container shipping

Container volume at ports in Houston and New Orleans fell in April, while Corpus Christi was bolstered by crude oil exports.

Not all cargo markets are back to pre-COVID “normal.” Container shipping rates to South America remain elevated.

More signs are surfacing that the second half of the year won’t be a panacea to the international freight recession. Seko Logistics says there won’t be a surge in orders that fuels transportation spending.

Bed Bath & Beyond “failed to manage its own supply chain” and “exacerbated the bottlenecks faced by other shippers,” alleges OOCL.

“We want [global shipping] to be self-explanatory, easy to navigate and easy for you to find the answer you are looking for,” says Maja Bernstein, vice president of industry relations at Fluent Cargo.

Trans-Pacific spot rates have pared earlier gains and remain at loss-making levels. Demand has yet to rebound.

Outsize profits are still flowing to companies like Danaos and Costamare that lease ships to container lines.

The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) is the world’s leading—and most accurate—index of market rates for 40′ containers.

The container shipping party is over — that’s old news. Yet headlines continue to focus on comparisons to the peak.

It is becoming increasingly clear that hopes of a container boost from the reopening of China are all but gone.

A group representing the nation’s largest container ports contends lawmakers are misleading the public with a bill targeting Chinese-made container cranes.

The CEO of shipping line Hapag-Lloyd argues that current freight rates are unsustainable and will correct upward over time.

Is the sharp decline in shipping stocks a canary in the coal mine or an opportunity for investors to buy the dip?

America’s imports are not signaling a recession, at least not yet. Inbound volumes are rising from the bottom.

SONAR ocean container booking data suggests that the predicted freight rebound in the second half of 2023 may be increasingly unlikely. Import and ocean container booking data is typically used as a leading indicator for future truckload volumes, as containers are offloaded in ports and transferred into intermodal or truckload orders.

Inventory destocking is the biggest container shipping headwind, says Maersk. Its data shows no evidence of inventory pressures alleviating yet.

In 1975, two identical ore/bulk/oil (O/B/O) ships underwent efficiency experiments. During one of these experiments, a new propeller concept broke midjourney, but the ship continued its duty with no changes in performance and the crew had no idea until it reached its destination.

Further downside risks to the U.S. economy make the odds of a rebound in containerized import volumes unlikely.

The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) is the world’s leading—and most accurate—index of market rates for 40′ containers.

Bed Bath & Beyond got pummeled by the supply chain crisis. The company is now targeting shipping lines for allegedly compounding its woes.

This report shares an in-depth overview across the trucking, maritime and intermodal markets.

The Europe-U.S. trade held up a lot longer than the Asia-U.S. trade, but trans-Atlantic premiums are now fading away.

A collision on the seas involving an American shipping company sparked a heated letter exchange about who was responsible. This fight surprisingly led to the mending of U.S. and China maritime trade.

Cargo flow fell slightly at ports in Houston and New Orleans in March but increased at the Port of Corpus Christi in South Texas.

As new container ships flood the market amid weak demand, Drewry expects low freight rates to persist through 2024.

There is growing sentiment that higher trans-Pacific spot rates will not hold and prospects for shipping lines remain weak.

“We are starting to see ocean carriers systematically take geopolitical risk into consideration,” says Xeneta’s Erik Devetak.

Jefferies’ Omar Nokta believes container shipping investors are starting to look toward “the end of the destock and beginning of the restock.”

The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) is the world’s leading—and most accurate—index of market rates for 40′ containers.

“Simply put, there’s no bigger priority right now than this contract agreement,” says Gene Seroka of the Port of Los Angeles.

Parallel Systems is proceeding with the next step in its development of autonomous rail vehicles, which is to test having multiple vehicles strung together and see how these vehicles can integrate into the existing freight rail network.

Although import volumes show signs of a nascent recovery, the inventory overhang remains daunting.

First-quarter numbers from container lines Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen show lingering upside from the tail end of the boom.

After labor unrest closed Los Angeles and Long Beach on Friday, ports on the East and Gulf coasts look even more attractive.

Worsening China-U.S. relations underscore how pivotal geopolitics has become to global shipping and trade.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been lambasted for his performance. Supply chain insiders don’t entirely agree with the criticism.

Despite a collapse in freight rates, container shipping is not behaving like an industry facing an imminent crisis.

The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) is the world’s leading—and most accurate—index of market rates for 40′ containers.

Surging costs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could be a taste of things to come as shipping transitions to more expensive “green” fuels.

A fifth of U.S. containerized imports come from Europe. Shipping on this route remains much more expensive than it used to be.

Ports in Houston and New Orleans reported strong cargo container flows during February, boosted by exports of plastics and chemicals.

Flexport projects trans-Pacific contract rates will decline around 70% from 2022 levels but still be around 30% above current spot rates.

U.S. importers have forsaken their traditional gateway in Southern California. Many may be gone for good.

The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) is the world’s leading—and most accurate—index of market rates for 40′ containers.

Quarterly net losses could be around the corner for container lines, but EBITDA will stay high even if carriers dip into the red.

Shipping line Zim could face net losses in the quarters ahead, yet it has a hefty cash cushion to soften the blow.

Port of Virginia eyes completion of channel deepening this year

U.S. businesses overshot in 2022, importing way more than they needed. The hangover is in full swing, depressing 2023 imports.

