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Ocean Freight News

17 Mar 2024

Mexico Could be Back Door for Chinese Imports into US

© EvrenKalinbacak / Adobe Stock

Growth in demand for container shipping imports from China into Mexico in January 2024 increased by 60% compared to 12 months ago, further fuelling suspicions it has become a back door into the US.According to analysts at Xeneta, 117,000 TEU was shipped in January of this year compared to 73,000 TEU in January 2023 (source: Container Trades Statistics).Annual growth in container shipping between China and Mexico had already increased by 34.8% in 2023 compared to just 3.5% in 2022.Peter Sand…

06 Mar 2024

US Container Shippers Slow Walk New Contracts, Eye Easing of Red Sea Rate Hikes

© Mariusz / Adobe Stock

U.S. importers are playing the waiting game with new container shipping contracts, gambling the rate spike from Red Sea vessel attacks will fade and put them in a stronger negotiating position, shipping industry analysts said.Iran-aligned Houthi missile and drone attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea have forced most container carriers to reroute vessels around Africa and sent spot rates soaring.That price shock is a "gift" that carriers will be giving back when the assaults stop…

26 Feb 2024

Xeneta Appoints Chief Product Officer

Fabio Brocca courtesy of Xeneta

Fabio Brocca after being appointed Chief Product Officer at ocean and air freight rate benchmarking platform, Xeneta.Brocca was previously Head of Product for Global Transportation Technology at Amazon.“Amazon showed me the importance of working backwards from the customer and how a best-in-class tech company is run.“When you are transforming an industry, you must think long term. What we think is needed today may not be what’s needed tomorrow, so it is a continuous pursuit of innovation.“There is a beautiful quote from Jeff Bezos where he says…

16 Feb 2024

Red Sea: Far East-US Spiraling Ocean Freight Rates Set for Decline

© MAGNIFIER / Adobe Stock

Spiraling ocean freight rates from the Far East to the United States, caused by the Red Sea crisis, may have peaked, with some relief on the horizon emerging for the shippers, according to the latest analysis from Xeneta, and ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform.The latest data released by Xeneta indicates a peak may have been reached after spot rates from the Far East into the US declined slightly since the last round of General Rate Increases (GRIs) were implemented at the start of February.Into the US East Coast…

12 Jan 2024

Container Rates Soar on Concerns of Prolonged Red Sea Disruption

© aerial-drone / Adobe Stock

Container shipping rates for key global routes have soared this week, with U.S. and UK air strikes on Yemen stirring concerns of a prolonged disruption to global trade in Red Sea, one of the world's busiest routes, industry officials said on Friday.U.S. and British warplanes, ships and submarines launched dozens of strikes across Yemen overnight in retaliation against Iran-backed Houthi forces for attacks on Red Sea shipping, widening regional conflict stemming from Israel's war…

12 Jan 2024

As Missiles Soar, Freight Rates Soar, too

Peter Sand, Chief Analyst, Xeneta. Image courtesy Xeneta

Missile strikes by the US and UK against Houthi militia in Yemen has brought heightened tensions across the region with disruption to ocean freight shipping set to deteriorate further.At approximately 2.30am (Sanaa/Red Sea time) today, Friday, the US and UK military carried out air strikes on targets in Yemen in response to Houthi militia attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, which have totalled 27 since November 19.“We want to see safe, risk-free voyages through the area for vessels and the situation must calm down for that to happen," said Peter Sand, Chief Analyst, Xeneta.

03 Jan 2024

Ocean Cargo Rates Climb After New Red Sea Ship Attacks

© Sergey Novikov / Adobe Stock

Ocean freight rates are surging after a missile attack and attempted hijacking of a Maersk ship this weekend prompted carriers to suspend plans to restart transits through the Red Sea, a key artery to the vital Suez Canal trade route.Yemen-based Houthi militants have been attacking high-value cargo vessels in the Red Sea since November in a show of support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza. It has forced ships to reroute around the southern tip of Africa…

19 Dec 2023

Markets Spike Following Houthi Attacks on Shipping

© Dragoș Asaftei / Adobe Stock

Continued missile attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea have plunged supply chains into chaos, and consumers around the world will have to pay the price, according to Xeneta.Latest data from the industry analyst shows spot rates in the ocean freight shipping market spiked by 20% since Friday after major shipping liner companies such as Hapag Lloyd, MSC and Maersk announced they are avoiding the Red Sea amid the attacks by Houthi militia.Xeneta chief analyst Peter Sand said…

