Container Freight

Drewry Expands Container Freight Rate Benchmarking

Drewry Maritime Research, the global leader in freight rate benchmarking, has expanded its flagship Container Freight Rate Insight publication and now provides freight rate benchmarks on 550 international trade routes. Published monthly, the report provides all-in spot rates on all the key shipping routes of the world, including both headhaul and backhaul trades. In  addition to the monthly report, subscribers also have access to an online database of both current and historical freight rate data dating back to January 2006. Drewry collects its proprietary freight rate data from active freight forwarders in the Far East, South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the United States, Canada and South America, who provide their freight rates confidentially to Drewry. “In times of heightened freight rate volatility shippers need a dependable source of market data in order to effectively benchmark their shipping costs,” said Drewry’s Container Freight Rate Insight editor Martin Dixon. “Over the past six months we have doubled the number of trade routes on which we provide benchmarks and increased the frequency of reporting on many routes in response to rising customer demand.” Shipping costs have proven particularly volatile in recent years. For instance, Drewry’s East-West Freight Rate index, a weighted average across key  Asia-Europe, transpacific and transatlantic trade routes

WCI Backhaul Routes Listed for Clearing

Major boost for swaps liquidity as WCI backhaul routes are listed for clearing.   Introduction of clearing for new Europe-Asia routes will bring significant additional trading potential to container derivatives market. The World Container Index is pleased to announce that two WCI route assessments, covering Los Angeles to Shanghai and Rotterdam to Shanghai will now be cleared by LCH.Clearnet. The addition of clearing

Hapag-Lloyd Increases Rate Increase for North America services

Freight rates have come under pressure in recent months with the entry of new players into the North Atlantic market. Moreover, costs, particularly for charters, bunkering and additional security measures, have risen. Hapag-Lloyd has thus decided to raise freight rates for the North Atlantic and for the US Gulf and the US West Coast with effect from February 1st 2007. The increase amounts to $200 for a 20-ft. container and $250 for a 40' container.

NOL Group 1Q Profits Drop 64%

Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) reported a net profit for the first quarter of 2007 of $43m, down 64% year-on-year. The Group’s Core EBIT (Earnings Before Gross Interest Expense, Tax and Non-Recurring Items) was $58 million, 59% lower than Core EBIT for the same period of 2006. The Liner business achieved Core EBIT of $41 million, down 67%. APL Logistics reported Core EBIT of $12 million, down 25%. 1Q2007 revenues rose year-on-year by 1% to $1.9 billion.

Horizon Lines 15-Day Transit Time for Cargo

Horizon Lines (NYSE:HRZ) announced it has instituted a 15-day transit schedule for containerized cargo shipped from Shanghai to Kansas City with its new International service.  The company launched the Five-Star Express (FSX) trans-Pacific ocean service between China and the United States in December, and selected Kansas City as a key hub for its express ocean-rail intermodal package. "Our goal is to offer the fastest weekly deliveries by using scheduled intermodal rail service

Maersk Line Interim Management Statement

Revenue for the period increased by 10% to USD 14.5bn (USD 13.2bn), primarily due to higher container freight rates, container volumes and oil prices. The profit for the period increased by 82% to USD 1.2bn (USD 0.6bn) and was driven by better operational performance in most business units. The Group’s ROIC increased to 11.7% (7.6%). "We have had a good start to the year and are very satisfied with the results

Hawaii Opposes California Container Tax

The California state legislature is considering a new tax on shipping containers that would cost an estimated $34m a year to Hawaii shippers, The Pacific Business Journal reported. More than 80 percent of goods consumed in Hawaii are produced elsewhere and shipped to the islands, and 90 percent of those are shipped through the California ports of Oakland and Long Beach on the ships of Matson Navigation Co., Horizon Lines and Pasha Hawaii Transport.

Sea Containers Announces Sale of Folkestone Port

Sea Containers Ltd., marine container lessor, passenger and freight transport operator and leisure industry investor, today announced that it had sold its subsidiary Folkestone Properties Ltd, owners of Folkestone Harbour on the south east coast of the United Kingdom. Contracts were signed for the port sale on July 2, 2004 and the purchase, by businessman Mr Roger De Haan who is well known as chairman of the Folkestone-based Saga Group, was completed on August 24, 2004

Human Smuggling Operation Uncovered on West Coast

There may be links between the case of 36 illegal Chinese immigrants found on a container ship here on Tuesday and a similar human smuggling operation uncovered last week in Long Beach, California, Canadian officials said. A Canadian Customs official said it was "highly likely" the two smuggling attempts were connected, but police said they had not confirmed the same smugglers were involved. Both attempts involved hiding the human cargo in squalid shipping containers designed for freight

US Intermodal Container Leasing Market Report

'Intermodal Container Leasing in the US Industry' market research report published by IBISWorld Excerpts from the report are as follows: The Intermodal Container Leasing industry is heavily dependent on large-scale domestic and international trade levels. Thus, as consumer spending fell during the recession and demand for goods across the economy dipped, fewer containers were needed for the transport of products. However, China's resilience and strong growth throughout the past five years