The US Congress has passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) 2022 to the cheers of shippers, and politicians, but the chagrin of carriers. There had been little doubt that the bill which will expand the powers of the Federal Maritime Commission over container lines would be passed, and it now moves on to be signed into law by President Joe…
Freight rates, and especially the spot market ones, have fallen sharply since the beginning of the year, driven by declining consumer demand in the US market, according to the digital freight forwarding platform Shifl. Reaching highs in January 2022, at approximately US$17,000-18,000 / 40′ from China to the US West Coast, container shipping rates have risen to around US$7,000-8,000 /…
Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), a US government agency, Rebecca F. Dye has released her Final Report for Fact Finding 29, “The Effects of COVID-19 on the U.S. International Ocean Transportation Supply Chain”. During Fact Finding 29, importers and exporters highlighted two recurring pandemic-related concerns. The first is the high cost of shipping cargo and the second is the excessive…
The Canadian government invests more than CAD$42 million (US$32.7 million) in two new projects, aiming to boost the country’s trade corridors. These investments are expected to improve the efficiency of the supply chain for Canadian shippers in Saint John and McAdam in New Brunswick, Canada. “This funding announcement is a monumental step towards better supply chain efficiency in Canada. This…
Maersk believes that the Biden Administration is likely to proceed with the implementation of the “Container Dwell Fee” on all long-dwelling cargo at Los Angeles and Long Beach container terminals as congestion continues to impact vessel and landside supply chain operations. “The likelihood of the Administration implementing the fee has risen significantly this month,” said the Danish shipping company in…
Nearly US$2 trillion a year is the national economic value of the US West Coast ports, but in the long run, their growth is threatened. According to a new study by maritime economist John Martin, PhD., congestion in Southern California due to high container volumes, combined with the increasing capacity at East Coast and Gulf ports, has accelerated the diversion…
China’s zero-tolerance in the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown in Shanghai have affected the Port of Oakland in the United States, which has seen a 7% reduction in its box volumes in April, compared to the same month last year. In particular, the port’s containerised import loads fell 17% last month, while exports sagged 18%. The decline is largely due…
The Port of Long Beach set another new single-month record in April as the port continues to clear marine terminals of cargo ahead an expected new wave of imports in the coming months as China opens up from COVID-19 lockdowns. Dockworkers and terminal operators at the port moved 820,718 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) worth of container cargo last month, up…
Hapag-Lloyd has achieved “an exceptionally strong start” of the year, according to the company’s CEO Rolf Habben Jansen, who expects a strong second quarter. The German ocean carrier has concluded the first quarter of 2022 with an EBITDA of US$5.3 billion, EBIT of US$4.8 billion, while the Hapag-Lloyd’s profit climbed to US$4.7 billion and revenues rose to US$9 billion. The…
April was the second-most productive month in the history of the Port of Virginia in Norfolk. The Virginia Port Authority said Tuesday that the Port of Virginia handled 323,244 twenty-foot equivalent units in April, up 12.9% year-over-year. The all-time record was set in December 2021, and April was just shy of missing the mark, by only 2,300 TEUs, according to the port…
