Container lines

The Port of New York and New Jersey and its marine terminal operators did yeoman work in quickly reopening the port after Hurricane Sandy, but that turned out to be only half the battle.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that Michael Scuse, undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services, will lead a mission to promote U.S. agricultural exports in Russia from Dec. 3 to Dec. 7.

Eastbound trans-Pacific rates continued to drop this week, slipping 0.7 percent to $2,178 per loaded 40-foot container, according to the Drewry Hong Kong-Los Angeles Container Rate Benchmark.

Economists are bullish about prospects for U.S. exports in 2013 — in the second half of the year, that is. “The second half of 2013 will be a lot better than the first half,” said Walter Kemmsies, chief economist at Moffatt & Nichol engineers.

Beginning Jan. 1, intermodal shippers in the trans-Pacific will be assessed a single, consolidated surcharge that includes components for low-sulfur fuel burned within 200 miles of the North American coast and long-haul intermodal fuel costs passed on by inland transportation providers.

The American Waterways Operators, National Waterways Conference, Waterways Council and 15 other national organizations today submitted a letter to President Obama and the Federal Emergency Management Agency requesting a presidential declaration of emergency to call attention to the Mississippi River’s near historic low water levels threatening barge traffic.

The proposed merger of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement and its westbound counterpart, the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, would give carriers an opportunity to reduce overhead and redundancies. Even more so, the single discussion group would focus carrier efforts on round-trip economics in the U.S.-Asia trades.

Citing “recent market developments,” Emirates Shipping Line has announced general rate increases effective Dec. 1, 2012.

Despite the slew of rate restoration plans and general rate increases announced by lines for December and January, excess capacity will continue to undermine efforts to boost revenues into 2013, according to leading analysts.

CMA CGM is on the verge of a hard-fought agreement with its banks to restructure $4.6 billion of loans, ending months of uncertainty over the future of the world’s third-largest ocean carrier.

Japan’s exports to the U.S. rose for the 12th consecutive month in October on a year-over-year basis, increasing 3.1 percent to $11.2 billion, according to preliminary figures released by the Finance Ministry.

More maritime regulatory reform is needed in Asia to protect shippers from collusion by lines, the Asian Shippers’ Council says.

Hanjin Shipping recently announced a rate restoration surcharge plan for its Asia-Europe trade, effective Dec. 16.

Global maritime company Diana Shipping today reported income in the third quarter was $12.3 million, slumping 53.4 percent compared with $26.4 million in the same quarter last year.

French ocean carrier CMA CGM recently announced rate restoration and peak season surcharges.

French ocean carrier CMA CGM booked net income of $371 million for the third quarter, driven by higher freight rates across all trades and higher-than-targeted cost savings.

The world’s container ship fleet has expanded slower than forecast in 2012, but the slowdown will not address the current oversupply of capacity, according to industry analyst Alphaliner.

Container freight shipping company Evergreen Line recently announced a general rate increase for reefer cargo, effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Prospects for nearshoring, which is the transfer of business to a nearby country, have never looked better as U.S. companies turn to Mexico for the production of a variety of industrial and consumer goods.

Honolulu-based Matson today named Ku’uhaku Park its new vice president of government and community relations. He will be responsible for directing the shipping carrier’s government relations and community service activities...

Container shipping lines are posting profits again, but they aren’t ready to celebrate.