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CONTAINER SPOT RATES SLIDE TO 2023 LOWS The container sector is heading into its normal post-Lunar New Year lull that typically lasts until April/May. The scale of  the drops in spot rates is large, but the sector still remains one of the more profitable shipping sectors. The weekly  Drewry World Container Index slumped 5% to …

US CONTAINER IMBALANCE WORSENS DESPITE TARIFFS   Amid escalating tensions in an ongoing trade dispute, the anticipated conversation between US President Donald Trump  and Chinese President Xi Jinping was scrapped yesterday and has yet to be rescheduled. A tariff tit-for-tat has got  underway between the world’s two largest economies with the US putting a blanket 10% …

BEIJING RETALIATES AS TRUMP’S CHINA TARIFFS KICK IN   Donald Trump’s fast-moving tariff tiffs with key trading partners continue to keep shipping executives on edge around  the world. Similar to the threats he made to Colombia a week prior, the American president yesterday put planned  tariffs against Mexico and Canada on hold for 30 days, saying …

CMA CGM TO MAINTAIN CAPE DIVERSIONS ON MAJORITY OF NETWORK   Of the top tier container lines serving the Asia – Europe trade CMA CGM is the only carrier to have maintained some  presence through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal over much of the last 14 months operating services on a case-by-case  basis. Following …

OCEAN ALLIANCE PUBLISHES 2025 SCHEDULES   The Ocean Alliance has unveiled its updated shipping network for 2025. The group – comprised of COSCO, OOCL,  Evergreen and CMA CGM – has provided customers with details of Suez and non-Suez routes as the ongoing Red Sea  shipping crisis sees most containerships steer clear of Houthi attacks in the …

US EAST COAST PORT TALKS SET TO RESUME   Talks are set to resume tomorrow between employers and dockworker unions across the US east and Gulf coasts in a  last-ditch bid to avert a strike pencilled in for January 15. Following a three-day strike last October, the International  Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) reached an agreement with the …

HAPAG-LLOYD US PORT STRIKE SURCHARGES TO GO INTO EFFECT SAME DAY AS TRUMP INAUGURATION  Ocean container carrier Hapag-Lloyd announced two surcharges ahead of a potential strike by unionized longshore  workers at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports in January. The Work Disruption Surcharge (WDS) and Work Interruption  Destination Surcharge (WID) are effective Jan. 20, 2025, …

PORT STRIKE THREAT HELPS BOOST TRANS-PACIFIC CONTAINER RATES   A late-year freight surge has kept ocean container rates elevated on trans-Pacific routes to the United States. Routes  from Asia to the U.S. West and East coasts showed narrow increases for the week ending Dec. 20, according to shipping  data analyst Freightos, and are about 15% higher …

SHIPPERS WARNED OF CHAOTIC START TO 2025 FOR CONTAINER SHIPPING   DHL Global Forwarding said that stronger than expected demand container shipping is being seen in the final months of  2024. In its Ocean Freight Market Outlook December 2024, the company noted that Chinese exports were exceeding  expectations due to expected tariff hikes by incoming US …

SHIPPERS URGE LONGSHORE UNION, EMPLOYERS TO RESUME CONTRACT TALKS   With just weeks to go until a contract extension runs out, a coalition of shippers is urging East and Gulf coast port  employers and union longshore workers to resume negotiations to avert another port strike. In a letter to International  Longshoremen’s Association President Harold Daggett and …