Category Archives for Industry News

Alliances favor big volume Asia-North Europe shippers The new alliance service networks put some shippers at a disadvantage. The new shipping alliance services on the Asia-North Europe trade will benefit large volume shippers on the major routes at the expense of exporters on secondary lanes, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants. The structure of the new […]

Need for NY-NJ port extended gates comes into focus Trucks enter the gates of Maher Terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey. NEWARK, New Jersey — New York may be the city that never sleeps, but the four main terminals at its namesake port, the Port of New York and New Jersey, […]

Panama Canal aims to double big-ship transits with tech aid The Panama Canal is upgrading the software the underpins the operations of its Marine Traffic Control Center. The Panama Canal Authority (PCA) is developing a computerized scheduling and resource management system that it says will help double the number of big ships that can travel […]

Long-term Asia-Europe contracts rates rocket The Asia-Europe spot rate fell to its lowest-ever level in the same week last year. Rate management platform Xeneta is reporting a 64 percent year-over-year increase in long-term contracts from China to North Europe that were concluded in the last three months for mid-June sailings.Xeneta said its future long-term rates […]

Capacity from new alliances to put Asia-Europe rates under pressure Rate turmoil may be on the cards for Asia-Europe, at least as carriers transition from the old alliances to the new vessel-sharing agreements. Under the new alliance structure, total weekly capacity from Asia to North Europe will increase by almost 10 percent compared to the […]

Matchback tools are plentiful, but are they enough? US shippers looking for help in matching inbound and outbound ocean containers, reducing costs, and increasing equipment availability have plenty of options, but questions remain as to whether a single clearinghouse has the right combination of market penetration, shipper network, and price. On Thursday, ocean shipping technology […]

Slideshow: Shipping insights heard at TPM With more than 109 speakers and 2,100 attendees, JOC’s 17th Annual TPM Conference was bursting with sharp insights on where the industry is headed and on ways to break the cycle of overcapacity, less-than-spectacular service, and unsustainable rates. Here are a few of the event’s most telling quotes, along […]

Forwarders question Europe-Asia surcharge as capacity dries up Europe-Asia shippers believe that capacity tightness is not due to higher demand alone. The world’s forwarding industry has weighed into the Europe-Asia capacity issue, questioning the justification of a “peak season recovery surcharge” being levied by some carriers on the backhaul trade and expressing doubt that the […]

Half of new trans-Pac port pairs promise faster transits Although transit times will be shorter on certain routes, a key issue for shippers will be reliability. US importers from Asia will have fewer sailings and port pairs in the new alliance networks beginning April 1, but they will see faster transits on nearly half of […]

More consolidation needed before supply meets demand, MOL says MOL does not expect supply to match demand for at least another year. TOKYO — Smaller container lines will find it increasingly difficult to survive in the global container shipping marketplace and more industry consolidation can be expected before the market finds a healthy balance in […]