Container lines

The moves by Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM come amid uncertainty about the outlook for the intra-Asia trade, with one analyst suggesting a possible rate war could see prices in the region tumble if there is no summer peak season.

The peace deal in Gaza is highlighting the capacity overhang facing container shipping once vessels absorbed by the longer voyages around southern Africa return to the shorter route via the Red Sea and Suez.

A handful of companies unveiled new products in the last week intended to enable decision-making based off the visibility data they provide.

The pricing move means a general rate increase planned by carriers for Jan. 15 will not be implemented, forwarders say, because demand is not sufficient to support another boost.

The carrier said its ability to capture market share was directly linked to a shift in trade dynamics as mainline operators outsourced intra-regional services to more agile operators.

The twin complaints to the FMC charge that several ocean carriers pushed the shippers into paying surcharges and premium rates totaling $5.5 million, while creating another $76 million in added spot market costs.

Multiple forwarder sources who spoke with the Journal of Commerce confirmed that the portal booking specifics are still unavailable for February voyages from India to Europe.

The uncertainty surrounding the Red Sea was highlighted by member OOCL, and although the carrier provided both an around-Africa option and a version via the Suez, it said the Africa diversions will continue until further notice.

The decline reflects the wider slide in container freight rates from August, which accelerated in October and November as cargo demand eased.

The carrier’s top-line financials are a clear signal that container shipping is firmly back in profitable territory following a poor end to 2023 that left several carriers nursing losses.

With the threat of a US port strike averted, the transition to new global service networks will not be accompanied by widespread disruption, the analyst believes.

Local freight forwarders believe any extra capacity entering the Indian market from smaller ship operators working around an “opportunistic approach” has the potential to spoil rate recovery efforts by large carriers.

Carriers adopting a “wait-and-see” approach to the new regulation will face significant penalties and a potential loss of income from decarbonization-focused customers, according to a report from the classification society.

The IMO tends to move at a glacial pace, but with 2030 emissions targets looming, it no longer has that luxury.

While the two sides have come to terms on wages, formal negotiations have stalled since mid-November as the union and maritime employers remain stuck on what provisions the deal will include about port automation.

Shanghai and Ningbo are dealing with “serious” congestion, according to a forwarder, while labor shortages in Hamburg are causing berthing delays of up to 10 days.

The world has become more turbulent and fragmented, with geopolitical events that are beyond the control of any supply chain participants playing an ever-larger role, writes Lars Jensen.

Rates in the eastbound trans-Pacific are surging to peak-season levels as US retailers rush to ship merchandise before many factories in Asia close during the holiday celebrations that begin on Jan. 29.

Most US retailers say they have frontloaded sufficient inventory from Asia to get them through the first quarter, but planning import volumes and supply chains beyond that point remains problematic.

Extended voyages around southern Africa are currently tying up both refrigerated equipment and vessel capacity, making reefer shippers particularly vulnerable to disruptions.

Despite a glut of capacity on the water, Suez Canal diversions and healthy volumes will keep container shipping vessel supply tight, analysts predict.

The market’s normal tranquility is threatened by President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to raise imports tariffs, as well as a potential second strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association.

Industry observers believe carriers on the trade lane could struggle to manage the huge influx of capacity, thus forcing them to undercut each other on pricing to maximize loadings.

Carriers have penciled in a return to the Red Sea and Suez Canal for the second half of the year, and some analysts are also using that as a baseline for their market outlooks, but the reality is that no one knows.

Container shipping has become a market where prior patterns of cyclicality must now coexist with non-cyclical forces of external shocks that long-beleaguered carriers have learned to use to their advantage, writes Peter Tirschwell.

The vessels will vary in size between 8,000 TEUs and 15,000 TEUs and are likely meant for deployment on the carrier’s longer-haul intra-Asia and mainline east-west services.

Bills introduced in the House and Senate seek to expand the US-flag international fleet from the current level of about 80 ships to 250 in 10 years and would require all government cargoes to be carried on US-flag vessels.

Imports are likely to remain robust into January as shippers attempt to beat new tariffs expected to be imposed by the incoming Trump administration while also navigating an early Lunar New Year that begins Jan. 29.

Continuing the steady slide from a late-July peak, average spot rates from West India to the US East Coast have dropped about 20% from the end of November.

Shippers on the Europe-US trade lane are facing significant rate increases in January as the potential for disruption grows from labor uncertainty and new operating alliances.

The risk of an East and Gulf coast port strike, US tariffs on China, and service disruptions through the launch of new alliances and networks await the industry in the first two months of 2025, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Holes in the Atlantic port network are being plugged as ONE, the Ocean Alliance and HMM prepare for February’s launch of the new container shipping groupings.

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

Advent eModal, a three-decade landmark provider of fee collection and appointment scheduling at container terminals, has been sold by private equity group Blackstone to air cargo software specialist CargoSprint.

The facility’s launch customer is known to be Amazon, which will use the strategically located warehouse to provide fulfilment services across the region.

Carrier executives who dominate the board of the United States Maritime Alliance tell the Journal of Commerce they are done with what they consider to be an overly passive approach demonstrated in recent months by USMX staff in the face of repeated provocations by ILA leadership.

Fears that methanol will not be available in the coming years at the scale required to power a growing and thirsty ocean fleet are pushing the order book deeper down the LNG pathway.

The February launch date coincides with the start of services by the Premier Alliance formed by ONE, HMM and Yang Ming.

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.