Asia-Europe

Severe weather and a rush of cargo before Lunar New Year celebrations slow Asian factory production are clogging major ports from Tokyo to Shanghai.

Customer advisories from Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd show the carriers plan to “simplify the process” by merging compliance with the EU ETS and FuelEU regulations into one fuel surcharge.

While carriers can offset some operating costs by raising rate levels, reducing carbon emissions on voyages that are taking two weeks longer is becoming increasingly important as decarbonization regulations tighten.

The Federal Maritime Commission said that it needs more information about the new grouping of ocean carriers known as the Premier Alliance before the vessel-sharing agreement can begin in February on US trades.

The Asia-North America trade will be featured on 13 of the initial 24 services inaugurated by the ONE-HMM-Yang Ming partnership.

Strong bookings out of Asia require more capacity than carriers can provide, which, according to Hapag-Lloyd, is having the predictable impact on prices.

The regulation is designed to enhance security across global supply chains and brings the EU in line with other major exporting countries.

The news from Gemini came as MSC released the latest update to its standalone east-west network that will also launch in February.

Average spot rate levels on the Asia to Europe trade lanes have continued to increase through November as an early start to the Lunar New Year pushes up bookings, forwarders say.

Converting an existing vessel to be able to operate on methanol requires major engineering work and could cost more than building a new ship with a shorter time to depreciate the investment, according to the carrier.

Frontloading and Red Sea diversions pushed volume and rates higher in the third quarter, and ongoing geopolitical disruption will allow carriers to extend their robust financial health into next year, according to the founder of the global equity firm.

The New York Shipping Exchange’s plan to introduce indexes to support long-term contracts adds to an already crowded field of providers.

A lack of action at the government level is now the number one bottleneck facing green corridor projects, according to a new report.

The carrier has been restrained with its order book up to now, but the order for 312,000 TEUs of capacity comes as pressure to meet 2030 interim decarbonization targets intensifies.

A series of factors are bending the capacity curve back in favor of carriers and could lead to an improved supply-demand balance next year despite a large capacity overhang, believes the Maersk CEO.

The new network will have a grace period for about three months as the first full port rotations are completed but must then quickly prove it can raise on-time performance to the promised levels, says Maersk’s CEO.

Fewer port calls in the Gemini network will allow the carrier to move greater volumes with the same number of ships, Vincent Clerc said while reporting a highly profitable third quarter.

There is no way to predict when carriers will return to the shorter route between Asia and Europe, and cargo owners want to factor that uncertainty into their long-term rate agreements for 2025.

With this latest deal, the combined methanol offtake agreements Maersk now has in place will meet half the demand from its fast-growing dual-fuel fleet in 2027.

The first signs of solid third-quarter performances are being reported by ocean carriers, and with greater visibility over the rest of the year, they are ramping up their profitability expectations.

It marks the second time since August the carrier has increased its 2024 earnings guidance, an indication Maersk expects robust demand and rising rates to deliver a strong finish to the year.

Ocean carriers have so far been unable to stem the rate slide in the traditionally slow post-Golden Week period that followed an early peak season on the trade lane, but they are pulling hard on capacity management levers in a bid to balance supply and demand.

With no improvement in the Red Sea security situation and shippers preparing for 2025 contracts, Gemini has jettisoned the traditional shorter route in favor of the longer transit around southern Africa.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. is wasting no time utilizing its huge scale, striking major slot sharing agreements on the Asia-Europe with new Premiere alliance members.

After five rounds of negotiations and a series of 24-hour warning strikes at Germany’s ports, the union and port employers may finally be close to an agreement.

While rates remain more than four times higher than this point last year, forwarders and carriers report an easing of demand ahead of the traditional end to the peak shipping period.

Many European shippers are locked into the peak season that will extend the high volume of Asian imports through the third quarter despite the early movement of orders to mitigate disruption from the longer Red Sea routing.

Most of Freightos’ traction in air and ocean freight procurement has centered around spot pricing, but the purchase of Shipsta will give it access to contract data from enterprise shippers.

HHLA’s container volume and financial performance in the first six months has been a marked improvement on a disappointing 2023.

The closure of one of China’s busiest container ports will add to the lengthening vessel delays being seen on the main Asian export trade lanes, while North Europe grapples with its own congestion woes on the other end.

The carrier believes the ongoing disruption in the Red Sea is now “entrenched” and will not change for the rest of the year.

The Singapore-based carrier also said it is expecting to book an operating profit for its current financial year that is more than double its previous forecast despite a “highly uncertain” outlook for the rest of 2024.

Vessels on the backhaul trade from Europe to Asia are sailing two-thirds empty, with spot rates on the trade lane falling sharply since February.

There is growing pushback against the pending regulation that some sectors believe poses an impossible challenge in tracing and verifying the origins of certain products that could lead to their exclusion from the EU market.

The capacity deployments during the first half of 2024 show that smaller carriers have been deploying many of the new large ships serving the North America trade, while major alliance carriers have deployed most of their big vessels on Asia-Europe.

The Cosco subsidiary benefited from a sharp increase in rates as early peak season demand on the main trades out of Asia filled all available vessel capacity.

Ocean carriers have seen freight rates on key trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades double and triple since the start of the year amid a capacity crunch and supply chain disruptions.

Some imports from Asia are being priced out of the market with container shipping costs on the westbound trade almost seven times higher than this time last year.

An ongoing wage dispute between the ver.di union and port employers is continuing to disrupt operations at some of the busiest container shipping hubs in North Europe.

The opening of the first of three new container berths last week at the Tuas mega container terminal is part of a larger effort to shift operations away from the city center.