Port of New York (Photo: Port Breaking Waves)

Major US container ports are expected to have another busy month in September, despite the threat of labor strikes looming at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, according to the Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.

In July, US ports tracked by the Global Port Tracker handled 2.32 million TEUs, up 8.1% from June and up 21% year-over-year, making it the busiest July on record.

For August, Global Port Tracker forecasts 2.37 million TEUs, up 20.9% year-over-year and the highest since the 2.4 million TEUs recorded in May 2022. 

September forecasts 2.31 million TEUs, up 14% year-over-year; October is expected to be 2.08 million TEUs, up 1.3%; November at 1.92 million TEUs, up 1.6%; and December at 1.89 million TEUs, up 0.9%. This would bring the total volume in 2024 to 24.98 million TEUs, up 12.3% from 2023.

In addition, the first half of 2024 saw 12.1 million TEUs, up 14.8% from the same period in 2023. January 2025 is expected to reach 1.96 million TEUs, down slightly by 0.3% year-over-year.

The import figures are in line with the NRF’s forecast, with core retail sales—excluding auto dealerships, gas stations, and restaurants—growing between 2.5% and 3.5% in 2024 compared to 2023.

Source: Phaata.com (via Container-News)

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Port of New York ( Photo: FurnitureToday)

While North American shippers and forwarders anxiously await further developments in the standoff between dockworkers and terminal operators on the US East Coast, carriers’ network planners will have to come up with alternative plans should a port shutdown occur.

However, a recent analysis by eeSea of ​​how shipping services responded to the threat of a widespread rail strike in Canada provides some indication of how carriers might respond to a strike at a US East Coast port.

“While the recent rail strike in Canada was short-lived, the lead up was long and arduous. We did see a flurry of port swaps (ie vessels heading to Seattle in lieu of Vancouver) preceding and during the week of the 24-hour work stoppage on 22 August,” wrote Destine Ozuygur, eeSea’s head of operations and forecasting.

“There was a total of 19 completed swaps in the month of August alone, and three that are still active. There were also three vessels observed speeding up in order to make the cut-off before 0h00 on the morning of the strike but failed.

She noted that while port activity has recovered “relatively quickly” uncertainty has not gone away: “Blank sailings doubled into Vancouver from a total of six in August to 12 in September. Prince Rupert also saw five blank sailings in August, an uptick from the standard two-to-three per month that it has seen on average in 2024.”

She added, and we are seeing this amplified now on the US east coast compared to Canada, that “historically we have observed that the anticipation of a strike alone has the potential to cause a loss in volume and berth planning difficulties for targeted ports.

“All eyes are now focused on the East Coast, where carriers are yet to take significant strategic action but are no doubt weighing the options by the day,” Ozuygur noted.

She pointed out that many ports on the East Coast of North America have already struggled with delayed services, largely due to the Cape of Good Hope diversions and severe winter weather off the southern coast of South Africa.

And these are likely to impact not only ports that employ ILA workers, but also ports along the service chain.

“Along the East Coast, ports that share a spot on the rotation of Red Sea-impacted services like The Alliance’s EC5, exhibit a mixed bag of symptoms. While Halifax has indeed suffered extreme delays from vessels on this service and functions as both the first port of discharge and last load port in North America for the EC5, its average schedule reliability over the past two months has increased positively,” she said.

In contrast, eeSea data shows that Charleston has been experiencing increasing congestion since week 34, while average monthly schedule reliability has declined.

“Perhaps it’s the relative share of services utilising the South African passage that determines the scale of the effect: Charleston’s share of services sailing past the Cape of Good Hope stands at a whopping 48%, while Halifax has 12% of her total services affected. A massive neighbour like New York/NJ is at 36% with no changes to its usual congestion patterns and an average 12-hour improvement in schedule reliability since July.”

Another large neighbour for comparison, Savannah, has a 40% share of Red Sea impacted services and has seen a 12-hour decline in average schedule reliability since the start of July, along with characteristic ups and downs in congestion.

“Regardless of the scale of relative impact, the dangerous seasonal weather conditions surrounding the Cape this time of year have only served to increase existing delays on these routes over the past three weeks.”

Other carriers will now be assessing available capacity at nearby ports – Caribbean transshipment hubs at Kingston, Caucedo or Bahamas Freeport could be an option; Canadian gateways such as Halifax, Montreal and St John are obviously another option; or there could even be capacity at West African ports where containers on the US east coast that are on the water if/when there is a strike could be used as storage at the transshipment point.

