Trans-Atlantic

News and analysis of trans-Atlantic rates, volumes, reliability, services, contracting, ports, end-to-end strategies

The latest Trans-Atlantic News & Analysis

Shippers to bring European ETS surcharge into carrier contract talks

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Sep 28, 2023, 11:18 AM EDT

Cargo owners want complete transparency from carriers in their “emission surcharges” that will be levied on customers from the first quarter of 2024 and are looking at how the surcharges can be handled in long-term rate agreements.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

Trans-Atlantic blank sailings to ease despite loss-making rate levels

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Sep 21, 2023, 9:51 AM EDT

Carriers appear reluctant to make the drastic capacity reductions required to match supply with demand on the westbound trade lane, leaving rates far below pre-pandemic levels.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-Atlantic

No bottom in sight for free-falling trans-Atlantic rates

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Sep 5, 2023, 10:54 AM EDT

The spot market from North Europe to the US East Coast continues to weaken and lackluster attempts by carriers to withdraw capacity are having little effect on balancing supply and demand.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-Atlantic

CMA CGM closes deal for two New York-New Jersey marine terminals

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Sep 1, 2023, 10:39 AM EDT

The completion of the terminal acquisitions gives the carrier a stronger footprint in the US’s largest East Coast gateway.
PortsContainer shippingTrans-AtlanticMarine terminalsNorth American ports

Hamburg follows North Europe port rivals with H1 volume decline

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Aug 23, 2023, 12:22 PM EDT

Weak European demand for containerized trade through the first half is hurting port throughput at the region’s top three gateways, but signs are emerging of recovering volume on certain routes.
PortsContainer shippingTrans-AtlanticAsia-EuropeInternational ports

Shippers reluctant to shoulder high cost of decarbonization: executives

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Aug 18, 2023, 11:33 AM EDT

Getting shippers to commit to premium-priced, low-emissions shipping services is a hard sell for ocean carriers and forwarders as cargo owners enjoy rates that are now mostly below pre-pandemic levels after two years of record highs.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesForwardingTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

Rate collapse drags trans-Atlantic trade to loss-making levels: Hapag-Lloyd CEO

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Aug 16, 2023, 10:57 AM EDT

Rolf Habben Jansen has hinted that capacity cuts on the trans-Atlantic could be made “fairly soon” as supply outstrips weak demand for US imports.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-Atlantic

Ocean carriers shift capacity as trans-Atlantic slumps: Alphaliner

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Aug 2, 2023, 12:53 PM EDT

Ocean rates for North Europe to North America have fallen significantly below pre-pandemic levels on some trade lane indices after a wild three-year ride that took container shipping prices to record levels.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-Atlantic

EU carbon tax’s long reach to affect global rates, vessel deployments: analyst

Lars Jensen, CEO & Partner, Vespucci Maritime, and Journal of Commerce analyst | Aug 2, 2023, 8:00 AM EDT

Inclusion in the European Union’s emissions trading system will affect not only the cost of shipping to and from the EU, but will likely put upward pressure on pricing for cargo that doesn’t touch the EU at all, writes analyst Lars Jensen.
Container shippingContainer linesTrans-AtlanticAsia-EuropePortsTransport, trade and regulation

First-half revenue, earnings contract sharply at Cosco, OOCL

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Jul 5, 2023, 9:31 AM EDT

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.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

No sign yet of recovery as trans-Atlantic, Asia-Europe rate decline continues

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Jun 30, 2023, 10:41 AM EDT

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.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

IMO must set zero-emission target for 2050: Norwegian shipowners

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Jun 8, 2023, 9:39 AM EDT

The shift to green fuels needs to be “supercharged” by establishing a clear zero-emissions target at the IMO’s July meeting, according to an Oslo-based shipowner group.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

Ocean trade emerges from pandemic haze to face new realities

Peter Tirschwell | May 25, 2023, 11:23 AM EDT

Although the container shipping order book is the highest it has been in many years and demand remains subdued, the ground is shifting under the ocean market in new and unfamiliar ways, writes Peter Tirschwell.
Container shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-EuropeTransport, trade and regulation

Forwarders locked in margin-destroying price war in post-COVID ocean market

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | May 25, 2023, 10:16 AM EDT

Price is once again on the side of shippers, with excess ocean capacity allowing them to extract lower rates from service providers.
MaritimeContainer shippingForwardingTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

