Container Shipping News

An oversupply of vessels, carrier rate wars and bleak consumer sentiment are positioned to oppress the container shipping market in 2025, experts told TPM25.

Should the Trump administration’s proposal be implemented, capacity will have to be withdrawn from the US and redeployed to where it makes more economical sense, the CEO of the world’s largest ocean carrier said.

John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump’s national security advisor from 2018–19, said China is gauging its next global moves through how the US responds to the war in the Ukraine.

The carrier’s new investment push seems to be an attempt to catch up with its peers, particularly MSC, which has dedicated terminals at Mundra and Ennore/Chennai through joint venture arrangements with Adani.

The French liner joined the ranks of its profitable peers, announcing Friday that its net profit rose 2% to $5.7 billion last year on an 18% rise in revenue to $55.5 billion.

The measures are the latest in a series of support packages announced by South Korean trade organizations and government bodies to help the country’s small and medium-sized exporters weather capacity restrictions and volatile freight rates.

Container lines in the US’ busiest trade lane, determined to avoid a repeat of last year when they believe they significantly underpriced their services, are seeking rate gains of 20% to 30% for the upcoming service year.

Digital forwarders that emerged over the past decade are coming of age in the era of AI, but not all will make it to the other end.

The cost of the US Trade Representative’s proposal for levying fees on Chinese ships and ocean carriers would fall to US shippers, who would also face fewer service options, the analyst says.

While the US-based carrier experienced a strong 2024, growth this year is under threat due to tariffs and the unknowns involving when Red Sea transits will resume.

The carrier has replaced the huge vessels with smaller ships in a move to cut capacity and reduce pressure on rates that have plummeted since the start of the year, according to the analyst.

Newfound pricing power for carriers has halted the steady rate declines seen on the trade since last August.

Labor peace at US East and Gulf coast ports is now ensured through September 2030 after the union’s rank and file approved the new labor agreement.

Shipper, forwarder and customs broker associations want to see the members of the Digital Container Shipping Association accelerate efforts to create interoperable process standards.

The tonnage injection comes amid an uptick in Asian manufacturers expanding business in Latin America, particularly Mexico.

The second tender from the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance calls for a carrier or a consortium of liners to move the equivalent of 1.5 million TEUs across the Pacific on ships powered by renewable synthetic fuels.

The FMC’s modified ruling in the TCW-Evergreen complaint allows room for carriers to charge late fees during port closures if the fees are reasonable.

The US Trade Representative said the proposed fees are designed to counter China’s influence over the global shipbuilding and maritime industry.

The poor operating conditions look set to continue this year, likely keeping container handling numbers under pressure at Europe’s third-largest port.

Forwarders say demand expectations for trans-Pacific imports to North America are softening for the second quarter, forcing liners to reduce peak season surcharges that have been in place for almost a year.

Cargo tracking shows no clear advantage for Chinese-based ocean carriers transiting the critical waterway, throwing doubt on the US president’s claims of China’s influence, according to a report from the visibility data provider.

A dispute over severance pay compensation has resulted in a series of walkouts by dockworkers at Rotterdam’s Delta II terminal over the past month, severely disrupting the handling of deep-sea vessels, regional feeder ship calls and inland-bound cargo.

The port’s recently approved five-year strategic plan details infrastructure, transloading and maritime support activities that it hopes will spur cargo growth by making the Northern California gateway more attractive to importers.

As the new US administration looks to strengthen its regional sphere of influence, bipartisan political support is building to boost US shipbuilding, and thus, the country’s ability to project power in the Arctic and reduce dependence on foreign carriers.

The forwarder reported solid results to close 2024 as unknowns linked to US longshore labor, tariff policy and changes to de minimis rules fueled trans-Pacific freight demand.

The threat dynamic in the Houthi-controlled area remains too high for ocean carriers to consider ending diversions around southern Africa, and higher insurance costs likely await when they do.

Automation of the customs entry process, which software provider Magaya announced this week, is being enabled by advances in data extraction from emails and offline files.

The carrier has inked an MOU with Cochin Shipyard Ltd., India’s largest facility, pledging to work together on shipbuilding and ship repair services.

Vessel capacity for shippers was a given in the early days of TPM, but since then, carrier customers have faced an accelerating assault on capacity coming from both outside the industry and within, writes Peter Tirschwell.

SeaLead is offering a new service from Turkey after Hapag-Lloyd ended one of its standalone loops following the launch of the Gemini alliance with Maersk.

Spot rates on the eastbound corridor are fast converging on long-term prices, and carriers want to lock in cargo owners ahead of a return to Red Sea transits and the resulting capacity overhang.

Unless legally binding safeguards are introduced, there is a risk that fossil fuels will be replaced with unsustainable biofuels that provide “a cure worse than the disease,” shipping groups said in an open letter to the IMO.

While carriers are progressively mastering the dark arts of blank sailings, inexplicable and/or unexplainable surcharges and other supply restraints and revenue enhancements, no amount of those tactics will be sufficient to deal with the oversupply of capacity once the Red Sea reopens, writes John McCauley.

Shipowners are having to make huge investments in vessels with a lifespan of over 20 years without a clear view of evolving regulations and technology that could render certain fuels unviable.

Smaller forwarders on the trade lane are pooling their cargo volumes in formal and informal arrangements to get vessel space at favorable fixed rates as some carriers focus primarily on larger customers.

The Taiwanese carrier is joining an industrywide shift away from methanol that accelerated last year amid growing supply concerns.

Adding to the space pressure, forwarders reported three West India-USEC vessel blankings for February, including one on CMA CGM’s Indamex service and two on Ocean Network Express’ WIN loop.

The top 15 liners in the Journal of Commerce rankings collectively carried 18.8 million TEUs to the US from Asia last year, up 17.3% from 2023.

project44 is the latest established software provider to release a suite of artificial intelligence agents amid a torrent of startups building tools for logistics providers and shippers.

The congestion is making it difficult for truckers to return empty containers and puts shippers at risk for late fees on empty returns and import retrievals.