Freight News

Damen Shipyards and Turkey’s Feyz Group have signed a contract for the delivery of three new Damen Combi Freighters 3850, with the vessels set to be delivered in early 2025. The deal marks Damen's first new build cargo vessel sale to a Turkish customer.The Combi Freighter (CF) 3850 is a recently redesigned general cargo vessel with a deadweight of 3,850 tonnes. With a length overall of 89.70 meters and a 12.50-meter beam, Damen says the vessel is capable of maintaining speeds of more than 10 knots in headwinds when fully loaded, due to the hydrodynamic properties of the hull shape.

While drama in the container shipping sector has calmed a bit, container carriers still wrestle with unexpected drops in demand. Peter Sand, Xeneta, discusses vessel capacity moves and their likely impact on rates, as well as the first containership sent to the ship scrap yard in more than 18 months.Q: Peter, the last time that we spoke, you were succinct in saying that this market is a mess, with spot rates plunging in what traditionally is the busiest shipping season in the US. Has that picture changed in the last few weeks?Peter Sand, XenetaHas it changed from being a mess? Not really.

With historically high freight rates, fleet utilization and demand, there is no end in sight for the red-hot containership market.Container shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen candidly said “nobody saw this coming” as “we’ve seen a spending shift from services to goods”, with consumer spending for household products and goods soaring during the pandemic, as funds usually targeted to travel, eating out and events has been diverted to home improvements, medical supplied and fitness equipment…

As spot container freight rates entered December, they also entered record-braking territory, climbing from $3,076 per FEU on the last day of November to $4,858 per FEU on first day of December. This was a milestone in its own way.Since then, all stars aligned for a continued climb that has seen spot rates break through the $6,000 per FEU mark on 15 December, now quoted at $6,102 per FEU (on December 16, 2020). (source: Xeneta).Massive BREXIT frontloading imports and so much moreThe…

Danish international shipping and logistics firm DFDS is setting up a new freight ferry route between Ireland and France, "to facilitate trade between Ireland and continental Europe."From January 2, 2021, the new freight ferry route between Rosslare in Ireland and Dunkirk in Northern France will offer trucks and their drivers direct and paperless transport between EU countries, avoiding the paperwork hassle that Brexit may bring.The port of Dunkirk is a gateway to Ireland’s top export markets – France, Belgium, Germany, and Netherlands – and a host of secondary markets.

British ferry and shipping freight company P&O said on Wednesday it will ramp up freight operations to improve the flow of essential goods between Britain and mainland Europe as passenger numbers dwindle during the coronavirus outbreak."P&O Ferries is doing vital work to ensure the supplies of food, medicines and other supplies to millions of people," chief executive officer Janette Bell said in a statement."I urge all governments to back the commitment of our colleagues by designating port workers as key workers, to secure further the flow of goods." (Reporting by Kate Holton and Andy Bruce;

The Baltic Exchange’s subsidiary, Baltic Exchange Information Services Ltd (BEISL), has been authorized by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a benchmark administrator under EU Benchmark Regulation. This means that the Baltic Exchange’s daily dry bulk, tanker and gas freight indices are regulated by an EU National Competent Authority.“We are very pleased to have received authorization from the FCA,” commented Baltic Exchange Chief Executive Mark Jackson. “This status ensures that financial institutions…

The ongoing trend of downward pressure on long-term contracted ocean freight rates appears to have been broken, or at least temporarily derailed, with marginal increases seen across the board in November.According to the latest XSI Public Indices report from Xeneta, which provides unique business intelligence based on real-time crowd-sourced data from the world’s leading shippers, global rates climbed by 0.9% over the last month. This disrupts a long-term pattern of decline that, with the exception of a sizable and unexpected rise in May, has been ongoing since Summer 2018.Oslo-based Xeneta’s XSI Public Indices report utilities over 110 million data points, covering over 160,000 port-to-port pairings, to provide unparalleled insight into the very latest market moves.

The Port of Baku,  Austrian ÖBB Rail Cargo Group and Cabooter Group (NL) signed an agreement to strengthen and expand the freight traffic from Europe to Central Asia and China via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor). The Federal Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology of Austria, Mr. Andreas Reichhardt, and Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Austria, Mr. Galib Israfilov were also present at the signing ceremony.The parties have decided to jointly promote the Middle Corridor in Europe and strengthen the connections between the existing  European freight networks and logistics hubs in Europe with the Port of Baku. Federal Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology of Austria, Mr.

Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has published results of a project undertaken by the UK-based marine consultancy  ABPmer, to develop a method to assign values to shipping cargo.The resulting mapping and information will improve the evidence base used in developing marine plan policies.Monty Smedley, maritime sector lead at ABPmer said “This was an exciting and novel project for us. The UK maritime sector plays a critical role in the growth and development of the country, enabling the import and export of goods and providing additional value through maritime and business services.We are very pleased to have developed a methodology providing the MMO with additional information to underpin the development of marine plan policy.”Robert Merrylees…

DHL Global Forwarding, the ocean freight specialist of Deutsche Post DHL Group, is introducing the fastest rail freight connection between China and Germany in response to growing demand for rail freight services between Europe and Asia.The new rail service, operating between Xi’an in China and Hamburg and Neuss in Germany, has been set up in cooperation with Xi’an International Inland Port Investment & Development Group Co. Ltd. and is cutting transit time from 17 days to between 10 and 12 days.“We’ve seen a substantial increase in rail freight volumes along the ‘New Silk Road’ from China to Europe and vice versa,” states Thomas Kowitzki…

Rail freight operator Metrans received the first Vectron multi-system locomotive at its container terminal in Prague.The vehicle is part of an order of ten multi-system locomotives. They are being manufactured in the Siemens Mobility factory in Munich-Allach and will be delivered in full by spring 2020.Metrans will deploy the new Vectron locomotives in transnational freight traffic across Central and Eastern Europe.“We are very happy to have received the first of ten Vectron locomotives from Siemens Mobility at our location in Prague. The expansion of our locomotive fleet to nearly 100 vehicles highlights our commitment to grow with the transport flows of the future.

Further disruption in ocean freight rates expected despite best efforts from leading carriers, according to Xeneta Container Rates Alert.Long-term contracted ocean freight rates for carriers continued their downward trend through the month of October, it pointed out.The latest freight data from the XSI Public Indices report from Xeneta shows a continued drop in contracted freight rates as the industry heads into the key seasonal months.Rates on a number of key routes have continued a steady downward slide since early summer but have yet to fall below the levels seen one year ago, nor at the start of this year.The company’s XSI (Xeneta Shipping Index) which reports on the long-term contracted market…

The Container Owners Association (COA) is providing an open standard (at the application layer level) to permit interoperability of telematics device data from shipping containers.The international organisation representing the common interests of freight container owners said that the open standard, which will start with refrigerated containers, but then be expanded to cover all container types, will pave the way for all container owners to have multiple choices of vendors and platforms for their container fleets when choosing telematics systems.This will reduce risk and provide a more competitive and innovative marketplace of solutions to be explored and deployed…

Danish shipping company J. Lauritzen has removed 15 bulk carriers from its fleet amid a weak shipping market marked by low freight rates across all dry bulk vessel sizes.The Hellerup-headquartered company’s controlled fleet stood at 68 bulk carriers in the first quarter of 2019, down from 83 units in the same quarter in 2018.J. Lauritzen said that the market for handysize bulk carriers was weak throughout the first quarter and the handysize index ended approximately 30% below the level recorded one year ago.Mads P. Zacho, ceo of J. Lauritzen, commented that “global trade tensions together with problems affecting Brazilian iron ore exports…

The Alameda County Transportation Commission has received $12.45 million from the California Transportation Commission for the implementation of the Freight Intelligent Transportation System (FITS) program at the Port of Oakland.FITS includes 15 freight technology demonstration projects designed to address traffic management, security systems and roadway improvements at the Oakland seaport. The funding comes from California Senate Bill 1 funds.The Port said FITS will reduce congestion and improve traffic flow for truckers who haul cargo containers in and out of Oakland. It will also update security systems and provide a common communication platform for first responders…

During the first quarter 2019, spot LNG freight rates plummeted from the record levels seen in the previous quarter, said Flex LNG, the company controlled by billionaire John Fredriksen.Asia winter demand came in lower than expected due to an unseasonably mild weather in northern Asia, coupled with Japanese nuclear power plants restarting as well as an oversupplied LNG market due to start-up of new LNG production, said the emerging player in the LNG shipping.Asian LNG prices moved lower, trading closer to or at par with key US and European LNG markers, preventing arbitrage opportunities between the markets. Despite significant growth in liquefaction and exported volumes…

The Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) freight rates started to recover towards the end of the first quarter as U.S. consumption reverted to seasonally lower levels pushing U.S. LPG prices down, widening the geographical LPG price arbitrage between the U.S. and the Far East.According to BW LPG, the owner and operator of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) vessels,  the recovery in VLGC freight rates was further strengthened by two occasions of fog and a temporary closure of the Houston Ship Channel due to fire and chemical spills.For 2019 we are optimistic that average VLGC rates will improve from the 2018 average of US$17,300 per day to a level above our cash break-even levels.