Container Shipping News

The ongoing impact of conflict in the Red Sea, spiraling freight rates and congestion across global ocean container supply chains resulted in record high carbon emissions from the ocean container shipping industry in Q3.The Xeneta and Marine Benchmark Carbon Emissions Index (CEI), which measures carbon emissions across Xeneta’s top 13 ocean container shipping trades, hit 107.9 points in Q3 – the highest on record and up 12.2% compared to a year ago before the Red Sea crisis.The CEI is based on Q1 2018…

The two people leading Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk into the new Gemini Cooperation spoke at the Xeneta Summit in Amsterdam last week expressing confidence in the new alliance achieving its ambition of 90% service reliability.The Gemini Cooperation will begin operating on February 1 next year, with a new hub and spoke approach of mainliner and transshipment services designed to increase reliability.Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, and Kenni Skotte, Vice President and Head of Ocean Network Product at Maersk…

'Ocean container shipping must harness the power of machine learning to protect supply chains' was an overriding message at the Xeneta Summit in Amsterdam.“While nobody can predict Covid-19 or the Red Sea Crisis, procurement professionals are constantly making decisions based on their outlook for the next few quarters," said Fabio Brocca, Chief Product Officer, Xeneta." When there is so much volatility and uncertainty across global supply chains, providing market guidance feels like an impossible task.

Singapore-based liner company Ocean Network Express (ONE) has released its Sustainability Report 2024 which indicates that it has achieved a 62% reduction in Scope 1 emissions intensity in FY2023 from a 2008 baseline.These efforts have yielded a 21% reduction in emissions intensity from 2018 to 2023.ONE has also received approval in principle for an ammonia dual vessel along with an investment in 12 13,000 TEU methanol dual-fueled vessels. The newly constructed container ships are slated for delivery in 2027.

Pacific International Lines (PIL) has named its first two 14,000 TEU container vessels in a ceremony at Jiangnan Shipyard in China. They are the largest vessels in PIL’s fleet as well as the first to fully run on LNG.The vessels have been named Kota Eagle and Kota Emerald, conveying PIL’s aim to be a sustainable shipping line which co-exists harmoniously with nature and the environment.The vessels will sail from the Far East to Latin America on PIL’s West Coast Central and South…

VesselsValue has released its Q4 2024 Market Outlook indicating a forecast period up to 2027 which suggests a mixed outlook across different vessel types.The company anticipates that orders for bulkers and tankers will gain momentum, while demand for containers and LNG/LPG vessels will decline. Despite the expected rise in bulker and tanker orders, the overall orderbook will likely shrink due to a surge in deliveries for container and gas vessels.Geopolitical tensions, such as the Houthi attacks in the Bab Al Mandeb Strait, are creating both risks and opportunities for shipping.

Regulators and shipping experts will gather at a unique conference in Rotterdam this November to consider the scope for redesigning the exterior and interior surfaces of shipping containers.The aim: to reduce the risk of them becoming contaminated by plant or animals and inadvertently contributing to the global spread of invasive pests.The one-day event on November 11 will be hosted by the secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC).Representatives of National and Regional Plant Protection Organisations will join representatives of the manufacturers…

“The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) fell another 10% in week 39. In total, the SCFI has dropped 43% during the third quarter, the largest Q3 drop in a year not affected by the COVID pandemic (2020-2023) since the SCFI was launched in October 2009,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.The only third quarter to see a bigger decline in spot rates was in 2022 when a 24-month boom in cargo volumes and high consumer spending during the pandemic was replaced…

BIMCO has released its Container Shipping Market Overview & Outlook September 2024 with Niels Rasmussen, BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, highlighting that the disruption caused by ships being rerouted via the Cape of Good Hope remains the key ship demand driver.As a result, ship demand is forecast to grow three times faster than cargo volumes in 2024. Without it, ship supply would have grown faster than ship demand but instead BIMCO expects that the supply/demand balance will on average be tighter during 2024 than during 2023.“During the second half of 2024…

The Cargo Integrity Group is calling on national administrations to carry out and report the findings of their container inspection programs, and for the IMO to continue collating and publishing the results in a publicly accessible form.The group is alarmed that the IMO is considering discontinuing the practice. Its future is being decided in meetings taking place this week at the meeting of the Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC 10).Under resolutions adopted…

In February 2025, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd will launch their Gemini Cooperation aimed at delivering a flexible and interconnected ocean network with schedule reliability above 90% once fully phased in.The companies unveiled the concept in January 2024 and have been working on finalizing the details of a joint ocean freight network on East-West trades. Depending on which network the cooperation will phase in, the new network will consist of either 300 or 340 vessels:Trans-Suez Network: Approx.

