Container lines

A US-EU free trade agreement would jumpstart global economic growth and could be signed within two years, Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington Monday. The Irish prime minister spoke to the business lobby on trans-Atlantic trade on the eve of a White House visit.

Hapag-Lloyd’s net loss grew to 128 million euros ($165 million) in 2012 from 29 million euros ($37.4 million) a year earlier, as surging fuel prices outweighed modest increases in volume and freight rates.

Hapag-Lloyd will increase rates on its trade from East Asia, excluding Japan, to the Indian subcontinent, by $200 per 20-foot-equivalent unit, starting April 15.

Danish Ship Protection has teamed up with Dan-Bunkering and in the future will begin offering Dan Bunkering’s customers maritime security solutions.

Cosco will hike rates on its trade from northwest Europe and the Mediterranean to the Far East and the India and Pakistan region, starting April 15.

Zim Integrated Shipping has cancelled contracts for five container vessels and delayed the delivery of a further four ships by a year to 2016.

Rickmers Maritime Trust said it plans to raise approximately $81.5 million from a rights issue to repay bank loans, including a top-up facility granted in 2008.

Seaboard Marine has begun using new bilevel automotive containers to handle shipments of automobiles to the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

The G6 Alliance, which recently announced its expansion into the Trans-Pacific trade, has now provided details on the port rotations of the new services.

Hapag-Lloyd will increase rates on its westbound trade from India and Pakistan to North Europe and the Mediterranean by $225 per 20-foot-equivalent unit, starting April 1.

If the current civil unrest in Egypt forces the closure of the Suez Canal, ocean shipping lines would be able to absorb most of the shock of diverting Asia-Europe shipments around the Cape of Good Hope by increasing vessel speeds.

The undercard is complete, the verbal jousting is done, and it’s time to get on with the main event: the container shipping industry’s contract negotiating season.

APL no longer offers vessel space for 53-foot ocean containers in its trans-Pacific services.

Container lines’ rapid exit from intermodal chassis ownership is spawning several equipment supply models that emphasize flexibility and a larger role for lessors and truckers.

Evergreen Line, Hanjin Shipping and Simatech Shipping will join forces to launch the new IDEA service, linking the Indian subcontinent, Persian Gulf and East Africa, starting in late March.

The Federal Maritime Commission’s commissioners have voted to allow a new agreement with the G6 Alliance to go into effect, permitting the six carriers to deploy more than 50 ships in the trans-Pacific trade, particularly increasing the frequency of vessel port calls on the U.S. East Coast.

Maersk Line and its Asian arm MCC Transport are to open a branch office in Myanmar to tap a market poised for strong cargo growth following the suspension of European Union and U.S sanctions in 2012.

Carriers currently operating services on the Southeast Asia-Australia trade will consolidate their respective services, beginning in the middle of April.

Hanjin Shipping has expanded its services in Indonesia.

Lockheed Martin has received initial orders to manufacture cryogenic tanks for fueling liquefied natural gas powered vessels.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services has announced that Zim Container Service Atlantic will add a second call in New York on its eastbound route, starting this month.

Box Ships intends to offer and sell 4 million of its common shares at $5.25 per share in an underwritten public offering. The offering is expected to close on March 18.

CMA CGM Group has finalized the purchase of 50,000 bamboo "eco-containers" with 25,000 light steel containers, which is in line with the company’s environmental policy.

Slack U.S. import demand and too much vessel capacity undermined most of the general rate increase that container carriers implemented on Jan. 15, sending average spot freight rates in the eastbound trans-Pacific trade down this week, the third consecutive week of decline.

Eimskip has announced several changes in its sailing schedule in order to expand its service in the North Atlantic.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. will raise rates on all dry cargo from North Europe, Scandinavia, the Baltic, the U.K. and Ireland to the Far East, including Japan, starting April 1.

Hanjin Logistics has opened new offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam and Mumbai, India, to expand its third-party logistics network.

China Cosco Holdings has preliminarily proposed to sell 100 percent of its interest in its directly owned subsidiary Cosco Logistics to its controlling shareholder China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co.

China, while still the undisputed leader in supplying apparel, footwear and furniture to the U.S., is seeing its market dominance diminish because of annual double-digit wage increases in those industries.

U.S. steel exports in January totaled 1.077 million tons, rising 11.2 percent from December 2012, according to U.S. government data.

Carriers are unlikely to stem the decline in freight rates in the Asia-to-North Europe trade lane any time soon, even if the general rate increases they plan to implement later this week boost spot rates for a few days.

CMA CGM has announced several rate increases that will take effect on April 1.

There were many takeaways from this year's TPM Conference in Long Beach, Calif. Here is some of what we learned.

The collapse of Germany’s KG ship finance system has not dampened orders for new container ships, as funding remains widely available, according to industry analyst Alphaliner.