Source: Phaata.com (via TheLoadStar)

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COSCO SHIPPING and TCL have officially announced the launch of their warehousing partnership in North America.

The launch of this warehousing operation is an important element of COSCO SHIPPING and TCL's comprehensive logistics strategy, designed to optimize TCL's supply chain in the North American market, improve logistics efficiency, and provide customers with faster, higher-quality services.
The new warehouse is located in the Los Angeles area, a major hub on the West Coast of the United States, close to both the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

The facility is equipped with an advanced digital system that enables real-time tracking and monitoring, helping TCL achieve its goal of fast and reliable delivery of its products across North America.

This successful launch marks a new beginning for COSCO SHIPPING and TCL in their global supply chain cooperation. Both companies will continue to strengthen their partnership in North America, expanding services from warehousing to last-mile delivery and exploring smarter, more efficient logistics solutions.

This solid foundation will support TCL's further expansion into global markets. With an extensive global transportation network, COSCO SHIPPING will continue to enhance its digital supply chain services, helping more companies explore and succeed in the global market.

Source: Phaata.com (via COSCO SHIPPING)

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Photo: Marius Steinke

High charter costs have prompted HMM to follow MSC and CMA CGM in buying used feeders.

A spokesperson for HMM told Container News that the company is currently in discussions to buy three feeders built in 2005. These are the 2,500-TEU AS Paola from MPC Container Ships and the 2,400-TEU Wanda Bhum and Xutra Bhum from Regional Container Lines.

An HMM spokesperson said, “HMM actively seeks fleet expansion and diversification possibilities. We are considering second-hand boxships for strategic reasons. However, the matter referred to is still under review and we are not able to confirm any details at this time.”

VesselsValue, which reported that HMM had purchased the vessels, estimated that each ship was sold for around $20 million.

Container charter rates have remained the same despite the adjustment in long-haul freight rates. In particular, the focus is now on smaller vessels as the larger vessels are almost fully booked.

Maersk recently chartered a 2,500-TEU vessel, the Julius-S, built in 2004, for $24,000 a day for two years.

Linerlytica analyst Tan Hua Joo told Container News that HMM is buying the vessels for its intra-Asia services.

“It is common practice for carriers to rely on the charter market for ships of this size as these candidates are more readily available compared to the larger sizes. But with current high charter rates, some carriers, including HMM are buying second hand tonnage in this case as it may work out cheaper for them.”

“The ships purchased by HMM are all 19 years old so they are comparatively cheap and downside risks are minimized.”

Source: Phaata.com (via Container-News)

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The Port of Hong Kong ( Source: Lloyd's List)

The port handled 6.77 million TEU of containers in H1 2024, down 5% year-on-year.

The decline was not as severe as the 2023 volume decline, when Hong Kong saw volumes fall by 14.1% to 14.34 million TEU. The sharp decline saw the port dislodged from the global top 10 by Dubai/Jebel Ali, dropping to 11th place, according to analyst Alphaliner.

Major alliances on the East-West trade are increasingly excluding Hong Kong from their networks. The Gemini Cooperation alliance between Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk, which will start operations in February 2025, will not have direct calls at the port.

The Ocean Alliance's 2024 network update shows that direct calls to Hong Kong have dropped to just six from 11 previously. According to analysts at Sea-Intelligence, The Alliance's 2025 trans-Pacific network shows that Hong Kong is served by just one service from Asia to the US East Coast, with calls from the Pacific Northwest and Southwest services eliminated.

Looking closer at the H1 2024 figures, full and empty containers fell by 4.1% and 8.3% to 5.40 million TEUs and 1.37 million TEUs, respectively. Among cargo containers, both import and export containers fell by 4.1% to 2.90 million TEUs and 2.50 million TEUs, respectively.

In the first half of 2024, total port throughput increased by 3.4% to 88.6 million tonnes compared to a year earlier. Inbound and outbound cargo increased by 2.8% and 4.3% to 56.1 million tonnes and 32.5 million tonnes, respectively.

During this period, double-digit growth in port throughput was recorded in inbound cargo tonnage handled in Singapore, Taiwan, mainland China and South Korea. Double-digit declines were also recorded in the US, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan. The impact of the diversion around the Cape of Good Hope and increased demand from shippers concerned about congestion boosted volumes at many major ports.

