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Foot Equivalent Unit News

21 Feb 2024

Unifeeder to Add Two More Methanol-powered Vessels

(Image: Unifeeder Group)

Unifeeder Group announced it has completed a long-term charter agreement for two additional methanol-capable container feeder vessels. This follows the agreement for two initial vessels announced in October 2023. The latest agreement is in partnership with German-based ship owning group Elbdeich Reederei and Norwegian shipowner MPC Container Ships (MPCC), who are responsible for one vessel each. The 1,250 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) vessels, scheduled for delivery in 2026…

28 Dec 2023

Red Sea Shipping Workarounds Add Costs, Delays for Suppliers

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Toymaker Basic Fun's team that oversees ocean shipments of Tonka trucks and Care Bears for Walmart and other retailers is racing to reroute cargo away from the Suez Canal following militant attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.Suppliers for the likes of IKEA, Home Depot, Amazon and retailers around the world are doing the same as businesses grapple with the biggest shipping upheaval since the COVID-19 pandemic threw global supply chains into disarray, sources in the logistics industry said.Florida-based Basic Fun usually ships all Europe-bound toys from its China factories via the Suez Canal…

13 Jun 2023

Methanol Bunkering Gaining Interest Among Global Players

(Image: Maersk)

Denmark's Maersk said on Monday it has secured fuel for the world's first container vessel able to run on carbon-neutral methanol for its inaugural journey.Interest in methanol as an alternative fuel for bunkering has grown in the shipping industry, which seeks to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.Below is a list of key upcoming methanol bunkering-related projects by companies and ports:COMPANIES:*A.P. Moller-MaerskMaersk has ordered 19 methanol-enabled ships to work towards a goal of transporting 25% of its ocean cargo using green fuels by 2030.

06 Jun 2023

Container Shipping Freight Rates Are Too Low, Says Hapag Lloyd CEO

© Daniel / Adobe Stock

Global container shipping freight rates have reached unsustainable levels and must rebound, the chief executive of Germany's Hapag Lloyd, the world's number five operator by volume, said on Tuesday."There are spot rates that are clearly below cost," said CEO Rolf Habben Jansen in a call with journalists."In the long run, that typically does not hold.

03 May 2023

Crowley Launches Multimodal Service Between Mexico, US and Canada

(Photo: Crowley)

Crowley announced it will launch an end-to-end, integrated ocean and rail service between Mexico and the U.S. Midwest region and into Canada. Featuring Crowley’s new Mexico-U.S. ocean route in the Gulf, the service will leverage the inland rail network of Canadian National Railway Company and its U.S. rail subsidiaries (CN). The companies’ combined network provides broad reach across the Midwest and into Canada to increase solutions for global customers in North American market…

21 Mar 2023

Global Freight Slump Deepens At the Start of 2023

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Global freight movements continued to dwindle in the first two months of 2023 as manufacturers and distributors struggled to reduce excess inventories and cope with rising interest rates and increased caution among buyers.Container flows fell further in January and February compared with the same months a year earlier, showing the inventory-liquidation cycle was not over yet:Singapore’s seaborne container shipments were down 6% in February compared with a year earlier, one of the steepest falls since the first wave of the pandemic.Japan’s air cargo through Narita airport…

22 Feb 2023

Terminal Expansion Boosts Port of Vancouver Container Capacity

(Photo: Port of Vancouver)

A recently completed terminal expansion project at Canada's Port of Vancouver is set to boost capacity amid projected cargo volume growth at the Canadian West Coast seaport.The Construction on the Centerm Expansion Project—delivered by the the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority in partnership with terminal operator DP World—allows Centerm to handle 60% more containers by increasing the terminal footprint by 15%. Work completed includes expanding the terminal footprint to the west and east…

01 Feb 2023

'Party is over': Hapag Lloyd CEO Says Freight Rates to Keep Declining

©travelview/AdobeStock

Container freight rates will keep declining in the current realignment of shipping demand and supply, said the chief executive of Germany's liner Hapag Lloyd, the world's number five by transport capacity."The party is over. We are back to a normal shipping business," CEO Rolf Habben Jansen told reporters at a briefing late on Tuesday on the state of the market, in which his company reported sky-high profits for three years running."Now we have to fight for every box again to get our ships full," he said.

