Liner Carrier News

Longtime Maersk executive Jack Mahoney has been named president and CEO of Westwood Shipping Lines, Inc., a Puyallup, Wash. based independent conbulk liner carrier in the north Transpacific trade. He succeeds Guy Stephenson who is retiring after 13 years in the role. Stephenson will continue in a support role as Executive Advisor/General Counsel.Mahoney’s recent posts with Maersk include three years as President of Maersk in Canada and, more recently, he has been Vice President of the Automotive Industry in Florham Park…

French liner carrier CMA CGM has announced a new order for 50,000 Traxens trackers, aiming to fit containers with connected trackers to provide greater traceability – monitoring location, temperature, shocks, and when container doors are opened.As a structuring shareholder and the first company to have invested in Traxens in 2012, CMA CGM participated in the development of the solution by testing it for several years, then launching it commercially in 2018."Thanks to the order of 50,000 trackers this year, CMA CGM is implementing its decision to deploy the Traxens solution on a large scale for the benefit of its customers," the shipping giant said in a press release.CMA CGM customers who opt for the Traxens solution can efficiently monitor their goods…

South Korean liner carrier Hanjin Shipping has announced job cuts in the U.S., but says the move is not connected to its failure and filing for bankruptcy protection, says a report in Bloomberg. Hanjin will lay off about 180 members of its 500 person workforce in the United States, say sources. Fewer employees are needed because the shipper is no longer booking export cargo. Meanwhile, according to New Jersey On-Line,  Hanjin Shipping Co. has already laid off 127 workers at its American headquarters on Route 4. The layoffs took place Sept. 30 and the company gave notice to the state Department of Labor on Thursday. Hanjin said in the notice to the state that the layoffs were due to the company's bankruptcy petition, filed Sept. 1 in New Jersey.

China's National Development and Reform Commission  (NDRC) is visiting several major container shipping lines’ offices in Shanghai and throughout the country as part of its surcharges investigation. According to local media reports, NDRC investigators have been combing through emails and files at many liner carrier offices  since Friday. In September 2015, the Chinese government said that lines had been charging too much for things like bills of lading custody fees, port fees and document fees. In response, the shipping lines announced that they would cut several of these surcharges. Sources say that one of the companies whose offices were inspected was Maersk.

Israeli liner carrier Zim Integrated Shipping Services is launching a new service between Asia and the U.S. East Coast via the Suez Canal at the end of May. The 10-ship loop will call in South China, Vietnam, Colombo, New York, Savannah and Norfolk, and is designed to provide fast transit from Asia to New York. The new service, which ZIM has dubbed the Seven Star Express (Z7S), will commence May 29 with a rotation of Da Chan Bay, Yantian, Cai Mep, Singapore, Colombo, New York, Savannah, Norfolk, Singapore, and Da Chan Bay. ZIM, which will operate the service completely with its own vessels, will deploy 10 ships with capacity between 5,000 TEUs and 6,500 TEUs on a weekly schedule.

Rickmers-Linie, the Hamburg-based liner carrier for break bulk, heavy lifts and project cargoes has again been chosen by Kirow for the transportation of railway cranes from Hamburg to Xingang. The shipment in August marked the continuation of a long-standing relationship between the two companies. The shipment contained six cranes of the type KRC 2880, with 20 more units of the type KRC 1680 are to follow into 2015. Kirow has been a long-term supplier of the Chinese railways. The company has already delivered a number of railway cranes for the ever expanding railway network in China.

Shanghai based SpecTec office announces the successful signature of AMOS installation project to Shanghai Jinjiang Shipping Co. Ltd (referred to as JJ Shipping herein). The collaboration agreement was started in 2012, with an initial AMOS installation order of 8 ships. The installation project is about Maintenance, Purchase and Stock Control AMOS module: a user friendly application of AMOS Software aimed at centralizing the maintenance and purchase orders within the fleet, displaced in the different areas all around the world, and connected to the Company’s Head Office. The module keeps the Ships’ Stock items under control as well, guaranteeing a saving on purchase costs. SpecTec will install AMOS software on the 8 ships, scheduled for 2013.