Container Shipping News

Ocean carriers are pulling a variety of levers, such as cancelled services, new port calls and slow steaming, to keep ships on the water in the face of weak demand.

Ocean Network Express said container operations on three vessels were affected by the disruption, but that loading and unloading had now been completed.

While the International Maritime Organization battles to reach agreement on a global carbon levy, the huge cost of compliance with Europe’s market-based carbon levies is becoming clearer.

The long-anticipated wave of container ship newbuildings will hit the water by the end of August, despite a weak cargo market that threatens to keep the new ships underutilized.

The extent to which the rapidly cooling container shipping market is hurting China’s main carriers is likely to be repeated across the industry as reporting season approaches.

The carrier is attempting to stem the spot rate slide in a weak demand-high-capacity environment that has seen freight prices fall more than 80% from the record highs of early last year.

The carrier accelerated its reach into the direct shipper market during the pandemic when access to vessel space was severely limited, but as demand slows and capacity grows, the company may need to increase its forwarder business.

The pressure is on the Trudeau government to use its political capital to force a deal between employers and longshore workers at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert after the latter began a strike Saturday.

Growing partnerships between software vendors and integrators with expertise in their solutions and their customers systems highlight the importance of the technological plumbing that underpins logistics networks.

Sustained weakness in demand, excess capacity and ongoing economic uncertainty are undermining the container trade in and out of Europe, making a third-quarter rebound increasingly unlikely.

ChatGPT made so-called generative AI more accessible to the general public, including logistics professionals, and some software vendors believe it will change how humans interact with core transportation systems.

Vessel on-time performance in the eastbound trans-Pacific is improving at West Coast ports, but slipping somewhat along the East Coast.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is generally viewed within the Canadian shipping industry as having acted too slowly — and weakly — when containerized supply chains were significantly disrupted over the last three years, notes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The locations were chosen based on their proximity to key rail, airport and port facilities, the partners said.

Despite the subdued market environment, the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges expect rising volumes to place significant demand on capacity and vessel traffic management, prompting investment in both areas.

The union filed a 72-hour strike notice, which includes the Port of Vancouver, claiming maritime employers have refused to negotiate on the main issues of compensation and automation.

The more aggressive approach to managing ship capacity seen in April and May has waned as new ships enter service and imports possibly see a nominal uptick.

Zim said the financial products are particularly needed amid a slowdown in freight demand as small and mid-sized businesses continue to battle significant financial friction.

Nuvocargo will use the new funding to expand its service footprint to all major over-the-road border crossings between the US and Mexico.

Solid demand from both regions has encouraged the carrier to deploy its own vessels on the Asia-Med trade lane.

Chain.io CEO Brian Glick’s initial vision for the company centered around the idea of making logistics system connectivity open to all vendors to allow shippers and logistics companies to better utilize their software.

With most new trans-Pacific service contracts in effect only since late May, container lines are already nudging shippers to meet their minimum quantity commitments instead of taking advantage of spot rates that have been cratering for approximately three weeks, sources say.

Scrutiny of China’s access to US maritime data is rising, with a US congressman targeting China’s state-sponsored shipping platform in a Defense Department budget amendment.

Methanol will play a leading role in enabling the carrier to meet both its interim and long-term emissions reduction goals as it charts a course for decarbonization.

The IMO’s working group on emissions has gathered ahead of MEPC 80 next week to discuss proposals on the level of ambition required to decarbonize shipping and the measures required to get there.

Carrix, the parent company of terminal operator SSA Marine, said it has agreed to buy Ceres Terminals for its exposure to container business going to the US East and Gulf coasts.

After two attempts to push through GRIs largely failed, forwarder sources in India believe it will be difficult for carriers to achieve success under current tight booking conditions, but liners have nonetheless lined up further rate hikes.

While the London meeting of the IMO’s environment committee will revise its 2050 emissions targets, the next critical step is to quickly establish the global regulatory framework to underpin those ambitions.

Lithium-ion batteries are already classified as dangerous goods, but observers say the category needs to be upgraded to reflect rapidly evolving technology that is raising growing safety concerns around their transport.

Non-vessel-operating common carriers handle a growing percentage of US imports from Asia, but that hasn’t stopped traditional asset-owning companies from attempting to leverage core assets in a bid to differentiate themselves, writes Peter Tirschwell.

A combination of softer volumes and increased vessel capacity continues to drag on spot rates between Latin America and the US, but forwarders say they expect demand to begin to recover in September.

There’s growing concern among some US exporters that outbound container spot rates are too low, recalling memories of when unprofitable cargo was left on the docks and service levels fell in parallel with the bottom lines of ocean carriers, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Even though port congestion has cleared and a longshore labor deal has been reached, ag shippers say intractable problems still plague their ability to move goods easily through the West Coast.

William Doyle’s departure after three years, announced to Maryland Port Administration employees Friday according to local news reports, came less than a week after he received three traffic citations.

A report claiming that the lifetime fuel costs of achieving net-zero emissions through LNG will be approximately half those of other fuels does not present the full picture, according to climate campaigners.

Louisiana’s state legislators made a surprise cut to funding the Port of New Orleans planned to use for the design and planning of a new $1.5 billion mega-terminal.

In addition to a 32% increase in dockworker wages over the life of the six-year deal, the tentative US West Coast longshore labor agreement includes a one-time $70 million bonus for staying on the job during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some inland logistics services have resumed, but vessel movements at the ports of Pipavav and Mundra remain suspended due to disruption stemming from Cyclone Biparjoy.

After 13 months of contentious negotiations that spawned numerous job actions by dockworkers, the ILWU and waterfront employers will engage in a ratification process expected to take several months.

Labor woes along the West Coast over the past year highlighted a stark difference: Shippers on the East and Gulf coasts are customers whose business is valued, while West Coast shippers are not customers in the traditional sense, but more like helpless bystanders, writes Peter Tirschwell.