By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) - A perfect storm of radical capacity cuts by carriers and US president Donald Trump’s threat to hike tariffs on Chinese goods could see many more containerships laid-up, according to Alphaliner. Yesterday, The Loadstar reported shipping association BIMCO’s warning that over a quarter of container trade on the transpacific could be at risk … [Read more...]
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TT Club Says Still More Needs to Be Done to Ensure Container Safety
By Alexander Whiteman (The Loadstar) As the IMO’s sub-committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers meets in London this week, TT Club is demanding urgent action on container safety. The major problem is mis-declared dangerous goods, it says, and suggests it leads to a major container fire every 60 days on average. Risk management director Peregrine Storrs-Fox said: … [Read more...]
Carriers Hit by Asia-Europe Cargo Slump as Hopes of a ‘Bumper Year’ Sink
By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) - North European trade growth for the year has been revised from 3.4% to 2.2%, according to August’s Global Port Tracker, supporting moves by carriers to suspend services. The monthly analysis collates data from six major North European hub ports. “The industry has finally awakened to the fact that things are not as rosy as it expected,” … [Read more...]
Transpac Boom Rolls On
By Mike Wackett (TheLoadstar) Container spot rates on the transpacific have continued to soar as shippers scramble for space to beat 1 September US import tariff hikes. Anecdotal reports from China suggest carriers are obtaining substantial premiums in return for guaranteed loading of containers. This week’s Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) recorded a … [Read more...]
Delay-Hit Felixstowe Loses Another Service
by Alexander Whiteman (TheLoadstar) CMA CGM heaped further misery on the port of Felixstowe this week by announcing it would withdraw one of its services from the gateway. The Epic 1 rotation, which connects Northern Europe with the Indian subcontinent, will instead use London Gateway as its UK port of call. CMA CGM said: “In a continued effort to provide our … [Read more...]