Don’t equate ‘normal’ ocean shipping market to stability: analyst

Lars Jensen, CEO & Partner, Vespucci Maritime, and JOC Analyst | May 24, 2023, 1:46 PM EDT

While indicators may point to a “normal” container shipping market in the wake of the pandemic, it is important to remember that disruptions large and small are all part of that normality, writes analyst Lars Jensen.
Container shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-EuropePorts

Trans-Atlantic spot rates tumble on supply-demand imbalance

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | May 9, 2023, 11:36 AM EDT

While rates on the trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades may have hit bottom, there is still some way to go before headhaul trans-Atlantic prices reach pre-pandemic levels, but the gap is narrowing by the week.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-Atlantic

Data shows container shipping market could be at its bottom: analyst

Lars Jensen, CEO & Partner, Vespucci Maritime, and JOC Analyst | May 1, 2023, 11:27 AM EDT

Fundamentally, current data on ocean freight rates supports the notion that the market has, overall, reached a low point and is about to rebound slightly to be brought back in line with long-term trends, writes analyst Lars Jensen.
Container shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-Atlantic

Trans-Atlantic westbound demand fell sharply in March amid rate decline

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Apr 21, 2023, 11:22 AM EDT

An abundance of trans-Atlantic capacity and improving schedule reliability through the first quarter has been accompanied by a steep drop in volume, with rates falling steadily since the New Year.
MaritimeContainer shippingTrans-Atlantic

Antwerp-Bruges Q1 volumes slip amid Europe’s economic woes, Ukraine war

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Apr 18, 2023, 10:41 AM EDT

The poor economic conditions affecting Europe’s major economies and the ongoing war in Ukraine continue to drag down container volumes at the continent’s second-largest port.
PortsContainer shippingTrans-AtlanticAsia-EuropeInternational ports

Ocean carriers showing signs of resilience despite freight rate plunge: analyst

Lars Jensen, CEO & Partner, Vespucci Maritime, and JOC Analyst | Apr 17, 2023, 11:48 AM EDT

Despite the sharp decline in ocean freight rates, current market fundamentals point to carriers, to some degree, becoming better at pricing and yield management than they were prior to the pandemic, writes analyst Lars Jensen.
Container shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

OOCL Q1 revenue plunges in early sign of freight rate collapse

Keith Wallis, Special Correspondent | Apr 6, 2023, 11:45 AM EDT

The company’s revenue for the 2023 first quarter is one of the ocean shipping market’s very first indications of how the plunge in rates will affect carriers’ bottom lines.
Container linesContainer shippingTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

High-flying trans-Atlantic air cargo volume posts March decline

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Apr 4, 2023, 11:03 AM EDT

Steadily increasing volume on trans-Atlantic air freight routes ended in March as demand growth slowed for the first time in two years.
Air CargoTrans-AtlanticAir cargo forwarding

Cosco reports $19 billion profit for 2022, but outlook comes with 'challenges'

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Mar 31, 2023, 9:45 AM EDT

A series of challenges lies ahead for the container shipping industry, but the effects of slowing demand and a surplus of capacity will be softened by a record financial performance in 2022.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

MSC adds Jaxport stop on trans-Atlantic service

Teri Errico Griffis | Mar 22, 2023, 4:09 PM EDT

The Scan Baltic to USA service, which will begin calling Jaxport in late April, marks the port's second trans-Atlantic service and fifth container service.
Container shippingContainer linesTrans-AtlanticNorth American ports

North American longshore labor talks span coast to coast

Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor | Mar 15, 2023, 2:15 PM EDT

The rare occurrence – in which multiple longshore labor negotiations across North America are taking place either simultaneously or nearly so — is enough to make shippers nervous, or at least wary, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.
Longshore laborMaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticNorth American ports

Shippers unite in push for carriers to scale up use of zero-carbon fuel

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Mar 10, 2023, 10:47 AM EST

Shippers are keeping pressure on carriers to decarbonize their operations with the launch of another US-led initiative to speed up container shipping’s transition to fossil-free fuels.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-EuropeSupply Chain

New NS Norfolk-Memphis service aims to grab East Coast cargo shift

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor | Mar 9, 2023, 3:40 PM EST