For exports, double-digit increases were recorded in Australia, mainland China and Vietnam while double-digit declines were recorded in exports handled in the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and the US.

Compared to the first half of 2024, the number of oceangoing vessels arriving at Hong Kong Port decreased by 2.1% to 9,120 vessels, with total capacity also decreasing by 2.4% to 144.4 million net tonnes. Meanwhile, the number of river vessel arrivals increased by 23.0% to 40,785, with total capacity also increasing by 12.1% to 40.0 million net tonnes.

Source: Phaata.com (via Seatrade-Maritime)

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International shipping and logistics market update - Week 36/2024

Drewry’s World Container Index for the week of 36/2024 continued to decline sharply by 8% compared to the previous week, to USD 4,775. This freight rate index is 236% higher than the average of 2019 before the pandemic (USD 1,420).

Drewry’s World Container Index Week 36/2024 (Photo: Phaata | Source: Drewry)

1. Asia - Northern America route

Ocean freight rates from Asia to the West Coast of North America in week 36/2024 to USD 6,454/FEU, down 3.24% week-on-week and 2.55% month-on-month, according to Xeneta data.

Many carriers adding capacity to ease backlogs caused by the surge in cargo volumes from May to July. However, current inventory levels may reduce the need for additional cargo in the coming weeks,

There are numerous cancellations on routes to the Cape of Good Hope (COGH) and port congestion in Asia and North America. Further delays and capacity challenges are expected on the US East Coast due to adverse weather conditions around COGH.

Water levels in Panama’s Gatun Lake have recovered and local authorities have eased weight restrictions on the Panama Canal.

Carriers are implementing cancellation plans that will impact Week 38 to Week 41 to adjust capacity on the route in preparation for the upcoming Golden Week holiday in China. Expect changes to shipping schedules or transit times, especially for feeder connections, as cancellations may result in shipments being transferred to subsequent sailings.

Spot Rates: Carriers have withdrawn the September 1 General Rate Increase (GRI) from August 31. As a result, rates from the end of August have been extended.

Fixed Rates: Peak Season Surcharge (PSS) discussions remain unchanged. However, if the spot rate market continues to weaken, there could be volatility in the fixed rate market.

Asia-US West Coast Freight rate | Week 36/2024 (Image: Phaata.com)

2. Asia - Northern Europe route:

Freight rates from Asia to North Europe in week 36/2024 to USD 6,816/FEU, equivalent to a decrease of 9.72% compared to the previous week, down 18.83% compared to the previous month, according to Xeneta data.

The demand is falling, along with many blank sailings, which reduced operations in late August. Shipping vessels are being used relatively efficiently with a fairly high filling rate. However, in September, with many vessels returning to Asia, the market will have more capacity than in August. Shipping lines are now pushing to fill vessels by increasing cargo volumes.

Spot rates fell further in the first half of September, but are still higher than in early 2024, after the Lunar New Year. Carriers are now taking a more proactive approach to adjusting rates to optimize vessel utilization.

The use of long-term contract rates still faces constraints from carriers regarding slot and equipment priorities. Equipment shortages are improving, with some ports of loading (POLs) with fewer vessels calling still experiencing potential shortages of container types, particularly 20'GP and 45'HC.

Asia-Northern Europe Freight rate | Week 36/2024 (Image: Phaata.com)

3. Northern America - Asia route:

Freight rates from North America (West Coast) to Asia continued to decline in week 36/2024 to USD 675/FEU, equivalent to an increase of 1.35% compared to the previous week, down 0.3% compared to the previous month, according to Xeneta data.

Capacity has been reduced on routes from the US to the Indian subcontinent, Middle Eastern ports and Northern European ports, related to vessel shortages and cancelled sailings.

To ensure smooth export shipments, Phaata.com advises shippers to book 2 weeks in advance for coastal loading shipments and 3-4 weeks or more for inland rail loading shipments.

US West Coast - Asia Freight rate | Week 36/2024 (Image: Phaata.com)

4. Northern Europe-Asia route:

Freight rates from North Europe to Asia continued to decline slightly in the week of 36/2024 decreased slightly, at USD 492/FEU, equivalent to a decrease of 0.2% compared to the previous week, up 1.65% compared to the previous month, according to Xeneta data.

