Container Shipping News

California’s export trade declined 4.2 percent in June, as weakness in key markets such as China, Japan, the European Union and Latin America and a strong dollar weighed down sales of manufactured and non-manufactured goods.

On-time performance of ships in the Asia-to-U.S. West Coast trade reached 71.4 percent in June as carriers’ schedule reliability in the trade improved for the fourth consecutive month, SeaIntel Maritime Analysis reported.

Matson said it expects its new Alaska service, improved rates in the carrier’s China express service, and growth in its core Hawaii market to produce improvement from second quarter results that were dinged by non-recurring charges.

Global Ship Lease, the NYSE-listed container ship-owner, has started to pay dividends as it reported strong second-quarter results and signalled its intention to grow its charter fleet.

The idle containership fleet is continuing to grow amid a muted peak-shipping season and an increasing number of cancelled sailings on the Asia-Europe route, according to industry analyst Alphaliner.

CMA CGM plans to deploy three 2,100 twenty-foot-equivalent unit container ships with heavy refrigerated capacity on the North Europe-Caribbean trade lane to handle forecasted rising demand.

Egyptian armed forces are on high alert ahead of the ceremony to open the $8 billion, 44.7 mile extension to the Suez Canal Thursday, which will for the first time allow two-way traffic on the canal, creating economic benefits for both international shippers and the local economy.

Egypt should deliver on a commitment to dredge a new Mediterranean access channel to the Suez Canal as soon as possible or it risks derailing the goals of its ambitious Suez-centered development plans.

The world’s largest container carrier — and reefer carrier — Maersk Line is well-versed in the details of shipping temperature-controlled cargoes. William “Bill” Duggan, vice president of North American refrigerated services, recently shared his thoughts on key challenges and opportunities confronting the global reefer market.

At a time when east-west container shipping trades are being pummeled by what Drewry Maritime Research calls a toxic mix of overcapacity, weak demand and aggressive pricing, the trans-Atlantic is standing out as a lone, and surprising, stalwart.

Greek container ship-owner Danaos more than doubled second-quarter earnings as it continued to cut financing costs and increased its charter revenue.

Hawaiian shippers frustrated with high freight rates had their hopes for change dashed last week after a U.S. federal court rejected their bid to strike cabotage provisions from the U.S. Merchant Marine Act.

Trade ministers failed to cinch up a deal between a dozen Pacific Rim nations Friday, what could have been their last chance to negotiate the terms of a Trans-Pacific Partnership before the end of the year.

The slowdown in China’s economy poses some risks for container shipping, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

“It is a historic day – a day for removing barriers,” proclaimed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on July 20, as Cuba and America reopened their embassies and ended a 54-year diplomatic stalemate.

Asia-Europe spot rates more than doubled this week, hitting highs that haven’t been seen in months and giving carriers a much-needed glimmer of hope.

Japan’s three largest container lines saw their net profits surge in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, buoyed by brisk container traffic volume from Asia to the United States as well as a weaker yen and lower fuel prices.

Although U.S. consumer spending is still lagging its potential this year, it is likely to pick up in the second half, but not enough to fill container vessels with the imports needed to support freight rate increases. That was the takeaway from Thursday’s JOC webcast on the Peak Season Shipping Forecast.

With piracy on the rise again, particularly in Southeast Asia, security professionals are recommending conducting more intensive screening of ship crews to create one less possible avenue for criminal elements to gain access to ships.

Mitsui OSK Lines this week said it is launching a barge terminal operation company in Bangkok aimed at moving goods more speedily and efficiently from Thailand's gateway port of Laem Chabang to the capital of Bangkok.

Low Asia-Europe spot rates have forced NOL Group to renegotiate contract rates with some shippers.

Diana Containerships, the Greek charter ship-owner, posted increased second-quarter net income of $891,000 against $633,000 a year ago.

China Shipping Container Lines has placed orders for eight 13,500 twenty-foot-equivalent container ships at Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Shipbuilding, continuing the aggressive fleet expansion began last year.

LONDON – NOL Group swung to a net profit of $890 million in the second quarter from a $54 million loss a year ago, almost entirely due to the gain from the sale of APL Logistics to Japan’s Kintetsu World Express.

Matson plans to invest roughly $30 million in upgrades and new equipment into the new Alaska services it acquired from now-defunct Horizon Lines in May.

Finnlines posted its best second quarter result in a decade as cost cuts offset the impact of a flat Baltic short-sea shipping market.

Hapag-Lloyd has announced a general rate increase for shipments from the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent to the United States and Canada, as trade has grown by double-digits.

Americans love imported footwear. They bought 2.3 billion pairs of shoes, boots, sneakers, sandals and sundry other styles last year. That comes out to 7.3 pairs for every man, woman and child. While not enough to make Imelda Marcos green with envy, it’s enough to turn a lot of footwear executives gray with worry about where in the world to get them made at a cost and quality that will entice Americans to buy more.

Three container ships sailed through the “new” Suez Canal over the weekend in the first trial run of a second shipping lane alongside the existing waterway ahead of the official opening next month.

Intra-Asia container shipping is swelling as manufacturing shifts from China to lower-cost countries, and may represent 25 percent of global container trade. In a global context, however, the trade is a 'blind spot' where accurate data and forecasts are hard to come by.

Log-In Logistica Intermodal will spend $5.2 million to upgrade and expand the fleet of containers used in South America's coastal trade and to carry goods to Manaus on the Amazon River.

SeaLand has said that it will no longer accept any form of the chemical compound calcium hypochlorite and any shipments currently loaded or awaiting transshipment would be offered alternative solutions.

The government of India wants the country to begin manufacturing shipping containers itself as India tries to reform its transportation sector to make it more alluring for manufacturers.

Less than a week after announcing an August general rate increase for shipments from Far East Asia, excluding Japan, to Middle Eastern Gulf ports, Hapag-Lloyd is increasing its rate $300 for shipments from the same area to the Red Sea as modest container volume growth in the Middle East makes itself felt in the market.

OOCL’s revenue on the Asia-Europe route crashed by 28 percent in the second quarter, more than double the near 12 percent slide in traffic, in the latest indication of the depth of the bear market on the world’s biggest container trade.

The 2M shipping alliance between Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. can expand its vessel-sharing agreement on U.S. trade lanes connecting to Israel, Russia and Saudi Arabia after a 45-day review expired Thursday without U.S. Federal Maritime Commission action.

Maersk, the most reliable carrier in the industry, seems to be rubbing off on Mediterranean Shipping Co., which has seen its reliability improve since joining the 2M Alliance.

Maersk Line has signed an agreement with the Vladivostok Sea Port, one of Russia’s largest seaports, for regular container transport of fish and fish products from the Far East port to the central regions of the country.

Ocean carriers are spending heavily on new ships but are less keen to invest in new containers, according to Drewry Maritime Research.