Freight Containers News

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) met for its 83rd session in person at IMO Headquarters in London from April 7-11, 2025. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Harry Conway (Liberia), with Mr. Hanqiang Tan (Singapore) as Vice-Chair.Highlights included:Tackling climate changeThe Committee finalized and approved the draft legal text for the "IMO Net-Zero Framework," to be included as a new chapter in Annex VI to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution…

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) will meet for its 83rd session from April 7 to 11 April, and efforts to reduce GHG emissions from ships will be top on the agenda.Tackling climate change - Reduction of GHG emissions from shipsThe 2023 IMO GHG Strategy outlines a set of “mid-term measures” aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping. These measures should consist of:• a technical element: a goal-based marine fuel standard designed to gradually lower the GHG intensity of marine fuels…

The IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee MEPC 82 met from 30 September to 4 October 2024 and discussed a range of environmental matters, including proposed mid-term measures for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships, enhancing energy efficiency of shipping, tackling marine litter, ballast water management and underwater noise reduction.Tackling climate change - cutting GHG emissions from shipsThe Committee made progress on the development of mid-term…

Regulators and shipping experts will gather at a unique conference in Rotterdam this November to consider the scope for redesigning the exterior and interior surfaces of shipping containers.The aim: to reduce the risk of them becoming contaminated by plant or animals and inadvertently contributing to the global spread of invasive pests.The one-day event on November 11 will be hosted by the secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC).Representatives of National and Regional Plant Protection Organisations will join representatives of the manufacturers…

The Cargo Integrity Group is calling on national administrations to carry out and report the findings of their container inspection programs, and for the IMO to continue collating and publishing the results in a publicly accessible form.The group is alarmed that the IMO is considering discontinuing the practice. Its future is being decided in meetings taking place this week at the meeting of the Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC 10).Under resolutions adopted…

The IMO’s Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR 11) agreed new guidance on several key environmental issues.Meeting from February 19 to 23, 2024, the following guidance will now be submitted to the Marine Environment Protection Committee for approval this March (MEPC 81) and October (MEPC 82):• the safe transport of plastic pellets by sea• best practices for cutting black carbon emissions from ships operating in or near the Arctic• reducing risks of use and carriage…

The IMO’s MEPC 80 session adopted the 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships and advanced other environmental initiatives.The revised IMO GHG Strategy includes an enhanced common ambition to reach net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping close to 2050, a commitment to ensure an uptake of alternative zero and near-zero GHG fuels by 2030, as well as indicative check-points for 2030 and 2040:1. to reduce the total annual GHG emissions from international shipping by at least 20%, striving for 30%, by 2030, compared to 2008; and2.

The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) - 80th session will meet at IMO Headquarters in London from July 3-7, and amongst key agenda items, the MEPC 80 session is expected to adopt an upgraded IMO greenhouse gas strategy.The revised IMO GHG Strategy will contain concrete greenhouse gas reduction targets for the sector and is expected to outline a range of technical and economic measures. Negotiations have been ongoing and will continue during the Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships (ISWG-GHG 15)…

About the Author: Captain Rahul Khanna is Global Head of Marine Risk Consulting at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty. A marine professional with 26 years of experience within the Shipping and Maritime industry, Captain Khanna served more than 14 years on board merchant ships in all ranks, including Master of large oil tankers trading worldwide. Although shipping losses have more than halved over the past decade fires on board vessels remain among the biggest safety issues for the maritime industry.

Samskip has responded to growing demand for its recently launched weekly container service between Dublin and Amsterdam by introducing a larger, faster ship and adding a call at Port of Waterford. The expansion comes less than five months after the debut of Amsterdam as a service separate from Samskip’s Rotterdam-Ireland links. “We have experienced strong uptake for the direct route into Amsterdam’s network of rail, road and barge connections to major EU markets,” said Thijs Goumans, Head of Ireland Trade, Samskip.

If suppliers in China fail to pick up freight containers to fill an order for MediaShop, Marcel Schneider gets an alert via a digital freight system, allowing the retailer to reach out and fix the problem swiftly.Before July 2020, Austria-based MediaShop’s deputy supply chain director says he would discover problems in his supply chain only when containers failed to arrive in Hamburg as scheduled.“It was like being in a tunnel where you had only a limited view of what was going on…

Seafarers' rights to shore leave have been strengthened through amendments which enter into force globally on 1 January 2018, under the revised treaty which aims to achieve the smooth transit in ports of ships, cargo and passengers. The amendments to the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention) also bring in a new requirement for national governments to introduce electronic information exchange, including electronic data interchange (EDI), to transmit information related to maritime transport. This should be in place by 8 April 2019, with provision for a transitional period of at least 12 months during which paper and electronic documents would be allowed.

All Ports of Stockholm freight segments increased during the first three quarters of the year in comparison to the same period of 2016. More and more goods are being transported by sea, directly to the growing Stockholm region. Over the first nine months of 2017 freight volumes increased substantially at Ports of Stockholm. This rise can be seen across all segments; ferry freight, containers and bulk cargo. “Freight volumes have increased considerably at all Ports of Stockholm ports. The trend is obvious. The economy is flourishing and Stockholm is growing,” says Johan Castwall, Ports of Stockholm Managing Director. Ports of Stockholm is Sweden’s third largest ferry freight port and it is freight cargo on ferries that has increased most in terms of numbers of tonnes.

