The Loadstar

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – MSC is continuing its strategy of hoovering-up container tonnage on the second-hand market, acquiring more ships in

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Short-term freight rates from China to North Europe have breached the $20,000 per 40ft mark, while transpacific

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) Charterers are prepared to break the bank to fix container feeder tonnage and, according to one shipowner, the market could

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.

By Nick Savvides (The Loadstar) – Chronic congestion in Asia, particularly at Yantian, the US and Europe will force rates higher and will most likely

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

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – The availability of containers at southern Chinese ports continues to deteriorate as carriers omit calls due to a wave

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

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

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

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – Congestion levels at the major North America container gateways are now expected to persist until the summer, as

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chairman Osama Rabie has defended the handling of the Ever Given grounding and

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) Israeli container shipping carrier Zim, recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, rewarded investors yesterday,

By Gavin van Marle (The Loadstar) – As economies continue to rebound, global container trade is expected to grow by 5.8% this year, according

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

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

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

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – A new survey by VesselsValue has found a “significant increase” in the average speed of containerships. The

By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) – Shippers from Asia to Europe saw a further spike in container spot rates this week, particularly for Mediterranean

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