The MSC Marie transited through the Panama Canal on August 30, setting a new record for the largest-capacity container ship to sail the route.The 366-meter (1,200 feet) Neopanamax ship has a width of 51 meters (167.4 feet) and a maximum capacity of 17,640 TEUs.The record was previously held by the Ever Max which made the transit at a capacity of 17,312 TEUs in August 2023.The MSC Marie sailed from the port of Manzanillo in Mexico.

Yemen's Houthi militants said on Saturday that they attacked a Liberia-flagged container vessel for a second time in the latest action against commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden.Yemeni military spokesperson Yahya Saree's televised statement did not specify when the latest attack on the MV Groton took place.The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said in an advisory note that two missiles exploded on Friday in close proximity to the vessel, 130 nautical miles east of Yemen's Aden. It said the crew was safe.

When only six ships with a capacity of 4,746 TEU were contracted in the fourth quarter of 2023, many might have thought that the container ship contracting spree that began in 2021 had finally cooled. However, the appetite for new ships remains high and year-to-date contracting already exceeds the 2023 full year total, reports BIMCO.The total capacity contracted since the start of 2021 is now 10.47 million TEU, says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.The 1.59 million TEU capacity contracted so far in 2024 is the third highest since 2008…

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services has announced a net income for the second quarter of 2024 of $373 million (compared to a net loss of $213 million in the second quarter of 2023).The company’s adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter was $766 million, a year-over-year increase of 179%. Total revenue for the second quarter was $1,933 million, a year-over-year increase of 48%.Carried volume in the second quarter was 952,000 TEUs, a year-over-year increase of 11%, and its average freight rate per TEU in the second quarter was $1…

Shipping giant CMA CGM said on Thursday that brisk international trade and Red Sea disruption supported its main maritime division in the second quarter and should limit any market slowdown later this year as new ship capacity arrives.The world's third-largest container shipping line reported a 6.8% year-on-year increase in volumes in the second quarter. Volumes also rose more than 6% from the first three months of the year when the group started seeing an upturn in demand.Restocking by U.S.

Oman's Salalah port reported a 16% decline in container volumes in the first half of the year as ships reroute around the southern tip of Africa to avoid missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea.The port, which is Oman's closest to the border with Yemen, handled 1.679 million shipping containers in the six months to June 30, compared with 1.999 million a year earlier, Salalah Port Services Co said on Thursday.Shipping lines that are avoiding the Red Sea area bypass the route where Salalah is located…

The Panama Maritime Authority (PMA) has reported that one seafarer is dead after the newly built container ship Maersk Frankfurt suffered an explosion that caused a fire while navigating the Arabian Sea near the coast of India.“The ship's operator reports a body in the lashing bridge, but it is impossible to reach it because of the flames. The Indian authorities are focusing their efforts to fight the fire and guarantee the safety of the ship and the crew,” said PMA in a statement.Reuters…

CMA CGM is launching the CMA CGM Startup Awards, an international competition to support the best startups in maritime transport, logistics, and media.From July 23 to September 15, 2024, entrepreneurs worldwide in these three sectors are invited to apply via the ZEBOX website. Winners will receive funding, tailored support, and collaboration opportunities with the Group on strategic projects.CMA CGM believes that entrepreneurial innovation is growing globally, addressing major challenges of our time and industry.

The ocean container shipping market reached a tipping point in July, with long term rates on major fronthaul trades showing signs of life just as spiraling short term rates begin to soften.The Xeneta Global XSI®, which covers all valid long term contracts in the market, edged up 2.5% in July to stand at 151.5 points.More notably, the underlying XSI® sub-index for Far East Exports – which includes the world’s biggest fronthaul trades to Europe and the US - increased 12.6% in July…

Swire Shipping has successfully completed a sustainable B24 biofuel trial after bunkering a container ship operating on its Sun Chief Express Ocean service in Hong Kong.A collaboration with UWL, the Sun Chief Express Ocean service directly connects Vietnam to the United States and is the fastest in the market, with express connections into the heart of North America and Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand.MV Suva Chief was bunkered in Hong Kong with sustainable B24 biofuel, a blend of sustainable biodiesel of waste origin and conventional fuels.

Ocean container shipping demand from China to North America and North Europe continued to break records in June, but the latest data from Xeneta indicates it may now have peaked.The June highs came as importers rushed to protect supply chains amid the global disruption caused by conflict in the Red Sea.The latest data, released this week, shows 800,000 TEU were shipped from China to North Europe in June, which is the highest ever monthly figure on this trade (Source: Xeneta, Container Trades Statistics).While the trade from China to North America did not set a new all-time high…

A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) is in the process of signing newbuilding orders and time-charter contracts for LNG dual-fuel container ships.The new orders for 50-60 vessels will match its planned renewal pace of around 160,000 TEU per year.The new orders are a continuation of its fleet renewal program initiated in 2021 which has seen orders placed for 25 methanol dual-fuel vessels, five in service and 20 on order providing around 350,000 TEU of dual-fuel capacity.The exact split…