Supply chain issues are in the rearview mirror for Fed inflation policy, but for importers, there’s still room for improvement.

Container lines are unable to prop up rates because they haven’t culled enough capacity to compensate for weak demand.

Shipping lines like Hapag-Lloyd have suffered sharp rate falls from the peak, but they’re nowhere near financial distress.

Kuehne + Nagel had a highly profitable year in 2022 despite macroeconomic headwinds, but results fell considerably in the fourth quarter along with transport demand.

The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) is the world’s leading—and most accurate—index of market rates for 40′ containers.

Charter rates are far below the peak but higher than pre-COVID as liners continue to sign new container-ship leases.

After a year of sanctions and “self sanctions,” shipping cargoes caught in the crossfire continue to find their way to buyers.

Cargo flow remained constant at ports in Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas, but slowed slightly in New Orleans.

Los Angeles continues to face a double whammy of sinking demand and fears over the port labor contract that expired in July.

The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) is the world’s leading—and most accurate—index of market rates for 40′ containers.

Ocean carrier revenues fell sharply in the fourth quarter versus the third and continued sinking in January.

After a bounce in January, containerized imports could drop this month to the lowest level since May 2020.

Ocean carrier Maersk sees a rough second half of the year, when remaining support from contract rates “will disappear.”

The reversion in spot rates is pulling down contract rates, with a significantly delayed effect on ocean carrier earnings.

The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) is the world’s leading—and most accurate—index of market rates for 40′ containers.

The 2M partnership between MSC and Maersk — which is breaking up — is the smallest of the three alliances. The Ocean Alliance is much larger.

Container shipping rates from Europe to the U.S. are finally falling, but they’re still exceptionally high.

Your latest info on all things in the cold chain world

Speculation is swirling on how the end of a global container shipping alliance will affect ocean carriers and cargo shippers.

Shipping services around the globe will be reconfigured after the top two carriers end their vessel-sharing agreement.

How big are the world’s largest ocean container ships?

“We are proud to be part of this first-in-history interoperability launch between eBOL platforms,” said CargoX founder and CEO Stefan Kukman.

Steel, crude oil and refrigerated shipments rose as ports in Texas, Louisiana and Alabama recorded increased freight volumes in 2022.

Are falling commodity shipping spot rates the result of normal seasonality or a symptom of global economic malaise?

American imports remain a tale of two coasts, with continued strength in container volumes headed to Atlantic ports.

“Terminal49’s automation has saved us thousands of dollars a year, but more importantly it’s helped improve customer trust,” said Trade XCelerators’ Spencer Strader.

RoadOne IntermodaLogistics has acquired The Transporter Inc., an intermodal service provider with facilities in Houston, Dallas and Laredo, Texas.

The biggest container ships sailing on the oceans can carry more than 24,000 TEUs and are as tall as the Empire State Building.

Imports continue to decline and are close to where they were before COVID-19, but the coastal mix is very different.

Remaining queues of waiting ships are dwindling, another sign that supply chain pressure is winding down.

The top 10 liner operators hiked aggregate capacity by 13% in 2000-22 and continue to control 85% of the global fleet.

Just as the pandemic wound down, another market-altering event for shipping — the Ukraine-Russia war — ramped up.

Container shipping lines are gradually getting their services back on schedule, but they still have a long way to go.

Trans-Pacific spot rates fell first. Trans-Atlantic spot rates and Asia-U.S. contract rates look like they’re next in line.

2000: World container port throughput increased 7.8% last year to about 201 million TEUs — the first time volume exceeded 200 million TEUs.

Backers of a shipping regulation that begins Jan. 1 believe it will reduce carbon emissions. Critics warn it could backfire and increase them.

The U.S. could seek forfeiture of the MSC Gayane, a large ship involved in an infamous smuggling operation, says Bloomberg Businessweek.

Containerized imports to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have now fallen well below pre-COVID levels.

November saw another double-digit drop in America’s containerized imports, driven by sinking volumes from Asia.

Shipping giant Maersk changes leadership as it transitions from a period of massive profits to one of challenging market conditions.

Faster easing of China’s COVID restrictions could provide eventual support for container and dry bulk markets and a more immediate boost for tankers.

GCT will sell its terminal operations in Staten Island, New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, to shipping giant CMA CGM.

Declining ship fuel prices equate to savings for containerized cargo shippers and lower costs for tanker and bulker owners.

Spot shipping rates continue their historic slide, putting even more pressure on container lines’ contract business.

Hopes that China will relax its zero-COVID policy are fading, raising concerns about shipping volume fallout.

Gulf Coast ports got a boost in October from imports of steel, plywood and bagged goods, as well as exports of crude oil.

Southern California’s container-ship logjam ends as congestion eases at East and Gulf Coast ports.

Ocean carriers have been shielded by lucrative annual contracts with cargo shippers, but contract coverage is starting to crumble.

Earnings for Zim, the world’s 10th largest ocean carrier, peaked in the first quarter and continue to slide as rates fall.

The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) is the world’s leading—and most accurate—index of market rates for 40′ containers.

The head of Los Angeles’ port is on a worldwide sales blitz, trying to convince shippers and carriers to come back.

Drop in imports from China in recent months comes on the heels of years of gains by exporters in the rest of Asia.