Container Shipping News

A smooth rollout is not expected.

It is not only dry containers where freight rates are heading for the stars.

The Department of Justice is targeting a “gray area” between its authority and that of the Federal Maritime Commission.

Pace of service contracting should heat up as soon as final questions about new carrier alliances are answered.

El Coqui slid into the water Monday.

One theme that popped up in a number of panel discussions at the JOC's 17th Annual TPM Conference was a changing of the paradigm that defines relationships between carriers and shippers.

Cargo booking exchange platform secures funding of $8.5 million from GE and Goldman Sachs, among others.

“Shippers along these routes will get the best transit times, most competition, and cheapest rates. The reverse will be true for niche shippers.”

Rickmers Maritime’s loss rose to $180.1 million in 2016 from $129.2 million a year earlier.

If world trade demand increased by 3 percent per year between now and 2022, a total of 22 million TEUs would be required.

US authorities capitalized on a rare window to exercise their power over non-US-based companies.

The services to the US Southeast are the latest in a series of trans-Pacific services the Haifa-based carrier has been introducing ahead of the restructuring of the global vessel-sharing agreements April 1.

The system will help increase the number of New Panamax ships that can pass through the Panama Canal from an average of five a day at present.

Spot rates each week have declined in single-digit increments since peaking in mid January.

SM Line is entering an already crowded market.

The two carriers had planned to close on the transaction by March 31.

The lessons to be learned from the collapse of Hanjin Shipping are almost too many to absorb.

There has been a sharp rise in long-term contract levels on Asia-North Europe, even as the spot market manages to hold above $800 per TEU.

Attendees at the JOC's 17th Annual TPM Conference were anxious about what to expect in 2017.

FMC Commissioner Daniel Maffei said he was “disappointed” to learn this week that the 2M and Ocean alliances had decided to forgo emergency funds to protect cargo.

The strikes would have involved dockworkers stopping work every other hour.

The new alliances start operating in two weeks, and the additional capacity they will inject into Asia-Europe could see the return of rate volatility.

JOC’s 17th Annual TPM Conference was bursting with sharp insights on where the industry is headed and on ways to break the cycle of overcapacity, less-than-spectacular service, and unsustainable rates.

Miyamoto said she expects the recent improvement in rate sentiment will transfer to some extent to long-term shipping contracts.

The European Union’s competition authority is due to decide by March 27 whether to clear the acquisition.

Forwarders are not happy with a recovery surcharge being levied by some carriers on Europe-Asia shipments as they battle to find space on the backhaul trade.

“Maersk Line has no plans to implement a trust fund to further safeguard cargo.”

The faster transits that the 2M, Ocean, and THE alliances are promising BCOs open a new front in an already intensely competitive landscape.

More industry consolidation can be expected before the market finds a healthy balance in supply and demand.

The tight space on ships out of North Europe ports is not because of supply and demand, according to a container shipping analyst.

“In the Ocean Alliance, customers look at the four players and are generally aware of their financial sustainability. We don’t have an emergency fund, largely because we don’t think we need to have one.”

The world’s largest shipbroker said it’s well positioned to cash in on improving shipping markets.

The local branch of the German bank said it would support an “orderly winding-up” of the trust.

The so-called “tariff effect” will take an estimated one to two years after the set-up of the company to start delivering substantial savings.

Average revenue per TEU carried by OOCL in 2016 was even worse than during the global financial crisis, leading to an annual loss of $273 million.

Unprecedented consolidation of ocean carriers and the restructuring of global vessel-sharing alliances from four to three is wreaking havoc on several smaller Brazilian container terminals.

A gradual return to more open domestic and international trade policies provided a small spark to the Brazilian economy in late 2016 and boosts carrier optimism.

There was some confusion in the days after the rulemaking as to whether the decision impacted general rate increases, allowed carriers to unilaterally and arbitrarily alter service contracts without notifying the FMC or their contract partners, or changed how NVOCCs report rate changes to their customers.

Spot rates are about 70 percent higher than in March 2016.

The average freight rate per TEU at CMA CGM increased by 2.9 percent between the third and fourth quarters of 2016.