Containers

The Chinese government has put the brakes on runaway spot rates between the US and Asia preventing box rates on the Transpacific trade lane surging through the US$5,000/FEU threshold.

According to the latest figures from Freightos Baltic Index, the unprecedented bull run that has boosted the bottom line of the world’s leading carriers since the end of June, has finally been halted by China’s Ministry of Transport, The pressure exerted by the MOT, principally on Chinese carriers, COSCO and OOCL, to drop general rate increases (GRI)s planned for yesterday, but ultimately axed, was also being felt by their non-Chinese rivals.

An 11 September meeting between the MOT and shipping lines appears to have brought about, at least a temporary halt in the spot rate feeding frenzy with COSCO/OOCL’s non-Chinese counterparts falling into line, dropping their proposed increases rather than risk incurring the ire of Chinese authorities.

Dennis Zhou of Zest Shipping Media, who broke the news of MOT’s intervention at the end of last week, said in a post on LinkedIn yesterday that “Maersk had reduced its proposed rate adjustment from US$500 to US$200” with an updated USWC rate of US$3,900/FEU and US$4,700 to the US east coast, both US$300 below previous quotes.

A spokesman for Maersk told Container News, 'Our pricing continues to follow the principle of being market-relevant, transparent and fair.'

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited and Maersk have reached an agreement to build and operate a world-class transload and distribution facility in Vancouver.

The CP transload facility will be an expansion of CP’s existing Vancouver Intermodal Facility and will benefit from turnkey rail infrastructure.

The new facility is designed to apply Maersk’s global integrator of container logistics strategy and will offer customers access to a multi-commodity transload facility that will rely on the substantial use of rail instead of truck in the Vancouver market, as CP will shuttle containers to and from the ocean terminals via rail.

Maersk’s ambition to establish a sustainable supply chain aligns with CP’s initiatives to fight climate change, according to the companies. This compelling combination will provide an effective and efficient long-term intermodal solution for customers, said the joint announcement.

“CP’s unique landholdings in Vancouver enable us to bring to market a first-of-its-kind transload facility that creates tremendous opportunity for sustainable growth,” commented CP’s president and CEO, Keith Creel.

In further evidence of how the maritime sector is working in unison to find solutions to long standing problems four industry associations and insurers TT Club are collaborating to produce simplified guidance for packing containers.

The Container Owners Association (COA), Global Shippers Forum (GSF), the International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association, (ICHCA) International, insurers TT Club and the World Shipping Council representing vessel owners and operators, who together form the Cargo Integrity Group (CIG) announced on 14 September that that they have published a Quick Guide to Container Packing.

The group has been formed with a view to improving the safety, security and environmental performance of the logistics supply chain, through the promotion, awareness and wider use of the Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units – the CTU Code, developed by the International Maritime Organization, with the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

According to the CIG members the guidance on packing containers is a large and complex volume, the Quick Guide will allow shippers to identify cargo types and their packing requirements readily.

Container losses – why do they keep happening? Asks Neil Gardiner, managing master mariner, one of the accident investigation team at Brookes Bell. Neil argues that while there are not as many container losses as is sometimes thought, those that do occur are often due to poor weight distribution, amongst other things.

Every year container ships lose containers, but it’s not as many as people think. The World Shipping Council which includes the big shipping lines, accounting for more than 80% of the global container shipping capacity, reports that only around 2,000 containers carried were lost in 2019.

That’s less than 0.001% of the estimated 226 million containers carried every year. But, they tend to be highly visible and high profile.

With 24 years of seagoing experience including considerable time on container ships and a degree in maritime technology and maritime law, I am in a position to give the scientific and technical insight into the transportation of all kinds of commodities carried in containers at sea.

The already soaring Asia to US rates are expected to climb higher next week as vessel operators are to impose yet another general rate increase (GRI) on 15 September. Container shortages are still compounding shippers’ difficulties, even as the capacity has increased. Lars Jensen, CEO of Sea…

In recent months, container shipping has staged a sharp rebound, now nearing pre-pandemic levels. However, the outlook remains clouded in uncertainty. 'Here we are in September, and actually, we've almost recovered back to the levels we had in global container volumes compared with pre-Covid,' Jeremy…

Would you want to live in a shipping container? We discuss that question on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

Verde Compacto, a Mexican start-up, producer of container farms and indoor farming growing technologies, has seen significant demand for their growing systems during the pandemic.  'COVID is driving this market forward because people want to know what is behind their food and their diets. Logistic chains in…

