The supply chain crisis is over, but exporters are still paying more — and facing more logistical challenges — than they did before the pandemic.
The plot thickens in the legal battle between Bed Bath & Beyond and container lines. More carriers are in the crosshairs.
Now that supply chains are back to normal, the typical effects of seasonality have returned, bringing U.S. imports up.
Fuel costs were overshadowed by skyrocketing freight rates amid the supply chain crisis. Now, fuel costs are much more important.
Have shipping stocks been a good bet? Here’s a look at their performance year to date and versus pre-COVID.
Asia-U.S. spot shipping rates have pulled back after a strong run-up, implying peak season may have passed its peak.
Average CEO compensation rose as ocean shipping company earnings increased, fueled in many cases by share-based compensation.
Panama’s drought poses a serious challenge to the country’s canal operations, but fallout to global trade remains limited.
Unprecedented supply-demand imbalances amid the pandemic led to historic dividend payouts by container shipping lines.
Spot ocean shipping rates from Europe to the U.S. held up much longer than trans-Pacific rates. Now they’ve sunk to historic lows.
Zim lost $213 million in the second quarter. Will rising trans-Pacific spot rates help it reverse course in the third?
Containerized imports are rising seasonally, as expected. This year is on track to top pre-pandemic volumes by low single digits.
After double-digit gains since June, trans-Pacific spot rates have just surpassed contract rates, according to Xeneta data.
Despite upgrading its full-year outlook, container shipping giant Maersk no longer sees a second-half demand rebound.
Shipping lines are seeing higher cargo volumes and successfully integrating newly built vessels into their fleets, says Textainer’s CEO.
“It is extremely difficult to announce a reasonable business forecast at this time,” said ONE, citing container shipping market uncertainties.
Because container liner profits plummeted off an extraordinarily high peak, some carriers are still posting hefty profits despite huge declines.
After rapidly expanding its fleet during the boom, ocean carrier Zim is backpedaling and shedding ships.
Container lines did not manage post-boom vessel capacity as well as expected. In the trans-Pacific, they may be belatedly getting the hang of it.
Expectations for peak season have waned, but container lines may have bounced off the bottom.
Spreads between high- and low-sulfur fuels are down to pandemic levels and LNG has become much more economical.
U.S. rail imports from Vancouver and Prince Rupert are imperiled again. ILWU Canada has rejected the proposed dockworkers contract.
The extended strike in western Canada was beginning to affect U.S. supply chains. Its resolution limits the fallout.
The agreement should keep tanker and bulker orders in check, while increasing the risk of a future carbon tax on container shippers.
June volumes of containerized imports were higher than normal and the National Retail Federation predicts more gains ahead.
U.S. imports via Canadian ports face rising fallout as the war of words escalates between dockworkers and employers.
Sluggish demand is capping shipping lines’ income. In response, at least one carrier is reportedly moving to limit losses on legacy charters.
Declining demand for Chinese exports and reduced stimulus options threaten bulk commodity import prospects.
Trans-Pacific spot shipping rates remain under pressure, slumping back again as U.S. import demand comes up short.
The U.S. supply chain has dodged a bullet. A new dockworker labor deal will keep the peace at West Coast ports.
“Patience is wearing thin. Neither side imagined it would take this long,” says the head of the Port of LA on dockworker contract talks.
This year’s peak season could see West Coast labor disruptions coincide with Panama Canal water levels impeding cargo flows to the East Coast.
Dockworkers who keep West Coast cargo flowing are highly paid. Their bid for even higher pay is starting to affect the cargo flow.
Demand remains tepid, yet shipping lines have pushed spot rates off the bottom and secured contract rates above spot levels.
The dockworkers’ union and terminal employers are still sparring over wages and benefits more than a year after contract talks began.
Older ships are being kept in service longer in pursuit of profits, heightening the risk of accidents and spills.
Not all cargo markets are back to pre-COVID “normal.” Container shipping rates to South America remain elevated.
Bed Bath & Beyond “failed to manage its own supply chain” and “exacerbated the bottlenecks faced by other shippers,” alleges OOCL.
Zim outperformed competitors on the way up and is falling faster than other carriers on the way down.
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 container shipping party is over — that’s old news. Yet headlines continue to focus on comparisons to the peak.
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.
Inventory destocking is the biggest container shipping headwind, says Maersk. Its data shows no evidence of inventory pressures alleviating yet.
Bed Bath & Beyond got pummeled by the supply chain crisis. The company is now targeting shipping lines for allegedly compounding its woes.
The Europe-U.S. trade held up a lot longer than the Asia-U.S. trade, but trans-Atlantic premiums are now fading away.
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.”
“Simply put, there’s no bigger priority right now than this contract agreement,” says Gene Seroka of the Port of Los Angeles.
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.
Despite a collapse in freight rates, container shipping is not behaving like an industry facing an imminent crisis.
The trend in container shipping is summed up by the adage, “The higher you climb, the further you have to fall.”
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.
Fees to register a business or file complaints at the Federal Maritime Commission will be significantly higher in 2023 to account for higher agency costs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
New Alphaliner data highlights the enormity of new container shipping capacity that’s poised for delivery.
Two container shipping experts give their take on how the hangover after the pandemic boom could play out.
Los Angeles continues to face a double whammy of sinking demand and fears over the port labor contract that expired in July.
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.
GoFreight, a startup freight shipping platform for small and midsized freight forwarders, recently raised $23 million in a Series A round.
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.
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?
American imports remain a tale of two coasts, with continued strength in container volumes headed to Atlantic ports.
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.
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.
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