From choked SoCal gateways, to noteworthy carrier trends, to the ongoing container shortage, to miserable shipping rates, to the rise in container losses, we’ve got a lot to break down in this week’s international freight updates. Short on time? Check out our summary of the latest shipping industry news:
Week 6 Freight Updates
February 10th, 2021
Shipping Companies Look at Sailing Away From Choked Southern California Gateways
Some container lines and their importing customers are looking for alternate paths to get around bottlenecks at the main U.S. trade gateways in Southern California, where an armada of cargo vessels is anchored offshore at the congested seaports.
LA-LB congestion to clear by late spring: terminal operators
Despite some improvement in productivity last month, terminal operators in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach say they probably won’t dig out until late spring from the vessel backlogs and congestion that have plagued them the past six months.
Ocean Carrier Trends: Steady as she goes
Despite a decline in demand for ocean cargo service at the start of COVID-19 last year, spot container freight rates soon began to increase, driven by carriers’ supply discipline, say shipping analysts for Fitch Ratings.
Container shortage likely to continue to late spring: HMM
The South Korean container line reported a 16.3% jump in revenues to $5.44bn last year, and a record operating profit of $831.1m last year, versus a loss of $254m in 2019. HMM said net profit for 2020 was $105m against a loss of $499.8m in the previous year.
Rates misery for ocean shippers set to continue after Chinese New Year
Shippers face many more months of inflated freight rates, as ocean carriers show no sign of easing their strategy of keeping capacity tight and favoring high-paying spot cargo. In a customer Q&A session this morning, Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said the carrier was still “flooded with bookings.”
The oceans are becoming a large container terminal
We continually read, see and hear news of hundreds of containers fallen into the sea from large containerships with their huge decks full of crumpled TEU and FEU. The instability of the environment in which they navigate is the cause of these mishaps …
