Container lines

West Coast ports can breathe a sigh of relief after the rejection of the P3 Network by China’s Ministry of Commerce — a single operational entity won’t have the huge leverage they feared in negotiations over port calls and terminal charges.

Industry professionals will study the ramifications of liquefied natural gas leaks to get a better handle on the scope of accidental incidents.

A major restructuring move at Cosco Container Lines Americas will result in most regional offices closing in favor of a larger, more centralized North American Operations Center.

Israel Corp., the parent of Zim Integrated Shipping Services, has backed a court ruling that modifies the scope of the state’s “golden share” in the ocean carrier.

A Nicaraguan government committee today approved the route of a proposed $40 billion canal project that will bisect the country and rival the Panama Canal waterway linking the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean.

Minsheng Financial Leasing will receive $295 million from the Korean and Chinese export-import banks to build three 18,400-TEU ships that will be leased to Mediterranean Shipping Co. in the second half of 2015.

West Coast ports will spend the coming year in much the same way they spent the past year: preparing for big ships operated by big carrier alliances.

For five years now, cargo interests and truckers have been adjusting to a new environment in which shipping lines no longer provide chassis, yet the transition period still has a few years to go before the trade adopts a new model or models, according to an industry expert.

Manuel “Mike” Diaz Jr., who helped pioneer containerization and its pricing during a long career in shipping, died July 5 in San Mateo, California. He was 93.

OOCL has been fined €50,000 over the death of one of its senior executives 11 years ago.

CMA CGM has teamed up with India’s largest port company to build and operate a fourth container terminal at the port of Mundra.

The widening of the Panama Canal could eventually lead to a 90 percent increase in cotton exports for U.S. South Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports, and a 66 percent reduction in cotton exports through West Coast ports.

The gap between global liner schedule reliability this year and last year has narrowed, although monthly performance in May was still down year-over-year.

An Israeli court has modified key terms of the state’s veto-wielding “golden share” in Zim Integrated Shipping Services that threatened to block the carrier’s $3.4 billion restructuring.

DFDS, northern Europe’s largest integrated shipping and logistics company, confirmed it is one of the companies participating in the sale of UN Ro-Ro, the Turkish roll-on, roll-off carrier.

Hanjin Shipping will rake in almost $300 million from the spinoff of its dry bulk business, allowing the loss-making Korean carrier to remove a significant portion of debt as it continues to restructure the company.

The ink was hardly dry on Hapag-Lloyd’s merger deal with Chilean carrier CSAV when departing chief executive Michael Behrendt raised the prospect of acquiring an Asian container line.

Ocean container carriers must prioritize cost reductions this year to counter lower contract freight rates and volatile spot markets, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Federal Maritime Commissioners yesterday unanimously voted to allow CKYH partners and Evergreen Line to discuss cooperating in the trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic trades.

Global sea and air freight rates could decline by as much as 2.5 percent by the end of 2014, experts at Drewry Maritime Research say.

Former Damco head Rolf Habben Jansen takes over as CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, effective today.

An Israeli court is due to rule on the state’s “golden share” in Zim after the ocean carrier failed to reach agreement with the Israeli government over the controversial issue.

Israel Corp. shareholders approved a radical financial restructuring of Zim Integrated Shipping Services over the weekend.

The UK’s competition regulator today ordered Groupe Eurotunnel, the operator of the subsea rail link between Britain and France, to cease operation of its roll-on, roll-off shipping service within six months.

CMA CGM’s new container ship, the 9,400-TEU CMA CGM Danube, is slated to begin its maiden voyage next week

New Zealand freight and logistics company Kotahi has pledged to provide Maersk Line with 2.5 million 20-foot containers of exports over the next 10 years.

Nautilus Holdings Ltd., which charters 16 container ships to ocean carriers, filed for bankruptcy protection, citing a “depressed” charter market.

The worst is over for the Asia-Europe container trade as slow-steaming and scrapping of old vessels begin to address excess capacity, according to a recent report from HSBC’s transport analysts.

Container lines will continue to look to vessel-sharing agreements to reduce their operational costs, but new alliances will likely be less ambitious following the Chinese rejection of the P3 Network, SeaIntel Maritime Analysis CEO Lars Jensen says.

U.S. private equity fund KKR is reportedly mulling the sale of UN Ro-Ro to its previous owners.

The European Union today extended by five years an antitrust exemption for liner shipping consortia, in the face of opposition from shippers.

After 13 years of working closely with container lines to develop their electronic cargo booking and tracking capabilities through INTTRA, its former CEO Ken Bloom is moving on to solve a different problem: how to change the way the shipping industry operates.

European shipowners have asked the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers to endorse a maritime security plan aimed at safeguarding ships around the globe.

Japan’s exports to the United States fell for the first time in 17 months in May on a year-on-year basis.

At the end of this month, four ocean carriers will launch a new joint service connecting China, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

Hamburg Süd said it will focus on further cost cuts and expansion of its core routes to and from South America through 2014.

Hapag-Lloyd has plans to restructure its West Africa service network, including its West Africa Service and West Africa Mediterranean Express, in June and July.

China’s rejection of the P3 Network is a blow to Maersk Line, which had expected the global container ship alliance to produce large savings, analysts say.

A shortage of seafarers in the officer corps is expected to worsen, threatening carriers’ bottom lines, according to Drewry’s recently published Manning 2014 Annual Report.