16 Aug 2022

Robert Allan Ltd Designs ATB Convoys for Aliança Navegação e Logística

Canadian naval architecture and marine engineering firm Robert Allan Ltd. said it has been awarded a contract by Rio Maguari Shipyard (Estaleiro Rio Maguari – ERM), located in Belém, Brazil, to develop the design package for an innovative Articulated Tug and Barge (ATB) for shipping containers along the coast of Brazil. These two ATB convoys will be owned and operated by Aliança Navegação e Logística (ANL), a major logistics services provider in Latin America, and part of the Maersk Group.Robert Allan Ltd.’s engineering team…

28 Jun 2022

CMA CGM Inks LNG Supply Deal with Shell

(Photo: Shell)

Shell and CMA CGM Group have signed a multi-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply agreement, which will supply LNG to CMA CGM’s 13,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) vessels in the Port of Singapore, starting from the second half of 2023.The simultaneous operation (SIMOPS) LNG bunkering will be undertaken by FueLNG, a joint venture between a unit of Shell in Singapore and Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) utilizing FueLNG Bellina that is already in operation and an 18…

27 Apr 2022

Container Rates: Diverging Trends for Far East to Mediterranean vs North Europe - Xeneta

Credit: hit1912/AdobeStock

In contrast to spot rates on the Far East to North Europe trade which have fallen by more than USD 3,600 per FEU [Forty-Foot-Equivalent-Unit ] since the start of the year, those to the Mediterranean have seen a much smaller decline, falling by just USD 850 per FEU, Xeneta said in a report on Wednesday.According to Xeneta, the spot rate from the Far East to the Mediterranean stood at USD 13,100 on April 26, whereas the spot rate to North Europe was USD 11,100 per FEU.This in turn means that it is now USD 2…

28 May 2021

COSCO Hopes for Greek Deal on Piraeus Despite Delay

© aerial-drone / Adobe Stock

Chinese shipping group COSCO hopes to reach a deal with the Greek government to complete the purchase of an extra stake in Piraeus, despite running out of time to fulfil a key condition, a top official at the port said.Under a 2016 Greek privatization agreement, COSCO Shipping bought a 51% holding in Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) for 280 million euros ($341 million) and committed to mandatory investments worth about 300 million euros over five years to acquire an additional 16%…

12 Feb 2021

Port of Baltimore Bests Its Container Moves Record

Maersk Edinburgh at Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal, Ports America, Chesapeake, February 9, 2021.  Photo courtesy of Maryland Port Administration.

The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore reports it has again topped its record for most container moves from a single ship.The 6,000 container moves conducted by longshore workers from the Maersk Edinburgh at the Seagirt Marine Terminal this week are the most ever in the port's the 315-year history. Maersk Edinburgh arrived at the port on Monday, February 8, and left early Thursday, February 11. The final container move was completed at 9:40 p.m. Wednesday.The new high mark—which counts the number of times an imported container is unloaded from a ship…

13 Nov 2020

Hapag-Lloyd Expects Higher Earnings for 2020

(Photo: Hapag-Lloyd)

German container liner Hapag-Lloyd AG is confident of achieving higher earnings in 2020 as lower fuel prices cut shipping costs, demand in Asia recovers and fleet capacity is tight, chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen said on Friday."Oil prices have fallen sharply in the coronavirus crisis, that has given us tailwind, especially in the weak second quarter," said the head of the world's fifth biggest shipping firm in an interview with Reuters."Volumes have bounced back unexpectedly strongly in the third quarter and that will remain the case in the coming months," he added.A drop in bunker prices

16 Sep 2020

World's First LNG-powered Very Large Containership Delivered

CMA CGM Tenere (Photo: Eastern Pacific Shipping)

Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries has delivered the world's first very large containership powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Singapore's Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS), the South Korean shipbuilder announced Wednesday.The LNG-powered, 14,800 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) capacity CMA CGM Tenere is one of six containerships in a series being built for EPS by Hyundai Samho, a unit of shipbuilding giant Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. The six neo-Panamax box…

11 Aug 2020

Containership Allides With Pier in Manila

(Photo: Philippine Coast Guard)

