By Mike Wackett (TheLoadstar) A leading shipping analyst has drastically cut its 2018 ocean carrier profitability forecast from $5bn to “breakeven at best”. In a new research note published this morning, Drewry claims “carriers’ lack of control has come back to bite them this year”. A surge in oil prices destroyed their profitability in the first quarter, which … [Read more...]
Port of Long Beach Crane Operators Set New Single-Shift Cargo Record
A pair of crane operators at the Port of Long Beach on the U.S. West Coast have set a new productivity record for moving the most cargo using a single crane during one eight-hour shift. The record was set on May 15 when two crane operators working the containership Gudrun Maersk at Total Terminals International's Pier T terminal moved a total of 564 containers using a single … [Read more...]
Investors Nervous as Doubts Raised Over COSCO Takeover of OOCL
By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) - COSCO’s $6.3bn takeover of Orient Overseas International (OOIL), parent of container line OOCL, is now in doubt, according to Alphaliner. The consultant said “doubts remain” whether the acquisition could be completed by the 30 June completion deadline. The deal, announced in July last year, would see COSCO acquire 90.1% of OOIL shares and … [Read more...]
MOL Boss on 2020 Sulphur Cap: ‘We’re All Going Bust’
By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar) - Less than 18 months before the IMO’s 0.5% sulphur cap regulations come into force for merchant shipping, container lines are worried that the estimated $50bn extra cost of the greener fuel could tip them into bankruptcy. “We’re all going to go bust,” MOL’s president and chief executive Junichiro Ikeda told the Financial Times. He expressed … [Read more...]
Hapag-Lloyd Scaling Back Iran Business
FRANKFURT, June 11 (Reuters) - German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd has stopped one of two feeder services to Iran and will decide on the remaining one before a Nov. 4 deadline imposed by the United States, which has reimposed sanctions on Tehran. Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth largest container company, said it had initiated a process to stop handling products … [Read more...]