Containers News

German container shipper Hapag-Lloyd HLAG.DE on Thursday posted net profit of 2.9 billion euros ($3.18 billion) for the first half of 2023, down by 67% from a year earlier, but maintained its full year earnings forecast.The net profit compared with 8.7 billion euros in 2022 when shipping, a proxy for global trade, enjoyed a boom as economic growth rebounded following the end of pandemic lockdowns and as logistics disruptions raised freight rates for customers. Rates have since fallen as logjams have eased and the economy is slowing.

German container liner Hapag-Lloyd sees great opportunity in India where containerization levels are still low, chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen told reporters on Thursday. Having accompanied German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on a recent visit, he came away with optimism, Habben Jansen said at an earnings press conference. "We are certainly committed to that market...it is going to grow faster than average, and if you want to grow in a market, it is important to have a good position there," he said. (Reuters - Reporting by Vera Eckert, Editing by Friederike Heine)

Global container shipping rates are a widely used gauge of overall consumer sentiment, with high and rising costs indicating strong demand for goods, gadgets, and clothes, while falling rates attest to slowing or falling buyer interest.As the main conduit for global trade in finished and intermediate goods - including an overwhelming majority of the parts and machinery needed to produce other merchandise - the container shipping sector can also offer a glimpse into the state of…

Shipping lines and container owners in North America (majorly in the U.S.) are finding it difficult to return containers to China. To add to the present challenges, the U.S. is also facing major trucking issues that are making cargo movement within the country difficult.The U.S. is again in the spotlight according to the monthly container logistic report published by Container xChange, a technology marketplace and operating platform for container logistic companies.“What is happening in the U.S.

Global shipping container suppliers China International Marine Containers and Maersk Container Industry in a joint statement on Thursday said they have abandoned a merger plan, citing significant regulatory challenges.China International Marine Containers (CIMC) in September had agreed to buy the Danish shipping company AP Moeller - Maersk's refrigerated containers maker for $987.3 million.The U.S.

Global growth in container fleets through new orders and building activity will outstrip shipping demand from next year and ease current market tightness, the chief executive of Hapag-Lloyd said in an analyst call on Thursday.“Over the upcoming 24 months, we clearly see that supply growth will outpace demand growth,” said CEO Rolf Habben Jansen after presenting figures for the first half of 2022.Presentation slides he referred to predicted demand growth at 3% next year over 2022 and fleet growth of 7%.(Reuters - Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Maria Sheahan)

Hundreds of dockworkers at one of Britain's largest container ports will be balloted for strike action in a dispute over pay and conditions, a union representing them said on Tuesday, threatening disruption to supply chains.Staff from a range of sectors, including rail and aviation, have resorted to strikes as pay hikes fail to keep up with British inflation, which reached a 40-year peak of 9.1% in May.The Unite union said more than 500 dockworkers at MDHC Container Services, part of Peel Ports…

Container xChange's latest annual benchmark study of demurrage and detention charges recently showed that the ports in the U.S have the highest demurrage and detention (D&D) charges among the top 60 ports worldwide. Demurrage and detention tariffs have two main purposes: (1) compensating the shipping line for the use of its container and (2) encouraging the merchant to return the container as soon as possible for the shipping line to re-use it and have a fast turnaround. Demurrage is the charge that one pays for the use of the container within the terminal beyond the free time period.

Police in Bangladesh on Wednesday opened an investigation into eight officials from a shipping container depot after a blaze killed at least 44 people, including 10 firefighters, and injured around 200 others, officials said.Firefighters put out the blaze at the depot in Sitakunda, 40 km (25 miles) from the southeastern port city of Chittagong, on Wednesday, four days after it began late on Saturday, triggering a series of explosions.The investigation was opened into officials who were directly involved operating the depot on suspicion of negligence and mismanagement…

Firefighters in Bangladesh brought a blaze at a container depot under control on Tuesday, three days after fiery explosions killed at least 43 people at a facility that a senior fire service official suspected had not followed safety guidelines.Drone footage showed smoke and rows of burnt-out containers from the fire that began late on Saturday, triggering blasts and blazes at Sitakunda, 40 km (25 miles) from the southeastern port city of Chittagong. Authorities have not determined…

Firefighters battled for a third day on Monday to control a huge fire that killed dozens when it triggered explosions at a Bangladesh container depot, as officials warned of the risk of further blasts if the flames spread to chemicals stored nearby.Drone footage from the BM Container Depot at Sitakunda, 40 km (25 miles) from the southeastern port city of Chittagong, showed thick columns of smoke still rising from burnt-out containers some 46 hours after the blaze broke out.With the country's poor record on industrial accidents under the spotlight…

