Container Ship Operators News

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…

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…

High shipping rates are set to continue for at least several weeks, despite new coronavirus lockdowns in Europe, boosted by demand for furniture, exercise equipment and home improvement goods, shipping group Maersk said on Wednesday.A surge in demand from shoppers sheltering at home in a worsening COVID-19 pandemic has upended normal trade flows and triggered a spike in the cost of moving goods around."There are simply not enough containers in the world to cope with the current demand…

Amazon seller Bernie Thompson shifted half of his production out of China to reduce his business risks and still found himself in the crosshairs of logistical chaos besetting the movement of goods around the globe.A surge in demand for furniture, exercise equipment and other goods for shoppers sheltering at home in a worsening COVID-19 pandemic has upended normal trade flows.That has stranded empty cargo containers in the wrong places, spawning bottlenecks that now stretch from factories to seaports.

Singapore shipping company Pacific International Lines (PIL) has announced that it is quitting the Transpacific market as part of an optimization strategy. The shipping line has been participating in a half-dozen trans-Pacific services, mostly in slot-charter arrangements.PIL’s last Transpacific sailing will be in March 2020.The company said it has taken the decision as part of a wider strategic review of its business. Henceforth, PIL will focus on further strengthening its position in the North-South Trade such as Africa, Middle East / Red Sea, India Sub-Continent, Latin America and Oceania.PIL is one of the world’s top 10 container ship operators and is the largest shipowner in Southeast Asia.

Shipping technology startup CargoMate has closed a GBP 500,000 seed investment round. The investment allows the company to continue the development of their port call optimisation platform for container ships and expand the number of shipping companies they work with. CargoMate, who have been piloting their technology with a major ship operator since December 2017, reduce turnaround time for container ships in port by providing real-time port productivity analytics to vessels and fleet management departments. The CargoMate platform gives vessel operators full visibility of cargo operations and predicts the earliest time a ship can leave port. Because it is deployed to the ship, it doesn’t rely on any terminal infrastructure so works in every port worldwide.

Slowed by industry headwinds and challenges that included major customer Hanjin declaring bankruptcy, the Port of Long Beach said it moved almost 6.8 million containers in 2016, its fifth best year ever. Overall cargo declined 5.8 percent in 2016 compared to 2015, as the Port was impacted by new ocean carrier alliances and the August bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping, a South Korean company and former majority stakeholder at the 381-acre Pier T container terminal — Long Beach’s largest.

Overall confidence levels in the shipping industry fell to a record low in the three months to February 2016, according to the latest Shipping Confidence Survey from international accountant and shipping adviser Moore Stephens. The average confidence level expressed by respondents in the markets in which they operate was 5.0 on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high). This compares to the 5.6 recorded in November 2015, and is the lowest rating in the life of the survey, which was launched in May 2008 with a confidence rating of 6.8.

China's biggest shipping line China Ocean Shipping Corporation (Coscocs) has revealed an ambitious plan to increase its container shipping capacity to hit a 2 million TEUs over the next three years, says China Daily. The company is raising the operational capacity in an effort to seize a larger slice of the cake, known as the East-West and South-North routes. Wan Min, general manager of China COSCO Shipping, said Chinese shipping companies mainly operate container shipping services on Asia-Africa and China-Southeast shipping lines, the competition will therefore focus on major shipping lines in particular Asia-Europe and Asia-America routes.

Revenues of Zim, Israel Corp's shipping unit, dropped 7 percent as overall freight rates declined by 9 percent in 2013 and its loss rose from US$ 433-million in 2012 to US$535-million in 2013, according to Xinhua. Container ship operators Zim Line, which holds 2 percent of the international shipping market, is in the middle of financial restructuring. The process includes negotiations on cancelling the state's golden share, while keeping Israel's security needs and government interests. Source: Xinhua

Container ship operators MOL has updated its KPI 'On Time Arrival Performance' quarterly results for October - December 2013 for the major trade lanes. In Q4 2013, MOL vessels maintained 100% on-time performance in Asia-USWC. The overall performance decreased to 83%, compared to 88% in Q3 2013 due to port congestion at Pusan and Shanghai. Asia-USEC services’ performance was slightly worsened to 62% in Q4 2013 due to port congestion at Pusan, Shanghai and Colombo, while MOL vessels significantly improved their on-time performance from 65% in Q3 to 92% in Q4 2013 due to less impact.

