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Container Shipping Line News

27 Feb 2024

New Container Shipping Company Launched in Saudi Arabia

Poul Hestbaek (Photo: Folk Maritime)

A new container shipping line has been launched in Saudi Arabia.The newly formed company, Folk Maritime, will provide feeder vessel and short-sea shipping services in the Middle East and the surrounding region.The Riyadh-headquartered company is led by CEO Poul Hestbaek, who previously served as CEO of Maersk's Hamburg Sud.Other executives include chief commercial officer Saleem Kadernani, chief financial officer Khalid Fawzi and chief human resources officer Abdulrahman Alshangiti.

01 Feb 2024

Evergreen & X-Press Feeders Ink MOA for Methanol-fueled Feedering

(Photo: X-Press Feeders)

Global container shipping line Evergreen Marine Corporation has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with X-Press Feeders, the world’s largest independent common carrier, to place its containers on X-Press Feeders’ new dual fuel green methanol vessels. X-Press Feeders is planning to run these vessels on green methanol and operate them within Europe.The two companies moreover will work together to launch a feeder network, which will be the first in Europe to be powered by green methanol.Initially…

18 Dec 2023

Bab al-Mandab Shipping Lane Becomes Target as Israel Fights Hamas

© AUUSanAKUL+ / Adobe Stock

Yemen's Houthis have been targeting vessels in the southern Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait in attacks that the Iran-aligned group says aim to support the Palestinians as Israel and Hamas wage war.Several freight firms including MSC, the world's largest container shipping line, said they would avoid the Suez Canal as a result, which could mean having to circumnavigate Africa instead.War risk insurance premiums have risen as a result.WHAT ARE THE RECENT HOUTHI ATTACKS?* Dec.

29 Nov 2023

Red Sea Attacks Spark Safety Concerns for Seafarers

(Photo: Screenshot from video shared by Yemeni Armed Forces)

Commercial ships face increasing dangers at sea after armed groups have attacked and seized vessels in waters around the Red Sea and off the coast of Yemen, adding to perils for seafarers, shipping officials said on Wednesday.An attempted hijacking of a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday appears to have been carried out by armed Somali pirates and not Yemeni Houthis, despite the firing of missiles from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen afterwards, the Pentagon…

17 Oct 2023

Evergreen Line Declares Force Majeure on Israel Shipment

Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen has declared force majeure on a shipment to the Israeli port of Ashdod, with its Ever Cozy vessel diverted to Haifa further north due to safety concerns, according to a customer note.This is one of the first force majeures declared since Hamas Islamists launched attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, amid preparations by Israel's military to launch ground operations into Gaza in retaliation.The Ever Cozy was sailing towards Haifa port on Tuesday, according to data from ship tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic.Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas Islamists after its fighters stormed through Israeli towns from Gaza…

15 Oct 2023

Backlog at Israeli Ports Grows

© Dmitry Pistrov / Adobe Stock

The backlog of ships is growing at Israeli ports while operations continue at most terminals amid preparations by the military to launch a ground assault in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, according to data and sources.Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas in retaliation for a rampage in which its fighters stormed through Israeli towns a week ago, shooting civilians and seizing scores of hostages in the worst attack on civilians in Israel's history.Israel has faced heavy rocket barrages including in the south of the country…

05 Jun 2023

US West Coast Port Labor Unrest Continues Amid Pay Quarrel

© Mariusz / Adobe Stock

The largest terminal at Southern California's Port of Long Beach closed on Monday as dockworkers who have been working without a contract since July rally for better pay.The Port of Long Beach is the second-busiest U.S. container terminal and a key trade gateway. Monday's closures followed similar disruptions on Friday in Oakland, California.Total Terminals International LLC (TTI) in a notice to customers said all appointments were canceled for the first gate shift. Mediterranean Shipping Company SA (MSC)…

10 Apr 2023

CMA CGM Places $3 Billion Shipbuilding Order in China

CMA CGM Jacques Saadé, built by CSSC and delivered to CMA CGM in 2020, is the world's first 23,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel containership. (File photo: CMA CGM)

French container shipping line CMA CGM has ordered 16 containerships from China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) in a record-setting deal worth upward of $3 billion.The 21 billion Yuan ($3.06 billion) shipbuilding order, said to be the largest ever placed for containerships in China, is for 12 methanol dual-fuel 15,000 TEU vessels and four liquefied natural gas (LNG) duel-fuel 23,000 TEU vessels.The 15,000 TEU ships will be constructed at Jiangnan Shipyard and Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (DSIC)…

