Container lines

The container shipping industry is facing another period of upheaval, with consolidation among top carriers threatening to disrupt the mega alliances even as the lines settle into their relatively new vessel tie-ups.

Matson profit jumped 93 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, on continued high demand for its expedited China service, new Alaska business and volume gains in the Hawaii trade.

A 2 percent gain by the world's Top 50 largest transportation service providers in 2014 marked a turnaround after the group’s combined revenue slipped 0.1 percent in 2013.

Trans-Pacific eastbound spot rates tested new lows this week.

A U.S. Federal Maritime Commissioner said he was told earlier this week by representatives of China Shipping Container Lines and Cosco that the container lines are in the early stages of a merger.

UPS assumed the top spot on the JOC-SJ Consulting Group list of Top 50 Global Transportation Providers in terms of 2014 revenue, pushing Deutsche Post DHL to the No. 2 position. Of the Top 50, 13 companies are located in North America, 19 in Europe, 16 in the Asia-Pacific region, and one each in India and Australia.

Spot rates from Asia to North Europe and the Mediterranean this week fell 31 percent and 20 percent from last week, respectively, after rates in the last week of October skyrocketed as some carriers appeared to gain some of their Nov. 1 general rate increases.

Container lines are closely following developments in the run-up to the upcoming Paris climate change conference in early December given the possibility that a stricter approach to curbing the industry’s carbon dioxide emissions might result from the meeting.

CMA CGM declined to comment on reports it is in advanced negotiations to acquire Neptune Orient Lines, the Singapore-listed owner of ocean carrier APL.

Hapag-Lloyd made a lackluster stock market debut today with the German ocean carrier’s shares hovering around the 20 euros ($22) issue price in early trading on the Frankfurt exchange.

Maersk Line's profit plunged 60 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier as rising overcapacity and lower cargo volumes depressed ocean freight rates to historic lows.

The Asia-Europe trade outlook going into 2016 has become increasingly uncertain because of the big unknown: When will the Chinese economy, the key driver of the head-haul westbound leg, bottom out. Questions also exist about whether the eurozone can maintain its snail’s pace recovery — and boost its imports from China — going into 2016.

Maersk Group will not make a major forward asset investment in Indonesia’s port or domestic shipping sector until the government addresses a range of investment concerns, according to the president director of Maersk Indonesia.

Rickmers Maritime swung to a net profit of $9 million in the third quarter from a $53 million loss a year earlier, but suspended dividend payments to conserve cash flow until the container charter market improves.

Ocean carriers are canceling services and telling some shippers they can expect weeklong delays due to considerable and unexplained congestion through the Panama Canal.

With carriers in the Asia-Indian Subcontinent, Middle East-Asia and Asia-Mediterranean trades leading the way, global on-time performance in September reached an all-time high on the SeaIntel reliability index, the Copenhagen-based consulting firm reported today.

NYK Line hopes its diverse array of business lines will help the company overcome the plunge in rates caused by overcapacity hitting the industry and has no plans to back away from its mega-ship orders.

The pan-Asian CKYHE Alliance has blanked nine sailings from Asia to north Europe and the Mediterranean in response to shrinking demand in the slack winter season.

Danaos’ third-quarter income soared by 143 percent as the container ship owner reduced financing costs and grew charter revenues.

Maersk Line today said it will eliminate “at least,” 4,000 jobs, reduce capacity and cancel options for six mega-ships in a bid to defend its leading share of a slowing ocean container market.

Hapag-Lloyd today said it has raised around $300 million from its initial public offering which it will spend on new ships and containers.

Hyundai Merchant Marine on Friday completed a 247.5 billion Korean won ($216.1 million) permanent convertible bond through a newly created entity called Hyundai Bulk Line, staving off a liquidity crisis and halting further talk of a merger with Hanjin Shipping.

U.S. shippers expect muted freight volume growth through the third quarter of 2016 as they continue to pull from existing stocks before placing new orders after inventories ballooned during the gridlock at West Coast ports.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services and a European short-sea operator are reintroducing a seasonal refrigerated service aimed at agriculture shippers that connects the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Federal investigators have confirmed that the wreckage found Saturday is the TOTE Maritime cargo ship El Faro, which disappeared along with its 33-member crew during a hurricane Oct. 1.

Container lines, U.S. shippers and logistics providers are coming together to figure out the best way to prepare for the July 1 start of new global regulations requiring the weighing of containers before they are allowed to be loaded onto a ship.

U.S. Navy searchers have found the wreckage of what they believe to be the TOTE Maritime cargo ship El Faro after the vessel disappeared Oct. 1 during a hurricane with the loss of its 33-member crew.

Spot rates on the Shanghai Container Freight Index to the U.S. West and East coasts bumped up this week.

Atlantic Container Line has taken delivery of the first of five new container/roll-on, roll-off ships that are the largest of their type ever built and that will expand ACL’s unique trans-Atlantic niche.

Hapag-Lloyd on Friday cut the price range for shares in its initial public offering, citing “ongoing market volatility.”

NOL’s third-quarter results were awash in red ink as the Singapore-listed company reported a third-quarter net loss of $96 million, down 300 percent compared to the same period last year as rate levels tumbled on the major trades.

Spot rates on the battered Asia-North Europe trade skyrocketed 327 percent to $988 per TEU this week as some carriers appeared to recover the full Nov. 1 general rate increases for the first time since anyone can remember.

Japan’s three largest container lines saw their group revenues miss forecasts and remain almost flat in the first half of the current fiscal year, while Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) slipped into the red.

China Cosco posted a $270 million net loss in the third quarter as revenue for the three months crashed almost 20 percent year-over-year.

LONG BEACH, California — Footwear importers will save millions of dollars in annual duties if the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is implemented by the participating countries in the coming two years, the president of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America said Tuesday.

APL has agreed to pay $9.8 million to the U.S. government to resolve allegations that the carrier misrepresented its ability to track containerized military shipments from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

South Korea's second-biggest shipping company Hyundai Merchant Marine has refuted rumors that the government asked the carrier to merge with its bigger compatriot, Hanjin Shipping.

Shipping lines cannot ignore the move to provide liquid natural gas as a bunker fuel that will be a game changer, according to Angus Campbell, managing director of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement UK.

The U.S. Navy’s search for the El Faro, the cargo ship that sank during Hurricane Joaquin on Oct. 1 with the loss of its 33-member crew, has turned up nothing so far, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

United Arab Shipping Co. has appointed a container shipping industry veteran who led the commercial organization at Hapag-Lloyd America to head its North America division.