Container Shipping News

UPS is expanding its Preferred LCL Ocean Freight Service to 10 additional Asian ports, thus taking on a bigger role as NVO.

All Libyan ports and terminals have been temporarily closed amid violence in the North African country, CMA CGM said on Wednesday.

OOCL is joining CMA CGM’s India-Pakistan-Europe service as of April 1.

Japan and Mexico reached terms on which to revise their free trade agreement to further liberalize bilateral trade.

Japan posted its first trade deficit in 22 months in January as the cost of oil drove up imports.

French carrier CMA CGM will seek a general rate increase on the westbound trades from India to Europe, as part of what it calls a new rate restoration program.

APM Terminals boosted earnings 60 percent in 2010 from the previous year as profit from the disposal of a stake in China's Yantian terminal outweighed the loss of global market share.

Spot rates on a key trans-Pacific container route dipped 6 percent this week, their second consecutive weekly decline since the Lunar New Year, amid signs of market instability, Drewry Shipping Consul

Four Asian carriers plan to launch all-water bi-weekly service from Asia to the East Coast of South America, adding capacity on the trade route they already serve with a weekly service.

A.P.

German ocean carrier Hamburg Sud on Monday christened the Santa Isabel, the second of 10 sister ships, each with a capacity of 7,100 20-foot containers.

New Zealand's Lyttelton port closed after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, the nation's second largest city.

Port Metro Vancouver and Canadian Pacific Railway unveiled a "collaboration agreement" they say should improve productivity and reliability in moving goods through that major Canadian trade flow gatew

Hapag-Lloyd is aiming for an initial public offering in Frankfurt in mid-April with a target valuation of the company close to $5 billion, according to German press reports.

CMA CGM is handling a new cargo on its giant container ships—people.

Hamburg Sud and Chilean ocean carrier CCNI started direct service between the West Coast of North America and Le Havre on Feb.

CSAV and China Shipping plan to add a shared all-water service linking Asia and the U.S. East Coast via the Panama Canal.

Container shipping lines remain threatened by overcapacity that will peak soon before diminishing later this year as trade volume rises, Paris-based SeaAxis said in its quarterly report on container s

Container volume at all European ports will grow at moderate rates this year, though slower than in 2010, according to the latest forecast by Global Port Tracker: North Europe Trade Outlook.

London – Maersk Line formally announced a $1.9 billion order for 10 container ships with 18,000 TEUs on Monday, setting a new standard for scale in the shipping industry, and said it’s lik

It’s been a tough start to the year for global supply chain interests. Major winter storms throughout the U.S. have disrupted transportation.

Norway's GTB Invest purchased for $310 million two 13,100 20-foot equivalent unit vessels on order from Hyundai Heavy Industries, less than three months after taking delivery of its first box ship.

The Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal in India’s Port of Cochin began commercial operations Friday, a week after it was officially inaugurated by terminal operator DP World.

When CSAV announced a new service to the U.S. East Coast through the Panama Canal last month, the Chilean carrier was promising more than containerized cargo.

The 11 percent year-over-year growth East Coast ports recorded in container trade in the first 11 months of 2010, the latest period for which full numbers are available, appears strong on the surface

Talks between dockworkers and port employers to resolve a dispute over early retirement entered a fourth day Feb. 18 as both sides seek to avert fresh nationwide strikes.

A.P.

Dredging of U.S.

U.S. manufacturing exports rose 20 percent last year, with the top 10 markets accounting for more than two-thirds of the increase, the Commerce Department reported.

Combined containerized imports through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach grew 13 percent in January over the same month a year ago, extending the strong recovery pace at the nation’s large

Costamare boosted fourth quarter 2010 earnings 56.5 percent from a year ago and said it is eyeing further ship acquisitions following a spate of deals worth nearly $600 million in recent months.

Maersk Line will launch service between southeast India and Sri Lanka and northern Europe in early March to tap into "one of the world's fastest growing sourcing areas for our customers."

Japanese investor Mitsui divested its entire stake in two container terminal operators in China.

The Cleveland-Cuyahoga Port Authority is shifting its plans from a freight-focused ferry service across Lake Erie to Canada to focus on passenger operations.

The sole surviving member of the Somali pirate crew who hijacked the U.S.-flag Maersk Alabama in 2009 was sentenced Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan to 33 years and 9 months in prison.

The Federal Maritime approved rules Wednesday that would exempt non-vessel-operating common carriers from the legal requirement to use published tariffs as the basis for rate-making.

U.S. poultry exports declined 4.4 percent in volume but increased 0.2 percent in value last year despite trade frictions with Russia and China, the two largest markets for U.S.

Spot rates on a key trans-Pacific container route fell 2.4 percent last week from a year earlier - the first year-to-year drop since January 2010, Drewry Shipping Consultants reported.

U.S. steel exports jumped 29.3 percent to 12 million tons last year despite a 0.1 percent dip in December volume, government data show.

Trade moving through India’s Port of Cochin is at a complete standstill as the planned transfer of container activity from the port terminal to the new DP World facility hit a roadblock following labo