spot rates.

The IMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, which potentially puts the organization in the crosshairs of the new administration that is reassessing all its UN positions and policies.