Container lines

Imports from China were down 2 percent in July and 4.4 percent below the same period seven-month period in 2018.

An almost 20 percent plunge in US imports from Asia in July shows the devastating impact of the trade war with China; import declines could worsen this fall with new tariffs starting in weeks.

Ro-ro volumes from Mexico handled by US East Coast ports are on the rise as shippers are turning increasingly to waterborne options at the expense of truck and rail.

Premium freight rates charged on Matson’s expedited China service contributed to positive liner results in the second quarter that were offset by declines in its domestic services and higher terminal operating costs.

Reversing course, Global Port Tracker is now projecting monthly year-over-year declines, or minimal increases, in US merchandise imports in the trans-Pacific during the peak season.

Trans-Pacific container carriers have learned that by tactically withdrawing full weekly sailings, or in some cases maintaining the sailing but skipping certain Asia ports, they are able to maintain a floor on rates without severely disrupting the flow of cargo.

No-shows, or “downfall” in industry jargon, have plagued the industry for decades, but carrier attention has risen in recent years as pressure to increase waste rises, and digitalization provides opportunities to streamline the booking process

Pursuing green initiatives in the shipping industry doesn’t only help the environment; it can boost the bottom line, as well.

Spot rates in the eastbound Pacific are starting to firm, but will not increase as dramatically as they did during the 2018 peak season because importers are taking tariff announcements in stride.

US retailers and other importers say they have no way to avoid paying the latest “tax” on their merchandise that will result from the Sep. 1 tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports, although cargo volumes this peak season will be unaffected.

It has been a good start to the year for ONE, with no distracting merger issues to affect service levels and revenue.

Insufficient technological bandwidth and legacy ships may stall implementation of all-electric and hybrid vessel designs, despite showing significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an effort to meet International Maritime Organization (IMO) 2050 goals.

Global shore power could significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but faces significant hurdles to implementation due to a lack of national legislation and high electricity costs.

The Panama Canal on Friday increased from 44 feet to 45 feet the permitted depth of vessels passing through the critical waterway as canal authorities have begun to walk back depth limits introduced over the last seven months due to a lack of rainfall.

Maersk’s investment in digital trucking marketplace Loadsmart presaged a move to offer integrated US truckload rates on its online booking platform, a move the carrier confirmed this week.

As the IMO 2020 rule inches closer, analysts following energy markets are becoming alarmed at the possibility that the spread between low-sulfur and heavy fuel oils, which will guide the surcharges shippers pay, could be larger than shippers are anticipating.

A new Hapag-Lloyd-led service linking southeast India to North Europe is expected to reduce the volumes India loses to foreign transshipment options.

Industry experts say predictions of front-loading of shipments in the fourth quarter and a shift of routing from East to West Coast ports because of higher bunker fuel surcharges come Jan. 1, 2020, are greatly exaggerated.

Carbon pricing and climate levies are still in the running as potential solutions to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in maritime shipping, according to industry analysts.

Cosco had a 10.3 percent share of capacity on the east coast of South America-to-Far East route earlier this year, and has plans to grow that with extra loaders and bigger vessels through the remainder of 2019.

Tactical use of blank sailings and extra-loaders will prop up freight rates while ensuring capacity during a peak season that will be marked by uncertainties because of the US-China trade war, a JOC webinar was told.

Although improvements in operational efficiencies alone will not meet IMO 2050 emissions targets, industry experts say they are the most feasible short-term measures to transition to a low-carbon shipping sector.

The Traxen devices are meant to provide more reliable data about the location and condition of containers while in transit, and an associated analytics platform is designed to help shippers better understand where and when their goods hit bottlenecks, both episodic and systemic.

With its sophisticated remote container management technology for reefer movement, Maersk recently shipped a large export consignment of home-grown mangoes from India to the UK, setting itself up for further growth in that market.

The 90-day suspension of MSC from the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism after nearly 20 tons of cocaine were seized at the Port of Philadelphia June 17 sends a clear warning to major container lines.

A forfeiture would have pushed up Mediterrean Shipping Co.’s charterer rates, compounding the pain the carrier has already suffered via delayed shipments, added docking fees, and damage to its brand.

A bill introduced in Congress addresses two key complaints among cargo owners and transportation providers regarding the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program: murky benefits for onerous program requirements and concerns over backlash if suspended or expelled.

Carriers are going beyond setting up logistics arms and instead making the end-to-end reach a full company play rather than standalone attempt to offer the higher value and margin services as the NVOs they compete and partner with.

While blockchain as a mechanism to speed the digitization of shipping documentation gets traction, development by a TradeLens rival will test whether systems are interoperable.

With US import growth of only 1.4 percent from all of Asia in the first half of 2019, and a 5 percent decline in imports from China, the six blanked sailings announced for June and July could be followed by others if volume growth disappoints during the coming peak season.

India’s intra-country containerized trade has reaped the benefits since the country dropped restrictive cabotage rules a year ago, and Maersk has positioned itself to seize new opportunities.

US authorities’ consideration of forfeiting the vessel, which is owned by JP Morgan, could push up MSC’s charterer rates, compounding the pain the carrier has already suffered via delayed shipments, added docking fees, and damage to its brand.

ZeBox is more than a technology pipeline for CMA CGM alone, and that ultimately might be what allows it to flourish and drive more software value for shippers.

Uncertainty surrounding on-again, off-again tariffs by the US on Chinese products has seen a growing shift in US import volume to Southeast Asia.

A visibility software provider said shipping lines are expecting something in return for providing data to third-party software companies, a change from the past.

Expectations of slowing demand on the Asia-Europe trade have left the market with little inclination to accept carrier rate increases.

The lack of cross-training for various functions is creating an environment where fewer workers have the ability to solve problems creatively, according to conversations with more than a dozen industry veterans over the last year.

Germany-based carrier Hapag-Lloyd is on a campaign to modernize its reefer fleet and has rolled out plans to bring all the containers online and trackable in real time.

Carriers and shippers alike must adapt to the new realities of a container shipping market in which only a handful of large players control the vast majority of capacity.