Container Shipping News

The Israel-based carrier is expecting a significantly improved 2024 driven by a larger and more efficient fleet, new services and double-digit growth in volumes.

The ability of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd to achieve unprecedented levels of on-time performance rests on core assumptions, among them their control of transshipment ports, consistently high levels of productivity at those ports and a reduction in the number of origin and destination ports.

Carrier rates for loads from West India to Europe and the Mediterranean have slid by double-digit percentages in the last week or so as trade flows settle into the new normal journey around southern Africa.

Seaboard is adding calls to Costa Rica and Panama, among other countries, as Central American economies look to source raw materials from the US.

The uncertain security situation in the Red Sea and the pending partnership between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd were, not surprisingly, popular talking points outside the conference’s formal agenda, says Lars Jensen.

The port operator has grown its global forwarding footprint to 100 offices, using its network of terminals, warehouses, road and rail to provide greater visibility and control of shipments.

As the shock of diversions around southern Africa wears off and weekly schedules mostly return to normal, the spot rates that peaked in mid-January are falling fast.

In a sign of confidence in consumer demand, Global Port Tracker expects US imports for the first six months of the year will be up 7.8% compared with the first half of 2023.

A potential spike in vessel arrivals and volumes once the Red Sea crisis is resolved would be similar to the disruption caused by a regular winter storm in the North Sea, according to the head of Europe’s biggest container port.

The world’s ninth-largest carrier in terms of capacity recorded a Q4 net loss of about $43 million as low freight rates and services disruptions weighed on its financials.

Mode-malleable breakbulk cargo is shifting back to containers even as disruptions threaten to squeeze capacity and drive container rates higher.

The crisis has been a logistical headache for container lines, but overcapacity in their fleets is enabling them to cover the loss of effective capacity being used up by the longer transits around southern Africa, Lars Jensen told TPM24.

Shippers are no fans of transshipment and have expressed reservations over the ability of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd to provide the efficiency needed to achieve their stated on-time performance goal of 90%.

DHL’s decision leaves Denmark’s DSV as the only remaining obvious potential bidder for DB Schenker after Kuehne+Nagel confirmed last week it would not pursue an acquisition.

CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd and Mediterranean Shipping Co. have confirmed pushing their previously announced rate increases scheduled for this week to the second half of the month.

Otto Schacht, who’s worked for Hapag-Lloyd and Kuehne+Nagel, said forwarders will remain vital to the industry thanks to a high degree of customer service.

Increased demand from cargo owners for expensive low-carbon transport options is essential to the development and production at scale of alternative fuels, TPM24 attendees were told.

As soon as regular transits resume through the Suez Canal, ocean rates will fall and container shipping’s endemic overcapacity will return, Alan Murphy told TPM24 attendees.

While the extended transit times around southern Africa are currently manageable, the diversions, combined with a trend toward slower sailing speeds, will require stock holding levels to be raised, TPM24 attendees were told.

The “twining” of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd in the Gemini partnership will significantly improve vessel schedule reliability thanks to a hub-and-spoke strategy, Rolf Habben Jansen told TPM24.

The global order of the last several decades that fostered growth in container shipping is largely over, leading to a risky world for supply chains, Robert Gates told TPM24.

The offer made by CEVA in January appeared to be a done deal, but GXO’s competing bid delivered a 26% premium on the CEVA offer and was swiftly accepted by Wincanton’s board.

The market upswing that began in November has continued through February, with the forwarder expecting further growth this year, especially in ocean freight.

The capacity reinstatement is also a boon for Indian shippers facing intermittent void calls and longer transits as they try to maximize exports ahead of the current fiscal year closing on March 31.

Even as the industry seemingly adjusts to the new status quo of routing ships around southern Africa, there are significant — yet less apparent — changes afoot in container shipping, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The prospects of trucking goods from the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia to the trade hub of Jeddah on the Rea Sea looks increasingly more favorable amid soaring ocean spot rates and few signs that southern Red Sea security will be restored soon.

The carrier’s acquisition spree has brought one of France’s largest transport and logistics companies into the group, but its bid to acquire UK forwarder Wincanton is being challenged.

PayCargo has taken a majority ownership stake in process automation company Rippey AI to better connect invoicing to payment transactions.

Carriers are advocating in increasingly vocal and high-profile ways to ensure that an effective price on carbon comes out of IMO deliberations and puts regulatory teeth behind its commitment to eliminate carbon emissions from shipping by or around 2050.

APM Terminals will make more slots available for retrieving import containers at its Port Elizabeth site as truckers say delays in booking appointments are worsening.

The move makes sense, according to a Mumbai-based source, as ONE needs a partner to fill space and Cosco needs a strong service out of India.

A drop in schedule reliability was expected on trade lanes such as Asia-Europe and Asia-US East Coast, but the diversions around southern Africa have also affected routes not directly connected to the Red Sea.

Folk Maritime’s stated goal is to “fill an essential void” in the regional maritime market, with its launch coinciding with heavily disrupted container shipping flows.

The Port of Jacksonville said the first ship on the newly combined trans-Atlantic and north-south service from Mediterranean Shipping Co. called the port this month.

The hub-and-spoke model designed by Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd will depend heavily on the reliability of shuttle and transshipment operations to and from mainline terminals, according to the maritime consultancy.

Forwarders believe carriers are now a bit uncertain about their ability to secure enough cargo from shippers for spot bookings given that some exporters are known to have put their orders on hold because of high ocean rates and other challenges.

Both sides say cargo is leaving Montreal due to the inability to reach a new contract deal with the port’s main longshore union.

The additional operating costs of diverting ships around southern Africa does not justify the scale of the surcharges being levied by ocean carriers, according to the European Shippers’ Council.

Under final guidelines for detention and demurrage billing, only the shipper or consignee can be on the hook for such charges and bills must be sent within 30 days.

The move has already prompted Busan, one of the ports most affected by the downgrade, to urge Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd to rethink their Gemini vessel schedules and restore some calls at the South Korean gateway.