Containers Breakbulk News

Australian authorities are seeking the public's help in tracking down the source of more than 30 kilograms of cocaine discovered in a refrigerated shipping container at Port Botany.On Thursday, October 17, 2024, Australian Border Force (ABF) officers conducted an inspection of the container, which had arrived from Italy, after detecting anomalies during an x-ray examination. A forensic investigation revealed 30 packages concealed within the engine compartment of the container.The packages contained a white crystalline substance that tested positive for cocaine…

Danish shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Monday it had raised its full-year forecasts on the back of strong third quarter results, robust demand and the continuing disruption to shipping in the Red Sea.Maersk said it had revised its outlook for global container market volume growth in 2024 to around 6% from a range of between 4% to 6% seen previously.Maersk reported preliminary underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $4.8 billion for the third quarter.

Port and logistics firm DP World is going ahead with a 1 billion pound ($1.3 billion) investment in its London Gateway port, Britain's government said on Sunday after reports last week that the company had paused the project in protest.In what had been an embarrassment for the government before a major investor conference, Sky News reported on Friday that DP World had put the planned investment on hold after two ministers criticized practices at its subsidiary P&O Ferries.DP World declined on Friday to comment on the reports.On Sunday…

Shares in shipping companies fell heavily in Europe and Asia on Friday after workers and U.S. port operators agreed a deal to end a strike on the East and Gulf coast docks far sooner than expected.In early trading in Europe, shipping group A.P.

U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports began reopening late on Thursday after dockworkers and port operators reached a wage deal to settle the industry's biggest work stoppage in nearly half a century, but clearing the cargo backlog will take time.The strike ended sooner than investors had expected, weakening shipping stocks across Asia on Friday as freight rates were no longer expected to surge.At least 54 container ships queued outside the ports as the strike had prevented unloading and threatened shortages of anything from bananas to auto parts.

U.S. dock workers and port operators have reached a tentative deal that will immediately end a three-day strike that has shut down shipping on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) said on Thursday.The tentative agreement is for a wage hike of around 62% over six years, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The workers union had been seeking a 77% raise while the employer…

Long lines of container ships lined up outside major U.S. ports on Thursday as the biggest dockworker strike in nearly half a century entered its third day, preventing unloading and threatening shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts.No negotiations were scheduled between the International Longshoremen's Association and employers, but the port owners, under pressure from the White House to hike their pay offer to land a deal, signaled late on Wednesday they were open to new talks."The longer this goes on…

A strike by 45,000 dockworkers halting shipments at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports entered its second day on Wednesday with no negotiations currently scheduled between the two sides, sources told Reuters.The lack of progress is raising concerns among those reliant on shipments that the disruption could be prolonged.The International Longshoremen's Association union strike has blocked goods from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas, which…

President Joe Biden’s administration heaped pressure on U.S. port employers to raise their offer to secure a labor deal with dockworkers on strike for a second day on Wednesday, choking half the country’s ocean shipping.The strike by the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) union has blocked goods from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas, a disruption that analysts warn will cost the economy billions of dollars a day.More than 38 container vessels were already backed up at U.S.

In January 2023, U.S. federal agents raided the home of a Tucson maintenance worker who had a side hustle hauling packages across the border to Mexico.They estimate that over the previous two years, the gray-bearded courier had ferried about 7,000 kilos of fentanyl-making chemicals to an operative of the Sinaloa Cartel. That’s 15,432 pounds, sufficient to produce 5.3 billion pills – enough to kill every living soul in the United States several times over. The chemicals had traveled by air from China to Los Angeles…

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) on Tuesday has gone ahead with strike action at U.S. ports from Maine to Texas and accused ocean container carriers of ‘gouging customers’.The ILA confirmed the strike in an announcement yesterday, Monday, while at the same time claiming ocean container carriers are now charging $30,000 per container in a ‘whopping increase from $6,000 just a few weeks ago’.Xeneta data – which is based on more than 450 million crowdsourced datapoints – shows the ILA claim is misleading. Average spot rates on the major fronthaul from the Far East to U.S.