A 5,593-gross-ton containership Ocean Abundance allided with a dock in Manila, causing significant damage to the vessel's hull and the pier.The Philippine-flagged feeder box ship, owned by Oceanic Container Lines Incorporated, rammed and damaged approximately five to 10 meters of Pier 2, North Harbor, Manila at around 3:10 a.m. on Monday, according to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).The ship's crew told the PCG that the incident was caused by an engine problem that reportedly prevented the 124-meter-long ship from being able to move in reverse.PCG said it is monitoring the situation…

06 Aug 2020

Ship Orderbook Shrinks to 17-year Low -BIMCO

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The total orderbook for dry bulk, container and tanker ships has reached its lowest point in 17 years as COVID-19 has massively slowed contracting (-50%) while deliveries of new vessels have proved more resilient (-2%).The orderbooks for bulk carriers and containerships in particular have fallen sharply. At 63.4 million deadweight tons (DWT), the dry bulk orderbook is at its lowest level since April 2004 and 34.7% smaller than 12 months ago. Similarly, the orderbook for containerships…

11 Jun 2020

Container Shipping Hit Hard by US Lockdown -BIMCO

© Val Traveller / Adobe Stock

The coronavirus pandemic has shutdown much of the U.S. economy for months and even as parts of it reopen, the data is beginning to reveal the extent of the damage that has been done and a slow recovery is taking a tentative shape.The second estimate for gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter shows a 5% contraction from the previous quarter, and just 0.2% growth from the first quarter of 2019. With lockdown measures having only come into force in late March, the second quarter of the year will prove even more damaging for the U.S.

13 Mar 2020

China's Port Jam Eases, But Reefer Rates Soar

© Rudmer Zwerver / Adobe Stock

Severe congestion at Chinese ports is easing, say officials and industry participants, although a logjam of refrigerated containers has disrupted supplies of fresh and frozen food and pushed up freight rates outside China.Thousands of refrigerated containers carrying meat, seafood and fruit from around the world to China have been stuck for weeks at the country's ports after Beijing extended its Lunar New Year holiday and cities around the nation restricted free movement to curb…

01 Apr 2020

China's Ports Brace for Second Hit as Virus Spread Wipes Out Exports

© lotusjeremy / Adobe Stock

China's ports and shipping firms are bracing for a second wave of supply chain disruptions that may be deeper and more prolonged than during the country's coronavirus lockdown as the global spread of the virus chokes off international demand.With Beijing reporting only sporadic domestic transmission of the coronavirus since March, workers have been allowed to return to posts, factories are restarting and ports are rushing to clear a backlog of cargoes.But with virus outbreaks now overwhelming healthcare systems and shutting logistics channels in other major economies…

22 Oct 2019

DP World Reports Lower Quarterly Global Cargo Volumes

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Port operator DP World reported on Tuesday a third quarter decline in cargo handled across its global portfolio as volumes fell in Dubai for a sixth consecutive quarter.The operator said it handled 18 million twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers in its ports in the three months to Sept. 30, down 1.6% on the same period a year ago.It said a global trade row created a challenging environment. The United States and China have been locked in a trade row that has cast a shadow over global economic prospects.At its flagship Jebel Ali port in Dubai…

14 Feb 2020

US Ports Get More Than $280 Mln in MARAD Grants

© John McQuiston / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced that it has awarded more than $280 million in discretionary grant funding through the new Port Infrastructure Development Program. This funding is designed to improve port facilities at or near coastal seaports.The Port Infrastructure Development Program supports efforts by ports and industry stakeholders to improve facility and freight infrastructure to ensure our nation’s freight transportation needs, present and future, are met.

19 Feb 2020

Hapag-Lloyd Raises 2019 Operating Profit by 80%

© travelview / Adobe Stock

German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd raised its 2019 operating profit by 80% to 811 million euros ($875.47 million) as it earned higher freight rates and cut costs, the Hamburg-based firm reported on Wednesday."The main drivers of the positive business developments have been improved freight rates as well as rigorous cost and revenue management," said the company, the world's fifth biggest operator, in a statement on preliminary results.Operating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) had previously been pegged in a target corridor between 0.5 billion and 0.9 billion euros.Earnings be