30 Nov 2023

Xeneta Data Points to "Brutal" 2024 for Ocean Freight Carriers

Chart courtesy Xeneta

Latest data from Xeneta suggests 2024 could be even more brutal than expected for carriers in the ocean freight shipping market, as the Xeneta Shipping Index (XSI), which tracks real-time developments in global long-term contracted rates, today stands at 158.5 points, which is 62.3% lower than November 2022.“The XSI is an average of all long term contracts on the market – so in essence the global index is currently being propped up by those older contracts which were signed back in 2022 when rates were much higher," said Emily Stausbøll, Market Analyst, Xeneta.

26 Oct 2023

Ocean Freight Shipping: Rough Seas Ahead, But Growth Still on the Horizon

Stanley Smulders talks to Patrik Berglund about the challenges in ocean freight shipping and whether index-based pricing could be the solution - Credit: Xeneta

The Xeneta Summit has heard the ocean freight shipping industry will find new ways of working together in the face of a volatile market.Stanley Smulders, Director of Marketing & Commercial at Ocean Network Express (ONE), took part in a keynote Q&A with Xeneta CEO Patrik Berglund during the Summit in Amsterdam this week to discuss the major challenges facing the industry.While there are rough seas ahead, Smulders maintains growth is still on the horizon.He said: “The current market is at best volatile…

23 Oct 2023

Container Shippers in Store for Stormy 2024 - Xeneta

© TIMDAVIDCOLLECTION / Adobe Stock

Supply chains around the world could be at serious risk amid expected increases in the cost of ocean freight shipping during 2024.Oslo-based Xeneta has carried out in-depth analysis of the latest ocean freight rates and branded the current market as unsustainable.Xeneta CEO Patrik Berglund said: “The cost of moving goods by sea has plummeted during 2023 by almost 60% for long term contracts on a global level and some corridors, such as the Transatlantic into US East Coast and Far East to Europe…

14 Sep 2023

Shippers Launch Tender to Accelerate Zero-Emission Shipping

© EvrenKalinbacak / Adobe Stock

The Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) has launched a Request for Proposals (RfP) for 600,000 TEUs over a three-year period on ocean vessels powered by zero-emission fuels.This will help its member companies reduce nearly one million metric tonnes of carbon emissions, equivalent to taking 215,000 cars off the road. The RfP is the first major buyer-led initiative to accelerate the transition to zero-emission maritime fuels. ZEMBA was launched as a nonprofit membership organization in March 2023 by the Aspen Institute…

21 Aug 2023

Historic Drought, Hot Seas Slow Panama Canal Shipping

Source: Panama Canal Authority

Before the Ever Max ship carrying lava lamps, sofas, Halloween costumes and artificial Christmas trees could make its inaugural Panama Canal voyage this month, a historic drought forced it to drop weight by offloading hundreds of containers.Weather-related disruptions denied the vessel, owned by Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen Marine, a chance on Aug. 1 to set a record for carrying the most containers through the vital maritime shortcut that connects the Pacific and Atlantic…

18 Jul 2023

Container Industry Emissions Fall

Source: Yang Ming

The latest industry analysis from Xeneta shows that CO2 emissions from the container industry fell during the first quarter of 2023 across 10 of the world’s busiest 13 ocean freight lanes.According to the Carbon Emissions Index (CEI), a unique environmental benchmarking tool from Xeneta and Marine Benchmark, the trade corridor making the biggest emissions inroads was the US West Coast to the Far East lane, while Yang Ming emerged as the industry’s ‘emissions hero’ for the second consecutive quarter.The CEI is built on a foundation of real-time AIS data and individual vessel specifications…

11 Jul 2023

China Celebrates National Maritime Day

©  creativenature.nl / Adobe Stock

China celebrated its 19th National Maritime Day on July 11, with celebrations taking place in museums and schools along with a range of technical conferences.The Ministry of Transport released the 2022 China Shipping Development Report which showed that container throughput at ports increased by 4.7% and the volume of rail-water multi-modal transport routes increased by 16% year-on-year.China Daily reports Vice-Transport Minister Fu Xuyin saying: “By the end of last year, the Chinese fleet reached a carrying capacity of 370 million deadweight tons…

05 Jul 2023

Volvo Cars Switches to Biofuels for Ocean Freight

Source: Volvo Cars

Volvo Cars has announced that it is switching delivery of its production material to container ships using renewable biofuel.The company will use renewable fuel for inbound ocean container transport of production material destined for manufacturing plants based in Europe and the Americas, as well as all spare parts distribution made globally by ocean container transport.Volvo Cars says that it is the first global car maker to announce such a switch which will achieve an immediate reduction in fossil CO2 emissions from intercontinental ocean freight by 55,000 tonnes a year.

