Container Capacity News

“As of end August 2025, 534 container ships are on order which will be able to use alternative fuels upon delivery. These represent 53% of ships on order and 77% of the TEU,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.In addition to these alternatively-fuelled ships, the order book also includes 321 ships that will use heavy fuel and another 155 ships that will be delivered ready for a future conversion to alternative fuels.Alternative fuels have proven particularly popular for the largest ships while orders for smaller alternatively-fuelled ships lag behind.

July was a standout month for Port Houston’s public terminals, with double-digit growth in key sectors that pushed year-to-date totals to new heights. Container volumes for July were up are markable 21% compared to July 2024, reaching 392,829 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). This is one of the Port’s strongest single-month performances on record. Throughout this year Port Houston has continued to demonstrate strong capacity for growth in containerized cargo and has seen its largest volumes ever.

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) has celebrated the christening of the State of Maine, the third of five National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV), at Hanwha Philly Shipyard.Built for Maine Maritime Academy, the State of Maine will serve as a next generation training ship, supporting both the academic development of cadets and America’s humanitarian relief.MARAD is replacing aging training vessels from the National Defense Reserve Fleet with new, purpose-built ships…

Crowley’s newest, LNG-powered containership, Tiscapa, began its inaugural service today, adding faster, bigger options for timely ocean cargo transport around the U.S., Caribbean and Central America.Like its sister ships in the Avance Class, Tiscapa features container capacity for 1,400 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), including 300 refrigerated units. This ship was specifically designed to quickly and frequently deliver cargo while using lower emission liquefied natural gas (LNG) for fuel.Tiscapa departed from the Port of Jacksonville…

Abu Dhabi-based AD Ports Group has inaugurated a new, custom-bound inland dry port facility, enhancing the connectivity of Khalifa Port.Al Faya Dry Port, strategically located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, will act as an Inland Container Depot (ICD) linked overland to Khalifa Port, offering a transit terminal for trucks and thus improving speed to market and more cost-efficient cargo handling operations for Dubai and the Northern Emirates.Al Faya Dry Port will serve CMA CGM as…

The Rolling Stones were wrong: Time is not on my side.Too often a myth is created and if not killed off right away, it will take on a life of its own and time will not debunk it. Many myths are created for evil or political purposes, but some myths just occur because the truth is just too complicated.Some of those myths don’t even make sense, but there is no available data to establish the truth.As a very young engineer I was told that the aft accommodations of the SL-7 container ships were installed backwards.

The Grimaldi Group took delivery of the fifth G5-class multipurpose con-ro from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.Named Great Casablanca, this vessel will operate between Northern Europe and West Africa, like all six sister ships in the series.With length of 250 metres, beam of 38 metres and deadweight of 45,684 tonnes, the design of the G5 vessels has a completely customized internal configuration enabling them to transport 4,700 linear metres of rolling freight, 2,500 CEU (Car Equivalent Units) and 2,000 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units).

Lila Global announced it has added a second multipurpose product (MPP) vessel to its fleet.The UAE-based company, a shipowning and operating arm of GMS, said it has acquired the Lila Mombasa, a 30k DWT secondhand vessel with 1,800 TEU container capacity. The 2003-built ship is equipped with removable tweendecks for versatile cargo handling.Lila Mombasa is the second 30k+ DWT MPP in the Lila Global fleet, following the 2003-built Lila Mumbai, acquired in 2020.Lila Global's fleet currently is comprised of 31 bulk carriers, three tankers, two containerships and two MPP vessels.

Wind assisted ship propulsion system company AYRO has introduced an expanded Wingsail portfolio designed to adapt to the cargo needs of ships of most types or size, and rebranded as OceanWings, with the announcement made at Posidonia 2024.The rebranding follows a successful design, manufacturing and commercialization phase over the past six years, bookended in 2023 by the launch and subsequent commercial operations of the Canopée RORO cargo ship, equipped with four fuel-saving OceanWings® Wingsails.The new product range ensures OceanWings are now available to most shipowners…

Van Oord’s cutter suction dredger Biesbosch and trailing suction hopper dredger Vox Apolonia are teaming up to dredge the Prinses Amaliahaven located on Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.A consortium of Van Oord, HOCHTIEF and Ballast Nedam has constructed 2.4 kilometres of new quay wall. The new quays are being dredged to a depth of more than 20 metres below sea level. This development means that the Port of Rotterdam Authority is ensuring an expansion of container capacity in Rotterdam.In total 1…

For Chinese businessman Han Changming, disruptions to Red Sea freight are threatening the survival of his trading company in the eastern province of Fujian.Han, who exports Chinese-made cars to Africa and imports off-road vehicles from Europe, told Reuters the cost of shipping a container to Europe had surged to roughly $7,000 from $3,000 in December, when Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement escalated attacks on shipping."The disruptions have wiped out our already thin profits…

The first in a new series of 12 methanol-fueled container ships being built by Hyundai Heavy Industries for Maersk has been launched.The series will be fitted with MAN G95ME-LGIM10.5 EGR-TC engines. Compared to industry-standard vessels, these 350-meter (1,148-foot) 16,000 TEU vessels will be 20% more energy efficient per transported container. The vessels will have a 16,000m3 methanol tank, so they will be able to complete an entire round-trip, for example Asia-Europe, on green methanol.The crew accommodation and bridge will be located at the bow to enable increased container capacity.

