Container lines

The fleet of idle container ships over 500 twenty-foot-equivalent units continues its “relentless climb” and looks set to hit an all-time high by the end of the year, according to Alphaliner.

Some container lines will seek to avoid agreeing to extended free time for containers on terminals in 2016 service contracts, but they face sharp resistance from shippers still sore from West Coast port congestion and fearful of future flare-ups.

The price Temasek will get for NOL from CMA CGM if the deal goes ahead is below the book value of the company, according to Alphaliner.

U.S. retailers expect import volume will close the year with a whimper, with inbound volume set to slip 0.1 percent year-over-year in December.

Container freight rates suffered a sharp fall in October to their weakest level this year, figures released by Container Trade Statistics, a U.K.-based consultancy, show.

Teikoku Databank Ltd., a leading corporate credit research firm in Japan, has painted a bearish picture of the nation’s shipping industry, citing growing uncertainty over China’s economy.

Ocean carriers are repeating some of the mistakes that pushed many close to the brink during the 2009 crisis but the industry is in better shape to survive the current crisis, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants.

CMA CGM’s plans to bring APL into the O3 Alliance once the NOL acquisition is done has put the spotlight on the G6 Alliance and what the loss of its Singapore-based member would mean.

Crowley is continuing its investments in its U.S.-Caribbean-Latin American services, adding 400 new refrigerated cargo containers to its fleet servicing the region.

CMA CGM plans to bring NOL’s liner division APL into the O3 Alliance that the carrier operates in with China Shipping and United Arab Shipping Co., the France-based line’s vice chairman Rodolphe Saadé said.

CMA CGM has made a $2.4 billion cash offer for Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines in a transaction that will proceed once anti-trust approval has been received from authorities in the EU, the U.S. and in China, which is expected in mid-2016.

Following the merger of Compania Sud Americana de Vapores, also known as CSAV, with Hapag-Lloyd and the takeover of Compania Chilena de Navegacion Interoceanica, or CCNI, by Hamburg Sud, the two Chile shipping companies are focused on domestic business.

Freight rates in the major east-west trade lanes of Asia to North America and Asia to Europe continued to slide last week and are considerably below what carriers say are needed to break even financially in two of the world’s largest trade lanes.

From a near-meltdown at U.S. West Coast ports to a wave of mergers and acquisitions, with hints of more in the container line industry, 2015 has been full of plenty of surprises.

In the wake of several highly-publicized financial difficulties experienced by South Korea shipping companies, the country’s Minister of Oceans and Fisheries has called on them to undertake voluntary restructuring.

Ocean carriers and terminal operators face a formidable challenge planning and executing the most fundamental of shipping processes: stowage.

CMA CGM has reportedly secured commitments from its banks to finance a planned takeover of Neptune Orient Lines, owner of ocean carrier APL.

Acquiring container lines is rarely easy, but CMA CGM’s track record will give it a good foundation to bring Neptune Orient Lines into the fold — if the France-based carrier’s exclusive talks with the Singapore-based company lead to a deal.

The value of goods shipped between Mexico and the U.S. continues to climb, while the goods value in U.S.-Canada trade is dropping. Lower fuel prices and the strong U.S. dollar are partly to blame, as well as the surge in Mexican manufacturing aimed at the U.S.

Despite signs that South Africa’s economy will enter a slowdown next year, container volume through Africa’s second-largest economy is forecast to rise in the mid-single digits.

CMA CGM has until midnight on Monday, Dec. 7, to decide if it wants to bid for Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines, but reports that the French line is seeking finance from banks for what could be a $2.2 billion purchase shows that the carrier is serious about the acquisition.

With spot rates on imports from Asia approaching $900 per 40-foot container to the U.S. West Coast and $1,700 to the East Coast, cargo interests that played the spot market rather than shipping most of their imports under service contracts this year are big winners.

Spot freight rates in container trades should stage a marked recovery next year, but short lived successes with general rate increases should not be regarded as evidence of a fundamental improvement between supply and demand, a senior shipping analyst said.

Hapag-Lloyd is buying back $125 million of a costly U.S. dollar bond two years before it is due to mature in a bid to improve its capital structure and reduce interest payments.

Drone cargo ships, known colloquially as ‘ghost’ ships, are unlikely to start operations within the coming decade and an intermediate step of partially automated ships with much reduced crew levels should be expected beforehand.

Talks between state-owned giants Cosco and China Shipping will continue into the new year, the groups said in exchange filings, six months after trading in shares of their listed subsidiaries was suspended.

Headhaul Asia-North Europe volumes will have shrunk by an incredible 400,000 TEUs by the end of December compared to last year if the rate of decline continues, according to Drewry.

Russian regulators have initiated administrative proceedings against CMA CGM and Maersk Line after accusing the two container lines of failing to provide documents requested as part of an investigation into alleged collusion.

India and Bangladesh are moving closer to allowing introduction of coastal shipping services between the two countries with the goal of boosting bilateral trade.

Spot freight rates on the Asia to North Europe and Mediterranean trades came surging back after last week’s record lows, most likely a result of carriers laying up greater numbers of the larger vessels deployed on the westbound trade.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services’ financial recovery is gathering pace as the Israel-based ocean carrier posted its fourth consecutive quarterly operating profit in challenging market conditions.

South Korea's government plans to conduct research on ultra-large container ships, including the return on investment of the vessels, their impact on ports and the investment needed at terminals to handle them.

CMA CGM said it is upgrading its New Europe Mascarene Oceania service by adding new port calls, starting in early December.

Singapore will extend its block exemption order for liner shipping agreements for another five years until December 2020, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has announced.

The sharp decline in net income of Taiwan’s top three carriers through the course of the last three quarters gives a clear picture of the container shipping industry’s rapidly deteriorating operating environment.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, one of Japan’s three largest shipping firms, is thinking of withdrawing from the Asia to east coast of South America trade.

Australia’s government is considering a block exemption to the competition law for liner shipping in a move that has been cautiously welcomed by Shipping Australia, the industry’s national association.

Maersk Line Chief Operating Officer Soren Toft has said Neptune Orient Lines is not its only potential acquisition target, but he declined to comment on whether the Danish carrier planned to make a formal bid.

The sharp drop in bunker prices has not undermined the competitiveness of new liquefied natural gas-powered container feeder ships for the North/Baltic Sea sulphur emission control area, according to German shipowner Nordic Hamburg.

The potential acquisition of Neptune Orient Lines by CMA CGM would mark the biggest consolidation in container shipping based on the capacity of the targeted carrier, according to Alphaliner.