By Gavin van Marle (TheLoadstar) As CMA CGM’s IT engineers continue, for the fifth day, to try to restore its systems following a cyber-attack at the weekend, the French carrier has come under mounting criticism from customers that its back-up booking process is inadequate. Yesterday, the carrier said its “back-offices [shared services centers] are gradually being … [Read more...]
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2M Restores Transpacific Capacity
By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) - The 2M is the latest container shipping alliance to return more capacity to the transpacific trades. 2M partners Maersk and MSC said today they “continued to see strong demand and volumes with imports into the US”. Maersk told customers today the TP8/Orient and TP11/Elephant services, which had been “structurally blanked in the second … [Read more...]
U.S. Federal Maritime Commission Watching Ocean Carriers for Competition Violations
By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) - US ocean regulator the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has fired a warning shot across the bows of container shipping lines, saying it will head to the courts if there is evidence of collusion on the transpacific trades. Freight rates between Asia and the east and west coast of the US have reached record highs in recent months and, … [Read more...]
Carriers Scramble to Charter Larger Containerships at ‘Whatever it Takes’ Prices
By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) Ocean carriers are scrambling to charter larger containerships to take advantage of skyrocketing freight rates caused by a spike in demand across major tradelanes. Handy 7,500-11,000 teu ships have been virtually ‘sold out’ since July and any tonnage that does become available is being snapped up quickly by energetic in-house carrier … [Read more...]
Container Costs Risk Spiraling Out Of Control
By Sam Whelan (TheLoadstar) Container shipping costs and service levels are at risk of spiralling out of control, according to Drewry. As well as a massive withdrawal of capacity since the start of the Covid-19 crisis – 468 blanked departures on east-west trades – the analyst said schedule reliability had been “extremely low”. “In the first half of the year, fewer than … [Read more...]