POSSIBLE U.S. PORT STRIKE COULD BACK UP GOODS FOR MONTHS
The ILA union issued a newsletter recently focused solely on showing pictures from past strikes accompanied by the text: “The last coast wide strike of the International Longshoremen’s Association took place in 1977. Please take a moment to look through all the photographs displaying all the strikes and struggles the ILA has had to endure to build our great union into what it is today.” Experts at Sea-Intelligence, a Danish container shipping analyst firm, suggest that for every one day of strike, it might well take at least four to five days to “clean up” to get back to normal. A one-week strike on October 1 would lead to large congestion problems into mid-November, according to Sea-Intelligence, while a two-week strike would mean ports would not get back to normal operations until 2025. The ILA plans to have internal meetings on September 4 and 5 to assess contract demands and then also devote time to instruct local union organisations on strike strategies. Writing on LinkedIn recently, Lars Jensen, who heads up container advisory Vespucci Maritime, suggested any strike will ultimately cost American consumers. “Major congestion issues will lead to capacity shortages, and as we have seen amply demonstrated in the last four years this leads to higher freight rates and higher profitability for the container lines,” Jensen wrote.
MSC AND HAPAG-LLOYD SEEN PREPPING EARLY FOR NEXT YEAR’S ALTERED LINER CONSTELLATIONS
There are 171 days to go until a sizeable liner alliance reshuffle, and two of the principal instigators in this container tango are well advanced in preparing for this new alignment. Alphaliner has detailed how both MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have been increasing the capacity of standalone loops on Asia – North America and Far East – Europe routes. Fully one third of all MSC’s capacity on the main east-west trades are now standalone, with more to come, while Alphaliner data shows Hapag-Lloyd has also started to increase market share outside its current alliance. Hapag-Lloyd’s 15.4% non-alliance capacity is related to the start of a standalone Asia – North Europe China Germany Express (CGX) launched two months ago as well as an Asia – US east coast service jointly operated with Wan Hai.
WALMART EXPANDS ITS CONTAINER OFFERING
American retailing giant Walmart is getting more into container shipping, offering its Marketplace sellers the chance to use the company’s cross-border ocean shipping solution to transport China-made goods to its US fulfilment Center network. Walmart’s Cross Border service is a port-to-door, full container load freight service from China to the US, according to the Walmart Marketplace website. The Chinese ports involved are Yantian, Shanghai and Ningbo. In 2022, Walmart created a subsidiary registered with the Federal Maritime Commission as a non-vessel operating common carrier and freight forwarder. Walmart was among a host of big retailers to take shipping matters into its own hands during the upheavals of the covid pandemic, chartering a number of ships and using Walmart-branded 53 ft containers.
EXPLOSION AT NINGBO PORT SEEN IMPACTING SUPPLY CHAINS
Investors advised by JP Morgan Asset Management have acquired US shipping and logistics firm Bold Ocean from private equity firm Nova Infrastructure for an undisclosed sum. Annapolis, Maryland-based Bold Ocean operates nine vessels that transport goods under long-term charter with the US government. In 2018, a group of companies in US flag shipping, fleet technical management, and marine personnel were consolidated under one parent company. The Bold Ocean companies include Schuyler Line Navigation Company, Schuyler Services, Schuyler Technical, Chesapeake Crewing and Argent Marine Operations. The new strategic ownership group will be pursuing growth opportunities to expand the company’s US flag fleet and logistical services, Bold Ocean said, adding that its chief executive, Dion Nicely, will stay at the helm. “We believe Bold Ocean will benefit from our global maritime platform, bringing scale and growth opportunities, at a time when we expect the US flag market to continue to evolve and grow,” said Andy Dacy, the managing director of the global transportation group at JP Morgan.