Container lines

A global shortage of ocean containers is exacerbating the difficulty U.S. exporters face in finding empty boxes for shipments from the Midwest and other locations away from import centers.

That year, exporters in most sectors saw their foreign markets expand, enjoyed a weakening dollar and easy trade finance, and in general had little trouble with transportation and logistics.

Ask importers their top concern this year as they wrapped up service contract negotiations with ocean carriers in the eastbound Asia-to-U.S.

Sea Star Line on April 23 started a previously announced weekly service between Philadelphia and San Juan, Puerto Rico, using a ship that carries roll-on, roll-off and lift-on, lift-off cargo.

Maersk Line plans to resume its weekly seasonal reefer calls at the Port of Halifax on May 18 with the arrival of the Maersk Palermo on the revised rotation of the TA4 trans-Atlantic service.

The Shipping Corporation of India will seek a general rate increase on the westbound trades from India to Europe, the third GRI this year.

Mediterranean Shipping Company will implement a new general rate increase on the westbound trades from India to Europe.

A.P. Moller-Maersk agreed to sell its stake in the Yantian container terminal in China to a subsidiary of China's COSCO Pacific for $520 million, the company said Thursday.

Drewry Shipping Consultants appointed Philip Damas a director of the company, with responsibility for developing Drewry Supply Chain Advisors, the specialist supply chain consulting practice within th

China’s Cosco Group reported a loss of $1.1 billion for 2009 as the weak economy hammered the company’s container, dry bulk and terminal businesses.

Orient Overseas Container Line unveiled a carbon calculator that will assist its customers in measuring the carbon dioxide emissions in their supply chains.

Japanese ocean carrier “K” Line reported a $738.6 million loss in its fiscal year ended March 31 but said it expects to return to profitability this year with a forecast 13 percent growth

NYK Line, Japan’s largest shipping operator, posted a net loss of $187.5 million for its fiscal year ended March 31, compared with a loss of $556 million a year earlier, as rates and volume bega

Japanese carrier Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said its profit plunged 90 percent for its fiscal year ended March 31, but income from its bulk carrier division offset losses from container shipping.

CSAV, the financially troubled Chilean container shipping line bailed out by shareholders, banks and German charter shipowners, heads the list of ocean carriers that have expanded cargo capacity over

Atlantic Container Line will stop providing chassis for trucking moves in three areas of the U.S. market, effective June 1.

The volume of 40-foot containers handled by APL jumped by 32 percent and the average revenue per container climbed by 12 percent in the four weeks from March 6 to April 2 compared to the same period l

Seaspan Monday took delivery of an 8,500-unit containership named the Cosco Philippines from Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea on April 23.

CMA CGM will seek a new general rate increase on all westbound cargo moving on its EPIC Service from India and Pakistan to Europe and the Mediterranean, starting May 10.

Two of the largest conventional refrigerated shipping lines, Seatrade Group and Alpha Reefer Transport, are pooling vessels in a bid to cut costs and boost efficiency.

A sharp east-west difference of opinion is dividing the maritime community in New York harbor.

Container ships plying the trade between North America and North Europe are running close to full in both directions this spring.

Maersk Line formally announced Friday it will begin a pilot test of imposing a $10-per-container fee on U.S. export containers that do not arrive at their load ports starting on May 1.

U.S.

Hamburg Süd announced Friday that it will apply a general rate increase on June 1 to all cargo moving from U.S. West Coast ports and Vancouver to Europe.

Fesco, Russia's biggest ocean carrier, said its ships carried 22 percent more containers in the first quarter than a year ago while traffic at its box terminals grew even faster.

Hong Kong-based T.S.

APL on Wednesday named Gene Seroka as its new president for the Americas, replacing John Bowe, who is leaving the company in June.

China Shipping Container Lines posted a full-year loss of $951 million in 2009 compared with a restated profit of $6.9 million in 2008, the Shanghai- based company said Wednesday.

After two months of relative stability, the spot rate for shipping a 40-foot container from Hong Kong to Los Angeles climbed 6 percent to almost $2,000 per FEU in the week ended April 19 as the scarci

Hapag-Lloyd will implement a general rate increase for cargo moving on its services from the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia to New Zealand.

CMA CGM took delivery Tuesday of the CMA CGM Figaro, a new containership with a nominal capacity of 8,500 20-foot equivalent units, built by Samsung Heavy Industries at its shipyard in South Korea.

Hamburg Sud said Tuesday that its 2009 revenue dropped 28 percent from the previous year to $4.3 billion as the volume of containers it carried fell 13 percent to 2.3 million 20-foot equivalent units.

Chilean carrier CSAV has launched a weekly North China-U.S. East Coast service that will operate via the Panama Canal.

In the wake of the annual summit last week of the CKYH Alliance among Cosco, “K” LINE, Yang Ming, and Hanjin Shipping, the carriers’ four CEOs announced they are changing its name to

The trade rebound in the eastbound Pacific has exceeded the expectations of ocean carriers, and the lines are itching to bring back vessel strings they idled during the disastrous recession of 2008-09

Wan Hai Lines will join the India-Far East Express Service operated by a consortium of Shipping Corp. of India, Pacific International Lines and “K” Line.

Leading German container shipowners have acquired a stake of around 18 percent in CSAV, finalizing a 2009 deal that involved cutting charter rates for the Chilean ocean carrier.

CMA CGM plans to increase the frequency of its Black Pearl Service between Jamaica and New York and Halifax to weekly sailings from biweekly.

Tokyo Senpaku Kaisha, part of Japanese carrier NYK Line, ended a vessel sharing agreement with Orient Overseas Container Line and Cosco Container Line covering the Middle East Express Service.