Dockworkers on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast began a strike early on Tuesday, their first large-scale stoppage in nearly 50 years, halting the flow of about half the nation's ocean shipping after negotiations for a new labor contract broke down over wages.The strike blocks everything from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas, in a disruption analysts warned will cost the economy billions of dollars a day, threaten jobs, and potentially stoke inflation.The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) union representing 45…

U.S. companies that rely on East and Gulf Coast seaports have been importing early, shifting goods to the West Coast, and even putting cargo on pricey flights to hedge against a threatened Oct. 1 strike that could jam supply chains and reignite inflation ahead of the U.S. presidential election."This is just another headache after everything else we've been dealing with," said Kenneth Sanchez, CEO of Chesapeake Specialty Products, which sends goods like metallic abrasives and foundry…

The Port of Los Angeles reported handling nearly 960,600 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in August, marking a remarkable 16% increase compared to the same month last year. This figure represents the busiest month for the port since before the pandemic.With eight months of 2024 complete, the Port of Los Angeles is already 17% ahead of its total container volume from 2023, having processed nearly 1 million additional containers year-to-date.“The American consumer continues to spend and that’s helping to power our economy…

A threatened Oct. 1 strike by dockworkers at ports on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico would immediately disrupt the flow of goods in the country, the North America chief executive of French container carrier CMA CGM said on Wednesday.The International Longshoremen's Association union represents 45,000 workers at 36 ports including New York/New Jersey, Houston and Savannah, Georgia. The union has vowed to stop work if it does not have a new labor agreement in place when the current six-year contract expires on Sept.

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday filed a civil claim seeking $103 million from the two Singaporean companies that owned and operated the container ship that in March toppled the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, killing six people and paralyzing a major transportation artery for the U.S. Northeast.The department is seeking to recover from Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited the money the U.S. government spent in responding to the disaster…

The World Shipping Council (WSC), a trade association representing the international liner shipping industry, announced it has appointed Tamekia Flack as its new Director of U.S. Government Relations, effective immediately. Flack will lead WSC’s efforts to advance key safety, security and environmental priorities in the U.S.Flack brings a wealth of experience from her career in maritime transportation law and policy, having most recently served as the Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) following a period as MARAD’s Chief Counsel.

Imports of U.S. container cargo in August jumped 12.9% from a year ago as a summer volume surge delayed cargo at major ports and anxiety builds over a threatened longshore worker strike on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 1, trade data provider Descartes Systems Group said on Tuesday.U.S. seaports processed almost 2.5 million 20-foot equivalent units in August. That was 3% less than in July, when imports hit a 26-month high. Volume above 2.4 million TEU created bottlenecks and cargo backups in the early days of the pandemic…

A major explosion on board a containership berthed at the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in China raises serious safety concerns, a shipping analyst said.The incident took place Friday, with video footage showing a massive explosion on board Taiwanese shipping firm Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp's vessel YM Mobility. There are no reports of casualties.The blast follows other major incidents in 2024, including the collapse of Baltimore Bridge in March after it was struck by a containership…

The International Longshoremen's Association union, representing 45,000 workers at major container ports from Texas to Maine, will begin two days of meetings on Wednesday to review wage demands and prepare for a potential strike on Oct. 1.Formal talks have reached an impasse as the union and the United States Maritime Alliance employer group wrangle over pay, automation, healthcare and retirement benefits.A source familiar with the negotiations said the ILA has asked for a 77% pay bump over the life of the new contract.

A new study from the International Council on Clean Transportation has investigated the feasibility of establishing green shipping corridors for China’s coastal shipping.The researchers assessed whether the ships could be powered by renewable hydrogen, methanol, ammonia or batteries without the need to refuel en route. They concluded that the technological feasibility of applying renewable marine fuels on China’s coastal shipping routes is high, and three routes were identified as potential first mover candidates for green shipping corridors.These routes were two interregional routes…

The negative impact on maritime shipping and global supply chains from attacks in the Red Sea continues to intensify as traffic is rerouted away from the Suez Canal, Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Thursday.Attacks in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned Houthi militants have disrupted a route vital to east-west trade, with prolonged rerouting of shipments, pushing freight rates higher and causing congestion in Asian and European ports.Maersk said recent data showed…

Retailers are fueling a summer rush of imports to the United States this year as companies guard against a potential strike by port workers and ongoing shipping disruptions from attacks in the Red Sea ahead of a shortened holiday shopping season.Container imports and freight rates surged in July, signaling an earlier than usual peak season for an ocean shipping industry that handles about 80% of global trade.July is expected to be the peak for U.S. retailers, which account for about half of that trade…