Container Shipping News

Danish power company Ørsted says policymakers must provide a regulatory environment that allows companies to commit to the huge investment required in developing shipping’s fuel of the future.

While congestion at US ports and inland hubs has eased significantly amid declining import volumes, stakeholders need to act now to ready themselves for the next cargo surge, supply chain experts say.

As the US economy slows, logistics managers are searching not just for lower supply chain costs but a normalization of freight flows and networks, a level of stability and predictability that remains elusive.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 requires the US Department of Transportation to make recommendations for how Congress can invest in and increase the resilience of the US marine transportation system.

Carriers, forwarders, and shippers say there will be no pre-Lunar Year bump in rates because they expect US demand to remain weak while exports from China decline further.

China’s exports fell almost 9 percent in November, while carriers continue to pull significant levels of capacity on trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services.

Capacity cuts and service realignments could be looming on trades out of India as carriers face an acceleration of recent rate declines.

The decline in US imports from Asia is expected to accelerate in the coming months as earlier-than-usual Lunar New Year factory shutdowns in China cause production to plummet.

Shipping’s transition to zero-carbon energy sources will be costly, but shippers are showing a growing willingness to pay to decarbonize their ocean transport supply chains.

The anti-retaliation provision was included in US shipping reform because some shippers have been hesitant to lodge complaints against carriers for fear of being blacklisted.

North Carolina is looking to increase cargo flow at the Port of Wilmington, and recent announcements touting new distribution centers suggest others agree that the potential for growth exists.

The test was meant to demonstrate that different electronic bills of lading products can be used by various parties involved in the movement of a container, alleviating a nagging concern in the nascent evolution of eBLs.

The trans-Atlantic is the “last trade standing” with rate levels still elevated, but that may soon change as carriers move ships from the rapidly weakening trades out of Asia to Europe-US routes.

The US Federal Maritime Commission is poring over feedback about detention and demurrage billing practices from more than 100 industry stakeholders as the agency seeks to implement a key provision of OSRA-22.

Dockworkers at Felixstowe have agreed to pay deals covering this year and next, closing the door on a campaign of industrial action at the UK port that began over the summer.

MEPC79 delegates will also be considering a basket of measures that can integrate both technical and carbon pricing elements as the maritime industry transitions to more renewable fuels.

There are fires that will demand the immediate attention of new Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc, including quickly finding a way to meet long-term decarbonization targets.

Peak supply chain congestion prompted major US retailers to charter their own ships, but Costco is now unwinding that bet.

MSC has put a heavier focus on the Indian market lately, which industry observers expect to remain resilient despite the demand challenges posed by ongoing recessionary conditions in Western economies.

CMA CGM said its acquisition of terminal assets in the key New York–New Jersey container gateway was designed around flexibility for shippers, not a bet on permanent shifts in US coastal market share.

US retailers are forecasting a significant decline in import volumes at least through April as much of the holiday and winter merchandise was shipped earlier than usual this year.

New York–New Jersey is CMA CGM’s largest gateway on the US East Coast, and the carrier intends to further develop calls in the New York area for which the newly acquired terminals will provide future capacity.

Sources say all major liners are facing challenges finding enough cargo to fill export space allocations for India and, as such, freight rates are already at near pre-pandemic levels.

Declining freight volumes and spot rates at pre-pandemic levels indicate the trans-Pacific will experience a “hard landing” in the coming months, an industry analyst said.

Ocean Alliance members are shifting post-Panamax ships away from the trans-Pacific and Asia–Europe trades to the trans-Atlantic amid buoyant demand and rates.

An economic partnership agreement signed earlier this year between India and the United Arab Emirates is driving new trade opportunities, prompting ocean carriers to boost service between the two countries.

Freight rates in many eastbound trans-Pacific service contracts have been renegotiated lower as carriers seek to prevent customers from bailing on them to take advantage of plunging spot rates.

Months of negotiations by Europe Union executive bodies over how shipping will be included in the Emissions Trading System have ended in agreement, with member states to have the final say in mid-December.

All supply chains converge at the marine terminal, so facilitating and protecting fluidity through the terminal is the key to unlocking broader supply chain effectiveness, writes JOC’s Peter Tirschwell.

OneRail has channeled the need for shippers to access final-mile capacity and service level consistency into a large venture capital funding round.

Sharply falling rates and demand signal an end to the extreme profitability enjoyed by carriers over the last two years, according to analysts.

Vessel on-time performance to US ports continued to improve in October, although carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific underperformed global schedule reliability.

The ability of ocean carriers to manage their growing supply of excess capacity is becoming weaker by the week as supply chain bottlenecks ease and global economic headwinds strengthen.

CMA CGM continued its run of extreme profitability in the third quarter, strengthening its already solid balance sheet and slashing debt levels, but it warned that economic headwinds are strengthening.

Retailers that have seen final-mile costs more than double during the pandemic are increasingly making investments in their last-leg delivery networks.

If there’s one lesson from the pandemic, it’s that working to ensure efficient container flow through US ports during sustained cargo surges must be the highest priority, whether it’s achievable or not, writes JOC’s Peter Tirschwell.

The expanding platform provided by shippers seeking green transport has allowed Maersk to ramp up its ocean sustainability efforts, with greening landside logistics the next target.

The resumed service at India’s VOC comes as the port has embarked on a raft of new infrastructure projects to position itself as an alternative transshipment hub to Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port.

The highs for the container shipping industry, as measured by profits and pricing power, hit atmospheric levels, raising questions of just how steep a fall is in store.

Europe’s executive bodies head into their final round of negotiations to set the parameters governing shipping’s inclusion in the regional Emissions Trading System with industry stakeholders watching closely.