Container Shipping News

The European Shippers’ Council, which represents freight transportation interests in Europe, has held a meeting to respond to anti-competitive developments in the shipping liner market.

Crowley Maritime Corporation today announced additional organizational realignments within its shipping and logistics team, effective Jan. 1, including the appointment of Nelly Yunta to vice president of sales...

Dockworkers at Charleston refused to unload a ship for about two hours...

Det Norske Veritas and Germanischer Lloyd today announced they are merging to create the world’s biggest ship classification society, accounting for nearly 18 percent of the global fleet.

Somali pirates took five Indian sailors hostage after attacking a German oil tanker off the southern coast of Nigeria.

Nashville, Ind.-based transportation forecaster FTR Associates’ Shippers Conditions Index for October was -5.0, improving nearly two points from September.

The Stifel Nicolaus Logistics Confidence Index, a monthly survey of international shippers and forwarders measuring European-based trade lanes, conducted by Stifel Nicolaus Transportation & Logistics Research Group...

The Saint Lawrence Seaway handled 5.1 million metric tons (about 5.6 million tons) of cargo shipments in November, increasing 11 percent year-over-year.

Dutch shipbuilding company Damen Shipyards Group today acquired ship repair yard Arno Dunkerque, located in the Port of Dunkirk in France.

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s liner services division has named Tony Otero as vice president of Caribbean services.

Japan’s exports to the United States rose for the 13th consecutive month in November.

LONG BEACH—The Dec. 12 announcement that CMA CGM is taking an equity stake in the Pier J terminal at the Port of Long Beach is a significant development...

Maersk Line recently announced that it will implement a congestion surcharge in the event of an International Longshoremen’s Association strike at East and Gulf coast ports, which would begin Dec. 29...

Cosco Container Lines, one of the four carrier members of the CKYH Alliance, will institute several surcharge adjustments.

Representatives of the International Longshoremen’s Association and United States Maritime Alliance resumed negotiations today...

The container ship charter market, struggling to recover from record lows, is set to weaken further in 2013 with an overhang of excess capacity depressing vessel earnings, according to industry analyst Alphaliner.

Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg Sud are in preliminary negotiations over a merger that would create the world’s fourth-largest ocean carrier and likely trigger a fresh round of consolidation in the fragmented container shipping industry.

The Army Corps of Engineers has announced that on Dec. 18 it will begin blasting and removing rock pinnacles at Thebes, Ill., located south of St. Louis on the Mississippi River, to prevent the Mississippi’s water levels...

Government data showed U.S. steel exports in October totaled 1.19 million tons, down 12.1 percent from 1.06 million tons in September but up 3 percent year-over-year.

Famous Pacific Shipping’s branch in Melbourne, Australia, has secured a contract to handle the import, unpacking and inland delivery of 52 containers with 1,138 metric tons (about 1,254 tons) of steel coil.

South Korean ocean container carrier Hanjin Shipping is hiking rates for Asia-Europe trade routes, effective Jan. 13, 2013, to cover losses from falling freight rates, the company said.

Container trailer operators on Dec. 15 called off a three-day strike at the APM Terminals facility in India’s Port of Nhava Sheva...

Florida-based marine salvage and wreck removal company TITAN Salvage, a Crowley company, has established a new office and equipment depot in Cairns, Australia.

Summa Friday completed the takeover of Fesco, giving the Russian trading and investment group control of the nation’s largest ocean container carrier.

Cosco Container Lines will increase rates by $500 per box for reefer shipments from the Far East to Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Indian subcontinent, effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Weak demand from Europe, the U.S. and Japan will dampen growth in Chinese exports in the coming months, IHS's senior economist for China says.

In ranking the ocean carriers serving the U.S. trade, perhaps Yogi Berra said it best: “It’s déjà vu, all over again.”

It’s not going to look a lot like Christmas for ocean container lines this year, next year and even beyond that.

Brazilian container line Alianca has announced changes to its Cabotage and Mercosul service because of the dry docking program of its Alianca Maracana during the first quarter of 2013.

Asia-Pacific ocean transport operator Austral Asia Line has added a port call at Lyttelton to its North Asia to New Zealand service, which will complement the existing Tauranga port call.

Mariana Express Lines, a regional ocean container carrier offering services between islands in the Pacific Ocean and Asia and Australia, will launch a U.S. West Coast service to certain Micronesia locations.