08 Feb 2023

Fire Extinguished at Turkey's Quake-hit Iskenderun Port

Illustration only - ©nihat boy/AdobeStock

A fire that engulfed hundreds of shipping containers at Turkey's Iskenderun Port after massive earthquakes in the region has been extinguished, the defense ministry said on Tuesday, but it was not clear when operations would resume at the port.Turkey's maritime authority said on Monday that the port, located on the Mediterranean coast in the southern province of Hatay, was damaged due to the earthquake that struck Turkey and neighboring Syria.Drone footage showed fierce flames blackening hundreds of containers on the dock…

07 Feb 2023

Shipping Containers Ablaze at Turkey's Iskenderun Port, Operations Halted

Hundreds of shipping containers were ablaze at Turkey's Iskenderun Port on Tuesday, shutting down operations and forcing freight liners to divert vessels to other ports.Turkey's maritime authority said on Monday that the port, located on the Mediterranean coast in the southern province of Hatay, was damaged due to the earthquake that struck Turkey and neighbouring Syria.Drone footage showed fierce flames blackening hundreds of containers on the dock, with water jets from a fire truck dwarfed by the scale of the blaze that broke out on Monday.

25 Jan 2023

Container Shipping Giants Maersk, MSC to End Alliance from 2025

©Maersk

Container shipping firms MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Maersk have mutually agreed to terminate, effective in January 2025, their 2M alliance.2M is a container shipping line vessel sharing agreement (VSA) introduced in 2015 " with the aim of ensuring competitive and cost-efficient operations on the Asia-Europe, Transatlantic and Transpacific trades."In a joint statement on Wednesday, CEO Vincent Clerc of A. P. Moller - Maersk, and CEO Soren Toft of MSC said:“MSC and Maersk recognize that much has changed since the two companies signed the 10-year agreement in 2015.

07 Sep 2022

DNV, MSC Ink 100 Vessel Deal for Anti-roll Assist and ARCS

From left: Jan-Olaf Probst, Director Business Development Hamburg and Executive Vice President at DNV; Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, CEO Maritime, DNV; and Giuseppe Gargiulo, Head of Newbuildings, MSC. (Photo: DNV)

Global container shipping line MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has signed a contract with classification society DNV that aims to address a growing problem within the maritime industry: lost containers at sea.The deal, signed Wednesday at the SMM trade fair in Hamburg, will see MSC implement DNV's new Anti-Roll Assist system and ARCS (Anti-Roll for Containerships) class notation in some 100 vessels, making it the first global liner company to install the application and…

03 May 2022

Cavotec Wins €15.7 Million Shore Power Order

© Robert / Adobe Stock

Cavotec reports it has won a shore power order valued at €15.7 million from a major global container shipping line. Deliveries are scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2022 and continue throughout 2023 and 2024.Cavotec is to supply its ship-mounted shore power systems for a series of newbuild containerships. These systems connect ships to shoreside electrical power in ports, enabling dramatic reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and sulphur oxides, as well…

11 Apr 2022

CMA CGM Bans Plastic Waste from Its Vessels

(Photo: CMA CGM)

French container shipping line CMA CGM said it will no longer carry plastic waste aboard its ships."As part of its renewed commitment towards more sustainable trade, the CMA CGM Group announced its decision to no longer carry plastic waste on our ships as of June 1st, 2022. This landmark decision in the shipping industry will help protect the oceans and biodiversity," the company said in a letter to customers. The firm said plastic waste will no longer be loaded onto its vessels from April 15, 2022.

15 Mar 2022

MSC to Roll Out Marlink’s ITLink Management Solution

(Photo: MSC)

Smart network company Marlink announced it is partnering with MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world’s largest container shipping line, to support the shipping company’s digitalization goals, using Marlink’s hybrid network solutions and IT management.Marlink deploys a fully managed hybrid network solution, bundling its VSAT connectivity with L-band backup and global 4G connectivity on 127 vessels, providing MSC with seamless, secure connectivity to run its critical business and crew applications.

