Bleak box forecast Peter T. Leach / The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE
Journal of commerce (Newark, N.J.),
01/2009
Newspaper Article
Four container operators, including China's SYMS and SA Independent Liner Services of South Africa, failed in late 2008, Drewry said. Shipping lines and shipowners are in a precarious position since ...they can do almost nothing to determine freight rates, charter rates and asset values for their ships, said Neil Dekker, editor of the Container Forecaster. Even at such low prices, it is not a buyers market for potential charterers or ship purchasers because demand and credit lines have dried up. Dekker said there are very few positives at the moment apart from the fact that bunker prices have greatly reduced and scrapping levels have increased. Carriers are continually re-assessing their capacity deployment strategies as it seems that the recent suspension of a number of east-west strings is still not bringing supply-demand balance back into line in order to stabilize erosion of freight rates.
Lawsuit for Horizon Lines Peter T. Leach / The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE
Journal of commerce (Newark, N.J.),
01/2009
Newspaper Article
In October, three Horizon Lines executives were among five former employees of Horizon Lines and Sea Star who pleaded guilty to antitrust violations. The three former Horizon Lines employees are ...Gabriel Serra, former senior vice president and general manager for Puerto Rico; Kevin Gill, vice president, marketing for Puerto Rico, and Gregory Glova, director of refrigerated cargo.
New CEO for Trailer Bridge Peter T. Leach / The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE
Journal of commerce (Newark, N.J.),
12/2008
Newspaper Article
The family of Trailer Bridge founder Malcom P. McLean has been trying to sell its 47.8-percent stake in the carrier. Trailer Bridge had formed a committee to "explore strategic alternatives," ...including a possible outright sale, but it suspended that effort in May in the wake of a Justice Department antitrust investigation into pricing practices among Puerto Rico carriers.
CMA CGM ratings cut Peter T. Leach / The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE
Journal of commerce (Newark, N.J.),
12/2008
Newspaper Article
"The change of outlook to negative reflects Moody's increasing concerns over the uncertainty of the extent to which the current challenging environment will continue to exert pressure on CMA CGM's ...credit profile," said Marco Vetulli, Moody's vice president in Milan who is the senior analyst covering the container carrier. "Moody's recognizes that the company is implementing measures to counter the current difficult market conditions, such as postponing installments on some of the capital spending that was due in 2009 to 2010 and reducing charter-in fleet during 2009. Such measures, together with a decrease of both bunker costs and chartering costs, should reduce the negative pressure on CMA CGM's operating margins. However, Moody's remains concerned about the execution risk associated with the company's plan," Vetulli said in Moodys announcement.
The Port Commerce Division projects 2009 revenues of $220 million based on an estimated 36.2 million metric tons of cargo, consisting mainly of fixed rent and percentage and other rentals. Fixed ...rentals include base rents, as well as the repayment of infrastructure improvements under agreements with certain tenants. Percentage and other rentals are primarily derived from the ExpressRail facilities and other waterborne, bulk and automotive cargo utilizing the ports docks and wharfs.
China limits Taiwan calls Peter T. Leach / The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE
Journal of commerce (Newark, N.J.),
12/2008
Newspaper Article
The quota was based on our research on the trade, passenger transport and current shipping business conditions...under the principle of equal participation and orderly competition," the ministry said ...in a press release and reported by Xinhua, the Chinese news agency. On Monday, ships will set off from six ports in the mainland and two harbors in Taiwan. These will be the first direct sailings across the narrow strait since Taiwan broke from mainland control in 1949.
Meanwhile, four container ships owned and operated by Taiwan's Wan Hai Lines, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp., Taiwan Navigation Co. and China's Huarong Marine Co. are also scheduled to depart Dec. ...15 from the northern Port of Keelung, according to the Taiwan News.
SOS Peter T. Leach / The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE
Journal of commerce (Newark, N.J.),
12/2008
Newspaper Article
Some carriers, such as Zim Integrated Shipping Services and Pacific International Lines-Wan Hai, which only operate one Asia-Europe service each, are eliminating those services and buying slots on ...other carriers to tide them over with existing commitments. Israel Corp., the Ofer family holding company that controls 98 percent of Zim, moved to rescue it last week with an injection of $150 million if needed, after the carrier swung to a third-quarter loss. The company also is preparing a restructuring program. Israel Corp. said Zim's strategic plan envisaging large increases in shipping capacity and cargo volumes in 2009-12 "cannot be implemented under current market conditions." Other carriers may not have a guardian angel, and liner shipping executives expect some carriers to fail, which will lead to widespread consolidation in the still-fragmented industry. The lines that fail are likely to be among the smaller carriers, most say. "I don't believe that the big companies will go out of business," said Anil Jay Vitarana, president of United Arab Agencies, which represents United Arab Shipping Co. in North America. "They have deep pockets. Eight of the 10 are not totally liner operators." The Japanese carriers have large Japanese trading companies behind them, and the Chinese carriers are largely government-owned or -backed. "I'm sure 2009 will be awful for shippers, logistics companies and container shipping lines," said Philip Damas, division director of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. He thinks there's a 50 percent chance that demand could pick up halfway through 2010, because many of the ships on order may be canceled or delayed. "It all depends on how many of the existing orders are canceled. If all of the tonnage on order is delivered, you're talking about a downturn in the container shipping sector lasting four years."
The current global credit crunch had no effect on negotiations for the loan packages, said Panama Canal Chief Executive and Administrator Alberto Aleman Zubieta in a conference call with reporters. ...The authority will finance the $2.95-billion balance of the project costs through its own internal resources and toll revenues, Aleman said. This will take care of the financing. Aleman said the next step of the expansion project is the submission of bids by March 1 for the building of the four new locks. The authority has already selected four consortia consisting of some 30 global engineering companies as the preferred bidders on this phase of the project, Aleman said.
Hong Kong boxes gain Peter T. Leach / The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE
Journal of commerce (Newark, N.J.),
12/2008
Newspaper Article
Inbound and outbound port cargo rose 7 percent and 12 percent compared to a year earlier to 37.2 million metric tons and 30.1 million metric tons. In the first nine months of this year, total cargo ...throughput increased by 10 percent compared to a year earlier to 198.1 million metric tons. Within this total, inbound and outbound cargo grew by 7 percent and 14 percent to 111.6 million metric tons and 86.5 million metric tons. Seaborne and river cargo grew by 3 percent and 25 percent compared to a year earlier to 46.2 million metric tons and 21.1 million metric tons in the third quarter.