In refrigerated containers the chilled air often short circuits, not keeping the fresh produce at the desired temperature. “Cold air is lazy, it takes the path of least resistance,” explains Barry Hugo, managing director at Dunlash South Africa and Refrigerated Air Flow Technologies (RAFT).  This challenge…

Growth in seaborne perishable cargo slowed in 2019 but is forecast to better weather the COVID-19 induced economic storm than the dry cargo trade given the broader resilience of the food supply chain. Meanwhile, availability of refrigerated container equipment is forecast to tighten as buoyant trade and…

Fresh Del Monte Produce continues to fulfill its commitment to create a positive impact on the environment with the addition of six new energy-efficient reefer container vessels to its fleet. The addition of the new vessels — named Del Monte Gold, Del Monte Rose, Del Monte Harvester, Del Monte Spirit, Del Monte Valiant and Del Monte Pride — marks a new chapter in environmental sustainability for the company.  

The first of the six vessels, the Del Monte Gold, embarked on the high seas in July, traveling from Hong Kong toward the Panama Canal. Like its siblings, the Del Monte Gold has a full cargo capacity of 1,276 Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit with 634 plugs for 40-foot high cube reefer containers. Given the perishable nature of fresh fruits and vegetables, the air-cooled containers will maintain the cargo at specified temperatures, traveling in reefer mode with multiple temperature variants from -25C to 40C.

Malaysia has discovered 110 containers of illegally dumped toxic waste in what authorities are calling "the biggest finding of its kind" in the country's history, according to state media Bernama.

This week, various parties in Rotterdam will be launching a new pilot project, in which containers are handled and released without a PIN code: a widely used verification method in this transport segment. The project revolves around a new application, Secure Container Release, which replaces the PIN code…

Cooling systems inside shipping containers are vital for keeping produce fresh during their journey across the world but often the cold air isn’t distributed evenly, which can lead to the creation of hot spots inside the containers. Ronald Hagenstein, Otflow® CEO, explains: “These hot spots increase the…

Authorities in the Netherlands have discovered an apparent torture site hidden inside shipping containers, which were lined with sound-proofing material and filled with assumed torture devices, the country's National Prosecutor's Office has said.

Authorities working out of Amsterdam and The Hague managed to seize a shipment of 780 kilograms of cocaine, hidden in a container loaded with pineapples from Costa Rica. The drugs had a street value of over 58 million euros. The packages of cocaine were found inside a cooling and storage company in…

Year after year, container ships are breaking records with the number of containers they can carry onboard. But bigger doesn’t always mean faster. The Hutchison Ports ECT Rotterdam (ECT) online platform aims to change that. ECT Delta terminal Depending on the container ship’s call size, the number of…

Reefer containers are gradually replacing refrigerated vessels in maritime transportation. It seems almost to be law; something everyone just knows. Yet, there’s an exception to the rule. Twenty years ago, Joris Bakker started a charter service. In the years to come, it quietly stole away a considerable…

Analyst Sea-Intelligence experts expect container shipping to see the current low demand levels persisting, consequently leading to high levels of capacity withdrawals. With the IMF recently updating its outlook for the global economy revising a negative 3% recession for 2020 to a deeper minus 4%, demand…

A new visualization by Twitter user Neopork shows just how much room there is inside Starship‘s cargo fairing. According to the graphic, you could fit two entire standard 40-foot shipping containers, and still be able to comfortably stand on top of them.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services has expanded its reefer fleet with an additional 500 Star Cool reefers, this time upgraded with Controlled Atmosphere (CA), supporting ZIM’s growth in new markets for perishable cargo. This is the fourth consecutive order from ZIM for Maersk Container Industry and it…

The port of Savannah became the top port in the United States for the export of containerised agricultural goods. In 2019, agriculture accounted for 60% of Savannah’s exports, which translates to more than 843,000TEU. For the fiscal year to date (July 2019-May 2020), total loaded exports have increased…

Many container ships are faring, empty, around the world. Sailing on's cheaper than being docked. That's the largest shipping companies response to the recent loss of goods demand. "It's like a bus route. Regardless of the number of passengers, the bus drives a fixed route. It's the same with the largest…

Despite the difficult conditions following COVID-19, the Port of Antwerp achieved very strong growth in the volume of reefer containers for perishables during the first quarter. The exceptional volumes are the result of the port's growing role in the reefer market and increased demand for healthy food…