Newport Shipping and NSB Group announced a plan to work together to develop their ship widening proposition for its customers. The NSB Group design will increase container capacity by up to 30% by implementing its unique widening concept, according to the company improving profit and resulting in a better Energy Efficiency Design Index for Existing Ships (EEXI).The concept is about widening a container vessel in breadth while the existing main engine remains the same. Furthermore, other options are for bulbous bow optimization and propeller retrofit. During the widening process, the amount of reefer plugs can be increased to get more flexibility in the stowage plan. NSB has already carried out three ship widening projects for vessels in service for MSC, at the HRDD shipyard in China.

The Canadian government has approved a marine container terminal expansion project in Delta, B.C., following a environmental assessment process that started in 2013.The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project includes building new land and a new three-berth marine container terminal near existing port terminals at Roberts Bank in Delta, B.C., about 35 kilometers south of Vancouver. The project will incrementally deliver an additional 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of capacity…

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…

Shipping companies are transforming rust buckets into gold mines in a modern-day alchemy that could fuel already rampant inflation for years to come.The disruption to world trade caused by pandemic lockdowns and a shortage of new cargo vessels has pushed freight rates for ageing containerships to record highs.Cashing in on the boom, shipping firms are locking in long-term leases lasting three to four years, which means consumers could carry on paying the price for the surge in costs until hundreds of new ships on order come into service.Take the Synergy Oakland…

The project to deepen 11 miles of the federal shipping channel from the sea buoy to JAXPORT’s Blount Island Marine Terminal to a depth of 47 feet from its previous depth of 40 feet has been completed. Federal, state, and local leaders joined JAXPORT and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Jacksonville District to celebrate the project's completion.The 47-foot harbor provides the channel depth needed for larger ships to call Blount Island to and from destinations worldwide and allows existing ships calling Jacksonville to carry more cargo on board.

A group of maritime industry partners has received approval in principle (AIP) from the classification society Bureau Veritas (BV) for a new concept, combining liquefied natural gas (LNG) retrofit and jumboization, applied to large containershipsGTT, a technological expert in membrane containment systems, carried out the LNG Mark III membrane tank design while its integration into the ship was designed and validated by naval consultancy and engineering firm Alwena Shipping. COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Zhoushan) Co.…

Key stakeholders behind the efforts to launch innovative container-on-vessel (COV) service to the Midwest on Firday announced that Hawtex Development Corporation is signing on as the lead developer for a new COV port facility in Jefferson County, Mo. to be developed in collaboration with Fred Weber/Riverview Commerce Park LLC and integrating a 300+ acre adjacent parcel owned by The Doe Run Company. The new port will be a critical link on the new, all-water, north-south trade lane connecting the Midwest and the St. Louis region to the lower Mississippi River and on to worldwide destinations.

A.P. Moller-Maersk this week unveiled images and new design details for its series of eight 16,000 TEU containerships powered by carbon-neutral methanol.The groundbreaking vessels, ordered in August 2021 from South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries for expected delivery by early 2024, will feature an innovative dual-fuel engine setup that can operate on methanol and conventional low-sulphur fuel. With 16,000-cubic-meter tanks for green methanol, the vessels will be able to complete an entire round-trip…

Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas and shipping giant Maersk have formed a long-term strategic partnership for all containerized transport, including door-to-door transport from the company's suppliers to their factories and service warehouses as well as containerized site parts and transport equipment.The partnership, which becomes effective January 1, 2022, also includes all airfreight shipments, but not non-containerized road transport and outbound transport, which will continue to be managed by DSV and other partners.By partnering with Maersk…

Two top European shippers warned on Wednesday freight costs were likely to remain high well into this year, offering no relief to customers including the world's biggest retailers, though they said bottlenecks should ease later in the year.Pandemic-related disruption and a surge in consumer demand drove up prices for shipping goods around the world last year, boosting profits for both container shipping group Maersk and freight forwarder DSV."Freight rates remain very high, volumes are strong and lots of shipping capacity is still tied up outside ports…

Shipping group CMA CGM on Friday reported a surge in third-quarter earnings and said it expected an even stronger performance for the end of the year as intense demand kept freight rates high and container capacity stretched.French-based CMA CGM, one of the world's largest container lines, said net profit rose to $5.6 billion in the third quarter from $567 million in the same period last year, while core EBITDA earnings rose to $7.1 billion from $1.7 billion.An economic rebound following a coronavirus pandemic costs has disrupted supply chains and exacerbated logistics problems like ageing inf