Container lines

Shipping lines in the eastbound trans-Pacific have a sound strategy for negotiating viable service contracts with beneficial cargo owners as they enter the new year. It remains to be seen if they can implement their plan.

Reform of liner regulations in the Asia-Pacific is set to take its first major step next year when the New Zealand government is expected to withdraw antitrust immunity from international shipping services.

The European Shippers Council has called for improvement in the exchange of information between shippers and container lines to diminish the loss of containers at sea.

Crowley Maritime Corporation today announced additional organizational realignments within its shipping and logistics team, effective Jan. 1, including the appointment of Nelly Yunta to vice president of sales...

Det Norske Veritas and Germanischer Lloyd today announced they are merging to create the world’s biggest ship classification society, accounting for nearly 18 percent of the global fleet.

Somali pirates took five Indian sailors hostage after attacking a German oil tanker off the southern coast of Nigeria.

Nashville, Ind.-based transportation forecaster FTR Associates’ Shippers Conditions Index for October was -5.0, improving nearly two points from September.

Dutch shipbuilding company Damen Shipyards Group today acquired ship repair yard Arno Dunkerque, located in the Port of Dunkirk in France.

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s liner services division has named Tony Otero as vice president of Caribbean services.

Japan’s exports to the United States rose for the 13th consecutive month in November.

LONG BEACH—The Dec. 12 announcement that CMA CGM is taking an equity stake in the Pier J terminal at the Port of Long Beach is a significant development...

Maersk Line recently announced that it will implement a congestion surcharge in the event of an International Longshoremen’s Association strike at East and Gulf coast ports, which would begin Dec. 29...

Cosco Container Lines, one of the four carrier members of the CKYH Alliance, will institute several surcharge adjustments.

The container ship charter market, struggling to recover from record lows, is set to weaken further in 2013 with an overhang of excess capacity depressing vessel earnings, according to industry analyst Alphaliner.

Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg Sud are in preliminary negotiations over a merger that would create the world’s fourth-largest ocean carrier and likely trigger a fresh round of consolidation in the fragmented container shipping industry.

The Army Corps of Engineers has announced that on Dec. 18 it will begin blasting and removing rock pinnacles at Thebes, Ill., located south of St. Louis on the Mississippi River, to prevent the Mississippi’s water levels...

Government data showed U.S. steel exports in October totaled 1.19 million tons, down 12.1 percent from 1.06 million tons in September but up 3 percent year-over-year.

Famous Pacific Shipping’s branch in Melbourne, Australia, has secured a contract to handle the import, unpacking and inland delivery of 52 containers with 1,138 metric tons (about 1,254 tons) of steel coil.

South Korean ocean container carrier Hanjin Shipping is hiking rates for Asia-Europe trade routes, effective Jan. 13, 2013, to cover losses from falling freight rates, the company said.

Florida-based marine salvage and wreck removal company TITAN Salvage, a Crowley company, has established a new office and equipment depot in Cairns, Australia.

Summa Friday completed the takeover of Fesco, giving the Russian trading and investment group control of the nation’s largest ocean container carrier.

Cosco Container Lines will increase rates by $500 per box for reefer shipments from the Far East to Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Indian subcontinent, effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Weak demand from Europe, the U.S. and Japan will dampen growth in Chinese exports in the coming months, IHS's senior economist for China says.

In ranking the ocean carriers serving the U.S. trade, perhaps Yogi Berra said it best: “It’s déjà vu, all over again.”

It’s not going to look a lot like Christmas for ocean container lines this year, next year and even beyond that.

Brazilian container line Alianca has announced changes to its Cabotage and Mercosul service because of the dry docking program of its Alianca Maracana during the first quarter of 2013.

Asia-Pacific ocean transport operator Austral Asia Line has added a port call at Lyttelton to its North Asia to New Zealand service, which will complement the existing Tauranga port call.

Mariana Express Lines, a regional ocean container carrier offering services between islands in the Pacific Ocean and Asia and Australia, will launch a U.S. West Coast service to certain Micronesia locations.

Shipping container lessor SeaCo has appointed Jeremy Matthew as CEO and Paul Merritt as chief operating officer.

New Orleans-based ocean transportation company Intermarine has hired John O. Bomer IV as a special consultant to the CEO to help expand the company’s Africa service.

Japanese carrier Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has changed its port rotations for PS1, PS2 and SAX Transpacific services, effective mid-December.

TOTE Inc. will build two LNG-powered container ships for its Sea Star Line service between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico in what the company describes as “a major technological milestone” for shipping.

Container shipping line CMA CGM has purchased a stake in the Port of Long Beach’s Pier J.