Container lines

The Russian invasion of the Ukrainian province of Crimea is shining a spotlight on the economic vulnerability of its smaller neighbor.

Several carriers have planned general rate increases in multiple trade lanes in April and May, although any gains achieved could be temporary as overcapacity and sluggish global demand continues.

Interest in a container and breakbulk service between Cleveland and North Europe launching this month has been fueled by erratic service at U.S. East Coast ports and unreliable service via surface transportation, according to users of the service.

Shippers and carriers don’t always see eye-to-eye, but they do agree on one thing as the 2014-15 shipping season rolls out: The advent of the P3 Network and other expanding vessel-sharing alliances are turning ocean transportation on the major east-west ocean trades into a commodity.

The Drewry benchmark rate for shipping from Hong Kong to Los Angeles rose this week after three weeks in a row with no positive movement.

Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV signed a binding contract to complete a merger to create the world’s fourth-largest container line.

The “Daily Maersk” product was supposed to solidify Maersk’s position as the leading carrier on the Asia-North Europe trade, but less than three years after its launch, Maersk has lost market share in the lane and triggered a rate war, setting the stage for a carrier showdown, Alphaliner said in its latest newsletter.

Is Maersk Line, the world’s largest ocean carrier, showing that the age-old demons of container shipping — overcapacity, volatile spot rates and commoditized service — can finally be slain?

Imagine a cargo ship with no crew and no bridge, operated remotely by a captain from a console on dry land.

U.S. containerized import volume jumped 15.1 percent year-over-year in March 2014, the largest increase in 13 months, according to advance figures from PIERS, the data division of JOC Group Inc.

Shippers can expect more cargo to be “rolled” to later voyages as container lines continue to cut costs by slow-steaming and laying up vessels, Drewry Maritime Research said in its latest Container Insight Weekly.

Hapag-Lloyd plans to implement two low-water surcharges at the Port of Montreal, although some officials are questioning why, as they expect the spring thaw to begin soon.

HSH Nordbank, the world’s largest ship financier, today announced its net loss soared to €814 million ($1.1 billion) in 2013 from €124 million ($172.4 million) in 2012, and said it doesn’t expect the global shipping market to recover before 2015 at the earliest.

Despite growing concerns about tight supplies and rising prices, U.S. red meat exports performed well in February...

In a market where east-west ocean service is becoming a port-to-port commodity, Maersk Line is taking steps to stand out from the rest of the pack by branding its service beyond the ocean voyage.

A high-powered Singapore business delegation left for China’s Shandong Province today on a mission to boost exports to the country and attract investors.

Scandlines, the Danish-German ferry operator, posted a 5.5 percent decline in operating profit last year as increased freight volume was offset by lower passenger and auto traffic.

With container shipping barely out of the starting gate with liquid natural gas as a ship fuel, major ports around the world are anticipating a rapid ramp-up of LNG use in shipping and are angling to be prepared.

Hapag-Lloyd was first carrier to announce the westbound May rate increases even as April 1 GRIs struggle to lift a market weighed down by overcapacity and weak demand.

The likely emergence of the P3 Network in the second quarter of 2014 will drive the strategic plans of West Coast ports in 2014 and beyond.

A subsidiary of Saltchuk Resources will acquire Tropical Shipping and its related transportation, consolidation and cargo insurance companies from AGL Resources in a deal expected to total $220 million.

The Marine Department is waiting for the owners of the Hansa Constitution, which ran aground on the south side of Hong Kong island yesterday, to make a decision on how the vessel’s cargo of containers will be removed.

The German-flagged container ship Hansa Constitution veered off course in the busy Lamma Channel off Hong Kong and ran aground on Sunday afternoon.

CMA CGM plans to revise two service loops between North Europe and South America’s east coast as of mid-April.

NEWPORT, R.I. — With overcapacity in the trans-Pacific likely at least until 2016, carriers are facing a tough time in eastbound negotiations for service contracts that renew on May 1.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission yesterday unanimously voted to allow the G6 Alliance to expand into the Asia-U.S. West Coat and trans-Atlantic routes.

Hamburg Süd’s revenue declined 3.9 percent in 2013 on subdued demand in its key South American market, falling freight rates and a weaker US dollar.

MPC Group and Thien & Heyenga, the leading German ship management companies, have taken over the financially troubled Ahrenkiel Group in the latest consolidation in the nation’s crisis-ridden charter shipping sector.

JOC Economist Mario Moreno has lowered his forecasts for the U.S. containerized trade with both coasts of South America.

CMA CGM’s net profit surged almost 23 percent in 2013, driven by the sale of a stake in its ports unit, but the French ocean carrier lost money in a volatile fourth quarter.

The two largest Chinese container lines have more reason to work together after they both continued to suffer from overcapacity and lackluster demand in the container shipping industry in 2013.

With nerves fraying about upcoming talks between waterfront employers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, with memories fresh of jurisdictional issues that have led to sporadic protests in the Pacific Northwest and with chassis shortages causing long delays at Los Angeles-Long Beach, West Coast ports are as exposed as they’ve been in recent memory.

For someone who’s just unveiled a whopping $530 million net loss for 2013, Zim’s chief executive Rafi Danieli appears to be in an outlandishly bullish mood.

SeaLand, the newly founded intra-Americas regional carrier of Maersk Group, has announced its executive team.

LONDON — Zim Integrated Shipping Services’ net loss soared to $530 million in 2013 — more than half booked in the final three months — from $428 million a year earlier, but the Israeli ocean carrier said an imminent restructuring deal will “dramatically” improve its finances.

Hapag-Lloyd predicted a “much better “outlook for liner shipping today as it posted a smaller net loss and bigger operating profit for 2013.

The container shipping industry’s supply and demand will become “finely balanced” this year...

Some container lines have taken on so much debt in recent years to order new, more efficient mega-ships that they are now in a struggle for survival.

Growing numbers of shippers and freight forwarders are signing index-linked container contracts (ILCCs) with ocean carriers in response to increased market volatility, according to Drewry Maritime Research.