Container Shipping News

Simatech Shipping has ordered up to four 4,350 20-foot-equivalent unit, wide-beam container ships from Taizhou Kouan Shipbuilding, a privately-owned Chinese yard, for $150 million.

Trading in container freight contracts on Shanghai’s Shipping Freight Exchange has collapsed to the lowest level since the platform was launched just over two years ago, as extreme volatility on the spot market has forced traders to shun futures, industry analyst Alphaliner said.

With import demand in Europe and the U.S. eroding, countries in East, South and Southeast Asia, except for Vietnam, face little prospect of export growth for the second half of 2013.

Yusen Logistics has enhanced its less-than-containerload portfolio with a new direct service from Hong Kong to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

APL, ANL and Hanjin Shipping are joining forces to offer a new weekly service covering Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

A strike by canal lock workers that disrupted container and bulk shipping in large sectors of Germany’s inland waterway network for more than a week is over.

Somali pirate attacks have fallen to the lowest level since 2006, but ships face a surge in violent incidents off the coast of West Africa, the International Maritime Bureau said.

CMA CGM said it will upgrade its round-the-world Panama Direct service from a fortnightly to a weekly frequency in September.

Major container lines have announced rate increases for a variety of trades, as detailed below, with most slated to take effect in August.

China Navigation has acquired Polynesia Line, which connects the U.S. West Coast with Tahiti, American Samoa, Western Samoa and other Pacific Islands.

Average spot rates on the Asia-Europe trade held onto most of the general rate increase that took effect on July 1, in part because the wreck of the MOL Comfort has taken some vessel capacity out of the trade.

The remaining portion of the stricken MOL Comfort sank in about 3,000 meters of the Indian Ocean late Wednesday, four days after fire broke out while the section was being towed, according to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines.

When trans-Pacific eastbound spot rates plunged nearly 9 percent in the week ending July 10, it was the latest example that container shipping pricing this year has lost its staying power.

A fire that broke out aboard the remaining portion of the MOL Comfort on July 6 continues today. Firefighting also continues, but so far without success.

Westwood Shipping Lines has entered the refrigerated container cargo market with the launch of its new fortnightly reefer service connecting the U.S. Pacific Northwest...

Maersk Line is providing a new direct “cashew express service” between India and West Africa.

The value of Taiwan’s exports grew 8.6 percent year-on-year last month to $26.48 billion, as shipments of electronic products and minerals rose 10.9 percent and 39.4 percent respectively, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Australia recorded a seasonally adjusted trade surplus of A$670 million (about US$615.9 million) in May, increasing 292 percent or $458.7 million on the revised $157.2 million surplus in April...

Hapag-Lloyd has introduced a fortnightly feeder service between Puerto Progreso, Mexico, and Kingston, Jamaica.

OOCL and Hapag-Lloyd have decided to shift the South Florida call on the Gulf Atlantic Express service from Miami to Port Everglades.

The volume of U.S. beef exports in May was 97,820 metric tons, rising 3 percent year-over-year, and export value was $513.6 million, increasing 9 percent compared with the value in May 2012...

Strikes by unionized lock workers in several German waterway canal systems have halted barge traffic, according to a spokesperson at German service workers’ union Ver.di, which called for the strikes, Platts reports.

Seaspan Corp. has accepted delivery of the container ship MOL Efficiency, bringing the company’s operating fleet to 71 vessels.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has announced several organizational changes that will take effect in August:

U.S. steel exports in May were 1.163 million tons, rising 11.6 percent from 1.041 million tons in the previous month, but falling 7.9 percent compared with May 2012, according to government reporting.

Overall U.S. container trade with Asia increased 1.3 percent to 19.5 million 20-foot-equivalent units in the 12 months ending in March compared to the prior 12-month period, according to data from PIERS, a Journal of Commerce sister company.

The U.S. Coast Guard has reopened a 10-mile stretch of the Mississippi River above Head of Passes after it was deemed safe for navigation, The Times-Picayune reports.

The sale of Scandlines could be put on hold after its private equity owners failed to agree a price with the remaining bidder for the Danish-German ferry company.

Fire now threatens the remaining part of the stricken MOL Comfort.

Five container lines cooperating on a joint service linking Far East Asia with Australia plan to revise the port rotation of the service to incorporate a direct call at Qingdao.

Major container lines have announced rate increases for a variety of trades, with most slated to take effect in August.

The three new shipping services that kicked off this spring from Asia to the East Coast via the Suez Canal still may be shaking out, but there’s no doubt they’re helping to accelerate the momentum the route has built over the past several years.

Spot container shipping rates in the Asia-Europe trade soared 165 percent in the week of July 4 as general rate increases carriers implemented on July 1 took hold, according to the World Container Index.

Wine exports from Europe to Asia have become a major staple of backhaul eastbound container trades in recent years as alcohol demand has surged. Yet growth is now threatened by a trade dispute between the EU and China.

The Suez Canal remains open amid unrest in Egypt, but some transport operations around the country are closed.

Shipping lines are entering the peak season in the major east-west trade lanes at a decided disadvantage because they aren’t taking the steps necessary to control capacity to match modest growth in container volumes.

Tumbling shipyard prices and easy credit are driving the recent surge in container ship orders at a time of industrywide overcapacity, according to consultant Drewry.

China’s manufacturing activity weakened and new export orders slowed last month despite the improving U.S. economic outlook.

The U.S. trade deficit in goods expanded to $63.4 billion in May, up $5.0 billion from April, as exports fell by $0.9 billion to $130.3 billion, and imports rose by $4.2 billion to $193.7 billion.