Global News

South Korean terminal will employ the first commercial-scale application of the automated high-bay storage system (BOXBAY) PUBLISHED MAR 10, 2023 9:08 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE South Korean terminal will employ the first commercial-scale application of the...

Panama Canal implements ‘disruption charge’ An incident in the Panama Canal could prove costly as the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) implements a ‘disruption charge’ for vessels causing delays and operational difficulties to the critical waterway. The disruption charge...

PUBLISHED MAR 10, 2023 12:20 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE A positive tick-up in trade numbers for January 2023 reported by the U.S. government on Wednesday followed by a forecast for a slow climb back for U.S. retail imports created the first glimmer of hope for...

The UK’s leading ports group, Associated British Ports (ABP), has unveiled an ambitious $2.4 billion green growth and sustainability plan that is designed to decarbonize operations by 2040. The organization highlights that its plan will also significantly contribute...

Tanker markets have performed well over the first two months of the year, with sharp increases in spot earnings in both the crude and products sectors, according to Maritime Strategies International (MSI). In its most recent Horizon report, however, the analysts...

GSL, MPC say lessors of smaller ships best positioned to weather storm With import demand flagging, freight rates falling, the container ship orderbook at record highs and ocean carriers canceling voyages, you might think nobody would be chartering more...

Hamburg is receiving more big containers but volumes were down overall in 2022 (HHA) PUBLISHED FEB 21, 2023 8:29 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE The Port of Hamburg, traditionally one of the busiest in the world, experienced a decline in volumes in nearly all...

The Hong Kong government has allocated HK$20m ($2.5m) in its 2023 – 24 budget to promote the high-end maritime service industry sector. Marcus Hand | Feb 23, 2023 In his budget speech on Wednesday Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said with Hong Kong’s...

Freight forwarders and NVOCCs spend up to 80% of their time manually solving problems with low-tech container operations processes, according to one logistics platform. Gary Howard | Feb 21, 2023 Speaking to Seatrade Maritime News for the Seatrade Maritime Podcast,...

The gulf between contract and spot container freight rates has narrowed rapidly, and lines appear to be slashing prices rather than capacity. Gary Howard | Feb 16, 2023 The latest market updates from market intelligence platform Xeneta and analyst Sea-Intelligence...

Members of the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA), including some of the world’s largest container lines, have committed to fully adopting electronic bills of lading (EBL) by 2030. Gary Howard | Feb 15, 2023 DCSA said its nine container line members...

Different nations take different approaches to emergency towing response services Two national response vessels in action: Abeille Liberte, foreground, and Anglian Princess, background. The UK has since retired its emergency response tug fleet (Marine Nationale file...

Port of Long Beach started 2023 with its third consecutive month below 600,000 TEU (Port of Long Beach) PUBLISHED FEB 13, 2023 7:46 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE Container volume at the Port of Long Beach is off to a slow start in 2023 as port officials continue...

Income plunges for OOCL, Evergreen, Yang Ming, Wan Hai New operating results from four Asian shipping lines were released Friday, pointing to steep performance declines in the fourth quarter and ongoing market erosion in the first month of this year. Orient Overseas...

The Potential for ESG Strategies in Shipping’s Decarbonization With shipping companies making ambitious investments in decarbonization, the debate around creation of robust ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) strategies for the industry has become imperative....

Stakeholders throughout the supply chain understand 2023 will not be like any other year—and this is especially true for the cold chain, both in terms of challenges and opportunities. Greg Tuthill, CCO, SeaCube Containers | Feb 10, 2023 Offering reliability and...

China’s Ningbo-Zhoushan port handled over 1.25bn tonnes cargo in 2022, keeping the number one spot globally for a 14th consecutive year. Container volume at Ningbo-Zhoushan port was 33.35m teu, ranking the third globally following Shanghai and Singapore. As the...

Illustration of Shell's future Holland Hydrogen 1 electrolyzer plant at Port of Rotterdam (Shell) PUBLISHED FEB 5, 2023 8:56 PM BY BRIAN GICHERU KINYUA As the world strives for a net zero emissions future by 2050, hydrogen has attracted considerable attention in...

Top 9 carriers control 83% of capacity, but the 3 alliances control only 39% The world’s top two container lines —  Switzerland’s MSC and Denmark’s Maersk — have cooperated since 2015 in the 2M alliance, a partnership they will end in 2025. Because MSC and...

Maersk plans to retire the brands of 152-year old Hamburg Süd and containerisation pioneer Sealand. Gary Howard | Jan 27, 2023 The integration of Maersk-owned brands is part of a strategy to unify Maersk’s structure, remove internal barriers within the organisation...

Freight rates on the Europe to Asia trades have begun to follow the wider container market down after a period of resistance. Gary Howard | Jan 26, 2023 According to a market update from freight rate benchmarking firm Xeneta, spot and log-term freight rates are...

PUBLISHED JAN 29, 2023 7:55 PM BY HARRY VALENTINE Thermoacoustic engines are based on tubes that convert heat into resonant sound waves, which in turn drive pistons inside cylinders. A discovery from several hundred years ago involved the bottom end of a...

