Container lines

A continuing tight labor market in China is rapidly eroding that country’s share of U.S. footwear imports, as other nations like Vietnam are growing, according to a new JOC analysis.

Shippers this week are still struggling to recover import cargo that was bound for the Port of New York and New Jersey at the end of October when Hurricane Sandy forced inbound container ships to unload at other East Coast ports.

Ocean transportation company Seaboard Marine plans to launch a weekly shipping service between the Port of Miami and Puerto Morelos in Mexico, commencing Nov. 15.

Government data showed U.S. steel exports in September were 1.2 million tons, down 9.7 percent from August and 12.8 percent from September 2011, the American Institute for International Steel reported today.

India’s exports during October were valued at $2.3 billion, a decrease of 1.6 percent from $2.4 billion during the same month last year; and imports were $4.4 billion, jumping 7.4 percent year-over-year from $4.1 billion.

The members of the Caribbean Shipowners Association recently announced general rate increases and peak season surcharges for 2013, including rates for Haiti, with the first GRI set to take effect on Feb. 24.

Barge traffic on the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Cairo, Ill., may be restricted or halted in the beginning of December...

Maersk Line swung to a third quarter net operating profit of $498 million from a year-earlier loss of $289 million on higher ocean freight rates, cost savings and a lower fuel bill.

Ocean carrier Cosco Container Lines today announced adjustments for all shipments from the Far East to South Africa and South America’s East Coast, effective Nov. 15.

Container shipping carrier Matson today reported net income in the third quarter was $19.1 million, growing 119.5 percent from $8.7 million in the third quarter of 2011.

The four carrier members of CKYH Alliance will implement a winter service schedule, canceling seven voyages in the current Asia-Mediterranean service from November 2012 through the middle of January 2013.

Global shipping company Diana Containerships has signed a memorandum of agreement with Neptune Orient Lines for the purchase of APL Garnet, a Panamax container vessel.

The glut of global vessel capacity next year and the year after is beginning to look like 2012 all over again, and the bad news is sinking in. “We must learn to live with overcapacities,” Maersk Line CEO Soren Skou told a Hamburg conference in October.

Gene Seroka, president of the Americas at APL, sees container shipping capacity exceeding demand for the next couple of years in the east-west trade lanes.

After a brutal summer that saw exports to Asia soften and freight rates deteriorate steadily, trans-Pacific cargo volumes began to pick up in early October.

Hanjin Shipping today reported a net loss of 47.3 billion South Korean won (about US $43.32 million)...

In an attempt to prevent freight rates from eroding during the slack season, shipping lines that carry U.S. imports from Asia plan to increase rates on dry goods on Dec. 1 and refrigerated containers in January.

Exports of blueberries from Chile is projected to rise to a record 84,900 tons this 2012-13 season, an increase of 21 percent from last year’s 70,800 tons.

Daina Shipping, the registered owners of the container ship Rena, was today fined NZ $300,000 (about US$246,667) in the Tauranga District Court in New Zealand...

German ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd will increase its rates on East Asia services starting in November.

Cosco Container Lines has announced several adjustments to rates and surcharges in several trades.

Hyundai Merchant Marine will increase export rates from the U.S. and Canada to destinations in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

Container carrier Zim Integrated Shipping Services will add Ashdod Port to its Zim Container Service Atlantic route starting in November...