Norfolk Southern and the Port of Virginia are not only targeting importers using trans-Atlantic services from Europe and Asia, but also exporters moving goods through Memphis, such as the cotton industry.
North American portsTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticNorth-American rail

US imports to begin recovery, but remain well below 2022: retailers

Bill Mongelluzzo, Senior Editor | Mar 8, 2023, 3:52 PM EST

Retailers say their main concern right now is to avoid over-ordering product from factories in Asia until they get a better handle on consumer demand later this summer.
Container shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticMarine terminalsNorth American ports

Beware of ocean carriers sidestepping EU emission rules: port groups

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Mar 8, 2023, 10:25 AM EST

Carriers may try to offset the costs of compliance with Europe’s incoming Emissions Trading System by adding transshipment calls outside the 300-mile ETS zone, port groups say.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

TPM23: Shipper demand for emissions data reveals industry gap

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Mar 7, 2023, 11:09 AM EST

Despite the lack of industry-wide emissions measurement, shippers are pressing ahead with their own sustainability programs and working with supply chain emissions data that is available, TPM23 attendees were told.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesForwardingTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

US SE ports prepping for more growth amid continued West Coast diversions

Teri Errico Griffis, Associate Editor | Mar 6, 2023, 10:56 AM EST

Southeast ports are handling more imports from Asia than ever, but it’s unclear how much of that growth will stick once negotiations over a new West Coast longshore contract conclude.
Container shippingTrans-AtlanticPortsNorth American ports

TPM23: Ocean Alliance could be next domino to fall after 2M: analyst

Michael Angell, Associate Editor | Mar 1, 2023, 4:14 PM EST

Cosco Shipping’s large orderbook and decreasing market share make it more likely to go after customers of its Ocean Alliance partners, analyst Lars Jensen told TPM23.
Container shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

TPM23: Trans-Atlantic profitability ‘unique’ given loss-making history: CTS

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Mar 1, 2023, 3:54 PM EST

The elevated rate levels on the trans-Atlantic will continue to soften, but there will be no steep drop in prices as seen on the major trades out of Asia, TPM23 attendees were told.
MaritimeContainer shippingTrans-Atlantic

Hapag-Lloyd inks LNG deal to power incoming mega-ship fleet

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Feb 27, 2023, 1:31 PM EST

Hapag-Lloyd is the latest carrier to sign a supply deal with a major energy company aimed at locking in the volumes of alternative fuel required to drive new dual-fuel ships.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

DB Schenker, MSC lock in net-zero biofuel deal to cut shipping emissions

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Feb 15, 2023, 12:02 PM EST

MSC vessels that transport containers for DB Schenker will use a blend of biofuel under an agreement designed to generate substantial cuts in CO2 emissions this year.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesForwardingTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

High full-year rate levels offset OOCL’s poor Q4 performance

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Feb 10, 2023, 11:19 AM EST

It might have been a fourth quarter to forget for OOCL as volume and rates tumbled, but a strong performance through the rest of 2022 has put the carrier on course for another profitable year.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

Maersk must contend with volumes, market share in steady decline: analyst

Lars Jensen, CEO & Partner, Vespucci Maritime, and JOC Analyst | Feb 9, 2023, 2:32 PM EST

If Maersk’s volumes and market share continue to slip, the reduction in size will eventually challenge profitability aspirations in a market where some competitors are increasing their scale benefit, writes analyst Lars Jensen.
Container linesContainer shippingTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-EuropeNorth American portsInternational ports

Pandemic effect drives disconnect in global trade-GDP demand indicator

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Feb 9, 2023, 10:58 AM EST

Global economic growth is expected to outstrip container shipping demand through 2023, potentially upsetting the traditional approach to measuring trade.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

No ‘musical chairs’ by carriers after end of 2M Alliance: Maersk CEO

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe | Feb 8, 2023, 10:10 AM EST

Maersk does not believe any of the major carriers outside the 2M Alliance have the competitive network, scale, or cost base to forge individual paths outside their current partnerships.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-Europe

US retailers offer little optimism in gloomy H1 import forecast

Kevin Saville, Managing Editor | Feb 7, 2023, 3:09 PM EST

The uncertain direction of the US economy is prompting consumers to hit the pause button on their buying habits, forcing a major retail group to further downgrade import projections through the first half of the year.
MaritimeContainer shippingContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticNorth American ports