With container spot rates below ocean carrier unit operating costs on some routes, shipping lines are increasingly focusing on billing customers with a myriad of surcharges to boost revenue in what is predicted to be a tough period (source: The…
READ MORE >The Panama Canal is being squeezed shut by drought and forcing shippers worldwide to face a painful choice. They can wait in line for days or weeks, pay millions of dollars to jump ahead in the queue, or they can…
READ MORE >Beijing is considering a proposal to construct a massive integrated super port across islands south of Hong Kong, consolidating regional port resources to challenge Singapore’s shipping hub status. The infrastructure project, potentially costing over $20bn, is also envisaged as a…
READ MORE >Notwithstanding three attempts at GRIs (general rate increases) in 45 days, Asia-North Europe container spot rates have so far remained stubbornly low, which will make new contract negotiations onerous for carriers. Meanwhile, on the transpacific, there was more encouraging news…
READ MORE >Ocean carriers are refocusing their strategies away from the traditional, but oversupplied, east-west routes, seeking growth in north-south trades – although the burgeoning Indian export market is an outlier. According to a survey by Alphaliner, African trades recorded the highest…
READ MORE >The Biden administration has announced a huge plan to tackle issues plaguing the U.S. supply chain that covers several cross-government partnerships (source: FreightWaves).
READ MORE >The US west coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach reported strong import container throughput in October, as some holiday season cargo owners shied away from routing via the east coast gateways (source: the Loadstar).
READ MORE >As a record-setting drought throttles transits through the Panama Canal, most of the focus has been on higher-capacity ships: the container vessels, liquefied natural gas carriers and liquefied petroleum gas carriers that use the larger Neopanamax locks. But there’s another shipping…
READ MORE >The Suez Canal Authority has said it will raise the toll for oil tankers and other large vessels passing through the waterway by 15% effective Jan. 15 (source: Reuters/NASDAQ).
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