Container lines

The January run up to Chinese New Year is traditionally a busy one for exporters as beneficial cargo owners try to ship their products out of the country before the three-week factory shutdown and the carrier service deletions, and space on container ships is often at a premium.

Orders for conventional refrigerated ships outpaced scrappings in 2015 for the first time in years but conventional vessels will continue to lose market share to reefer ships during the next decade, says Dutch shipping consultantcy Dynamar.

Japan’s three largest container lines significantly downgraded their earnings forecasts for the current fiscal year ending on March 31, with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines now expecting a sizable net loss of 175 billion yen ($1.45 billion).

The usually buoyant Europe-U.S. ocean and air cargo markets have suffered a significant decline in European freight forwarders’ confidence, while the long troubled Asia-Europe trades have posted an equally strong improvement.

Spot freight rates on the Asia-U.S. trades held their ground this week, actually rising slightly and ensuring most of the sharp gains made in the Jan. 1 rate increase were retained for the rest of the month.

CMA CGM and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines plan to share vessel capacity, and jointly operate routes and marine container terminals, the latest sign of how global container lines are aiming to tap Iran’s potential due to the lifting of economic sanctions.

Shippers looking for another way to access central Norway can now tap a Samskip Multimodal short-sea service after the carrier added a call to Gjemnes.

Cosco Container Lines’ acquisition of China Shipping’s container ship fleet is expected to happen about March 1, Cosco said in a filing with the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission.

Greek container ship owner Costamare bucked the trend in the depressed charter market, increasing profits in the latest quarter and hinting at further vessel acquisitions.

As the clock ticks towards the July 1 implementation of new container weight regulations, an unsettled cargo transport industry continues to search for ways to comply with the rule, often with frustrating results.

LONG BEACH, California — Container lines in the eastbound Pacific should see a moderate rate recovery in the second half because overcapacity that sent rates plummeting last year has bottomed out, according to David Arsenault, president and CEO of Hyundai Merchant Marine America.

The volume of cargo handled by the container trade around the globe this year will increase by a relatively “decent” 4 to 5 percent, but this growth will not be nearly enough to make a dent in the enormous glut of vessel capacity that will continue to erode freight rates.

The Port of Liverpool has gained a new service, increasing shippers’ access to central and northern U.K., Ireland, Portugal, Morocco, Spain and the Canary Islands.

Russia’s imports may increase significantly this year because of further devaluation of the ruble, making Russian goods more competitive in the global market, according to recent statements from the Russian Association of Commercial Seaports and analysts of the Russian Ministry of Transport.

North American ports would most likely be dealing with congestion issues today even without the onslaught of mega-ships, because growing container volumes are taxing the port and intermodal infrastructure, the president and CEO of the Americas for Hyundai Merchant Marine said Tuesday.

When a container without a signed weight declaration shows up at a marine terminal as of July 1, when a new SOLAS rule takes effect, what happens next? Will the terminal allow the container in, hoping that the weight will arrive in time for the container to be handled and loaded without having to be pulled aside? Or does the terminal avoid the risk, telling the carrier and its customer that containers without the Verified Gross Mass won’t be allowed in under any circumstances?

Maersk Line had added a new service from Latin America to Europe and a new call on an existing service in the trade lane in an effort to tap one of the areas where container lines can still gain steadily profitable business: reefer cargo.

Could Amazon’s business of reselling goods produced by Chinese manufacturers allow it to create a profitable niche in transporting those goods into the U.S. and possibly other markets? Some believe that is the reason the giant online retailer is the newest NVOCC in the trans-Pacific.

Families of 10 crew members who died when the U.S.-flag cargo ship El Faro sank during Hurricane Joaquin last fall have agreed to accept $500,000 each to settle lawsuits against the ship’s owner, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico.

The announcement that Goldenport Holdings has suspended debt payments and is negotiating a restructuring of its loans highlights the deepening crisis in the container charter market.

A 50 percent drop in bunker prices in the past year is a welcome gift for container lines struggling in an oversupplied market, but even as cheaper fuel allows the carriers to cut operating costs, it will do nothing to address the surplus capacity that is severely undermining profitability.

The support of China’s state-owned energy companies is central to the success of plans by the central government to reduce the output of emissions from ships that pose a danger to public health in the vicinity of its major ports.

The Europe-Middle East-South Asia trade lane stands out as a positive “oasis” in a downcast global container shipping market, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

Lackluster global trade will do air and ocean carriers out of Asia no favors this year as both sectors struggle to balance excess capacity with declining demand.

The Panama Canal Authority is shooting to open its third set of larger locks that can handle post-Panamax ships in May, but it doesn’t expect the larger locks to attract new services for several months.

A seemingly widespread lack of clarity in China surrounding the implementation of the new container weighing requirements does not bode well for the global regulations that will become law in just five months and apply to every container loaded on to a ship.

China Shipping Container Lines has warned investors that it will make a 2015 net loss of $430 million on the back of record low freight rates and vessel impairment losses.

A Mediterranean Shipping Company container vessel ran aground on the St. Lawrence River Saturday morning between Montreal and Quebec City, according to Canadian authorities.

Orient Overseas Container Line reported a sharp drop in container volume and plunging revenue on the Asia-Europe trade in 2015, with a particularly dismal fourth quarter dragging down figures on the oversupplied route.

Two weeks out from Chinese New Year and there is still no evidence of the traditional surge in cargo exports from China before the long holiday, with spot freight rates on Shanghai to North Europe and the Mediterranean declining sharply for the third week running.

Container lines are well known for making almost any concession to get or keep a customer, from dropping rates to offering extended free time on terminals, extended use of containers, or late cutoffs at gates. But they will have no room to budge on the requirement that a certified weight based on an actual measurement accompany every container tendered to the carrier as of July 1.

Global changes in container shipping are confronting the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission with some of the most difficult decisions in its 55-year history. How FMC Chairman Mario Cordero and his four fellow commissioners respond this year and next could determine how the industry deals with carrier consolidation, the increasing influence of vessel-sharing alliances and U.S. port congestion.

The number of idled container vessels over 500 twenty-foot equivalent units edged slightly higher in the first two weeks of the year and is set to increase as carriers axe sailings in the run-up to the Chinese New Year holiday, according to Alphaliner.

This year’s capacity growth will be the lowest ever recorded for the global container shipping fleet, according to Alphaliner, welcome news for an industry already buried under a deluge of excess vessels that cannot be filled.

Capt. David Humphreys, founder and owner of Gulf of Mexico container line Linea Peninsular, died Jan. 13 of a stroke. He was 82.

European cargo terminal operators today called on their national governments to clarify regulations requiring all containers to be weighed before they are loaded onto ships.

The opening of larger Panama Canal locks, already postponed several times by construction delays, has been pushed back again and now is expected early in the second quarter, a canal official said.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Wan Hai Lines, Interasia Lines and Pacific International Lines are expanding their current cooperation in trades to and from India by introducing a new intra-Asia loop, dubbed the China-West Coast India, or CIS, starting at the end of February.

On-time container line service reliability for 2015 on all trades was the highest ever recorded at 73 percent, according to Drewry’s Container Insight Weekly.

The Tecon Santos container terminal reopened Saturday night after firefighters put out a blaze at the largest South American port gateway that lasted more than 40 hours.