Container lines

Based on the rates one importer has negotiated in its annual trans-Pacific contracts, it appears likely that shippers may have to ante up for freight rates that are substantially higher than in the past few years.

The first of United Arab Shipping Co.’s super-sized container ship built to run on liquefied natural gas has been named in a ceremony at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, the Korean shipyard where the vessel is under construction.

Just two hours before they were set to call the port at Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates, the crew of the Maersk Tigris likely had little or no idea that the container ship would become international news while heightening tension in the Middle East.

Iranian patrol vessels fired warning shots across the bow of the container ship Maersk Tigris when the vessel was traversing the Strait of Hormuz in Iranian territorial waters, a Pentagon spokesman said.

A rush by container lines to add services threatens to create overcapacity and undermine rates on all-water services between Asia and the U.S. East Coast, Alphaliner reports.

Mega-vessels deployed in the Asia-Europe trade are overlapping intra-Asia routes and compounding the influx of capacity cascading into the regional trade from oversupplied east-west routes.

Spot rates in the China-U.S. East Coast lane are falling back down to historical levels, a sign that vessel diversions driven by West Coast congestion may be easing.

The trial of Thomas Farmer, a former Crowley Liner Services executive accused of antitrust conspiracy, has entered its third week in U.S. District Court in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

U.S. consumer spending and new homebuilding are forecast to grow so steadily this year that imports from Far East Asia are likely to grow by a faster-than-expected 4.5 percent, year-over-year.

China Shipping Container Lines in the first quarter continued its profitable turnaround that began with a positive 2014 annual result, reporting a 305 percent increase in net profit to $40 million.

Forget faster shipping services and press container lines for better reliability is the advice from Drewry to shippers prepared to pay a premium for expedited options.

German container line Hamburg Süd, traditional a north-south carrier, is putting volume growth in the major east-west trades at the top of its agenda this year.

With West Coast port congestion and container backlogs easing faster than predicted, beneficial cargo owners are reassessing their supply chain strategies for the coming shipping season.

The number of westbound 40-foot equivalent ocean containers available in Chicago and Kansas City surged in early April, another sign the West Coast container logjam has broken and the Chinese New Year reprieve is over.

A former employee of U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico carriers Sea Star Line and Trailer Bridge has been charged with defrauding the companies of $2.1 million by submitting phony invoices for container and equipment decals and inspection and transportation of containers and equipment.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services announced the launch of a new service between Asia and the U.S. East Coast via the Suez Canal at the end of May.

European shippers are stepping up their scrutiny of shipping alliances by launching their own review of the massive vessel-sharing agreements.

Hamburg Sud remained in the black in 2014 even as falling freight rates on its key South American routes and a weaker dollar depressed revenues.

Japan posted a monthly trade surplus for the first time in nearly three years in March, as exports grew on the back of a weaker yen, led by robust U.S.-bound shipments, while imports tumbled due largely to lower oil prices.

India and Bangladesh agreed to extend an earlier protocol dealing with “inland water transit and trade” cooperation between the two countries, with provision for automatic renewal in line with a proposed amendment to the Bangladesh-India trade agreement, the Indian Ministry of Shipping said in a written statement.

The Port of Portland, Oregon, is doing its best to keep containerized cargo moving up and down the Columbia River, even if it means encouraging freight to move to Seattle and Tacoma until the port can attract new liner services.

Container ship lines on the Far East-North Europe trade are fighting a losing battle to halt a plunge in rates by canceling sailings, Alphaliner reports in its latest weekly newsletter.

Container lines continue to see their operating costs fall thanks to the steady decline in their largest cost, bunker fuel. Some of those savings are passed onto shippers through lower fuel surcharges.

Mega-ships and the large container carrier alliances will cause long-term headaches for shippers, believes David Panjwani, John Deere’s global logistics manager for Asia and Africa.

Hapag-Lloyd has ordered five 10,500-TEU container ships for the South American trades.

The first container ship designed to run on natural gas has been launched at General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego for operation by Sea Star Line in the U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico trade.

U.S. containerized exports to the east coast of South America will shrink in 2015 by 2.4 percent from the prior year, thanks to unfavorable exchange rates between the Brazilian real and dollar, and subdued demand from Latin America’s biggest economic engine.

A full recovery for the world container market is still a long time out, providing little short-term hope to the container lessing sector, say analysts at Drewry Maritime Research.

Five more Chinese ports can now allow foreign-flag vessels to provide cabotage services to their container terminals.

The saving grace for carriers on the Asia-Europe trade battling record low freight rates has been lower bunker costs, but even at their present lows, with weakening load factors many ships will not be covering their unit costs, according to Drewry.

Schedule reliability for the core east-west trade lanes hit a five-month peak in March, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

Spot rates in the eastbound trans-Pacific trade lane continue to drag as major U.S West Coast ports make headway on reducing the backlog of cargo that began stacking up at marine terminals since the early fall.

Weak exports from China are driving Asia-Europe container freight rates down to new record lows, according to the world’s largest shipping association.

In the first two months of 2015, Chinese exports by value to Hong Kong, its second-largest trading partner, fell 6.5 percent year-over-year, while outbound shipments to Japan, China’s third-biggest receive of its exports, slipped 0.4 percent in the same period, according to statistics from Global Trade Information Systems, a sister company of JOC.com within IHS Maritime & Trade.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services is finally emerging from seven straight years of mounting losses and a multibillion-dollar restructuring that saved it from bankruptcy, its CEO Rafi Danieli says.

Yang Ming Line, Wan Hai Lines, Pacific International Lines and Cosco Container Lines have jointly kicked off a new container service between the Far East and the Middle East.

U.S. Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Mario Cordero on Tuesday said the agency is “taking the temperature” on alleged unreasonable demurrage and detention fees. But the agency doesn’t have a timeline on when it will act -- whether that’s through an investigation, a fact-finding mission or something else -- nor is there a guarantee it will.

A U.S. dollar in hyperdrive is helping exporters in some trading nations and setting the stage for a surge of U.S. imports.

Africa may be the future frontier for apparel sourcing, but with infrastructure and industry on the continent still lacking, apparel manufacturers say they’re staying put in Southeast Asia for the time being.