Container Shipping News

A total of 68 sailings globally are expected to be canceled during April, according to maritime consultancy Drewry, with about half of the cancellations in trans-Pacific services.

Forwarders say they are seeing utilization only near 50% on the Asia-Mexico lane amid seasonally low demand and tariff uncertainties.

The carrier is deriving an increasing share of its revenue from long-haul trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe services while the contribution from the intra-Asia trade declined last year.

In creating the threat of a clearly significant penalty, the US Trade Representative essentially forced observers to not merely give a thumbs up or down to the proposal, but to offer alternative solutions.

The move comes as Hutchison is facing increasing pressure from the Chinese government over the $22.8 billion sale of its ports business outside of China to BlackRock and TiL, especially the Panama ports.

The carrier wants the tax imposed on CO2 emissions to raise the price of conventional bunkers high enough to force increased demand for low- and zero-emission fuels and narrow the yawning price gap between green and fossil energy.

Shippers, carriers and forwarders say uncertainty around consumer demand, tariffs and geopolitical disruptions has produced a wider range of service contract rates this year.

The port authority on Wednesday completed an expansion of Inland Port Greer ahead of the opening of the near-dock Navy Base Intermodal Facility (NBIF) at the Port of Charleston later this year.

Ongoing supply chain disruption and a significant increase in trading of container freight futures among speculative investors could accelerate the adoption of financial hedging tools among shippers and other physical industry players.

Brent Sadler served in the US Navy for 26 years and now works as a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Consolidation in container shipping over the last two decades and better capacity management in recent years show that the old ways of looking at vessel capacity are outdated, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Major carriers had lined up rate increases with the intention of strengthening their bargaining power during service contract negotiations, but overcapacity seems to have kept that tactic in check.

CEO Stefan Paul told the company’s annual capital markets event in London that while K+N will focus on organic growth, it will also make bolt-on acquisitions “if they make sense.”

An alliance of global shippers is calling on the IMO to use the April gathering of its Marine Environment Protection Committee to meet the “urgency of the moment” when it comes to lowering emissions from shipping.

Capacity improvements at the New Jersey facility will include optimization of the terminal layout, rebuilding berths at a higher level to allow for anticipated increases in the sea level and replacing existing cargo-handling equipment with zero-emission, electric machines.

The top 10 carriers for imports collectively hauled 2.43 million TEUs into the Gulf Coast last year and had a market share of almost 94%, according to the latest Journal of Commerce rankings.

Why the impact is so potentially profound is the way carriers would likely respond to a scenario in which a fuel standard is imposed on them, but no automatically higher cost is imposed on shippers to pay, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Cosco said changes in the shipping alliances this year will trigger competition in digitization and decarbonization.

US maritime interests said the proposed fees on Chinese ships would hit a variety of low-value, niche trades that can’t absorb the costs.

Container lines serving the India-US trade appear to be taking a hard line in the first round of annual contract negotiations amid overcapacity putting downward pressure on spot rates.

The IMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, which potentially puts the organization in the crosshairs of the new administration that is reassessing all its UN positions and policies.

A group of seven Asia-based regional carriers are collaborating to add a weekly long-haul service on the eastbound trans-Pacific despite bearish market signals.

The growing backlog of boxes awaiting a return to Asia has resulted in finger pointing among stakeholders over how best to address the problem.

Canada’s labor minister will take a direct hand after the mediated talks for a new longshore contract at the port failed to achieve a deal after 18 months of negotiations.

The latest salvo in the US-induced global tariff war comes as the EU said Thursday that a 50% tax on imports of US-produced whiskey will take effect from mid-April.

Montreal’s port chief says a successful outcome after nearly two years of talks between port employers and the longshore union will be critical to restoring shipper trust.

The long-term agreement calls for the ocean carrier to add seven services with 10 weekly calls to Brazil’s largest port over the next two years.

Running loops with fewer ships will not be the current priority for an oversupplied industry, but new entrants may be more inclined to look at a lean, efficient product that has a competitive service edge in the key hubs it serves, writes Jeremy Masters.

The port will berth vessels at its smaller Ocean Terminal two miles downriver from the main Garden City terminal in order to cut waiting times outside the port and reduce ship backlogs.

Ports across the continent are struggling to clear bottlenecks as containers stack up in terminals and delay inland and feeder connections.

Multiple sources who spoke with the Journal of Commerce have confirmed ongoing negotiations between the two liners covering India’s larger westbound trades to the US East Coast and North Europe.

Despite banking a collective operating profit of about $60 billion in 2024, a worsening supply-demand imbalance could make the next three years difficult for the container shipping industry.

The country’s competition watchdog is reviewing whether DP World’s acquisition of the logistics provider could lead to higher costs for shippers.

The Federal Maritime Commission is looking at areas where ships are having transit troubles with an eye on how US maritime influence can fix those problems.

A commentary published in a Hong Kong state-backed newspaper said the acquisition of Hutchison’s Panama assets by BlackRock and TiL would “Americanize” the canal and cause Washington to restrict Chinese access to the waterway.

Fresh questions about the direction of the US economy after the tariff chaos unleashed by the Trump administration in recent weeks has container lines resetting their rate expectations for the 2025–26 service year.

The dizzying pace of the Trump administration’s moves against longtime US trading partners is putting shippers at risk of facing hefty new costs as a result of tariff “stacking.”

But Yang Ming said significant uncertainties continue to affect the global trade outlook, saying “key risk factors” include US tariff developments that could lead to inflationary pressures due to rising operational costs.

The Cosco Shipping subsidiary recorded another highly profitable year but pointed to growing geopolitical uncertainties and industry-specific challenges that will test container shipping in the year ahead.

While shippers might have expected ocean carriers to make application programming interfaces widely available by 2025, negative incentives have inhibited that progress.