Container lines

Although trans-Pacific carriers are now rushing to blank sailings, the capacity overhang in the trade lane is so great that industry analysts say excess space will continue to plague the trade lane.

The effects of an earlier-than-normal peak season and canceled retail orders have begun to show in US import data, with volumes from Asia in September falling to their lowest level of the year.

As carriers get even more aggressive in pulling trans-Pacific capacity, they are setting up the market for a spot rate rebound at the first sign of a pick-up in volumes.

Highlighting the buoyant market conditions for the first nine months of 2022, Cosco Shipping said export freight rates on the main trade routes “were maintained at a high level.”

CMA CGM will reconfigure its current services connecting the US Gulf with Brazil in November and commence a new string between the US East Coast and West Coast of South America in December.

US retailers are forecasting declining imports through the end of the year even though holiday merchandise sales are expected to be strong.

Rates and volume on the major trade lanes out of Asia fell during the third quarter, but not enough to slow OOCL’s revenue growth.

More than 5 million TEU of ordered container shipping capacity will be delivered over the next two years, outstripping demand as the global economic outlook darkens.

Maersk has pledged to replace older tonnage only with green fuel–compliant ships, and with the latest order for six vessels the carrier has more than 300,000 TEU of dual-fuel capacity on its orderbook.

While rivals make huge investments in end-to-end logistics, Hapag-Lloyd’s strategy is to retain a core focus on container transport and the expansion of its global terminal footprint.

Major carriers and smaller liners are consolidating and halting trans-Pacific services amid a sharp drop in spot freight rates that hasn’t been cured by blank sailings.

Spot rates in the eastbound trans-Pacific are dropping so quickly — and by such large amounts — that industry analysts warn carriers could soon be carrying containers at a loss.

A trio of technology providers want to give shippers the ability to tie sensor-based container data to in-transit cargo insurance decisions.

Growth forecasts for Indian exports have been challenged by the dual headwinds of adverse geopolitical factors and rising inflationary pressures plaguing larger economies.

A consortium of liner carriers and terminals aiming to speed the sharing of shipment data with banks believes it can overcome a chronic consent hurdle in the process.

Spot rates on the Asia–North Europe trade lane have now fallen 50 percent since January as softening demand and worsening economic indicators lead to a steady slowdown of the container shipping market.

Vessel on-time performance to US ports improved in August, but was still noticeably below global reliability as supply chain bottlenecks on some of the major east-west trade lanes began to ease.

Foreign transshipment demand for Indian containerized exports and imports remains considerable despite recent heightened stakeholder efforts to tame the costly mode in the absence of insufficient origin-to-destination direct connections.

Trans-Pacific carriers in recent months slashed capacity to the West Coast as Asian imports and freight rates plummeted this summer, but the trade will likely continue to have excess capacity in the coming months unless they blank more capacity than is currently planned.

Executives at Wan Hai Lines and Mediterranean Shipping Co. foresee softer trans-Pacific container volumes for the last quarter of 2022 as consumers pull back on spending.

A vigorous blank sailings program on the Asia-North Europe trade lane has yet to stem the rapid decline in spot rates that have fallen more than 50 percent since Jan. 1.

CMA CGM will deploy six vessels with an average capacity of 2,000 TEU on its new Medgulf loop between the ports of Houston and Miami and the Mediterranean.

With prices on east–west routes out of Asia in freefall, high rate levels on the trans-Atlantic is encouraging carriers to shift capacity into the westbound trade, putting those rates under pressure.

In the third detention and demurrage complaint against Hapag-Lloyd in the past year, Orange Avenue Express alleged the ocean carrier charged $258,000 in detention for containers that could not be returned due to port congestion.

Maersk said feeder services connecting via Panama, northern Brazil, and the Caribbean were full and cargo was being rolled, although the carrier expected the situation to improve this month.

US imports from Asia remained strong through August despite container shipping indicators normally associated with a drop in cargo volumes.

Hapag-Lloyd insists that its core ocean container focus remains in place despite acquiring a significant stake in an Italian logistics company.

The trans-Pacific accounted for 18 percent of Wan Hai’s total liftings in the first half of the year, up from 12 percent in the year-ago period.

US agriculture shippers still face challenges and elevated costs in reaching overseas markets due to unexpected billing from ocean carriers and uncertain vessel schedules.

Carriers and their customers say they will not rush into contract negotiations this fall as they did last year, but rather wait for the volatility in the trans-Pacific to dissipate and the direction of the US economy to become clearer.

An eight-month probe into Australia's maritime industry was launched after complaints by shippers into soaring freight rates and ancillary fees.

Vessel capacity freed up from easing congestion, combined with the sheer size of the orderbook, will be difficult for carriers to manage in a weakening demand environment, shipping association BIMCO says.

Ocean carriers are trimming trans-Pacific vessel capacity amid weakening market fundamentals, but the traditional slowdown from China’s Golden Week is likely at play as well.

A mandated “container available” data element related to demurrage fees is largely not being complied with yet as the shipping industry grapples with the immediate implications of OSRA-22.

Production of green fuels will ramp up quickly as soon as viable alternative energy sources are found, but only if the right legislation is in place to attract investment critical for infrastructure and R&D, says Maersk.

There are growing expectations among analysts and NVOs that weakening US import demand and tumbling spot rate levels will trigger a new round of blank sailings.

While US retailers downgraded their forecast for year-over-year monthly import declines, they nonetheless remain bullish on growth in retail sales.

A contract is a contract — and needs to be respected by both parties regardless of spot rate movements — according to Hapag-Lloyd's CEO.

The recently ample supply of equipment has cut the price of new 40-foot containers by about 20 percent since late last year, and the price could soften further into 2023, according to Drewry.

CMA CGM is reinvesting the bulk of its earnings in acquisitions and decarbonization as the carrier’s profitability continues to grow, even as its CEO warned that the downturn in container shipping has begun.