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“The container business has been doing very well,” Jacob Pedersen, an analyst at Sydbank A/S. “The lack of containers and sharp increase in rates are definitely benefiting Maersk Line. This may be a signal that pricing discipline has returned to the industry.” Maersk had been projected to report full-year net income of 14.6 billion kroner ($2.5 [...] The freight surge of 2010 is nearing its end, an economic forecaster says. “These growth rates you’ve seen in the last four months are probably the largest you’re going to see in the next couple of years,” says Donald Ratajczak, an economic consultant and regents professor emeritus at Georgia State University. The massive restocking that began in [...] Maersk Chief Executive Nils Andersen told reporters in Singapore that Maersk will also keep adding to container box levels this year and the next to address the global shortage in the industry. “It will come back to pre-crisis levels, to a level where the industry can get return on their investments,” Andersen said of container freight [...] Commodity shipping costs measured by the Baltic Dry Index extended their longest losing streak in almost five years as an expanding fleet overwhelmed weakening demand for grain, coal and ore carriers. The index fell 41 points, or 1.7 percent, to 2,406 points, the lowest since October 2009, according to the Baltic Exchange in London. That’s the [...] China Shipping Container Lines Co., the nation’s second-biggest cargo-box carrier, plans to impose an “emergency equipment surcharge” of $400 per forty-foot box on transpacific shipments next month because of a global shortage of containers. AP Moller-Maersk A/S, the world’s largest container line, has forecast an “unprecedented” shortage of cargo boxes because of a surge in shipping [...] China Cosco Holdings Co., the nation’s largest container line, said it had won a targeted increase in transpacific rates, bolstering industrywide efforts to end losses. Hanjin Shipping Co. and China Shipping Container Lines Co. have also said that most customers accepted higher rates in annual contracts as rebounding U.S. consumer spending spurs demand for shipments of [...] A U.S. regulator and the European Union’s competition watchdog are monitoring the world’s top container shipping lines for any evidence of price fixing. The scrutiny comes as the prices shipping lines charge have kept rising even as the industry’s supply of new ships has continued to increase sharply. The shipping lines, including industry leader AP Moeller-Maersk [...] Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp., Taiwan’s second-largest container shipping company by revenue after Evergreen Marine Corp., expects stronger-than-expected US demand to boost its full-year profit, company Chairman Frank Lu said. “Demand on the US routes will be robust until late November,” Lu told reporters at a luncheon, adding the company, which has agreed with its clients [...] Hundreds of empty container ships sat idle off the coast of Singapore last year. The world’s top container lines lost an average of $1,500 per 20-foot equivalent unit of fleet capacity while racking up an estimated $15 billion in operating losses last year, AXS-Alphaliner reported in its weekly newsletter. The Paris-based information service said 18 of [...] Container ship lines may be “shooting themselves in the foot” by restoring vessel capacity faster than cargo volumes rise, a new report by Axis Intermodal UK warns. An analyst said effective capacity — vessels in operation — is expected to rise 12 percent in each of the next two years as carriers reactive laid-up ships and [...] Smoother waters after a dismal year for Hapag-Lloyd Hapag-Lloyd made a profit in the first three months of 2010 as increased cargo volume and higher freight rates ended a run of five consecutive quarters in the red. Germany’s largest ocean container carrier booked a slim operating profit of $17.4 million against a year-earlier loss of [...] Cosco ship in San Francisco China Cosco Holdings Co., Asia’s biggest shipping company by market value, said container lines will win a targeted increase in Asia-U.S. rates this year because of rebounding trade. “We strongly believe that this year’s TSA rates goal can be achieved,” said a company executive. The Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, a group of [...] OOIL Group Chairman CC Tung said Tuesday that it could take three to four years before the container industry works its way out of the glut of vessel capacity that hangs over the market. “We are pleased to see that after a very tough year for the container shipping industry in 2009, demand seems to be [...] China Cosco Holdings Co., the world’s largest operator of dry-bulk ships, slumped to an annual loss after rates for hauling commodities and containers tumbled on overcapacity and the global recession. The 7.47 billion yuan ($1.09 billion) net loss compared with a restated profit of 11.6 billion yuan a year earlier. This year, fees are rebounding because [...] After refraining from placing any order for new ships for the past two years, the head of the Evergreen Group now sees the opportune time to order 100 new containerships in the near future and negotiations with shipbuilders are expected to start in May. In 2007 and 2008 with high freight rates and tight spaces, shipowners [...] |
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