FMC continues to focus on carriers with rulemaking as D&D complaints increased PUBLISHED JAN 25, 2023 6:46 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE The Federal Maritime Commission is reporting that it has received a strong response to the proposed rulemaking for key...

As 2023 begins, many participants in the cargo supply chains are breathing a little easier than they were a year ago as inventory buildups have backed down, and landside congestion has eased. Barry Parker | Jan 25, 2023 A very visible indicator, the green vessel icons...

World’s two largest shipping lines call it quits on the world’s largest alliance The global container shipping network is poised for a major shake-up. The 2M vessel-sharing alliance between MSC and Maersk — the world’s two largest ocean carriers — is being dissolved....

Ulsan Taehwa is a dual-fuel, battery powered demonstration ship built by Hyundai (HHI) PUBLISHED JAN 13, 2023 6:45 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE Hyundai Heavy Industries recently commissioned South Korea’s first large next-generation electric propulsion ship which...

Dayrates for rigs, OSVs and subsea support vessels hit their highest levels since 2014 last year, according to Clarksons. Gary Howard | Jan 13, 2023 In its review of its full-year data for 2022, Clarksons Research said its Clarksons Offshore Dayrate Index was up 32%...

While spot container freight rates have stopped plunging in recent weeks, but there is little for lines to cheer about as they blank large numbers of Asia – US West Coast services ahead on Chinese New Year. Marcus Hand | Jan 13, 2023 Analyst Drewry’s World Container...

Shanghai's harbor skyline at night PUBLISHED JAN 6, 2023 3:01 PM BY THE CONVERSATION [By Tim Smyth] Cities are artificially lit to allow humans to make use of the night. This light pollution means that stars are often barely visible in urban skies. But reduced...

The dual-fuelled French-flagged CMA CGM 15,000 teu-Patagonia, docked at the port facility located east of the Panama Canal Atlantic entrance, in the Bay of Manzanillo, province of Colon. Early December 2022, the vessel transited the Panama Canal for the first time as...

The container lines failed to respond quickly enough to changes in the markets as volumes plummeted in the second half of 2022 instead falling back on their old ways says Drewry in its latest Container Forecast report. The financial and consulting firm writes that...

Will the CII succeed? Will green fuels take off? And will the IMO enact a carbon levy? This year, we may have the answers. PUBLISHED JAN 1, 2023 7:34 PM BY BRIAN GICHERU KINYUA As we begin 2023, maritime experts are looking into their crystal balls for the trends...

Houston will start an excess dwell time fee at its container terminals starting in February 2023 (Barbours Cut Container Terminal file photo) PUBLISHED DEC 30, 2022 6:29 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE Port Houston continues to report strong increases in...

More containerships are expected to head for scrap as demand falls and environmental regulations loom PUBLISHED DEC 30, 2022 3:57 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE Just weeks after admitting that the age profile of its fleet that is tilted towards older vessels is...

Leading charterers will refuse to use new regulatory contract clause The ocean shipping industry is just days away from the debut of the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), a new regulation meant to combat global warming. Even as an initial baby step, the CII is not...

Analysts Sea-Intelligence have sounded the alarm over the low level of blank sailings scheduled by container lines for the Lunar New Year period. The Lunar New Year, which traditionally sees an extended shutdown of factory production in China, impacting container...

The yawning gap between container shipping spot rates and contract rates leaves a question on how much volume shippers will commit to contracts when they renegotiate. Container shipping spot rates have crumbled since the start of the year and in early December...

Recent trends for softer cargo volumes at the Southern California ports continued in November. Both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, however, believe that it is a temporary slowdown partially due to market conditions and in part operational uncertainties...

Container volume at eight major Chinese ports increased 4.7% year-on-year in mid-November. Export container volume increased 5.2% while the domestic volume grew 3.2%. Among which, the port of Dalian posted an increasing rate of 20.8%. Export containers number...

The sudden fall-off in container spot rates has been well publicized, and it is likely to lead to leaner times for ocean carriers in the next few quarters. Some of the smaller start-up lines that launched during the pandemic are already finding it hard to cover the...

At the end of a four-day visit to Ukraine, Martin Griffiths, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said it was unlikely the Black Sea grain deal would be expanded in the near term to include more Ukrainian ports....

As container lines fail to support falling spot rates in the second half of 2022, next year could bring an all-out price war as contract rates follow spot rates down. Gary Howard | Dec 07, 2022 Online container logistics platform Container xChange said a drop in...

As container spot rates continue to plunge the gulf with long-term contract levels gets ever wider. Marcus Hand | Dec 09, 2022 The Asia – Europe trade continued to lead the downwards trajectory with Drewry reporting that Shanghai to Rotterdam spot rates lost another...

PUBLISHED DEC 11, 2022 7:44 PM BY INFORMATION FUSION CENTRE The IFC was established in 2009 to collate relevant commercial shipping and maritime information to increase MARSEC awareness. Through the strong support of our partners, the IFC has established itself...