Retail News

Ferry operator Scandlines announced changes to its executive management team, hiring Eric Gregoire and Mikael Koch Jensen to join the company as CEO and CFO respectively.Gregoire will start in July 2024 and comes from a position as CEO of Goodpack Pte Ltd. in Singapore. He has previously held positions at several international companies such as General Electric and DuPont.“Scandlines is strongly positioned for the future as an innovative and competitive provider of maritime transport between Germany and Denmark.

The BIMCO Container Shipping Market Overview & Outlook for March 2024 has been published, and Niels Rasmussen, BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, highlights that ship supply is expected to grow on average 9.1% in 2024 and 4.1% in 2025.Rerouting via Cape of Good Hope is assumed to impact the first half of 2024. Ship demand increases an estimated 9.5% in 2024 and falls 0.5% in 2025. The supply/demand balance is expected to tighten in the first half of 2024 but then weaken when ships can return to the Suez Canal routing.According to the IMF…

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…

The volume of goods moving through Spain's top ports rose by as much as 25% in January as attacks on shipping in the Red Sea caused companies to divert Europe-bound vessels around southern Africa instead.Spain's northern ports have also seen volumes in transit jump by up to triple as traders opt to avoid moving goods by truck through Europe because of widespread blockades by farmers, Spanish retail and food industry association Aecoc says.Ports such as Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and Barcelona saw a 25.4% and 7.6% increase in the volume of merchandise respectively…

Inbound cargo volume at the United States’ major container ports is expected to see year-over-year increases through the first half of the year despite attacks on ships in the Red Sea, according to the Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.“Only about 12% of U.S.-bound cargo comes through the Suez Canal but the situation in the Red Sea is bringing volatility and uncertainty that are being felt around the globe,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “U.S.

Seakeeper has launched two new gyrostabilizer models the Seakeeper 10.5 and the Seakeeper 14, designed for vessels ranging from 50 feet to 68 feet long.The Seakeeper 10.5, engineered for boats 50-62 feet, evolved from its two predecessors, the Seakeeper 9 and the inaugural M7000 and offers 17% more angular momentum in 23% less volume.The Seakeeper 14, suited for boats 55-68 feet, bridges a gap in the current lineup between the Seakeeper 9 and the Seakeeper 18. The new model is is 43% smaller and 33% lighter than the Seakeeper 18.

The Indian Navy said on Thursday it had rescued the crew of a U.S.-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden after an attack by Yemen's Houthi movement as tensions in the region's sea lanes disrupted global trade.Following the attack on the U.S. Genco Picardy late on Wednesday, the U.S. military said its forces had conducted strikes on 14 Houthi missiles that "presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region".Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on…

Kenny Ballard has been appointed Mustang Survival’s new President, taking over responsibilities from Juanita Killen, who stepped into the role of Interim President in 2023. Additionally, Lance Richardson takes on the newly created role of VP, Manufacturing and Innovation for the Wing Group, Mustang Survival’s parent company.Ballard brings a wealth of experience from previous executive roles with renowned brands, including Osprey, SwissGear, Wenger Outdoor, Kelty, and, most recently, his own successful consulting firm.

Inbound cargo volume at the United States’ major container ports should continue to slow in the final weeks of 2023 after reaching its peak later than expected this fall, according to the Global Port Tracker report recently released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.“We originally thought peak season would come in August but imports kept growing in September and again in October,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said.

The Russian government has approved some changes to its fuel export ban, lifting the restrictions for fuel used as bunkering for some vessels as well as diesel with high content of sulphur, a government document showed on Monday. It also lifted restrictions on the export of fuel already accepted for export by the Russian Railways and Transneft before the initial ban had been announced last week. The ban on all types of gasoline and high-quality diesel remains in place. Russia…

The Philippines Coast Guard has awarded a contract to OXE Marine’s exclusive distributor in the Philippines, Dynamic Power Marine and Industrial Hardware in partnership with DM8 Composites, to procure 40 high-speed vessels equipped with twin OXE300 outboards. As a result of the awarded contract, Dynamic Power will supply 80 engines to equip the high-speed vessels to support operations all over the Philippines.The vessels will be built by DM8 Composites, a FRP boat builder in the Philippines.

