Container lines

The design for an inland towboat powered by liquefied natural gas has won approval in principle from the American Bureau of Shipping.

Emirates Shipping Line has expanded its Asia-East Africa coverage with two new services in cooperation with CMA CGM, effective this month.

With congestion and other terminal-related charges increasingly impacting bottom lines, ports are rapidly moving to center stage in ocean carriers’ strategic planning.

The merged carrier will have a fleet of around 200 ships with a combined capacity of around one million TEUs transporting some 7.5 million TEUs a year and generating annual revenue of $12 billion.

Diana Containerships has received delivery of a 5,000-TEU Panamax container ship, bringing the shipowner’s fleet up to 11 vessels.

Falling volumes on the Asia-Mediterranean services has created a volatile spot market and could become unprofitable for carriers despite a year-to-date upsurge in demand.

Shipowners are committed to meeting new requirements for low-sulfur fuels but want uniform regulation and believe alternative fuels should be explored, an International Chamber of Shipping official said.

Hanjin Shipping has opened third-party representative offices at nine hinterland locations in India to cater to the fast rising export demand from the subcontinent region.

The single biggest cost of shipping lines and air cargo carriers continues to tumble, giving the freight transport industry a welcome end-of-year bonus to add to the best peak season in years, with some savings transferred to customers through reduced fuel surcharges.

The World Trade Organization’s trade measures approved this week in a historic agreement could cut the cost of trade by up to 15 percent, boost the global flow of goods, accelerate economic growth and add up to 20 million new jobs, most of them in developing nations.

United Arab Shipping Co. today named the industry’s first-ever LNG-ready ultra-large container vessel at Ulsan in Korea, with Sajir becoming the first of 17 vessels ordered by the carrier.

There will be no speedy solution to the congestion that is creating bottlenecks at ports around the world as terminals battle to cope with growing trade and surges in container volume.

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) became the latest carrier to postpone a port congestion surcharge for cargo entering North America via West Coast gateways, reversing a decision to impose the levy announced just days ago.

The revenue container shipping lines are achieving per TEU has been falling steadily over the past three years as freight rates continue to weaken under the burden of excess capacity.

For the second time in two weeks, three carriers are reversing their decision to implement port congestion surcharges, though the reason wasn’t immediately clear.

An Israel Corp. shareholder vote on the spinoff of Zim Integrated Shipping Services and several other businesses into a new company, Kenon Holdings Ltd., has been scheduled for a Dec. 31 vote.

Matson Navigation Co. will raise its rates for its Guam Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and Micronesia services by $225 for both westbound and eastbound containers, effective Jan. 25, 2015.

U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking and rail volume is poised to increase after Mexican factory export production in October hit a five-year high.

The International Maritime Organization last week agreed to an amended rule requiring container weights to be verified before boxes are loaded, cementing the rule’s implementation in July 2016.

CMA CGM on Wednesday announced the acquisition of German short-sea shipping line OPDR in the latest move by the French carrier to boost its share of the fast growing intra-European container shipping market.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office says the military should revise practices that cost taxpayers $823 million in fees over 10 years for late return of shipping containers, mostly for the war in Afghanistan.

Reinstated port congestion surcharges for container imports into the U.S. West Coast will go into effect beginning on Wednesday.

With reports of more 18,000-TEU ships soon to be ordered as carriers continue to pursue lower operating costs, the focus is again turning to what the next largest class of ships would look like.

One potential consequence of the congestion at West Coast ports - a shortage of containers in Asia due to difficulties repositioning them back from the U.S. - is being watched closely but does not seem yet to be creating widespread problems.

Carriers are proceeding with the largest single trans-Pacific eastbound rate increase in years but have only postponed making a formal announcement.

Clarksons, the world’s largest shipbroker, is paying £281.2 million [US $440 million] for its Oslo-based rival RS Platou, in a record deal likely to accelerate consolidation in the sector.

West Africa trade still points to a region with growth potential, despite a nearly 30 percent drop in exports caused by the Ebola outbreak, Drewry and carrier executives say.

Maersk Line’s chief executive said the carrier would settle for lower margins if this meant more of its competitors were profitable, reflecting concerns that while the largest carriers are profitable the rest of the industry is struggling to keep pace.

Increasing container dwell times are taking a toll at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, further exacerbating congestion at the busiest U.S. port complex.

Diana Containerships swung back to profitability in the third quarter, reporting a net profit of $1.4 million on higher charter rates after losing $700,000 in the same period a year ago.

Emirates Shipping Line on Monday said it will expand its services connecting Asia and East Africa into two fixed-day weekly services that will ensure that “port delays do not impact the quality of service on either loop.”

CMA CGM’s net income almost tripled in the third quarter as the French carrier’s container volume surged to an all-time high. The results support the trend in which the largest carriers in the world are also the most profitable.

The Philippine’ cabinet cluster on port congestion directed by cabinet secretary Jose Rene Almendras will gather for a port forum on November 27 in Manila as officials struggle to address the bottlenecks that have troubled the gateway since late February.

Even at lower rates of growth in container volumes globally, ports will still have to absorb hundreds of millions of additional TEUs over the next decade, a challenge for marine terminals over and above the painful transition to an era of big ships.

The international shipping industry is only spending 0.1 percent less on bunker fuel than it was 24-weeks ago, but that fluctuation equates to big savings: $117 million daily.

Five carriers today joined Mediterranean Shipping Co. in announcing congestion surcharges on cargo heading from Asia to U.S. West Coast ports.

United Arab Shipping Co. plans to join the EPIC Service between the Indian subcontinent and North Europe operated until now independently by CMA CGM.

Spot rates on the Asia-Europe trade plunged 13.3 percent this week to $809 per 20-foot container, the third straight week of heavy declines since the Nov. 1 general rate increases failed to stick, according to the latest reading of the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI).

For a single product, the iPhone plays a leading role in Taiwan’s export orders, helping push the key economic indicator to a record $44.9 billion in October on demand for the smartphone and other consumer electronics.