Container lines

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.

Just days after postponing a surcharge on cargo heading from Asia to U.S. West Coast ports, Mediterranean Shipping Co. today told customers it would impose a surcharge next week to mitigate losses from terminal congestion.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services’ net loss narrowed in the third quarter as the Israeli ocean carrier started to benefit from a $3.4 billion debt restructuring.

CMA CGM will use at least some of its new reefer fleet to serve growing produce trade between countries bordering both the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

China Shipping said it will launch the first of five 19,100-TEU container ships by end of the month, supplanting Maersk Line as the operator of the world’s largest container vessel.

Ports are set to dominate container shipping strategy with the focus on terminal productivity and capacity expansion, industry analysts said at the JOC Group’s Port Performance Conference Europe in London.

Trans-Pacific carriers only achieved half the general rate increase gain they hoped to via a $600-per FEU hike, Drewry Maritime Research said today.

The new ocean carrier alliances set to launch in 2015 will operate more reliable schedules, removing a major factor behind the congestion that has plagued major container ports this year, marine terminal operators said at the JOC Group’s Port Performance Conference in London today.

As least seven carriers have suspended newly announced port congestion surcharges on cargo heading from Asia to the U.S. West Coast, likely resulting from importer pushback and U.S. regulatory scrutiny.

The Asia-North Europe trade faces a “huge” impact from the influx of more than 50 ultra-large container vessels over the next 15 months, Drewry shipping consultants say.

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s liquefied natural gas services group has won a second multiyear contract to supply containerized, U.S.-sourced LNG to a major pharmaceutical company’s manufacturing plants in Puerto Rico.

Hamburg Süd last week took delivery of the last of three 9,034-TEU ships and christened the second of them in Singapore and deployed it on its service between Asia and the East Coast of South America.

Carriers in the trans-Pacific eastbound trade will follow this week’s announcement of a $1,000 congestion surcharge with a proposed $1,000 per container rate increase to take effect in mid-December.

Multiple container lines operating in the trans-Pacific lane have plans to implement some of the largest port congestion surcharges ever ― up to $1,000 per 40-foot container ― on cargo moving via U.S. West Coast ports, signaling the extent to which carriers are being battered financially by the worst U.S. port congestion in years.