Container lines

Some shipping executives believe that with trans-Pac eastbound space sold out through Chinese New Year, the ongoing impact of the pandemic on buying patterns favoring household goods versus travel and leisure will extend the import surge well into 2021.

Carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific are charging all-inclusive rates of more than $6,000 per FEU to the West Coast and $8,000 per FEU to the East Coast in today’s extremely tight market, forwarders say.

The international shipping sector can expect incremental progress on decarbonization to continue next year, but without widespread clarity on a way to reach long-term goals, 2021 may end up looking a lot like 2020.

Shippers say that if carriers press for higher contract rates, they will demand service enhancements, which means less cargo rolling, improved container availability at Asian load ports, and much better schedule reliability.

CMA CGM will launch a Yantian-to-Oakland premium service, which will be the only first-call inbound service from Asia to date for the Northern California port.

Logistics managers that saw their organization's supply chains disrupted and transportation budgets blown out of the water in 2020 will be at the epicenter of make-or-break decisions in the coming year.

The alliance was born from discussions within the Korea Shipping Partnership, a coalition of 14 domestic carriers created in April 2017 following pressure from the South Korean government for carriers to improve their performance.

With the massive surge in US imports from Asia in the second half of 2020 projected to continue well into 2021, year-over-year growth is likely to accelerate thanks to comparisons with a weaker first half of 2020.

Vessel space in Asia is so tight that US importers are booking shipments three and four weeks out in order to get their containers on board.

The containership orderbook remains very low by historical standards – presently at around 8 percent of the total fleet to be delivered over the next couple of years.

Carriers say they are addressing supply chain problems over which they have control in order to relieve congestion at major load center ports.

“K” Line said favorable market conditions in the liner shipping business operated by Ocean Network Express has significantly exceeded assumptions made in its previous forecast in November

A surprisingly strong rebound in the US economy through November bodes well for the headhaul trade between Europe and North America in 2021.

Carriers and forwarders have little visibility beyond February, but they believe the strong demand will continue in the Asia–Europe trade at least up until Chinese New Year.

Unprecedented trans-Pacific volumes and steadily growing exports of petrochemicals, agricultural products, and resins have prompted members of THE Alliance to launch a new direct service between Asia and the US Gulf.

Because asset owners can’t economically invest in excess capacity for volumes that may never materialize, the risk of supply chain disruption caused by external shocks, especially surprise surges in demand, likely will never go away.

Hapag-Lloyd’s order for LNG-powered vessels comes as carriers and shippers are placing greater emphasis on decarbonization measures.

In addition to higher contract rates, container lines can expect increased regulatory scrutiny in 2021, especially if the trajectory of carrier profitability and services widens further.

US ports are preparing for a possible worsening of terminal and landside congestion issues that could arise as increasingly larger vessels call at the gateways.

Brazilian forwarders are also facing the problem of rolled cargo that is adding up to a month to cargo transit times, even as importers delay placing orders amid the economic uncertainty created by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global container carrier schedule reliability in November declined for the fourth consecutive month, reaching especially dismal lows in the eastbound trans-Pacific trades to all US coasts.

The warning from two FMC commissioners comes as some carriers are refusing export bookings so they can ship empty containers back to Asia faster to be refilled with higher-paying exports to the United States.

BlueX Trade and Catapult are partnering to pipe instant rates from BlueX’s container line customers to Catapult’s forwarder customers, a further sign that instant quoting is gaining traction as an alternative to traditional spot quoting.

US imports from Asia in November were unusually strong, down only slightly from the peak months of October and August.

The decision by Singamas shareholders offers hope that a bigger debt rehabilitation plan put forward by PIL will be accepted by the carrier’s other creditors and approved by Singapore’s high court at meetings early next year.

Asia-Europe rates are now three times higher than last December and coincide with the start of what are sure to be tense contract negotiations between carriers and shippers.

The real possibility that Asia imports will stay elevated through at least the first quarter, coupled with labor and trucking shortages, are creating a so-called perfect winter storm for more port congestion.

GTA Forecasting has upgraded its long-term outlook for global container volume, but has downgraded its 2021 forecast for US-Asia trade.

Non-vessel-operating common carriers have told JOC.com imports will likely remain strong beyond April and possibly through peak season 2021.

Agriculture exporters’ complaints also strike deeper chords of US maritime policy that years ago walked away from subsidizing a US flag fleet intended to provide viable transportation for US exports.

Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Michael Khouri’s comments come after the agency on Nov. 20 announced it would launch a formal investigation into carriers’ role into congestion at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and New York and New Jersey.

Hapag-Lloyd reporting stronger-than-expected volumes in the fourth quarter comes after global volumes rose 4.6 percent year over year in October, according to Container Trade Statistics.

The Digital Container Shipping Association’s latest effort is targeting a long sought-after goal in maritime and logistics — a paperless bill of lading — by making it standardized and interoperable.

That DHL Global Forwarding is considering chartering ships for container customers shows the extent to which the extended peak season has soaked up container capacity out of Asia into Europe and North America.

Bangladeshi shippers are struggling with higher freight rates on imports from China, but garment and raw material users have to bear the expense because of deadlines to ship finished goods to buyers.

Carriers say a new law proposed by India’s Ministry of Shipping that pushes for greater transparency on ocean pricing amounts to “government interference.”

The ONE Apus incident would mark the largest loss of containers at sea since the June 2013 sinking of the MOL Comfort off Yemen.

If ship ordering restraint were to be extended pending clarity on zero-carbon ships, the capacity shortage that manifested itself in 2020, and resulting upward pressure on rates, could continue beyond 2021.

The further deterioration in ocean reliability can be seen in vessel bunching this week at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, where 20 container ships were waiting at anchor as of Monday.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demand in the United States and the Caribbean and Central America caused two-way trade between the regions to contract in the first nine months of 2020.