Container Shipping News

Full ships from China are arriving as labor action roils container handling at major hubs in Rotterdam and throughout France, with the disruption exacerbated by bad weather.

Despite its strong performance, the South Korean carrier said uncertainty over the timing of a return to Suez Canal transits and the impact of US tariffs on trans-Pacific trade flows was clouding its 2025 outlook.

But with a large drop in imports forecast for the second half of February, terminal operators say they will get dwell times and cargo fluidity back to normal by the end of the month.

But Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said US port cargo “could be badly hit” if tariffs on Asian and European countries increase prices and prompt US consumers to buy less.

Three carriers who were part of the now-disbanded THE Alliance can start offering service to and from the US by Sunday after the Federal Maritime Commission studied the new partnership’s market impact.

Vincent Clerc says one reason for the delay is the liner’s extreme profitability since the pandemic, a reality he said was “taking a lot of the light” from its integrated logistics plans.

The third-most-profitable year in the carrier’s history could be followed by a breakeven result if voyages through the Red Sea resume before the end of the year, the CEO told analysts Thursday.

Forwarders say shippers are booking space to the US for low-value commodities such as plywood, tile and paper, which prior to the rate drop had been limited to less-expensive routes.

Sources at Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd in India have confirmed that feeder services for the Bangladesh trade have not been included in the new network structure.

The disruption to the Asia-Europe trade lane is expected to be limited as the transition from old services to the new alliances is being made during the traditionally slow post-Lunar New Year period.

Regulatory uncertainty around the allowance of digital trade documents is one factor that has slowed the adoption of electronic bills of lading in the shipping industry.

The most significant drop will take place in the second half of the month after Lunar New Year, with about 7% of the lost capacity attributed to a short month and “gaps in service handoffs,” according to maritime intelligence firm eeSea.

The latest move by the port involves a proposal by intermodal logistics provider IntermodeX to develop a transload facility near Prince Rupert’s Fairview Container Terminal that is designed to primarily attract import containers.

DSV CEO Jens Lund said the size of the Schenker acquisition meant it could take up to two years before the companies were fully integrated into the world’s largest forwarder.

The Geneva-based carrier said a network of 210,000 reefer containers and more than 500 vessels are already equipped with its new iReefer monitoring system.

There has been a steady decline in average rate levels on the major trade lanes since December, and as the new alliances and MSC’s standalone network launch, there is no sign of an end to the slide.

Sources tell the Journal of Commerce the union will convene a midweek meeting in Florida of its local wage scale committees across the 14 ports under its jurisdiction.

The Singapore-based carrier reported strong demand on its two main trade lanes out of Asia in its most recent fiscal quarter, with the trans-Pacific recording 100% utilization.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have made 90% schedule reliability a core promise of their new partnership, and the pledge will be under intense scrutiny by the carriers’ customers.

The largest US freight broker expects the first quarter of 2025 to be weak for trucking as the freight recession remains in place, but it is converting more customers to use its services for ocean freight.

It would be the 10th consecutive year the carrier has reported a profit as it capitalized on increasing demand supported by elevated rates.

Ports in the UK are already seeing rising operational delays as a string of storms moves in from the Atlantic and major ports in Europe issue high wind warnings.

The comments by Louis Sola during a Senate hearing come amid rising US scrutiny of Chinese influence over the crucial waterway.

The former Wisconsin congressman and Fox Business host was confirmed by a 77-22 vote on Tuesday.

Liners believe they left money on the table in 2024–25 service contracts, sources tell the Journal of Commerce, and are putting up opening quotes about 25% higher than a year ago in their initial talks with customers.

The arrangement allows international carriers to transship domestic import and export cargoes at Shanghai’s Yangshan deepwater port from selected ports in northern China.

China celebrates the Year of the Snake Tuesday, and while there is always a move to get export orders on the water before the holidays, the push this year came earlier than expected.

Sources at established carriers on the trade lane, such as CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd, have noted extreme rate pressures due to a significant capacity injection driven in part by the new shipping alliances.

Each month of last year saw reliability degrade compared with the corresponding month in 2023, although 2024 carried the burden of vessel diversions around southern Africa as carriers avoided the Suez Canal and Red Sea.

With voyages around southern Africa taking up to 45 days and most carriers continuing to divert away from the Red Sea, the shorter route cuts the transit time of Kawa Shipping’s China-Europe Express to just 26 days.

While a bit softer since the start of the year, rates are not falling at the same pace they were in the second half of 2024 when prices plummeted from almost $11,000 per FEU in early August.

The FMC complaint is a rare instance of a container line accusing a shipper of not living up to the terms of a service contract.

Donald Trump, just hours after returning to the White House Monday, signed an executive order to begin the process of pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement climate change treaty.

Ocean carriers may soon finalize a series of large ship orders as the newbuilding spree that took the order book to a record 8.3 million TEUs by the end of 2024 is set to continue.

President Donald Trump injecting himself into longshore labor talks and his recent threat to take over the Panama Canal are a precursor to the unpredictability container shipping will face over the next four years, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The ocean carrier made the changes ahead of the launch of its partnership with Hapag-Lloyd, referring shippers to the new alliance’s services as an alternative.

New services entered the trade last year amid elevated rates and high demand, but a seasonal lull is putting pressure on prices with plentiful space now on the lane.

Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk will alternatively use feeder connections to relay Indian loads to the US East and West coasts over Gemini hub ports in Asia.

By promising 90%-plus schedule reliability using a hub-and-spoke model, the Maersk/Hapag-Lloyd alliance is tacking sharply away from the industry pack in attempting to solve the problem of unreliable schedules that continues to plague the industry well after the end of COVID-19.

Just ahead of November’s election, then-Commissioner Sola laid out “America First” initiatives during an October speech, highlighting the further development of LNG export facilities and the fuel’s impact on ship bunkering.