Free Republic

The first U.S. multi-family condo built of used shipping containers is slated to break ground in Detroit early next year. Strong, durable and portable, shipping containers stack easily and link together like Legos. About 25 million of these 20-by-40 feet multicolored boxes move through U.S. container ports a year, hauling children’s toys, flat-screen TVs, computers, car parts, sneakers and sweaters. But so much travel takes its toll, and eventually the containers wear out and are retired. That’s when architects and designers, especially those with a “green” bent, step in to turn these cast-off boxes into student housing in Amsterdam, artists’...

There seems to be little sympathy among Asian shippers for the plight of liner shipping; so much so that some of the Asian shippers’ bodies have expressed doubts over cries of poverty by the lines, according to Shippers’ Voice. As the shipping lines struggle to keep their heads above waters in the present economic scenario, Asian shippers warn that they will avoid shipping lines perceived to be “hostile” to them, pointing out that times are even more difficult for shippers with a large number of exporters, importers, wholesalers and retailers having pulled down shutters. They are particularly sore about various...

Decline deepens as first half of 2009 ends with business falling off Containerized imports at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles fell 22.3 percent in June, the steepest combined decline at the nation’s largest port complex since March, according to figures released by the ports. Loaded imported containers fell 28.4 percent at Long Beach in June from last year and imports at neighboring Los Angeles dropped 17.1 percent as the ports saw business deteriorate heading into the summer. Both ports saw imported loaded containers pull back during the month from May, when a steady improvement raised hopes of...

Five words would change law, have big impact on ocean carriers and shippers All U.S.-flag ships in international commerce would have to be built in the United States if language approved July 9 by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee becomes law. Shippers of government-impelled cargo such as food aid, project or military cargo that require U.S. flag vessels for transport would likely incur higher rates. Experts said it would be impossible to calculate how much, but owners would have to recover the higher relative cost of building a ship in the U.S. The change — spelled out in...

FRANKFURT, July 3 (Reuters) - German container shipper Hapag-Lloyd (TUIGn.DE) is considering asking for state aid to help it secure its future in the face of a global trade slump, a key shareholder told a German newspaper on Friday. Such a move could not be ruled out, and financial support from the German state would "certainly make sense", Klaus-Michael Kuehne told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He controls around 15 percent of the company.

Chairman calls excess of newbuildings 'gruesome' Evergreen Line plans to withdraw 31 of its oldest ships from service and scrap many of them to help chip away at what its chairman, Chang Yung-fa, described as a “gruesome” excess of vessel capacity in the container ship industry. The ships are 20 G-Class vessels, with capacities of 2,728 TEUs, and 11 GX-class ships, with capacities of 3,428 TEUs. The vessels were built from 1983 to 1988 for use in the round-the-world services that vaulted the Taiwanese line into the top ranks of the world’s container carriers. An Evergreen representative said the G-class...

Slight April gain over March gives weak signal for peak season Container volumes at U.S. ports edged up in April compared to March, but remained well below the volumes recorded in April 2008, according to the monthly Port Tracker published by the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight. The second half of 2009 appears to be trending the same way the first half progressed, with containerized imports creeping up compared to the month before, but down noticeably from the same month last year. It therefore looks like the back-to-school shopping season this summer, traditionally the second busiest period on...

U.S. exporters will see ongoing equipment shortages in the months ahead, and the container shortages could become even worse if imports from Asia do not pick up significantly during the peak shipping season. The equipment imbalance is occurring at an especially bad time for shippers of agricultural products because exports are starting to pick up after a lackluster first quarter. If exporters can not secure more empty containers for their products, the export boom will be snuffed out before it gathers steam. Agricultural exporters in the U.S. interior are at greatest risk. "Eastbound cargo isn't delivered where westbound cargo is...

The world’s shipping lines may double the number of idled container carriers to 20 percent of the global fleet amid a surge in new vessels and as the recession saps demand , said First Ship Lease Trust’s Philip Clausius. “It’s the start of the crisis,” said Clausius, chief executive officer of First Ship, which leases 23 vessels. “There are too many container ships coming on line and not enough demand,” he said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, the world’s largest container line, and other shipping companies have anchored vessels as demand to move electronics, furniture and...

Rate tumbles 3.7 percent in a week, 53.4 percent in a year Average spot rates collected by ocean carriers for a 40-foot container from Hong Kong to Los Angeles fell to a new low of $949 this week, down by 53.4 percent from $2,036 a year ago, according to data compiled by Drewry Shipping Consultants in London for the weekly Container Rate Benchmark published by The Journal of Commerce. The rate for the week starting May 18 is thought to be the lowest rate ever. It was down 3.7 percent from $986 last week, when it fell below the $1,000...

