Container lines

Maersk Group said it has raised $1.25 billion from the successful issue of two maiden U.S. dollar bonds.

With the odds growing that a global ballast water treaty will come into force next year, concern is building among shipowners, including container carriers, that its implementation will be chaotic, expensive and ineffective.

A $400 million loan necessary to complete the $5.3 billion Panama Canal expansion project has been received by the engineering consortium responsible for widening the canal, according to the Panama Canal Authority’s lead administrator, Channel News Asia reported.

As the use of formalized alliances and vessel-sharing agreements accelerates, carriers’ core product ― moving containers from Point A to Point B ― becomes increasingly identical across alliance partners in major trade lanes.

Executives from Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co., in an attempt to expedite the U.S. approval process, met with a U.S. Federal Maritime Commissioner last week to address questions regarding their proposed “2M” vessel-sharing agreement.

The tit-for-tat imposition of embargoes between Russia and the West has opened the door for Brazil beef exporters to significantly expand shipments to Russia in recent months, with greater growth likely in 2015.

Hapag-Lloyd and APL increase congestion surcharges for cargo moving through Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva) and Pipavav to offset costs associated with worsening delays in intermodal connections to Delhi

Three major container lines have announced plans to launch a mega-alliance, dubbed Ocean Three, or as the JOC.com team likes to call it, O3.

New global alliances of container ship lines could produce a retaliatory surge in large-ship orders by competitors in 2016-2018, according to a research report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts.

State-owned Shipping Corporation of India has announced the launch of a fortnightly direct container service connecting major ports in the Indian subcontinent with Myanmar, starting this month.

T.S. Lines launches third India-China service in a vessel sharing agreement with Hanjin and Simatech

An estimated 300,000 40-foot reefer containers are expected to be added to the global fleet by 2018 as strong demand for perishables drives the business and improving technology enables their long distance transport.

Container freight rates will stabilize and may trend upward over the next few years despite the existing overcapacity of vessel space because of the expansion of existing carrier alliances and the creation of new ones, according to Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.

A new carrier alliance entered the fray this week after weeks of feverish speculation.

Taiwanese ocean carrier Yang Ming Line has confirmed that the fixed-rate time charter terms for five 14,000-TEU container ships, currently being built by CSBC Corp., will be extended to 10 years, with one two-year option, according to Seaspan.

Additional container lines have announced congestion surcharges for shipments moving to Sohar, Oman, to compensate for the extra costs caused by berthing delays and cargo processing bottlenecks.

A navel-gazing session by container shipping companies on the need for improved product differentiation and better service did little to impress an audience of customers and industry experts here this week.

EU antitrust authorities on Thursday gave Hapag-Lloyd the approval it needed for a merger with Chilean carrier CSAV.

APL has announced a steep increase in its congestion surcharges imposed earlier on import containers handled at the Indian ports of Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva) and Pipavav...

Crowley Maritime’s subsidiary Carib Energy LLC has been granted a 20-year, small-scale U.S. Department of Energy license to export liquefied natural gas to...

After gaining ground thanks to general rate increases in the first week of September, the Drewry benchmark rate from Hong Kong to Los Angeles dropped $100 per container this week.

Joseph Bonney, senior editor at JOC Group, will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Containerization and Intermodal Institute in recognition of 30 years of journalism excellence in covering the maritime industry for The Journal of Commerce and other media.

Container lines in coming years will continue to order larger ships and switch membership in vessel-sharing alliances in a desperate game of survival...

A massive shift in market share on the east-west trades is in the pipeline as the order book of the Ocean Three (O3) and 2M alliances will see their combined megavessel capacity eclipse that of their more established G6 and CKYHE rivals.

The Containerization & Intermodal Institute said it will present its 2014 Connie Award for industry leadership to Claudio Bozzo, president and CEO of Mediterranean Shipping Company (USA)

The “Ocean Three” Alliance among CMA CGM, China Shipping and United Arab Shipping Co. came together quickly after the formation of the “2M” vessel sharing agreement between Mediterranean Shipping Co. and Maersk, a deal that left CMA CGM seeking an alliance partner.

The U.S. intermodal sector has experienced significant growing pains, ranging from more concentrated discharge of import cargo at marine terminals to a deterioration in rail service. The inability of motor carriers to attract enough drivers to handle growth in demand also puts pressure on the so-called first and last miles of the intermodal legs.

Beneficial cargo owners won’t pay much of a premium for faster service or other ways carriers might be able to differentiate their ocean container services, Maersk Line CEO Soren Skou said.

Maersk Line has a clearly defined strategy for expansion in global trades, but is being very cautious about not disclosing it.

CMA CGM, China Shipping Container Lines and United Arab Shipping Co. today ended weeks of feverish speculation by unveiling the "Ocean Three" alliance that will operate some of the world’s biggest container vessels on the major east-west liner trade routes.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. is set to overtake Maersk Line by 2016 as the world’s largest ocean container carrier in terms of deployed capacity, according to industry analyst Alphaliner

Interest in using liquefied natural gas as vessel fuel is highlighting the need for regulatory policies and operational and safety standards, according to a new Maritime Administration study on LNG bunkering.

The $5.25 billion expansion project to allow larger vessels to traverse the canal is nearly 80 percent complete.

A decade-long revamp of its culture is driving profitability gains at Maersk Line, the world's largest global container line.

The three container lines planning to link up in a new vessel sharing agreement — CMA CGM, United Arab Shipping Co. and China Shipping Container Line — will initially operate 18 separate services covering the four major east-west trades, sources say.

CMA CGM, United Arab Shipping Co. and China Shipping Container Line will soon announce the formation of a new east-west vessel-sharing agreement, according to industry sources reached and news reports circulating Friday.

Three container lines that have yet to declare their allegiance to an east-west alliance — CMA CGM, United Arab Shipping Co. and China Shipping Container Line — will soon announce...

The Suez Canal Authority isn’t having any trouble finding money to pay for a $4 billion project to build a second channel.