Container ship operators APL says it is to move from the current geographically-organized structure to a functional one. The functions will be in the areas of Trade, Commercial, Operations, Procurement and Planning & Strategy. “The container shipping industry is undergoing profound changes, characterized by low growth and intense competition. We recognize there is a need for APL to respond more quickly to the market and to our customers. We are pushing ahead with our strategy…

United Arab Shipping Company’s (UASC) confirmation last week that it has ordered 5 x 18,000 vessels and 5 x 14,000 teu vessels for delivery between late 2014 and mid-2015 is the first major challenge to the top players’ vessel capacity supremacy since Coscon and CSCL burst into the container market in the late 1990’s, according to Drewry Maritime Research. The order will increase UASC’s vessel capacity offered at the end of last year by around 60%, and propel it from the bottom of the top 20 league to the lower ranks of the top 12.

Lloyd’s Register’s BoxMax service, and accompanying notations, aims to enable operators to load more cargo more flexiblyvby increasing and optimizing container stack weights, taking into account voyage (V) and weather (W) specific conditions. This approach, pioneered by Lloyd’s Register (LR) last year, has now been further improved by voyage and weather dependent criteria being incorporated into the modeling. The result is that the right stow and lashing requirements can be planned for any voyage at any time of year. Following on industry feedback since the announcement last year of new container securing arrangement rules, Lloyd’s Register has now created the BoxMax notation.

All Asian shippers wil have to pay higher freight charges to European container ship operators from September 2012. From September 1, Denmark-based Maersk, the world's largest container line, will implement a general freight increase of 250 U. S. dollars per TEU and 500 U.S. dollars per FEU on all shipments from the Far East to the Indian sub-continent, including India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Taking a cue from Maersk, Emirates too has announced a freight increase of 200 U.S. dollars per TEU on shipments between the Far East/ South-East Asia and the Indian sub-continent. The Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world's second largest container line, has announced peak season surcharge and bunker surcharge from September 1.The peak season surcharge of 300 U.S.

According to 'Newsroom Panama' the increase, announced May 17,  is ascribed to high fuel costs, the price of steel, ports, and containers. In the last five years oil prices have increased by 250%, while Maersk Line rates have dropped over 10% in Latin America compared to its competition, said Robbert Jan van Trooijen, manager of Maersk Line for Latin America. Although Maersk is one of the main users of the [Panama] Canal, ports and railways, the impact of rising rates will affect  Panamanian exporters who send their products abroad by container.

Container ship operators China Shipping Group Co, seek to invest in other areas Bloomberg reports China's second-largest container line, is looking for acquisitions in areas including shipbuilding and port operations as the industry struggles with overcapacity and slowing economic growth, said Group Chairman Li Shaode at a Beijing government meeting.

Explosion of refrigerated container compression units and recommendations for recharging - Applicability: Container ship operators and crew, container terminals and stevedores, road haulage firms, maintenance fitters and end users/leasers of refrigerated containers. There have recently been a number of incidents, some fatal, involving explosion of the compressor units fitted to refrigerated (reefer) containers. The cause of the explosions is still under investigation but it appears that the servicing of the refrigeration system is a common factor in each case.

The Administration requests $19.5 million for the operation of the Federal Maritime Commission for fiscal year 2005. Approximately $18.4 million was appropriated for FMC operations in fiscal year 2004. The FMC is a five member independent agency responsible for enforcing international shipping rules and regulations involving carriers (container ship operators), shippers (companies owning goods to be transported), and transportation facilitators such as freight forwarders, non-vessel operating common carriers, and customs brokers. The FMC is primarily engaged in administering the Shipping Act of 1984. However, the FMC also enforces the Foreign Shipping Practices Act and Section 19 of the Merchant Marine Act…

Senators Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) reintroduced legislation (S.1032) designed to reform the U.S.-build requirement of the Jones Act. This bill, similar to the one introduced by Brownback last summer, would allow foreign-built dry- and liquid-bulk oceangoing self-propelled ships over 1,000 tons to ply the U.S. Coastwise trade under U.S. flag. The U.S. ownership, manning and registration (flagging) requirements would remain in place. The bill comes during a time of much activity and debate regarding Jones Act reform. Recently…

Horizon Lines, Inc. took delivery of its first new containership, the Horizon Hunter from the Hyundai Mipo shipyard in South Korea. The Horizon Hunter is the first of five new, U.S.-flag, foreign built, sister vessels that the Company is chartering from subsidiaries of Ship Finance International Limited under definitive long-term charters and related agreements closed on April 11, 2006. The gross tonnage of the vessels is 28,592 tons, they have a capacity of 2,824 TEUs, and are capable of a service speed of 23 knots. The new vessels will be deployed in Horizon Lines' TP1 service linking the U.S. West Coast with Guam and Asia commencing in early 2007.