Container lines

Rates on Asia-Europe were back in decline this week, and the market fundamentals make it unlikely that prices will increase much before Chinese New Year.

Yang Ming reports a third-quarter profit on higher volume and freight rates, after 10 loss-making quarters.

Last week’s ruling by Judge Rudolph Contreras of the US District Court for the District of Columbia is the latest development in a years-long dispute over pilotage fees.

The trans-Atlantic spot market has barely budged when compared with the yo-yo swings on other trades.

It is the second consecutive quarter that produced a negative performance for the top carrier.

As shipping lines and their customers head into annual Asia-Europe contract talks, carriers continue to undermine their negotiating position by not withdrawing capacity.

The move by MSC and CMA CGM to order 20 new 22,000 TEU ships between them will not be followed by Maersk Line that says it has enough capacity "for now."

The $250 million to $300 million financial impact of Maersk's cyber breach was not enough to offset strong market fundamentals in the third quarter that drove up the freight rate and kept the carrier well in profit.

Maersk is preparing to release its third quarter results that will reflect the heavy impact of a cyber attack that brought the carrier's container handling divisions to a standstill.

The willingness of container carriers to sell capacity to resellers who openly distribute rates to the market is fueling rate volatility.

Analysts continue to highlight the lack of canceled sailings that will leave carriers facing increasingly severe overcapacity as new vessels sail into service and undermine their contract negotiating position.

North Carolina’ port hopes new Central American route will help make up volume loss after collapse of Hanjin Shipping.

“Our China vessel saw record eastbound volume in September and higher rates versus third quarter 2016.”

Rate increases across the east-west trades in early November could only give container transport prices an incremental bump upwards.

The added Puerto Rico capacity comes as recovery from Hurricane Maria has rekindled debate over the Jones Act.

All of the 18 carriers studied by SeaIntel had a worse on-time record in the third quarter of 2017 than in the same period in 2016.

The growth has been most pronounced on the busiest trades to Russia.

The upgrade began with an Oct. 26 call.

Big container ships make the big headlines, but vessels at the other end of the size spectrum are also making waves as the market braces for an uncertain year ahead.

Cosco Shipping is heading for the world's number three container line position, with its rapid expansion boosted by the Chinese government.

The improved performance came amid preparations by the three companies to merge and operate as a single company.

The South Korean carrier has made steady inroads into the trans-Pacific and intra-Asia trades.

The proceeds of a share sale will be used by Cosco Shipping to fund the construction of 20 new container ships, 11 of them in excess of 20,000 TEU.

Capacity management has enabled the carriers to build profitability in 2017 after six years of losses, but a reluctance to withdraw vessels could drag down gains as service contracts begin.

Continued slow growth in the global economy suppressed revenue at the world’s top 50 transportation service providers.

Spot rates from Asia to the US East and West coasts increased for the first time in two months.

Efforts to bolster coastal shipping to ease port congestion and lower logistics costs gain momentum.

OOCL posted a solid set of operational results for the third quarter with revenue and volume rising sharply, especially on Asia-Europe.

It has taken 13 weeks and several rate increase attempts, but the Asia-Europe spot market responded positively this week.

“The Receita Federal is intent on pushing the pedal of pain down this week.”

It is difficult to plan for shipments with all the schedule changes and with no real visibility solutions allowing shippers to find and manage their cargo.

The United States is the largest market for Brazilian coffee exports.

Bangladeshi shipping officials are hopeful that a surge of inland waterway capacity will drastically cut shipper costs and congestion.

Exports from Europe were delayed for weeks from February as capacity tightened.

Carriers will enjoy a profitable 2017, but whether that will continue is dependent on shipping lines maintaining disciplined capacity management.

“Carriers have to be willing to concede that there is interplay between the long-term contract, and spot rate customers, and that rate actions taken in the spot market can negatively impact contract shippers.”

The cost for shipping from Novorossiysk to Istanbul has fallen substantially.

By 2020, hub ports in Europe can expect the vast majority of all calls to be made by ships with a capacity greater than 14,000 TEU.

How the Port of New York and New Jersey handles the ramp up in business will go a long way in determining the port’s future growth.

With the peak-shipping season drawing to a close, spot rates on US imports from Asia basically flatlined.