Container lines

A free trade agreement (FTA) between Japan and Australia will begin on Jan. 15, either eliminating or drastically cutting import tariffs on most products traded between the two Asia-Pacific nations, the Japanese government announced today.

Sea Star Line, said it plans early next year to add a weekly container barge service to the U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico service it now operates with two self-propelled roll-on, roll-off ships.

Ocean carriers will reap considerable financial benefits from cheap oil in 2015 if prices stick close to current five-year lows, but shippers will be the big winners, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants.

TUI, the German tourism group, is talking with potential buyers of its remaining stake in Hapag-Lloyd as a way of finally exiting container shipping, the chairman of the former owner of the country’s largest ocean carrier said.

Carriers announced GRIs this week for several major trade lanes, all effective on Jan. 15. Spot rates on Drewry Maritime Research’s World Container Index composite index, which measures 11 East-to-West trade lanes, has dropped 23.5 percent in the five weeks since Nov. 6.

Although Hapag-Lloyd announced the completion of its merger with Chilean carrier CSAV on Dec. 2, it must still navigate the rocky shoals created by the two carriers’ combined losses and heavy debt load.

The idle container ship fleet crept up slightly over the past two weeks but remains at a record low, according to Alphaliner.

NVOCCs and forwarders will be required to submit house bills of lading to China customs when the country's advanced manifest system is implemented in March.

Spot rates on the major east-west trades rose sharply this week, reflecting the Dec. 15 general rate increases that will be levied on a market that shows little interest in helping carriers push up prices for any sustained period.

Hapag-Lloyd is conferring with its partners in the G6 Alliance on plans to order larger container ships in the next year, but even as it does so the need for bigger ships may be changing because of the recent drop in bunker fuel prices.

U.S. port congestion delays are starting to cost shippers money — and customers in some cases.

Maersk Line will implement a general rate increase and peak-season surcharge totaling $1,000 per 40-foot container on cargo heading from Asia to the U.S. and Canada starting Jan. 15, the carrier announced today.

Some ocean carriers are raising terminal-handling surcharges about 70 percent on Jan. 1 for calls at ports in Thailand, and shippers are bracing for other carriers to follow suit.

Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV will launch new joint services between March and June, the carriers said today after unveiling new-and-improved service loops.

Spot rates on the trans-Pacific remained steady this week leading up to a massive general rate increase, a sign that carriers could have some success with the historical GRI, Drewry Maritime Research says.

Spot freight rates are falling faster than the bunker fuel price and helping to erase any long term gain in profitability for the over-supplied container shipping industry.

Both Maersk Line and Hamburg Sud received top marks as the most reliable container carriers in the third quarter, Drewry's Carrier Performance Insight shows, as industry-wide reliability began to recover in October.

Mergers and acquisitions and soon-to-launch alliances are changing the rankings of the JOC Top 40 Container Carriers in U.S. containerized trade. Volume increased 2.7 percent year-over-year to 23.7 million 20-foot-equivalent units in the first nine months of 2014, with Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. accounting for 21.4 percent of total trade.

Vietnam’s increasing role in the final assembly of products was evident in the October trade figures that showed Chinese exports to Vietnam soaring 52.6 percent year-over-year to $61 billion.

The global supply-demand gap in container shipping will widen significantly in 2015, putting pressure on freight rates, Citi said in a report released on Monday.

Claudio Bozzo, who has been president and CEO of Mediterranean Shipping Co. (USA) for the last decade, has moved to Geneva to take over a new position as global chief operating officer of MSC, the world’s second largest container line.

As the world’s first 19,000 TEU ship sets sail on its maiden voyage on Monday, concerns are being raised that mega container ships pose a substantial risk to cargo and crew due to their sheer size and inability of supporting infrastructure to come to their aid in the event of an accident.

Congestion at Asia ports this is year is continuing to force intra-Asia carriers to charter feeder ships more frequently and for shorter time periods in order to maintain weekly schedules.

The use of natural gas as a marine fuel that allows vessel operators to comply with the low-sulfur fuel requirements of the North American Emissions Control Area is beginning to catch on in the container shipping industry.

Most of the global shipping lines support the low-sulfur fuel requirement that will take effect on Jan. 1 in the North American trades, even though their operating costs will go up.

Two carriers announced general rate increases targeting trans-Atlantic shipments to the Port of New York-New Jersey.

Import volume growth at the busiest U.S. container ports is slowing this month amid severe West Coast delays that have put a sour finish on a strong year for container shipments, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report.

Total U.S. containerized exports slumped in October amid weakening global demand caused by sluggish economic conditions abroad.

The Port of New York and New Jersey handled record container volume in October, and port officials report progress on a broad effort to prepare for larger ships expected to accompany the mid-2016 raising of the Bayonne Bridge.

Maersk Line is enhancing its Chennai Express Express, adding a fortnightly call at India’s Kattupalli International Container Terminal.

Multiple container lines plan to attempt general rate increases in numerous trade lanes in December and January, although any gains achieved could be temporary as overcapacity and sluggish global demand continue.

Spot rates on all major east-west trades tumbled this week, with Asia-U.S. West Coast rates hitting levels not seen since July, according to the latest reading of the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission said Wednesday that 15 trans-Pacific carriers have individually agreed to hold off on imposing U.S. West Coast port congestion surcharges until next year.

Spot rates for containers heading from Asia to Europe dropped an additional 15 percent this week, sinking to 19-month low.

The CKYHE Alliance this week received U.S. regulatory approval to further integrate its newest member, Evergreen Line, into its vessel-sharing agreement covering the trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic trade lanes.

Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. today unveiled their finalized east-west network for their 2M Alliance, just months before the alliance is slated to begin operating.

U.S. containerized cargo volumes in 2014 are projected to reach 12 million 20-foot-equivalent units, down 2 percent from 2013, according to JOC Group Economist Mario Moreno. The projected total for 2014 containerized exports barely exceeds the total of 11.9 million TEUs recorded in 2012 and 2011.

Trans-Pacific spot rates continued to sink this week, wiping out all gains made by carriers with Nov. 15 GRIs and sinking to two-year seasonal low.

Containerized imports of toys through U.S. ports have slipped in recent months but are poised to recover as demographic trends return to more normal patterns following the Great Recession.

The 15-member TSA made its historic December general rate increase official today, as trans-Pacific spot rates continue on a downward trend