The Loadstar

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Ocean carrier vessel arrivals from Asia are being delayed by 20 days, or more, and there is no improvement in sight. Widespread port congestion, equipment shortages...

By Nick Savvides (The Loadstar) – Chronic congestion in Asia, particularly at Yantian, the US and Europe will force rates higher and will most likely lead to shortages of low-value goods no...

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Yet another ocean carrier has fallen foul to a cyber-attack: this time it is South Korea’s HMM, which today confirmed a virus attack on its email...

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – The availability of containers at southern Chinese ports continues to deteriorate as carriers omit calls due to a wave of Covid outbreaks in Guangzhou province. According...

By Sam Whelan (The Loadstar) – South China’s port congestion has gone from bad to worse – delays at Yantian are spilling over to nearby Shekou and Nansha. When the bottleneck began over two...

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – The closure of the Chinese hub port of Yantian last week added another layer of chaos to an already fractured supply chain, resulting in a further...

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – The box ship charter market is continuing its bull run, with daily hire rates in some sectors now “out of control”, according to Alphaliner. “Charter rates...

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – Congestion levels at the major North America container gateways are now expected to persist until the summer, as the consumer-driven import boom continues. April set...

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chairman Osama Rabie has defended the handling of the Ever Given grounding and revealed there had been a death during the operation to free...

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) Israeli container shipping carrier Zim, recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, rewarded investors yesterday, reporting first-quarter results that were among some of the best...

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – As economies continue to rebound, global container trade is expected to grow by 5.8% this year, according to a forecast today from Alphaliner. Recently, the...

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – The spectre of blank sailings may be about to return to haunt shippers and forwarders on the Asia-Europe trades, as carrier begin to cancel departures...

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Four-year-plus charter deals are becoming the norm as shipowners ratchet up the pressure on liner companies. As their confidence of the sustainability of currently elevated freight...

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – The number of container rollovers at major box ports continued to climb last month, affecting some 39% of all shipments, according to new data from...

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – A new survey by VesselsValue has found a “significant increase” in the average speed of containerships. The maritime valuation and market intelligence service said average laden containership...

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Shippers from Asia to Europe saw a further spike in container spot rates this week, particularly for Mediterranean ports. And ocean carriers are said to be...

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Shippers must brace themselves for at least two more years of elevated freight rates and tight supply, according to Drewry. The maritime consultant predicts average rates...

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Shippers are bracing for a further broadside of rate increases in June across multiple trades, as ocean carriers beef up profits ahead of the peak season....

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – The US east coast is set for another bruising encounter between a dockworker union, shipping line and terminal operators. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has...

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Container freight indices are on the rise again, but even at their highly elevated levels they mask the true cost of shipping. For example, the Freightos...