Container Shipping

Citing “a combined 37% decline of aging cargo on the docks,” the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB) said this week that they are again postponing the implementation date for their ocean carrier Container Dwell Fee, which will not be considered before Friday December 13.

In some recent correspondence I had with a friend at global express delivery and logistics services provider DHL, the subject of the logistics-related issues coming out of Asia was front and center, to be sure.

The ocean shipping sector is as active as it gets these days, for a whole host of reasons, too, including ongoing COVID-19-driven demand, port congestion issues, equipment imbalances (larglely containers), and rate pressure, among others. Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently spoke with Sri Laxmana, Vice President of Global Transportation at Minneapolis-based global logistics services provider and freight forwarder C.H. Robinson, about these topics and others.

Over the course of 2021, ocean carriers will continue to operate at high capacity utilization levels, and ocean rates will remain high. Moreover, along with the need for elevated container circulation, high demand will continue to favor the Pacific Coast ports for Asian imports destined for the Midwest.

Higher rates, tight capacity, and a lack of empty container availability are major factors the current state of the global ocean container market.

Rail carloads—at 220,343—were down 15.6% annually, and intermodal units—at 277,054—rose 1.9%.

May shipments—at 1,002,314—dropped 7.4% on an annual basis. And on a year-to-date basis, shipments through the first five months of 2020—at 4,840,335—were off 2.9% compared to the same period a year ago. Containerized shipments in May—at 2,043,403—were off 19.7% annually, and on a year-to-date basis, they were off 8.3% annually, to 10,762,310.

Total March POLA volume—at 449,568 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units)—saw a 30.9% annual decline, and total March POLB volume—at 517,663—slipped 6.4% annually.

Imports at the nation’s major retail container ports have set another new record, reaching 2 million containers in a single month for the first time as retailers continued to bring merchandise into the country ahead of a now-postponed increase in tariffs on goods from China.

Global container shipping outlook for 2017 will be like rearranging the deck chairs with only a few seats in the sun, carriers that have weathered the storm will have a difficult task in front of them, but the playbook remains clearly defined according to a new study by AlixPartners.

Maersk has finalized its purchase of container shipping line Hamburg Süd from the Oetker Group after both boards approved a Sale and Purchase Agreement today.

Partners from a wide variety of industries come together to create the 11th Plug and Play vertical focused on global startups that aim to rebuild the technology behind supply chain and logistics.

A South Korean court on Friday pulled the plug on Hanjin Shipping Co., declaring it bankrupt and ordering the liquidation of a company that has led the country’s shipping industry for the past four decades.

With the acquisition, Maersk Line will have container capacity of around 3.8 million TEU and an 18.6% global capacity share, the combined fleet will consist of 741 container vessels with an average age of 8.7 years.

Total intermodal volume movements—at 4,271,162—were down 6.1 percent annually and failed to keep up the momentum from the first quarter of 2016, which looked good by comparison with a 2.0 percent annual gain.