Container lines

Overcapacity and slowing demand on the trans-Pacific spurred CMA CGM, Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co.

Sea Star Line on July 22 will suspend its weekly service connecting Philadelphia; Jacksonville, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico, because of a lack of business.

There were 36 percent more international pirate attacks in the first half of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010, but Somali pirates’ hijacking success has fallen.

Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. said Wednesday it will launch a tender offer for Portek International.

Hamburg Sud will cut one of the services it operates between North Europe and the eastern Mediterranean in another sign of weakening trading conditions on one of the Asia-Europe trade lanes.

Container ship owner-charterer Box Ships Inc. will buy a Panamax vessel with capacity for 5,060 20-foot equivalents under an agreement with an unaffiliated third party.

Safmarine Container Lines and sister carrier Maersk Line will introduce a weekly loop this month, called the Rumba/Prime 4 service, between the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and the east coast

Zim Integrated Shipping Services is postponing by a month the implementation of the general rate increase it planned to apply July 1 on the Asia-Europe trade.

Spot container freight rates from Asia to the United States plunged dropping 6.7 percent over the past week, a new sign that excess vessel capacity is eroding rates, according to Drewry Shipping Consu

The Containership Company's bankruptcy trustee is seeking $25 million in liquidated damages from approximately 80 shippers who failed to fulfill their cargo commitments with the short-lived trans-Paci

The top 20 ocean container carriers boosted their combined world market share to a record 84 percent in July, according to Alphaliner.

Moody's Investors Service set a negative outlook for the shipping industry over the next 12 to 18 months on Tuesday, saying the business from container carriers to bulk operators is facing overcapacit

Global container volume will rise during the second half of this year but weak inventory restocking will produce a summer-fall peak season “unlikely to inspire” higher rates, Macquarie Equ

Orient Overseas Container Line has advised its customers that its previously announced peak season surcharges in the eastbound Pacific will be delayed until Aug. 1.

Chilean carrier CSAV has raised $430 million of $500 million in additional capital from shareholders, and expects the rest to be fully subscribed.

Startup carrier American Feeder Lines’ first ship will depart Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Friday to begin a service its backers hope will develop into a network of routes covering the Atlantic and

Ocean carriers in the New World Alliance will suspend a trans-Pacific service this month due to slowing demand for retail merchandise and reductions in inventory replenishment in the U.S.

Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government-owned sovereign wealth fund, rode higher contributions from portfolio companies that include Neptune Orient Lines, PSA International and Singapore Airlines t

Hanjin Shipping raised $150 million Wednesday from the sale of five-year convertible bonds that it plans to use for general corporate purposes.

A tanker carrying about 1 million barrels of fuel oil is on fire Wednesday off the coast of Yemen after pirates used a rocket-propelled grenade to attack the ship in the Gulf of Aden.

OOCL plans to stop providing chassis on Sept. 1 at six additional port and inland locations in the East and Midwest, including the Port of Charleston, S.C.

A.P.

CMA CGM will launch of a new service this month connecting Asia, the Fiji Islands and New Zealand effective July 18.

Smaller vessel operators could be forced out of Asia-Europe container trade lanes as the deployment of ultra-large container ships puts more pressure on freight rates and the bottom line, according to

Hyundai Merchant Marine will raise rates southbound container shipments from the U.S. to the East Coast of South America effective Aug. 1.

Swedish shipowner Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines is placing armed guards to protect its vessels from attack by Somalia-based pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

Drewry Maritime Research is forecasting average east-west ocean freight rates will fall 20.8 percent this year from 2010 as the addition of ship capacity outpaces growth in demand.

CSAV is suspending its service between Asia and the Mediterranean amid sharply declining rates on Asia-Europe trade lanes.

United Arab Shipping Company opened its own shipping agency in Pakistan in a joint venture with its erstwhile third party agent, Delta Shipping.

Despite signs of a cyclical slump in container shipping, a bull market is developing for construction of large, fuel-efficient ships.

For ocean carriers, the disquieting chatter began in early spring. All the new capacity they had delayed taking delivery of during the 2008-09 recession was coming due.

Audiovox Electronics’ Pat Moffett is willing to stand behind his commitment to deliver cargo to his carrier in time to fill the slot he’s reserved.

One reason Seaspan chose Chinese shipyards to build its next generation of big ships was that South Korean shipbuilders were slow to offer more fuel-efficient designs.

NYK Line is extending its plan to phase out chassis services, dropping the equipment provision in Oakland and Minneapolis for import and export merchant haulage bills of lading.

Maersk Line North America named Gordon Dorsey vice president of global contract execution for U.S. military and government cargo services, effective July 1.

Hanjin Shipping and Emirates Shipping plan to swap slots on two of their intra-Asian services in July.

Horizon Lines struck a settlement with home improvement retailer Home Depot that will release Horizon from antitrust claims for price-fixing in the Puerto Rico shipping trade.

Two years ago the U.S. adopted international standards for regulating exhaust emissions from ships.

Ocean carriers are unlikely to achieve planned freight rate hikes on the Asia-Europe route this week because they have failed to rein in excess capacity, according to Alphaliner.

Somalia pardoned six foreigners jailed for illegally bringing $3.6 million into the country to pay ransom for two ships seized by Somali pirates.