Container lines

Fesco, the operator of Russia’s largest ocean carrier, has successfully sold $75 million of corporate bonds, just weeks after it closed on a $800 million bond sale.

Maersk Line swung to a $204 million operating profit in the first quarter from a $599 million loss a year ago, its fourth successive quarter in the black, driven by cost savings, higher freight rates and a lower fuel bill that more than compensated for flat container volumes.

The European Union’s trade surplus expanded to €15.8 billion (appoximately US$20.4 billion) in March....

Shreyas Shipping and Logistics announced plans to launch a coastal container service between West India and South India.

CMA CGM, Maersk Line, Hamburg Süd, CSAV, China Shipping Container Lines and Hanjin will restructure their services between the Far East and South America’s east coast by launching three joint services in July.

Hapag-Lloyd will raise rates for all cargo and container types on three of its trade routes, as of June 15.

Samskip Multimodal has increased capacity on short sea services connecting Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to Hull, U.K.

German ocean carrier Hamburg Süd today ruled out an early revival of stalled merger talks with its rival Hapag-Lloyd as it announced a modest improvement in its 2012 results.

Hapag-Lloyd nearly halved its operating loss in the seasonally weak first quarter as the German ocean carrier posted modest gains in freight rates and cargo volumes and paid less to fuel its ships.

Maersk Line will boost rates on its trade route from the Mediterranean to the Far East, effective June 1.

Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores will modify the northbound rotation of its U.S. Gulf service by introducing a direct call at Cartagena, Colombia, in replacement of Caucedo, Dominican Republic.

In April, shipping lines and shipowners took deliveries of 13 new container ships with a combined capacity of 108,142 20-foot-equivalent units, according to Clarksons.

OOCL will boost freight rates for traffic from Asia to New Zealand, starting July 1.

Hapag-Lloyd today signaled its determination to reverse the accelerating rate slump on the Far East-Europe route by announcing a general rate increase of $1,000 per 20-foot container for westbound shipments to north European and Mediterranean ports from July 1.

Maersk Line will deploy the first 12 deliveries of its new Triple E container ships in its expanded Asia-Europe AE10 string. The first of the 20 ships in the series will make its maiden call at Busan on July 14.

Sunship Schiffahrtskontor KG has confirmed that all of its five crew members who were abducted during the boarding of its container ship City of Xiamen off the coast of Nigeria on April 26 have been released.

KFC, food safety regulators in China and the international poultry industry are spreading the word that heat kills the Type A H7N9 influenza, along with any other virus present.

Cosco Container Lines will raise rates for all shipments from the Far East and Indian subcontinent to Panama and the Caribbean, including Venezuela, Columbia and Costa Rica, effective June 1.

An explosion occurred yesterday in the engine room of United Arab Shipping Co.’s vessel Asir en route from Suez, Egypt, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, resulting in the loss of power of the vessel and injury of three officers.

A greater degree of cooperation between forwarders, shippers and lines might help engineer a more sustainable and effective global ocean freight industry, according to an official at DHL Global Forwarding.

Container carriers began the year with seemingly unshakeable resolve to increase rates on refrigerated cargoes, saying the prices were far below what carriers need to earn a return on their sizable investments. Now rates seem to be in a freefall.

New York State’s 524-mile canal system opened for the season this week, welcoming commercial traffic and recreational boaters, Times Union reports.

Emirates Shipping Line will raise rates on trade from the Far East and Southeast Asia to the Middle East, starting May 15.

The volumes of Hong Kong's total exports and imports of goods rose year-over-year, up 11.3 percent and 11.1 percent, respectively, Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department reported May 9.

Pacific Forum Line has announced a few changes to its Southpac service.

CMA CGM will launch a new intra-Morocco service, the New Morocco Shuttle.

Puerto Rico has less than one week’s supply of fresh foods stored on the island at any given time, making reliable food deliveries one of the key advantages of the Jones Act, according to a study by the General Accountability Office.

SeaFreight will increase rates for southbound dry and refrigerated cargo to ports in Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire, effective May 19.

Maersk Line will increase rates for dry shipments on its trade from the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent to East Africa, starting June 1...

APL will replace its SZX Service Ex Colombo with its AZX Service, beginning with the OOCL Oakland, voyage 035, with an estimated time of departure from Singapore on May 24 and an ETD from Colombo, Sri Lanka, on May 28.

Evergreen plans to boost rates for refrigerated cargo on its trade from Costa Rica to the U.S. and Puerto Rico, starting June 5.

Cosco Container Lines will raise rates for all shipments on two of its trade routes...

Global economic prospects fell below ocean container lines’ expectations in March, according to the latest monthly report from Container Trade Statistics.

U.S. steel exports in March were 1.1 million tons, rising 6.1 percent from 1.0 million tons from the previous month, but falling 8.6 percent from March 2012, according to government reporting.

The Jacksonville Port Authority in Florida has received the first vessel call from Bahri General Cargo.

Liquefied natural gas may soon be the fuel of choice for shipping lines that operate largely in environmentally sensitive sulfur emissions control zones, but replacing traditional bunker fuel with LNG could make economic sense, as well.

Global Ship Lease posted lower revenue and net income in the first quarter, but the NYSE-listed charter shipowner kept all 17 of its container vessels employed and paid down more debt.

Standard & Poor’s Maalot lowered its credit rating for Zim Integrated Shipping Services to “CCC” from “B.”

Finnlines’ net loss almost doubled in the first quarter as Europe’s deepening economic downturn depressed cargo volumes on its North Sea and Baltic short sea routes.