container trade

Trucks are featured heavily in projects reaping $653 million worth of port infrastructure grants announced Friday by the Biden administration.

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

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

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

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

In addition to 40 waiting close to shore, another 56 farther out

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

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

The scramble for container capacity is growing even more intense

Container Ship Fleet Size by Nationality of Operation

Three Chinese companies — CIMC, DFIC and CXIC — produce about 80% of the world’s containers.

Victoria and the city of Melbourne, Australia, are tightening health measures to stop an outbreak of the coronavirus. Imports and exports could get stuck at terminals and warehouses.

A trade war truce is not stopping multinationals from exploring alternative sourcing options to China, but moving supply chains is difficult, says expert.

Trade tensions look like they’ll get worse before they get better, a negative for ocean shipping demand.

Darren Prokop writes about the benefits of economies of scale in maritime shipping; he also writes about the dangers of diseconomies of scale.

The shift of production from China to southeast Asia is unlikely to stop the trans-Pacific container market from declining this year.

Lorenzo Shipping took drastic action to begin stemming its losses. But the emphasis is on “begin”. There’s still a long way to go, as Lorenzo is currently on track for a multi-million dollar loss

Fewer cargoes, lower freight rates, higher fuel costs and the consequences of operating a smaller fleet during a time of a slowdown in world trade has led intra-Asia specialist, Samudera Shipping (SGX: S56 / SAMU.SI), to report a net loss for the third quarter of the year.

Digitalization comes with its share of problems and it is vital for businesses to understand what the technology means before they go ahead and adopt it within their operations.

Flexport’s customers have seen average landed unit costs rise by 30 percent due to tariffs.

Waterfront tensions are increasing as the Maritime Union of Australia declares more wharfside strikes around the country.

Nicholas Press, Founder and President of CEC Systems, explores the maritime industry’s problem with empty containers and explores potential solutions to deal with them.

As U.S.-China trade tensions escalate, data appears to be pointing to a volume slowdown.

Manila, Philippines-based container terminal operator International Container Services International has posted a solid set of first quarter results. Revenues were up. Profits were up. Box lifts were up. The group attributed its good results to operational improvements, lower finance costs and a “ramp up” in contributions by its new ports.

Japanese transport company, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) (JPX:9101) has today reported a loss of approximately US$400 million (Japanese Yen 44.5 billion)  for the year ended March 31, 2019. Following the red ink bloodbath, the company has replaced the chairman, president and representative directors.

South Korean ocean box shipping company, Hyundai Merchant Marine, and Russian far East intermodal box transport specialist, FESCO, have announced a series of changes to their Russia-China-Korea shipping operations. Rail specialist FESCO has also announced extensive Russia-China rail services.

Investors are risk-on for Europe, putting money into Italian, Greek, and junk bonds, and equities.

A noticeable change in the pattern of trade is underway at Australia’s second biggest box port, Sydney’s Port Botany. Botany handled more boxes in the last calendar year than in 2017  – but those boxes arrived and departed on fewer, although larger, container ships.

Queensland’s Port of Brisbane handled just under 1.4 million twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) shipping containers in the last calendar year. Just under 29 per cent of all boxes handled were empty, according to the port’s trade statistics.

Australia’s busiest box port, the Port of Melbourne, broke the three million mark in handling twenty-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) shipping containers in the last calendar year. It is likely the first time that any port anywhere in Australia has handled three million TEU in any twelve month period whether that’s on a running month, financial year, or calendar year basis.

It’s a growth story at Western Australia’s main container port, Fremantle Ports (Freo), with just under 10 percent growth of international shipping container traffic in the last calendar year. Stevedoring at the port is also up for tender.

Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih announced on January 26 that the country is raising $426 billion in private sector investments, which will include roughly $36 billion for logistics infrastructure according to Reuters.

New power given to the Federal Maritime Commission to scrutinize the effects of ocean carrier competition has been put on hold by the government shutdown.

EPA is looking to update pollution regulations for commercial trucks after 20 years; oil prices fall to one-year lows; U.S. import levels have declined slightly across all major retail container ports.

Small carriers enjoy 30% better retention rates than megas; container lines raise rates worldwide; truckload carriers try to capitalize on a historically favorable freight environment; Tesla begs its suppliers for cash back; LNG production is accelerating.