International ports

Signaling some growth expectations, Indian container volumes saw gains in August, hitting 1.9 million TEUs, up 14% from 1.7 million TEUs a year earlier.

Carrier executives and others say the draft limitations imposed due to a shortage of rainfall are creating a more difficult economic rationale for the so-called all-water route to the East Coast of North America.

The carrier’s commitment to bring an additional 1 million TEUs per year across HHLA’s wharves in Hamburg if it wins a bid for almost half the company will come as an attractive sweetener for the terminal operator.

Although importers can look forward to paying low freight rates at least into 2024 due to weak volumes and significant overcapacity in the trans-Pacific, aggressive capacity reductions through blank sailings will disrupt service levels, this week’s IANA conference was told.

The Indamex 2, the weekly loop touted as the fastest connection between western India and the US East Coast, is set to see a 50% capacity reduction for loads out of India this month.

The carrier has made a cash offer to acquire just under 50% of HHLA in a deal that will significantly expand its terminal and intermodal reach.

The carrier’s dual-fuel newbuildings will be the first in a series of vessels to be delivered over the next decade.

Sailing schedules showed delays of up to five days on some services due to the typhoons, including one that hit the coast of southern China Tuesday after sweeping across Taiwan at the weekend.

For any number of product categories, relocating sourcing brings with it less efficient logistics, occasional lower quality and overall higher costs at a time when cost control is rapidly assuming a higher priority for shippers.

MSC, which has implemented large-scale network realignments in recent months, halted Indian calls on the Sentosa service in April when it opened a standalone intra-Asia loop.

In addition to the typical annual planning, such as for budgets and freight rates, US importers need to start weighing contingency plans for two potentially disruptive occurrences next year — continued low-water levels along the Panama Canal and the expiration of the International Longshoremen’s Association contract, writes Lars Jensen.

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.

Portchain has pulled in 76 container terminals into its vessel arrival coordination platform with carriers in the past 18 months, with Port Houston the latest to join.

Demand for container shipping in major destination markets remains subdued, so some of the world’s largest port operators are channeling their attention — and money — on growing business in emerging nations.

Average rates from West India to Europe and the Mediterranean have cooled between 10 to 15% from what carriers were quoting at the end of July, deepening the slide seen over the past year.

While the magnitude of peak season in any given year may have macroeconomic significance in shedding light on the strength of consumer spending and the economy overall, it is only one factor driving the market conditions that affect the physical movement of goods, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Half of the world’s top 50 container ports grew their volumes last year while the other half saw declines, highlighting the contrasting fortunes of the global gateways.

The value of Brazil’s exports to European and Mediterranean countries is rising faster than those to the US, while Europe is also increasingly taking a greater share of Brazilian exports in percentage terms, trade figures show.

Concerned over the trade chaos at Mundra, India’s Container Shipping Lines Association said that vessel scheduling on services out of the country had become a major challenge for carriers.

Retailers and NVOs aren’t sure if spot rates will continue to increase steadily through the peak season or whether new capacity expected to enter the trans-Pacific in the coming months will cause rates to fall again.

Freight forwarder sources in India believe the success of a fourth round of general rate increases scheduled for Aug. 1 will hinge on the ability of carriers to hold firm on recent pricing gains.

A weak global economy and limited demand in Europe has set the continent’s largest port on course for a second year of declining volume.

The fall hid some upbeat trends, with the number of refrigerated containers rising more than 10% in the first half and the rate of decline in overall volumes easing in the second quarter.

The new trade pattern reflects in large part a sharp drop in empty equipment imports amid weakening demand conditions, rather than sustained export trade, industry observers say.

Deeper public-private sector collaboration between global maritime industry players and the MPA will unlock key investments across the Indian and Pacific oceans, Lloyd’s Register believes.

Ocean Network Express said container operations on three vessels were affected by the disruption, but that loading and unloading had now been completed.

The global port operator is bolstering its multimodal supply chain capabilities with an investment that increases its already significant presence in the region.

Despite the subdued market environment, the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges expect rising volumes to place significant demand on capacity and vessel traffic management, prompting investment in both areas.

After two attempts to push through GRIs largely failed, forwarder sources in India believe it will be difficult for carriers to achieve success under current tight booking conditions, but liners have nonetheless lined up further rate hikes.

A combination of softer volumes and increased vessel capacity continues to drag on spot rates between Latin America and the US, but forwarders say they expect demand to begin to recover in September.

Some inland logistics services have resumed, but vessel movements at the ports of Pipavav and Mundra remain suspended due to disruption stemming from Cyclone Biparjoy.

More supply chain disruptions are imminent for Indian containerized trade as Cyclone Biparjoy, a storm that is expected to make landfall Thursday, has now forced major ports on the western coastline to shut.

The Marseille-based carrier continues to grow its terminal portfolio in strategic areas as part of a broad move to control the end-to-end logistics of customer shipments.

The Container Port Performance Index for 2022 showed that among large ports, China’s Yangshan ranked No. 1, while Ningbo and Guangzhou were among the top 10.

An emerging trend of sending smaller shipments more frequently is leading to growing demand for LCL services across the major trade lanes.

Shippers and port executives say the post-COVID shift of cargo back to Hong Kong is being hampered by the global slump in demand as developed countries grapple with elevated inventories and inflationary pressures.

Thanks to a recent GRI push, average contract rates for India to the US have seen modest gains in recent weeks and carriers are now looking to build around that limited success.

The port congestion in Asia and North America that compromised vessel on-time performance during the pandemic began to ease last fall with declining cargo volumes, and the reliability improvements have accelerated since.

Price volatility, economic uncertainty and China’s ongoing efforts to keep adulterated scrap products out of the country held back US exports of recyclable materials for the third straight year in 2022.

Forwarders do not expect prices to stabilize or trend up any time soon, with carriers increasingly struggling to secure steady booking levels to fill their export allocations out of India despite capacity readjustments.