Container Shipping News

Asia to East Coast South America rates are on the rise, despite capacity rising by almost 8 percent this year.

Trans-Pac carriers move aggressively to expand weekly service offerings from Southeast Asia in response to 25 percent Trump administration tariffs on imports from China. However, the ability of manufacturers to shift more production from China to Southeast Asia will be constrained by economic factors if the List 4 tariffs are implemented later this summer.

Maersk is resuscitating the idea of assessing container no-show fees to forwarders and shippers and to itself if a box doesn’t load, though the difference this time might lie in the digital foundation around the fees.

With imports from China softening and prospects for the peak season looking somewhat dismal, carriers have already announced three blank sailings, with chatter among carriers indicating additional voided sailings could occur in July and August.

The 90-day suspension from the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism means the container line will no longer enjoy “trusted trader” status, increasing the likelihood of import shipment delays.

Eleven major banks representing 20 percent of the global shipping finance portfolio have signed off on a framework agreement aimed at aligning investors with the IMO’s 2050 mandate to cut CO2 emissions 50 percent from 2008 levels.

Agriculture exporters urged to do due diligence on the increased costs involved in IMO low-sulfur fuel before they enter contract negotiations with carriers in the fall.

Consolidation that has occurred in recent years is giving carriers newfound influence — if they are willing to assert it.

Changing ship designs will fail to reach global emissions reductions targets without the widespread use of low-carbon fuels, the American Bureau of Shipping argues in its 2030 Outlook 2050 Vision report.

There are plenty of reasons to expect another wave of front-loading, which in the second half of 2018 kept spot rates to the West Coast above $2,000 per FEU for 16 straight weeks and rates to the East Coast above $3,000 for 17 weeks.

Transportation shifts continue to remain top of mind in the apparel industry as fashions change quickly and customized items, personalized to the individual, become more popular.

The latest US sanctions on Venezuela, and political instability, are pushing up container shipping costs to the South American nation.

China’s increasingly hardline stance against accepting recyclable waste from US exporters has created a volatile market for the paper and forest products industry in recent years.

Shippers, ocean carriers, and freight forwarders say cargo owners are already rushing shipments to get ahead of potential tariffs on $300 billion of US imports from China.

Peak-season imports could be as much as 15 percent lower than last year's peak season, but BCOs should not expect spot rates to decline significantly because carriers will manage capacity through blank sailings.

Hapag-Lloyd will place tracking devices on 100,000 reefer containers to increase visibility.

After years of undercutting each other on rates to gain market share and the resulting waves of consolidation, large container carriers seem to have come to a realization that they will sink or swim together.

CP’s signing of Yang Ming to handle its Candian cargo — with some shipped on the vessels of its alliance partners via Halifax and Prince Rupert — comes a little more than a year after the railroad contracted the bulk of business from the Ocean Network Express (ONE).

The Ocean Alliance’s announcement of three blank sailings in June puts carriers and BCOs on alert that additional cancellations are likely if shipments from China continue to drop in the coming months.

The French shipping group will rationalize its container carrier brands, with APL serving the trans-Pacific, Asia-Indian Subcontinent, Asia-Oceania, and US-flag trades, ANL focusing on Oceania, and CNC on intra-Asia.

Maersk Line predicts trade in and out of Mexico will rise 3-8 percent in 2019, with help from the auto and beer sectors if both flourish.

Economists and shipping industry leaders warn the US-China trade war could be a potential tipping point for a global economy that was already cooling before President Donald Trump raised tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods.

Container carriers are accelerating their push into the digital space, with three of the five largest lines now contributing to a blockchain platform led by IBM and Maersk, as well as coalescing around a specific piece of track-and-trace hardware.

The world's largest shipping line saw operating income increase in the first quarter of 2019, despite volume falling 2.2 percent, a sign that it won't be pulled into market share skirmishes and will instead focus on profitability, its CEO said.

The French container sensor company will have 100,000 boxes fitted with its devices by the end of 2020, thanks to large orders from its two shipping line investors.

The volume of chemicals exports from the United States will be shaped in 2019 by the resolution of the US-China trade war.

The Ocean Alliance will skip two Asia-US West Coast sailings in June in an effort to maintain rates as the US-China trade war takes a toll on volume.

The Port of Houston is using soon-to-be-signed legislation limiting vessel sizes on its ship channel as motivation to expedite a widening project that will enable 13,000-TEU ships to access the port in four to five years.

Container carriers have been altering stowage plans for neo-Panamax ships to mitigate the current draft limits, according to the Panama Canal Authority.

The Texas Legislature’s House of Representatives on Friday approved legislation that would prohibit ships of 9,500 TEU or greater from entering the channel without prior approval from the port pilots’ board.

Toys from China remain unaffected by tariffs, but shippers fear they could be impacted by future rounds of tariffs.

The automotive trade is waiting with bated breath for any tariffs coming out of the US Commerce Department’s investigation into the potential national security implications of imports of vehicles and parts.

A proposal to impose mandatory speed limits on ocean vessels faces an uncertain future after being tabled at last week’s meeting of the IMO’s Marine Environmental Protection Committee.

Port proponents worry newly threatened tariffs from the Trump administration on ship-to-shore cranes and containers will dampen investment and productivity, as the recent escalation of tariffs pushes up chassis production costs.

Shallow Panama Canal draft limits have already pushed up spot rates from Asia to the East Coast, with the cost of moving an FEU up 14 percent year over year.

In the latest step in the ocean carrier’s transformation into a “global integrator” of container logistics, Maersk Line has folded in the inland services formerly operated by APM Terminals.

Digital Container Shipping Association officials say improving standards around cargo visibility is a top priority of the new carrier coalition.

Container carriers skipped sailings on two loops and slowed service on another between Asia and the east coast of South America, but the resulting bump in spot rates was short lived.

Before May 5, when President Donald Trump announced that tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports would rise from 10 percent to 25 percent, carriers were relatively sanguine about 2019 and for good reasons.

Higher volumes for HMM and Yang Ming drove better operating results, but both are still struggling to attain profitability.