Northern Europe - Asia Freight rate | Week 36/2024 (Image: Phaata.com)

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Read more:

• COSCO schedules: Vietnam - North America in Sep 2024
• SITC updates Vietnam-Intra Asia sailing schedules in Sep 2024
• Pacific Lines updates domestic sailing schedules in Sep 2024
• Spot Container Freight Rates Fall 8%
• China State Shipbuilding Corporation Unveils World's First 27,500 TEU Container Ship
• Asia’s Maritime Power: China Leads, Regional Competition Intensifies
• Ex-Asia Ocean Freight Rates See Easing
• CMA CGM Receives New Aircraft and Launches First Trans-Pacific Service
• COSCO Invests in Building 42 New Bulk Carriers
• International shipping and logistics market update - Week 35/2024

Source: Phaata.com 

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Port of Shanghai

Based on the analysis of maritime power over the period 2021 to 2024, using indicators such as transport connectivity, port traffic and container fleet size, a number of key findings emerged, highlighting the dynamic nature of maritime competitiveness in Asia.

The analysis shows China as the strongest maritime nation by a significant margin. This dominance is attributed to China’s superior performance across all three indicators. China’s extensive maritime infrastructure, powerful ports and huge container fleet contribute to its leading position. China’s strategic investments in port development and global shipping routes have further cemented its preeminent position in the international maritime domain.

In contrast to China’s dominance, other Asian countries - Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore—show a high degree of similarity in their maritime capabilities. This similarity highlights the fierce competition in the region, with each country striving to increase its maritime influence despite its size and capabilities. The relatively similar performance levels among these countries indicate a high level of geostrategic competition in the maritime domain.

Singapore and South Korea:

Singapore and South Korea have emerged as important players in the regional maritime landscape. Singapore has successfully stabilized its position, maintaining a strong and consistent presence in global trade. This stability can be attributed to Singapore’s strategic location, advanced port facilities, and efficient shipping services, all of which have combined to strengthen its maritime power.

In contrast, South Korea has experienced a slight decline in its maritime performance. While South Korea remains a formidable competitor, the decline suggests potential challenges or shifts in its maritime strategy.

Malaysia and Japan:

Both countries, although smaller in size compared to China, Singapore, and South Korea, have shown improvements in their indicators. Malaysia’s efforts to improve its port infrastructure and expand its container fleet are reflected in its growing maritime power. Similarly, Japan has managed to strengthen its maritime position through strategic investments and upgrading its port and fleet operations.

Geostrategic Implications:

These findings underscore the strategic importance of maritime power in the Asian region. China’s dominance in maritime trade highlights its influential role in shaping global shipping routes and trade dynamics.

While China remains the undisputed leader in maritime power, the relative competitiveness of other Asian nations reveals a dynamic and evolving maritime landscape. The ability of these nations to adapt and innovate to address changing global trade patterns will be critical in determining their future position in the maritime arena.

Source: Phaata.com (via Container-News)

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Source: China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC)

China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) unveiled the world's largest container ship at SMM Hamburg, introducing the 27,500 TEU GREEN SEALION 27500.

The giant, which has received an approval in principle (AiP) certificate from classification society DNV, is an LNG-powered dual-fuel vessel that meets IMO Stage III carbon reduction standards and sets the standard for environmentally friendly shipping.

The vessel maximizes cargo capacity, but also features a highly optimized hull design to enhance fuel efficiency. The GREAN SEALION 27500 can achieve zero emissions when in port, thanks to integration with a shore power system.

In addition to the 27,500 TEU container ship, the Chinese shipbuilding group has also unveiled a series of other innovative ship designs such as:

• GREEN SEALION 20000, a 20,000 TEU ammonia dual-fuel containership that represents a step forward in green technology by using ammonia to reduce emissions.
• The GREEN SEALION 16000, a 16,000 TEU LNG dual fuel containership, is designed with enhanced energy efficiency and a wide-body structure to optimize cargo space while reducing environmental impact.
• The two advanced liquefied gas carriers include a Very Large Ethane Carrier (VLEC) with a capacity of 103,000 cubic meters and a Very Large Ammonia Carrier (VLAC) with a capacity of 93,000 cubic meters. Both vessels are built to transport LPG, ethane and ammonia with advanced propulsion and energy-saving systems.

Source: Phaata.com (via Container-News)

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