Only one of three available areas was sold during the United States' first ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.The auction, held by the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) offered up three sites for offshore wind development, including one in Louisiana (Lake Charles) and two in Texas (Galveston I and II). Together, the three shallow water sites contain a theoretical potential of 3.7 gigawatts (GW). While 16 companies had prequalified to participate in the auction, bid activity was subdued.

The U.S. Gulf Coast region, the nation's primary offshore source of oil and gas, has cheap electricity and lacks state mandates for renewable energy procurement, making it an unlikely place to expand one of the most expensive forms of clean energy.That is why players in the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry are looking beyond the grid when the Biden administration holds the first-ever offshore wind auction in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, eyeing the sale instead as a way to…

Although the number of fishermen who make a living on the waters of the Great Lakes is much diminished from a half century ago, the region's commercial whitefish fishery continues to be viable and profitable.Henriksen Fisheries is one of about a dozen commercial entities in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan, focused on trap netting whitefish in Green Bay and the waters surrounding the Door Peninsula.Charlie Henriksen started his family-owned fishing business in Door County in 1987.Originally from Illinois…

Fashion brands are a key driver of demand for green shipping fuels, according to shipping group Maersk MAERSKb.CO, as the sector faces pressure from consumers and regulators to reduce their climate footprint.Retailers ship huge volumes of clothes from production centres in countries such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh to consumers around the world, causing carbon dioxide emissions.Overall, the textile industry is estimated to be responsible for between 2% and 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions…

Japan-based Marubeni Corporation and bound4blue, a Spanish engineering company which manufactures and sells a wind propulsion system, have concluded entered a sales partnership.Marubeni will promote retail activities for bound4blue’s suction-type eSAILs both domestically and internationally and will act as the exclusive business partner in the Japanese market.The basic principles of eSAIL are similar to those underlying the generation of lifting power by airplane wings. The sucking of air into the eSAIL also smooths the flow of wind around its body…

The Longshore union and employers of 22,000 dockworkers at U.S. West Coast ports on Wednesday said they have reached a tentative deal on a new six-year contract, ending 13 months of talks and easing supply chain worries.The deal was reached with assistance from Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) employer group said in a joint statement.President Joe Biden, who dispatched Su to the negotiations in San Francisco earlier this week…

A fire broke out near a business center and the warehouse of a retail chain was hit in a Russian missile attack overnight on the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukraine’s officials said early on Wednesday.Air defence forces shot down two missiles over the city, the city’s administration said on its Telegram messaging app.

Groups representing major retailers and manufacturers urged the White House on Monday to intervene in contentious West Coast port labor negotiations, citing worries about shipping disruptions during critical holiday shopping seasons.The call came after the largest terminal at Southern California's Port of Long Beach closed on Monday as dock workers rally for better pay. Monday's closure followed similar disruptions on Friday in Oakland, California.More than 22,000 dockworkers…

With the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s financial muscle is beyond question. Howev-er, at a corporate level, the country’s capital markets offer a range of benefits to overseas companies seeking equity, debt … or both. Øivind Amundsen is CEO of Oslo Børs and, as you would expect, a strong advocate of the Norwegian capital as a place to raise money for marine-related projects. The diverse nature of the companies which are listed on the Børs, part of Europe’s largest stock exchange group…

Closely watched U.S. retail trade forecasters on Monday lowered their import target for the first half of 2023 and said they expect incoming ocean container volume to remain soft going into this autumn - when retailers like Walmart (WMT.N) should be well into holiday season preparations.The Global Port Tracker now expects U.S. container imports of 10.4 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) for the first half of the year, a reduction of nearly 4% from its prior forecast.

French shipping group CMA CGM has committed to buy the logistics operations of family-run conglomerate Bollore for an enterprise value of 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion), the two companies said on Monday.CMA CGM granted the Bollore group an option to sell it the logistics business, which generated more than 7 billion euros in revenue last year and employs 13,500 people.Bollore said it would decide whether or not to exercise the option after consulting employee representatives.The…

The Pacific Maritime Association on Thursday said the largest longshore union local on the West Coast disrupted work at the nation's busiest seaport complex for the second week in a row, as labor talks covering 22,000 dockworkers from California to Washington state approach the one-year mark.Frustration is growing over the lack of resolution in the talks, which started in May.