Container Shipping News

Panalpina and CEVA Logistics have launched new less-than-containerload services, tapping into strong customer demand in fast growing trade lanes in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.

Saudia Cargo has signed an exclusive deal to provide express freight services to the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia for three years.

Average trans-Pacific spot rates jumped this week as the 15 carrier members of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement

Chilean carrier CSAV lost $1.24 billion last year, including $959 million on continuing operations, but said its deficit narrowed during the fourth quarter and that a restructuring is starting to yiel

OOCL has extended its round of global freight rate increases to include southbound services on the North and East Asia to Australia trade.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services will raise its rates on services between the Indian subcontinent and North Europe, starting April 1.

Hapag-Lloyd will launch a container service connecting Far East Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East, starting in early May.

The Port of Mobile this week handled its largest import shipment of steel, as ThyssenKrupp’s four nearby mills drive cargo through the Alabama port and offset a coal traffic slump.

Columbia Coastal has added a weekly container-on-barge service linking Philadelphia with Norfolk and Baltimore and increased the frequency of its Norfolk-Baltimore barge service to twice a week.

Recent sharp increases in spot freight rates have done little to alleviate pressure on ocean carrier margins in the Asia-Europe trade, according to container shipping analyst Alphaliner.

Rickmers Trust said Tuesday it chartered the Kaethe C. Rickmers to Mediterranean Shipping Co. for an initial period of 12 months starting March 25.

MOL will offer a twice-weekly container service with RCL between the Port of Yangon (formerly Rangoon) and Singapore using three vessels, starting March 17.

India’s exports in February grew 4.3 percent to $24.6 billion year-over-year, the lowest growth rate in three months.

Retailers are “carefully stocking up,” which indicates that containerized imports should continue to increase into mid-year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released on

U.S. containerized imports rose 4.1 percent in January year-over-year, to 1,475,608 million 20-foot equivalent units, driven by growth in furniture and auto parts shipments.

U.S. steel exports rose 19.1 percent year-over-year to 1.262 million tons in January, as shipments to Canada and Mexico offset declines to other regions.

A U.K.

OOCL will launch two new services from Asia to the U.S. West Coast this spring that it says will enhance the Grand Alliance service and replace one existing loop.

APL joins other major ocean carriers in implementing a second general rate increase this year on the depressed Asia-Europe trade lane.

The four ocean carriers that belong to the CKYH alliance and Evergreen Line are entering int

Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. and its subsidiaries reported a profit of US$181.6 million for 2011, but the company warned the outlook for its container line business remains bleak.

Container volume at major ports in India grew 3.3 percent year-over-year in the first 11 months of fiscal 2011-12, according to preliminary traffic figures released by the Indian Ports Association.

Intra-Asia container line MCC Transport has introduced a new mobile Web site and a smart phone application to enable customers to better track shipments and sailing schedules.

A dozen years after Congress first allocated funding, Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial Environment isn’t fully delivering on the promises made to importers and brokers.

Kim Fejfer is waging a war on waste at his company’s container terminals.

Trailer Bridge is on track to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 16, four months after the U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico carrier filed for protection from creditors.

The U.S. trade deficit rose to a three-year high of $52.6 billion in January as a 2.1 percent jump in imports outpaced a 1.4 percent rise in exports.

Maersk Line will launch MISA, a liner service linking key ports in the Middle East and South Africa.

Owner-charterer Seaspan Corp. has taken delivery of the fifth in a series of container ships with capacities of 13,100 20-foot equivalent units.

The first roll-on, roll-off service between Taiwan and mainland China is now operating, signalling further liberalization of transport across the Taiwan Straits.

Standard & Poor’s downgraded CMA CGM’s debt to B- from B+, citing concerns over the French ocean carrier’s liquidity position in the coming months.

The mood among maritime industry executives gathered in Long Beach last week for the 12th annual Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference was unusually positive given last year’s lackluster performance

CMA CGM imposed a general rate increase on westbound cargo moving on its Epic service from India to North Europe and the Mediterranean, the French carrier’s second GRI in a month and the third t

The game of musical chairs in the Pacific Northwest will continue this summer when Grand Alliance carriers NYK Line, Hapag-Lloyd and Orient Overseas Container Line leave the Port of Seattle and move t

The recent arrest and jailing of two Italian armed ship guards by Indian authorities drew a sharp protest from the Italian foreign ministry.

Federal officials on Wednesday announced the opening of two offices to expedite the investigation into shippers believed to be illegally exporting high-technology goods or military hardware that requi

Maersk Line will launch a container service connecting the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and East Africa, starting in early April.

Industrial law firm Wilcox Savage is expanding its maritime practice in the port city of Norfolk, Va., adding attorneys Christopher A. Abel and Leonard L.

CMA CGM swung to a net loss of $30 million in 2011 from a $1.6 billion profit in 2010 but the French ocean carrier said cost savings and lower ship charter rates will return it to the black this year.

Panalpina swung to a profit of $139.7 million in 2011 from a 2010 loss of $28.6 million as the Swiss logistics and forwarding giant enjoyed organic growth across all regions and product divisions.