Container shipping rates: Still sky high but falling back to Earth
“Simon Sundboell, founder of eeSea, believes China lockdowns are playing a role in blank sailings. “During the early stage of lockdowns, carriers might have accepted a slightly lower utilization to keep the vessels and equipment conveyor belt moving,” he told American Shipper.”
Hapag-Lloyd boosts terminal network with new Damietta hub
“Hapag-Lloyd is set to grow its nascent terminal network, signing a deal with the Egyptian government and German terminal operator Eurogate to develop a new facility in the port of Damietta.”
Ocean Alliance launches more services to target import switch to US east coast
“OA member Evergreen has confirmed it will use the CBX label for the service, while Cosco and OOCL will market it under their AWE7 and ECC3 brands, respectively.
However, business intelligence platform eeSea said it had “discovered” the CMA CGM-operated CBX service “during a routine check”, adding: “Ports of call on vessel schedules vary with each rotation and none match the flyer.””
Shanghai lockdown is not causing global supply chain chaos (yet)
“Container wait time, port congestion and blank-sailing fallout not as bad as feared. However, the congestion ratio was at these same levels both in July and September 2021. Simon Sundboell, founder of eeSea, told American Shipper, “It has gone up, but to me, the story is that it still isn’t dramatic in a historical context.””
People’s Bank of China steps in to assist Covid-battered supply chains
“Beijing has drafted more policies to aid under pressure supply chains as China struggles to handle the omicron variant of Covid-19.”
Supply-Chain Chaos Is Great for Warehouse Stocks
“In March, just 7% of sea shipments from Asia to North America arrived on time, while 6% were on time for the Asia-to-Europe route, eeSea data shows.”
Container shipping at the crossroads: The big unwind or party on?
“Deciphering all these market signals has become increasingly complex. Spot rates appear to be pulling back, but not by all accounts. Congestion looks like it’s falling, but it might just be shifting to other ports, and declines may reverse when Shanghai lockdowns end.”
East Coast ports about to get slammed by a lot more ships
“The number of Asia-East Coast services per month was steady at around 19 in 2020. It rose through last year to 24 in December, then jumped 28 this month with 30 planned in May, according to new data provided to American Shipper by eeSea.”
ONE and Hapag boost Asia-East Africa links to provide ‘better reliability’
“It is clear from studying the eeSea data that the existing loop has suffered from a number of blank sailings on its pro-forma schedule, suggesting poor reliability issues prompted the VSA partners to take a fresh look at how they serve customers on the route.”
THE Alliance drops transpac pendulum loop ‘to improve schedule integrity’
“THE Alliance is dropping one of its two pendulum loops and replacing the string with separate Asia to North Europe and Asia to US west coast services.”
ZIM to extend ZMI loop as joint Israel Express/NE1 service with MSC ends
“MSC and Zim Lines are further reducing their cooperation on international shipping trades, agreeing to terminate one joint North Europe-East Mediterranean service at the end of March.”
Container lines beefing up US East Coast capacity: eeSea
“The US East Coast will start 2022 with 25 percent more vessel capacity than it had at the start of 2021, according to maritime intelligence firm eeSea, as shippers seek ways to avoid the severe and ongoing backlog of ships at the Southern California ports of Los Angeles-Long Beach.”
Maersk is no longer the world’s largest shipping line
“The shakeup ends Maersk’s 25-year reign as the undisputed champion of cargo shipping.”
China’s covid-zero lockdowns loom over the global supply chain
“Covid-zero policies have led to snarls in other links of China’s supply chain. Quarantine requirements for river pilots on the Yangtze, a major artery for the movement of goods, including exports, has led to a shortage of pilots, backing up traffic into seaports, including Ningbo.”
Port Klang and Piraeus join Ningbo and LA at the top of the congestion charts
“Exclusive data from Danish liner consultancy eeSea today shows the worst areas where ships are backing up as well as showing improvements at previous sore points such as Savannah on the US east coast.”
Supply-Chain Problems Show Signs of Easing
“Global supply-chain woes are beginning to recede, but shipping, manufacturing and retail executives say that they don’t expect a return to more-normal operations until next year…”
Misplaced Christmas empty shelf paranoia sweeps across the press
“The absolute worst in terms of global port congestion has passed multiple data points confirm, and the pressure is now on inland links to move the goods in time to make into Santa’s sack for December 25.”
China port congestion falls sharply, trans-Pacific shipping rates retreat
“The big change on the congestion front is in China…On Monday, eeSea data showed 81 container ships at anchor off the two ports, a decline of 47% in just two-and-a-half weeks.”
Cargo Volume To Nigerian Ports Drops Over Global Container Scarcity, Congestion
“Due to vessel congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, importation into Nigerian seaports has receded as foreign shipping companies are abandoning Asian-African routes for commercially viable India-United States and China-United States routes.”
Coca-Cola is so desperate for freight space it’s importing ingredients on coal ships
‘Coca-Cola’s unorthodox supply chain move underscores the extreme frustration many retailers feel with shipping lines…The average Asia-US shipment now arrives 10 days late, according to Simon Sundboell, CEO of the shipping analytics firm eeSea. “If you’re a cargo owner, you can’t understand how you have to pay six times what you usually do and…it’s so volatile that your vessel might be three days late or it might be 20 days late,” he said. “You just can’t count on anything anymore.” ‘