14 Mar 2022

SFL Charters Six Containerships to Hapag-Lloyd

Shipowner SFL Corporation Ltd. announced Monday that it has agreed to charter out six 14,000 TEU containerships to German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd AG for a fixed period of five years, following the expiry of the vessels’ existing charters to another container line in 2023-2024.The vessels will have charter coverage until 2028-2029 at firm rates, reflecting the current strong container market, SFL  said.The new time charter contracts will add approximately $540 million to SFL’s fixed rate charter backlog, increasing the backlog to $3.8 billion, the company added. Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of SFL Management AS, said, "We are excited to build a long term relationship with Hapag-Lloyd, who is the world’s fifth largest container line.

14 Feb 2022

A New Onassis? Italy's Sea Captain Swoops on Reborn Alitalia

© eyewave / Adobe Stock

Sixty-five years after Aristotle Onassis founded Greece's Olympic Airways, another shipping entrepreneur is planning to take to the skies - this time in Italy, where Gianluigi Aponte's MSC has its sights on the successor company to Alitalia.The 81-year-old, known as "the captain" after building his shipping empire from a single vessel, is hoping to forge an air freight and passenger business to dovetail with MSC's sea cargo and cruise operations.But there are big challenges.Alitalia stumbled for years…

12 Nov 2021

Hapag-Lloyd Profit Soars 10-fold on Record Freight Rates

(Photo: Hapag-Lloyd)

German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd reported a more than 10-fold surge in nine-month net profit on Friday, citing record freight rates amid scarce transport capacity and rising transport volumes.The world's fifth biggest operator said net profit climbed to 5.6 billion euros ($6.41 billion) in the January-September period, from 538 million euros a year earlier.It expects earnings momentum to remain at a high level for the rest of the year while operators and customers across…

12 Aug 2021

Container Shipping Giant Hapag-Lloyd Posts Near 10-fold Profit Rise in H1

Credit: Björn Wylezich/AdobeStock

German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd on Thursday reported a nearly 10-fold increase in first-half net profit, citing surging freight rates amid scarce transport capacities.The group, the world's number five in the industry, said net profit climbed to 2.7 billion euros ($3.28 billion) from 285 million euros a year earlier.It said it did not expect any normalization in global supply chains which have seen severe infrastructure bottlenecks due to the coronavirus crisis."We are naturally pleased by this extraordinary financial result," said chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen."But the bottlen

06 Aug 2021

Maersk Shopping Spree Continues Following Strong Earnings

© Sikov/AdobeStock

Maersk bought two e-commerce companies on Friday and said more acquisitions were coming soon as the world's biggest container shipping line boosts its bet on land-based services.Maersk, which handles one in five containers shipped worldwide, aims to expand its land-based logistics services, hoping to gain a larger share of the supply chain from existing shipping clients such as Puma and Walmart.It bought Visible Supply Chain Management and B2C Europe, both specialised in e-commerce, for a combined enterprise value of $924 million, Maersk said."It won't be long before we have a logistics busine

25 Feb 2021

CMA CGM to Expand LNG-powered Fleet to Transpacific Route

(Photo: CMA CGM)

Container shipping line CMA CGM is to expand its fleet of natural gas-powered vessels to cover the busy trans-Pacific route between China and the United States as part of a push to use the fuel to reduce pollution, the group said on Thursday.CMA CGM will deploy by next year six chartered ships with a capacity of 15,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) each on its China-Los Angeles service, representing the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueled vessels to call in the United States, it said in a statement.The deployment will bring to 32 the number of LNG-powered ships in CMA CGM’s fleet and a

10 Feb 2021

Maersk Boosted by Trade Recovery, But Misses Forecasts

© VanderWolf Images / Adobe Stock

A surge in demand for goods like furniture and exercise equipment from locked-down consumers has sparked a jump in shipping rates, boosting profits for Danish freight giant Maersk, the company said on Wednesday.Yet shares in the world’s largest container shipping line fell as much as 8% as it missed analysts’ lofty forecasts for the end of last year and gave more cautious guidance for 2021 than anticipated.Maersk’s ocean shipping business, its largest division, “performed at record level in the quarter as a consequence of the strong rebound of demand…

11 Dec 2020

CMA-CGM Suspends Cargo Bound for South China Ports in Early 2021

© sheilaf2002 / Adobe Stock

CMA-CGM, the world's fourth-largest container shipping line, has told customers it will not take bookings for cargo due to arrive at ports in southern China over several weeks in early 2021 due to a suspension of service by feeder operators.Feeders collect containers from smaller ports and take them to terminals where they can be loaded onto large vessels.CMA-CGM's move comes amid a global shortage of containers that is likely to hamper surging exports from China as the world…

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