02 Aug 2023

Mixed Fortunes on Far East to Europe Trades

© moofushi / Adobe Stock

With the peak ocean freight cargo season approaching, the latest data from Oslo-based Xeneta shows mixed fortunes, and outlooks, for the two main Far East to Europe trade corridors.Xeneta’s analysis reveals that shippers opting for the Far East – Mediterranean route are currently paying a spot rate premium compared to those choosing a North European option. There are also clear implications for long-term contracts, explains Peter Sand, Chief Analyst at Xeneta, across two very similar routes…

31 May 2023

Container Shipping Rate Collapse Continues

Copyright AdobeStock/fotofox33

The ocean freight industry saw a slump in global long-term rates of unprecedented proportions in May, as the contracted cost of shipping containers fell by 27.5%. The development, detailed by Xeneta’s Shipping Index (XSI), marks the ninth consecutive month of rates drops, and is the largest ever monthly fall recorded on the XSI.“If industry observers were left wondering just how bad it could get for carriers after the 10% fall in long-term rates seen in April, here’s the answer,” said Patrik Berglund, CEO of Oslo-based Xeneta.

27 Feb 2023

US Retailers' Ocean Shipping Price Woes Ending as New Delays Threaten

Collapsing ocean shipping rates are not all good news for U.S. retailers, who paid as much as $20,000 to move a container of goods during the worst pandemic disruptions, as they now are bracing for delays due to plummeting demand.Carriers like MSC and Maersk are trying to prop up prices by cancelling voyages and that could spark a new round of cargo delays as containers get bumped from one ship to the next, experts said ahead of a major U.S. ocean shipping conference in Long Beach…

02 Feb 2023

Container Carriers Brace for a 'Stormy 2023' says Xeneta

Copyright alexlmx/AdobeStock

January proved to be a dramatic month for long-term ocean freight rates, with the latest data from the Xeneta Shipping Index (XSI) showing the largest ever month-on-month declines. According to the XSI, average long-term contracted rates dropped by 13.3% in January,  the fifth month in a row of falling prices on the index. Xeneta warns there is little sign of change ahead in what looks set to be a challenging year for carriers.“Global demand has fallen away, congestion has eased…

27 Jan 2023

Anglo American's First LNG Dual-fuel Bulk Carrier Enters Service

(Photo: Anglo American)

Mining company Anglo American announced that its newly launched liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fueled Capesize+ vessel, the Ubuntu Harmony, has loaded its first cargo of iron ore from its Kumba operations in South Africa.The 190,000 tonne bulk carrier, flagged in Singapore, is the first of 10 LNG dual-fueled newbuilds that Anglo American will introduce to its chartered fleet during the course of 2023 and 2024, delivering an estimated 35% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to ships fueled by conventional marine oil fuel.

09 Jan 2023

Some Ocean Shipping Rates Collapsing, but Real Price Relief is Months Away

© angeldibilio / Adobe Stock

Prices in the most volatile segment of ocean shipping are collapsing, but top retailers like Walmart and Home Depot should not expect relief until the spring contract renegotiation season, industry experts said.Spot rates, which cover anywhere from 10% to 40% of ocean container shipments and are considered a key indicator of the industry's health, are in free fall as recession looms and the pandemic-fueled U.S. import bubble deflates.The cost to send a container from Asia to the United States on the demand-sensitive spot market has tumbled more than 80% from its September peak above $20…

12 Dec 2022

Shipping Giant Maersk Replaces CEO

Soren Skou retires as CEO of A. P. Møller - Mærsk A/S, handing the baton to Vincent Clerc, who is appointed new CEO.- ©Maersk

Shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Monday it had appointed Vincent Clerc, who has been with the firm for 25 years, to replace Soren Skou as Chief Executive Officer as of Jan 1. Company veteran Clerc, who currently heads the company's Ocean & Logistics business, is taking the helm at a time of slowing demand for transport and logistics as a global recession looms. "The strong tailwinds that benefited the supply chain industries during the pandemic are coming to an end," said chair of the board Robert Maersk Uggla in a statement.

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