Grand Alliance members Hapag-Lloyd, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) have agreed to merge the SCX (South China Sea Express) and the JCX (Japan China Express ) into a single loop. Grand Alliance members Hapag-Lloyd, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) have agreed to merge the SCX (South China Sea Express) and the JCX (Japan China Express) into a single loop. The new service will take effect from May 25, 2009, sailing from Thailand.
Grand Alliance customers will be offered the same port coverage options under the new service. One additional vessel of...

US IMPORTERS squeezed double-digit rate cuts out of container lines during this year’s round of transpacific negotiations, a top industry executive confirmed today. With the majority of contracts covering the coming 12 months now signed, container lines have emerged the losers after conceding some hefty discounts compared with last year. Maersk Line chief executive Eivind Kolding described the rate reductions that ocean carriers have been forced to accept for transpacific eastbound cargo as “quite substantial”. While not quantifying how much lines such as Maersk had dropped their prices, Mr Kolding indicated that reductions exceeded 10%. The percentage drop was in...

A growing consequence of the drastic slowdown in global container trade is a massive stockpiling of empty containers in exporting countries. In Shanghai, some 200,000 containers are piled up and the situation is similar in other China ports that in normal times funnel the products of the nation's export machine to consumer markets around the world. But with trade drying up — the Drewry research and consulting firm now predicts global container trade will shrink by 5.3 percent this year —- containers are idled by the millions, and they must be put somewhere. Shenzhen, another, major port for China's exports,...

At about half speed, fuel consumption drops to 100-150 tons of fuel a day from 350 tons, saving as much as $5,000 an hour. "The strategy now is to slow steam as much as possible," said Christian Hagart, the Eugen's chief officer.

Experts in the Far East have suggested that more than one third of the current number of shipping companies may go bankrupt in 2009, because of the global economic downturn. Since the beginning of the crisis last September, at least four companies, hit by a combination of falling rates and a global capacity glut, have had to seek bankruptcy protection in order to keep trading. Exacerbating the situation is China's diminishing need for iron ore imports. Analysts suggest that shipping lines will respond by scrapping almost one third of active vessels over the next 24 months. Shipping lines trying to...

Paper no. 3068 Admiral Sureesh Mehta, the Chief of the Naval Staff sounded a stern warning on 18th February 2009, about the possibility of nuclear weapons being smuggled in to the country through the ever increasing container traffic. The warning was issued at a seminar to discuss Port Development and related security issues. At one level, there is nothing new in the warning. Similar warnings were issued post 9/11 by US and other maritime analysts who expected the seas to be the next medium for transportation and manifestation of terror. It is this fear that prompted the US to examine...

SNIPPET: "Two stowaways onboard a container ship were apprehended at the Port of Los Angeles." SNIPPET: "The Coast Guard had been notified that two stowaways were discovered on the LA-bound container ship Zenit during an earlier port call. The stowaways were reported to be Nigerian nationals"

Experts are trying to identify a huge metal container that has been washed up on a beach in the Western Isles. The tank, which is 27m high, has no markings and is thought to have fallen from a ship before being washed up on the west of Benbecula. It was discovered by a dog walker on Poll Na Crann beach - known locally as Stinky Bay - near Griminish. Stornoway Coastguard is using two numbers on the container to try to find out where the item has come from. Alasdair MacEachen, assistant director of environmental services at Comhairle nan Eilean...

LONG BEACH - Days after port authorities approved a $35 environmental fee on containers shipped through Southern California's harbors, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that he would support a similar fee at the state level. Schwarzenegger, who previously said container fees would hurt the economy, now considers them an option to help fund trade-related infrastructure and environmental programs. "I think fees are good; we just have to work it out with the various stakeholders," Schwarzenegger said during a visit with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. "It's extremely important that we find a way to create economic development and increase...

The television advertisement starts with an ominous warning about 9/11. Then it shows a nuclear explosion, followed by a photo of Osama bin Laden and a ship loaded with cargo containers. "Since 9/11, it is one of the greatest threats we face, a nuclear weapon in the hands of Osama bin Laden shipped through an American port," says the voice-over. Finally, the ad reveals its villain: an outfit based in Arkansas that has a network of 1.8 million workers around the world who operate at 3,900 locations in the United States. Its corporate name is Wal-Mart Stores Inc. What's the...