International transport and logistics executives are increasingly benchmarking their companies’ costs and supplier terms in ocean transport contracts, according to data gathered by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. In the past 6 months, the ocean transport spend under carrier contracts benchmarked by Beneficial Cargo Owners via the Drewry Benchmarking Club global initiative increased by 50%, to $2.2 billion; the number of benchmarked routes rose by 81% and the volume of benchmarked dry container teu jumped by 67%. FMCG companies and retailers are generally ahead of industrial manufacturers when it comes to using benchmarking to negotiate contracts.

China has taken a major step towards establishing a speedy new "Silk Road" to Europe by signing up to a U.N. trucking treaty. Fifteen years after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), China is hoping a revival of its ancient trading corridor to the west will help boost its slowing economy. Becoming a member of TIR, an international guarantee scheme that will enable Chinese freight containers to travel all the way to Ireland without being opened up for time-consuming customs checks, is a first step towards putting the legal framework of the plan into action. "It's a key element ...for the Chinese government... If you had to stop a container at every border from China to Europe it would add substantial costs," said Christian Friis Bach, executive secretary of the U.N.

Freightgate Inc announced an easy to use, integrated (SSO enabled) solution for International Shippers around the world to comply with the new IMO Requirement to certify VGM (Verified Gross Mass). The new solution includes a plug-in that let’s you connect directly from your NetSuite Cloud ERP to the Freightgate Logistics Cloud and record your VGM submissions to your carrier. "We are very excited to bring this timely solution to the market to enable our customers and the shipping public at large to comply with this new global VGM requirement” states Martin Hubert, President and CEO of Freightgate, Inc.. The new Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention requirements goes into effect on July 1, 2016.

Prices for new dry freight containers declined to their lowest point since 2002 during first-quarter 2016 and are still going down, according to the latest edition of the Container Equipment Insight, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Average container equipment prices fell 15% through the first quarter, as the deteriorating outlook for trade growth impacted pricing. As a consequence of this and the fact that steel and other material costs are no longer in decline, Drewry estimates that the container manufacturing sector made a small net loss in the first quarter of 2016. Used dry freight container prices also declined further, to a level not seen since in almost a decade.

Mandatory requirements for the electronic exchange of information on cargo, crew and passengers have been adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), as part of a revised and modernized annex to the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL), which aims to harmonize procedures for ship’s  arrival, stay and departure from port. The new standard relating to the obligation of public authorities to establish systems for the electronic exchange of information…

Globalization is the driving force of container shipping, as ever more goods are transported across the world’s oceans in steel boxes on ever-larger container ships. But container shipping is also what made globalization possible in the first place. The principle of division of labor is nothing new to us today. In 1776, the economist Adam Smith, a formative thinker of the free market economy, elucidated this concept in his book, The Wealth of Nations. The operative principle is that the employees of a company divide up different tasks and thereby increase their productivity.

The Marshall Islands-flagged containership MV Cape Moreton caught fire while berthed at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT)in Tondo,  in the Philippines on Saturday. Reports from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said smoke was first seen billowing from freight containers onboard MV Cape Moreton around 9:15 a.m. Photos from the scene show thick smoke billowing from the cargo area as firefighters battled the blaze. The PCG said around 20 fire trucks of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) were sent to put out the flames, with some responders also using tugboats to approach the vessel. BFP personnel boarded the vessel and assisted the ship's crew. The 27,786-gross ton cargo ship, owned by Cape Moreton Shipping Company Ltd., arrived at MICP at 7:48 p.m. last Friday.

One of the world’s leading seafaring nations, Denmark has maritime roots stretching back more than 1,000 years. While its history is strong, the Danish market has its collective eyes squarely on the future. In its quest for continued relevance, it seeks to continue delivering innovative technologies, as well as championing green shipping and offshore initiatives. Denmark’s maritime sector fosters engineering expertise within shipping and offshore industries, as well as maritime and technological services.

The world’s second-largest container manufacturer Singamas Container reported 2014 net profit which is lower than the previous year, but is expecting a better 2015 bolstered by pent-up demand from shipping lines and the firm’s investment in a gateway province between China and Southeast Asia. The Hong Kong-listed box-maker saw net profit fall 21 per cent to US$28 million (HK$217miilion), falling short of an estimated US$36.5 million in a Bloomberg poll of three analysts. Revenue jumped 20 per cent to US$1.5 billion, but this failed to translate into a higher bottom-line due to the lower selling price of the standard 20-foot dry freight containers, the firm’s main product used to carry industrial and consumer goods such as apparel, rubber and toys.

For centuries, mariners have relied on paper maps to navigate the world’s oceans and waterways. Today, the computer technology used on bridges literally steers the ship. Along with computers, KVM technology enters ships across the world. KVM products from Guntermann & Drunck meet the requirements of international standard IEC-60945. The specification certifies navigation and radio communication equipment and systems for the use in maritime applications. Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) used the knowledge and experience gathered from projects in air…