Marine Link
Thursday, March 28, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Ocean Freight News

26 Mar 2024

Bridge Collapse Freezes Ship Traffic in Port of Baltimore

(Photo: David Adams / U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

Ships sailing to the U.S. port of Baltimore dropped anchor in waters nearby while vessels were stranded inside the port after traffic was halted following a bridge collapse, shipping data showed on Tuesday.A 948-foot container ship smashed into a four-lane bridge in the port in darkness early on Tuesday, causing it to collapse and sending cars and people plunging into the river below.Port traffic was suspended until further notice, Maryland transportation authorities said.At least 13 vessels that were expected to load coal were anchored near to Baltimore port…

26 Mar 2024

Ships Bound for Baltimore Drop Anchor After Traffic Stopped

Collapsed Key Bridge in Baltimore (Credit: Screenshot/StreamTime Live)

At least 10 commercial ships that were sailing to the U.S. port of Baltimore have dropped anchor in waters nearby, data from ship tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic showed on Tuesday.A container ship smashed into a four-lane bridge in the port on Tuesday, causing it to collapse and sending cars and people plunging into the river below.Port traffic was suspended until further notice, Maryland transportation authorities said.The vessels that anchored included container and bulk carrier ships that were signaling their destination as Baltimore…

26 Mar 2024

Baltimore Bridge Collapse Could Disrupt Supply Chain -Xeneta

Collapsed Key Bridge in Baltimore (Credit: Screeshot/StreamTime Live)

The containership allision that caused the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore could cause "significant disruption" to shipping supply chains, according to industry analyst Xeneta.The 10,000 TEU Singapore-flagged Dali was operating on a 2M alliance service between Baltimore and the Far East when it struck the bridge around 1:35 a.m. on Tuesday, sending cars and people plunging into the river below."The immediate focus is the rescue operation, but there will clearly…

26 Mar 2024

LiveStream: Rescuers Search Water for Survivors After Ship Collides with Baltimore Bridge

(Credit: Screenshot/X)

A major bridge collapsed in the U.S. port of Baltimore in the early hours of Tuesday after being struck by a container ship, plunging cars and as many as 20 people into the river below.Rescuers were searching for survivors in the Patapsco Riverafter huge spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the water.As many as 20 people could be in the river along with "numerous vehicles, and possibly a tractor-trailer or a vehicle as large as a tractor-trailer…

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…