Container lines

Capital Product Partners today reported revenue in the first quarter was $40.0 million, including $0.3 million in profit sharing revenues, compared with $39.8 million in the same quarter in the previous year.

OOCL celebrated the delivery of its fourth 13,208-TEU ship on April 29.

The increasing dominance of super-post-Panamax ships in the major east-west trades is forcing smaller, niche carriers out of business on those lanes and raising the barrier to further entries.

Maersk Line has hired Microsoft’s head of global retail sales and marketing as chief commercial officer of the world’s largest ocean carrier.

China Shipping Container Lines plans to order five 18,000 20-foot-equivalent unit container ships, the world’s largest, becoming the first carrier to challenge Maersk Line, which will deploy the first vessel of this size in the Asia-Europe trade in June.

Hapag-Lloyd will boost rates for all cargo and container types on its trade from the Mediterranean to all coasts in the U.S., starting June 1.

Fesco, the owner of Russia’s largest ocean container carrier, announced it has successfully priced $800 million of bonds.

Box Ships reported net income in the first quarter of 2013 of $4.0 million, down 15 percent from $4.7 million in the first quarter of 2012.

Bowhead Transport and Crowley Marine Services, Inc., have formed a joint venture, called UIC Bowhead-Crowley, to provide marine services in Arctic Alaska.

In preparation for the upcoming peak season on the trans-Pacific trade, Evergreen Line will launch a new weekly direct service linking central China with the U.S. West Coast.

Atlantic Container Line’s order for five multipurpose ships last August didn’t attract much attention beyond the ro-ro industry, but the impact of the vessels on ro-ro shipping will be as great as that of Maersk Line’s 18,000-TEU Triple E behemoths on container shipping.

CAI International reported net income in the first quarter of 2013 was $16.1 million, increasing 11 percent from $14.5 million in the same quarter in the previous year.

Costamare’s net income edged up to $24.73 million in the first quarter from $24.53 million a year ago, as the Greek shipowner profited from the sale of a vessel for scrap and kept all its charter ships employed.

Steel imports in March were 2.475 million tons, dropping 1.3 percent from 2.508 million tons in February and plummeting 19.3 percent from March 2012, according to preliminary government reporting...

ABS’s board of directors has elected Christoper J. Wiernicki, current president and CEO of the offshore and marine classification services company, to the role of chairman, effective May 1.

Maersk Line has announced several upcoming service changes.

Maersk Line is upgrading its MECL1 and MECL2 services, which connect the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and the U.S. East Coast.

Hapag-Lloyd will hike rates for all cargoes on its trade from Mexico to Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, starting May 22.

CMA CGM will increase rates for dry shipments on its trade from Asia to West Africa, beginning May 1.

Regardless of the trade route, the container shipping industry revolves around a pretty basic concept: What comes in usually goes out.

As container lines in the eastbound trans-Pacific make their annual sprint to the May 1 finish line to sign service contracts with their customers, victory is within reach. The question is who will declare it and how will it be measured?

Barge shipping on the Illinois River and north of St. Louis on the Mississippi River remains at a standstill today as flooding has forced about a dozen river locks to close following torrential rains last week, The Gazette reports.

The Mississippi River has reopened at Vicksburg, Miss., today, after officials determined there was enough water covering a barge that sank over the weekend to allow other vessels to safely navigate through...

Navios Maritime Holdings, a NYSE-listed tanker and dry bulk vessel owner, has moved into container shipping, acquiring five vessels from debtors of HSH Nordbank.

OOCL has announced that the Norfolk Express vessel on the Gulf Mexico Service, GMX, will be replaced on its current voyage by another vessel, Irenes Rainbow, effective immediately.

Asian exporters have been warned to expect sudden cancellations of shipping services and rejigged schedules to Europe as ocean carriers scramble to reverse an accelerating collapse in freight rates.

Ever Liven, the 10th in a series of 8,452 20-foot-equivalent unit L-type container ships to be operated by Evergreen Line, has been christened at the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea.

Container carrier Mitsui O.S.K. Lines will launch its new Finland Express Service on April 29, to expand service in the Baltic region.

CMA CGM’s Alexander von Humboldt container ship today began its maiden voyage in Busan, South Korea.

The United States supplanted China as Japan’s biggest export market in fiscal 2012, which ended on March 31, for the first time in four years, according to preliminary figures released by the Finance Ministry.

United Arab Shipping Co. has appointed Lars Christiansen chief trade officer and Uffe Østergaard chief commercial officer, as part of the company's new transformation and investment program.

Maersk Line vowed the imminent deployment of the world’s largest container ships in the Asia-Europe trade would have a neutral impact on capacity as it warned of the risk of an all-out rate war on the westbound leg of the biggest liner route.

The European Parliament has approved of plans to clean up the scrapping of old ships to ensure the materials are recycled in EU-approved facilities worldwide.

U.S maritime advocates have warned of the crippling of the Merchant Marine before, only for the institution dating back to revolutionary days to soldier on. This time, however, their fears appear warranted.

Diana Containerships, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, has signed a memorandum of agreement to sell its 1989-built vessel Maersk Madrid to an unaffiliated third party for demolition...

Mediterranean Shipping Co. will hike rates for all cargo on its Panda and Wallaby services in its trade from the Far East to any Australian port, starting May 15.

Cosco will boost rates for all shipments on its trade from the Far East, excluding Japan, and the India and Pakistan region to northwest Europe and the Mediterranean...