Bottlenecks in global container shipping could worsen later this year as a result of new COVID-19 lockdown measures in China, shipping group Maersk warned on Wednesday.Maersk, often seen as a barometer for global trade, said a surge in consumer demand, pandemic-related congestion in major ports and more recently an airspace closure following Russia's invasion of Ukraine have slowed down container shipments and prompted a spike in freight rates."Further challenges arise from the ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns in China…

Global supply chain problems look to set to worsen, a new report published on Tuesday said, as China's COVID-19 lockdowns, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and other strains cause even longer delays at ports and drive up costs.The study by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) found that one-fifth of the global container ship fleet was currently stuck in congestion at various major ports.In China, ships awaiting berth at the Port of Shanghai now tally 344, a 34% increase over the past month…

In contrast to spot rates on the Far East to North Europe trade which have fallen by more than USD 3,600 per FEU [Forty-Foot-Equivalent-Unit ] since the start of the year, those to the Mediterranean have seen a much smaller decline, falling by just USD 850 per FEU, Xeneta said in a report on Wednesday.According to Xeneta, the spot rate from the Far East to the Mediterranean stood at USD 13,100 on April 26, whereas the spot rate to North Europe was USD 11,100 per FEU.This in turn means that it is now USD 2…

Salvors on Saturday started removing containers from the grounded containership Ever Forward in an effort to reduce ground force ahead of the next refloat attempt.The lightering operation follows several failed attempts to dredge around and tow out the 1,095-foot vessel, which has been stuck in the mud outside of the Craighill Channel in the Chesapeake Bay since March 13.Crane barges will remove a portion of the containers from both the port and starboard sides of the the 12,000 TEU vessel.

Shipping group Maersk still has vessels calling at Russian ports to deliver containers booked before the invasion of Ukraine began and to pick up around 50,000 containers stranded in Russia, Chief Executive Soren Skou said on Tuesday.The company has temporarily halted new container bookings to and from Russia, as a consequence of what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.“We have about 50,000 of our containers in Russia today. Most of them are empty, they are our property,” Skou said.“We need them, and we are very reluctant to leave them in Russia.

Norway's Aker Clean Hydro and Swiss logistics group Kuehne & Nagel on Friday announced a cooperation to boost carbon-neutral container transport at sea, banking on hydrogen as one of the fuels that will make it possible.The partnership comes as Europe is trying to establish a flourishing hydrogen industry to help CO2-intense sectors, such as steel, construction and transport, cut emissions and wean off fossil fuels.As part of the cooperation, Aker Clean Hydro, which is majority-owned by conglomerate Aker ASA via green technology subsidiary Aker Horizons…

Shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Tuesday record-high freight rates boosted quarterly earnings despite lower container volumes due to congestion at ports.The coronavirus pandemic has prompted a shortage of container ships and logjams at ports at a time of high consumer spending, pushing the cost of transporting freight to record levels.Maersk, which handles one in five containers shipped worldwide, said its main Ocean business is now expected to grow below that of global container demand…

Meishan terminal at China's Ningbo port resumed operations on Wednesday after shutting down for two weeks due to a COVID-19 case, a port official said at a press briefing.The closure of the terminal has caused logjams at ports across China's coastal regions and further strained global supply chains amid a resurgence of consumer spending and a shortage of container vessels.Meishan terminal accounts for about a fifth of traffic at the Ningbo port, one of China's top two container…

Congestion off China's top two container ports Shanghai and Ningbo is worsening following the shutdown of a container terminal in Ningbo where a COVID-19 case was detected this week.Tighter restrictions to fight China's latest coronavirus outbreak are starting to hit more parts of the economy. The highly transmissible Delta variant has been detected in more than a dozen cities since late July.Forty container vessels were waiting at the outer Zhoushan anchorage on Thursday, up from 30 on Aug.

Predictive intelligence tech company Windward has launched Container Insights, a capability that provides live screening and tracking of containers and Bill of Lading (BOL) verification.The new capability, which Windward says enhances the company’s current Cargo Insights, optimizes and increases the efficiency of screening processes for trade finance transactions and enables government agencies to investigate suspicious containers, providing them with a "holistic" view of vessels…

China's COSCO Shipping Group and the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) have signed an agreement to jointly work on developing shipping derivatives such as container capacity futures, according to an article posted by the bourse on Thursday.China's largest shipping line has been talking to the DCE for years about shipping futures.

For European exporters looking to source shipping containers, existing shortages could deteriorate significantly in the coming weeks, according to the latest data from Container xChange, an online platform for the leasing and trading of shipping containers.Most pricing and availability indicators now suggest carriers are continuing to favor shipping empties back to Asia as fast as possible to maximize yields on front-haul services rather than wait for less lucrative backhaul loads.The…