No easy recovery ahead for container shipping
The container shipping market is suffering from spot rates vastly exceeding any previous records and
atrocious schedule reliability. The newest data from Sea-Intelligence Maritime Consulting show that despite improvements, 78 percent of vessels arriving at US West Coast ports are late, with an average delay of 10 days.
Aside from the pandemic itself, there is not a single root cause of these maladies. The situation is one of intertwined bottlenecks of port congestion, vessel shortages, equipment shortages, chassis shortages, rail shortages, and truck shortages. On top of that, shippers are attempting to service a massive boom in consumer demand for imported goods.
Read more: JOC | Lloyd’s List
Yantian Port congestion spreads into nearby hubs
HEAVY congestion at Yantian Port, a key export hub in Southern China, has shown little sign of abating and has even spilled over to the neighbouring harbours.
As part of the traffic control measures at Shekou, export laden containers’ gate-in will be allowed three days before the vessel’s estimated time of arrival between June 6 and June 13. At Nansha, the logistics logjam has led to seven-hour waiting time for empty container pick-up and laden container gate-in, according to Maersk.
Read more: Lloyd’s List1 | JOC1 | JOC2 | Lloyd’s List2 | JOC3
Forwarders snagged majority of US imports from Asia through April
Non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOs) secured more than half of all US imports from Asia through the first four months of the year — the first time that has happened in that period of any year — as carriers rationed exceedingly tight vessel space by limiting bookings to only their steady customers. NVOs have been able to help shippers secure vessel space in a tight market because the NVOs have business relationships with most carriers in the trade.
Read more: JOC
LNG still in the money despite green critiques
The shipbuilding market for liquefied natural gas tonnage is getting hotter. Lenders and investors have moved to back a recent spate of orders even as the green credentials of the supercooled fossil fuel come under intense scrutiny.
It is suggested that the shipping and financial communities may not have bought in to statements from the World Bank and the International Energy Agency that talk down the role for LNG.
Read more: Lloyd’s List
IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee finalizes its analysis of ship safety treaties, to assess next steps for regulating Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS).
The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of IMO, at its 103rd session in May 2021, has completed a regulatory scoping exercise to analyze relevant ship safety treaties, in order to assess how Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) could be regulated.
The completion of the scoping exercise represents an all important first step, paving the way to focused discussions to ensure that regulation will keep pace with technological developments.
Read more: IMO
Maersk launches emissions analytics tool
Maersk launched an emissions analytics tool for its biggest customers to calculate the emissions from their supply chains, in response to pressure on companies for more green disclosures.
The emissions dashboard tool would show an overview of emissions carried by truck, train, plane or vessel. The analytics could be used to find opportunities for emission cuts in a company’s supply chain, and for reporting emissions in sustainability reports.
Read more: Lloyd’s List | JOC | MAERSK
Cosco Ports in talks to acquire Hamburg terminal stake
China’s largest terminals company, Cosco Shipping Ports, is seeking to expand its footprint in Europe with plans to take a minority stake in Container Terminal Tollerort (CCT), one of Hamburg’s three container terminals. CCT is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA). According to HHLA statement, HHLA expects the participation to strengthen the relationship with its Chinese partner as well as to provide sustainable planning security for CTT in order to safeguard volume and employment in the port of Hamburg.
Read more: JOC | Lloyd’s List
