Container lines

Maersk Line has signed a $1.1 billion contract for nine 14,000-TEU ships from Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries, its third major order this year, as it accelerates a $15 billion investment program aimed at consolidating its ranking as the world’s largest ocean container carrier.

The number of idled container ships of over 500 20-foot-equivalent units has risen to 108 from 82 two weeks ago and the figure is set to rise amid weak cargo demand, according to Alphaliner.

Evergreen Line has confirmed an order for 10 ships each with capacities of 2,800 twenty-foot equivalent units, a move aimed at capturing a larger share of the profitable and growing intra-Asia trade market.

APL announced Monday that its PA2 service from North Asia will skip calls to the Port of Oakland through the end of July because of the port’s congestion problems.

Brazilian fresh beef exporters will begin shipping to the United States for the first time in 15 years in September, paving the way for forecasted volume of up to 9,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units annually.

The largest container vessels on order has more than sextupled since 1975 and is set to expand by at least 13 percent by 2020, according to an IHS Maritime & Trade analysis of the order book.

European Union competition regulators approved French carrier CMA CGM’s acquisition of OPDR, the German short-sea shipping line.

Maersk has sold its majority-owned offshore support company Esvagt to private equity investors in the latest disposal of non-core operations as it focuses on container shipping and terminals and oil and gas exploration and drilling.

A "toxic" mixture of overcapacity, weak demand and aggressive pricing is threatening ocean carriers’ profitability for the rest of 2015, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

The G6 Alliance will cancel another four Asia-Europe sailings in July and August in the latest indication that carriers do not expect much of a peak season this year.

Container lines won’t reduce the amount of cargo moving through the Suez Canal despite heightened security tensions — most recently inflamed by the reported arrest of 13 people on suspicion of planning to sabotage the waterway integral to trade between Asia and the Europe, and increasingly the U.S.

Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis has rekindled criticism of the Jones Act, the cabotage law requiring the use of U.S.-flag vessels for shipments between the commonwealth and the U.S. mainland.

A spot rate index measuring the cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Los Angeles to Shanghai this week fell to its lowest level of the year, reflecting declining Chinese demand for U.S. exports.

Italian shipowner Grimaldi has ordered three new car carriers, with an option for a fourth vessel, just three weeks after signing a contract for five ships and an option for seven more, taking its total investment to $465 million and underscoring the revival in the global automotive industry.

CMA CGM has reorganized the port rotation of its Europe-Pakistan-India Consortium, or EPIC, service by adding a direct call at Hazira, India, in an attempt to circumvent growing delays at the nearby public port of Nhava Sheva.

China’s ability to throw staggering amounts of money at projects was on display again this week with the announcement that a state-owned investment giant will pour $113 billion into supporting the One Belt, One Road trade strategy.

Speculation is rising that the three largest global container lines are considering buying the last surviving Brazilian-owned container shipping company, Log-In Logistica Ltda.

While container carriers haven’t had much to cheer about as spot rates take a beating, they can at least take solace in the fact that equipment costs have hit a 10-year low, according to shipping consultant Drewry.

Crowley is continuing its investments in the U.S.-Caribbean-Latin American services by buying more than 4,300 pieces of equipment that will be used on its services connecting the Caribbean, South America and the U.S.

U.S. exports of cotton (not carded or combed) by dollar value tumbled 20.6 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2015, the tenth consecutive quarterly decline. The trade outlook for 2015 looks disappointing, mostly because of a global glut of the fiber and weakening demand from China, the top-. Cotton exports by dollar value are forecast to decline 1.6 percent for an annual total of $4.3 billion with downside risks, following a decline of 21.4 percent in 2014.

U.S. containerized imports from South America are rising on a double-digit basis while U.S. exports to the region stagnate, a recent trend that is narrowing the trade lane’s north-south imbalance and emboldening carriers to seek higher rates.

Simatech has received the first of two new container ships with capacities of 4,350 twenty-foot-equivalent units, reflecting continuing and rapid intra-Asia trade demand.

The Far East-South America trades are facing the threat of rate wars this month as carriers add significant additional capacity to an already oversupplied market, according to Alphaliner.

Hapag-Lloyd’s seeking of a rate increase in August on its eastbound trans-Pacific services after pushing for identical increases in the last two months suggest recent attempts fared poorly.

The christening last week of the Vicente Pinzon marks the completion of Alianca Navegacao’s reais 700 million ($224.5 million) cabotage and coastal fleet upgrade aimed at securing its dominance in the Brazilian cabotage market

CMA CGM will sign a $1 billion financing agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China on Wednesday when Chinese premier Li Keqiang visits the French carrier’s headquarters.

Shippers on Asia-Europe have never been fans of the host of surcharges levied by carriers on the trade and have routinely levelled complaints that the ad-ons were more boosters of revenue rather than a cost recovery mechanism.

The G6 Alliance continues to add port calls to its Asia-North Europe services, this time in China, in a bid to secure additional cargo loads on the trade during the much hoped for peak season.

Cosco, the largest shipping group in China, is back in the corruption spotlight with the National Audit Office issuing a report that accuses the carrier of serious financial irregularities.

As ships grow larger, so does the challenge of finding a port of refuge where they can secure salvage assistance during emergencies.

Fixing in the container vessel charter market is turning patchier as summer draws near, with hire rates for ships with capacities of 2,500–3,000 twenty-foot equivalent units declining in particular. Rates for gearless 2,700–2,800 TEU ships, which remain popular for the growing intra-Asia trade, continued to erode last week when reports emerged that two vessels had been fixed at a cost of $12,000 a day.

Kattupalli International Container Terminal, an emerging alternative gateway on India’s southeastern coast, last week celebrated the first ship call of the SCI Middle East India Liner Express, or SMILE, an intra-regional service by state-owned carrier Shipping Corporation of India.

Spot rates on the Asia-Europe and Asia-Mediterranean trades more than doubled in anticipation of general rate increases to be imposed next week and as carriers continued to withdraw sailings in a bit to cut back chronic overcapacity.

The 2014 JOC Top 100 Exporters rankings once again are led by businesses engaged in recycling operations and industrial companies.

United Arab Shipping Co. gained regulatory breathing room Wednesday when the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission unanimously voted to grant the the Qatar-controlled carrier exemptions from filing rules required by it being on the “controlled carrier” list.

Hapag-Lloyd is raising rates on the East Coast of South America to Central and North America trade lane amid a recent shakeup in vessel-sharing agreement.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission is moving to force ocean carriers to provide data and information for monitoring a FMC-authorized agreement formed to attack West Coast port congestion.

SeaLand sees its new service linking Central America with the U.S. East Coast as an opportunity to increase its interchange of cargo from ships of its larger corporate sibling Maersk Line.