Category: Sea

After almost 13 months of negotiation and agreement on key issues, it would appear that some ILWU members’ patience has run out, as industrial actions shut down or severely impacted operations at the ports of Los Angeles, Oakland, Tacoma, Seattle and Hueneme last week. Reports in US trade pr... Read more

Last year the shipping analyst Drewry’s forecast that the container shipping lines earnings would be down 64% for 2023, but added that there were strategic choices available to the carriers, to protect their revenues, with slow steaming a proven method of removing capacity, to protect rates and... Read more

Specialised RoRo car and truck carriers are facing multiple challenges, which are causing congestion and delays at ports in Europe, China, South Africa, the US and Australia. Driver shortages in the UK and Europe mean that some importers struggle to collect their cargoes from ports as quickly ... Read more

Over 200 million shipping containers are transported globally every year, with the vast majority moving through different climate zones, which can create condensation in the container and lead to many kinds of damage.  Considerable temperature fluctuations can occur inside freight contain... Read more

European importers from Asia are nervously watching developments in the US, as transpacific carriers succeed in implementing GRIs, increasing shipping rates to the West Coast, in a move that may be repeated on the Asia to Europe trade lane. The Xeneta Asia-US West Coast index increased 39% las... Read more

The port of Nhava Sheva, is the second largest container port in India and repairs and replacement of gantry cranes are reducing terminal capacity by 50%, which is expected to possibly last until October or November. Container traffic through India's Nhava Sheva Port (JNPT) is facing bottlenec... Read more

The reliability of container shipping lines’ vessel schedules dropped at the beginning of 2023, with Sea-Intelligence reporting that schedule reliability improved for the majority of 2022, but a fall of 3.8% in January meant reliability sat at just 52.6%. The vessel schedule reliability of a... Read more

After a long recovery from the impacts of the COVID19 pandemic the RoRo Car Carrier sector recorded high freight rates and a surge in demand, that has continued through 2022 and is now attracting new market entrants from the container shipping sector. Five consecutive years of low orders for p... Read more

Negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and West Coast port employers, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) began last May and while talks continue, both are hopeful of reaching a deal soon, as US importers continue to divert cargo to Eastern a... Read more

The huge downward push on freight rates did slow in January and the continuing weak demand will put the brakes on any rate increases, with expectations for post-CNY volumes bearish, although some lines have been attempting surcharges on transatlantic, transpacific and ex India routes.  Th... Read more

The planned 2025 split of the 2M alliance, after ten years, by the world’s largest and second-largest container shipping lines - MSC and Maersk - has been looking increasingly likely, as Maersk pursues its integrated strategy and MSC’s expansion has given them the scale to effectively offer a... Read more

There was no pre-CNY transpacific rush this year and with China re-opening, factories are expected to open again in the second half of February, which is why carriers have tried to maintain rates. The CNY has given US ports a respite and most are now clear, with hardly any ships waiting outside W... Read more