The Loadstar

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – A year ago, shippers were desperate to agree annual contract deals with ocean carriers  to secure their supply

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Just 12 months ago, the 2009-built 4,253 teu Synergy Oakland was preparing to commence a two-month charter

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – THE Alliance members Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Yang Ming and HMM have finalised their April network plans, which feature

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Against a background of extremely weak demand forecasts, ocean carriers are preparing to blank around half their

By Nick Savvides (The Loadstar) – Crew onboard the Zim Iberia have written to their crewing agents asking for redeployment after they

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Navigating the container spot rate market has become a minefield for shipper procurement managers under pressure from

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – The 24,004 teu Ever Atop transited the Suez Canal over the weekend on its maiden voyage to North Europe,

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Since August 2020, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company brokers have completed the acquisition of nearly 250 second-hand

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Major Chinese export markets are showing signs of a recovery after the steep post-Golden Week holiday decline, led by a

By Nick Savvides (The Loadstar) – Since the pandemic began, complaints of carrier misdeeds have circulated across the industry and around the globe. In

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Ocean carriers are said to be in “panic mode” as bookings from China to North Europe and the US west coast tank,

By Nick Savvides (The Loadstar) – A Florida shipper has issued a complaint against Maersk and its subsidiary, Hamburg Süd, that includes a failure

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – Spot container freight rates on the largest deepsea trades rebounded this week, despite continuing weak demand,

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – The idled containership fleet has breached the 1m teu capacity milestone – and is set to jump significantly

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Maersk says it is offering shippers the opportunity to slow cargo arrivals from Asia destined for European and US ports

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – A period of aggressive vessel scrapping will be required to address a looming “severe risk of overcapacity” in

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Ocean carriers are endeavouring to top up their ships from China with heavily discounted spot cargo as their contracted

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – The number of carrier-controlled container vessels in lay-up is increasing exponentially as liner networks are

A new research paper from HSBC predicts that the “fast and furious” collapse in freight rate will result in global container shipping returning to

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – The Q3 ocean carrier reporting season has kicked off with OOCL’s third-quarter turbo-charged operational numbers.