Free Republic

Will prolonged disruptions shift the pattern of trade? Agiant ship wedged across the Suez canal, record-breaking shipping rates, armadas of vessels waiting outside ports, covid-induced shutdowns: container shipping has rarely been as dramatic as it has in 2021. The average cost of shipping a standard large container (a 40-foot-equivalent unit, or feu) has surpassed $10,000, some four times higher than a year ago (see chart). The spot price for sending such a box from Shanghai to New York, which in 2019 would have been around $2,500, is now nearer $15,000. Securing a late booking on the busiest route, from China...

"Sorry, ma'am, we've been out for months. They're on order from Asia." "Yes, sir, I know we're out of them. They've been shipped from Asia, sir; they're on their way... but it's taking forever. No, sir, I don't know why." Most retailers have had to make the above statement dozens of times each day for the past six to nine months. Sadder still is that even American-made goods are also unavailable, because so many American-made products are dependent on components or raw materials from Asia. Why? Why on earth does international shipping take so long nowadays? THE MAGIC OF INTERMODAL...

CARSON, Calif. (AP) — A 3-month-old kitten survived a journey across the Pacific, traveling from Shanghai to Los Angeles without food or water while locked in a freight container on a ship. The orange-and-white short-haired kitten traveled 6,500 miles before arriving Wednesday. [...] The kitten ate and slept well at the Carson Animal Care Center, said animal control director Marcia Mayeda. He was alert and responsive Thursday.

Container shipping firm Maersk Line, part of Danish oil and transport group A P Moller-Maersk A/S, has laid up 12 ships and will lay up five more, the company told Danish online media epn.dk. The firm has previously said it plans to lay up 25 vessels of its fleet of 500, due to the overcapacity in the market, where newly built ships are still appearing and force companies to maintain low rates, which make operations unprofitable. According to epn.dk, however, Maersk Line's inactive ships are relatively fewer than in the case of its competitors. The Danish group last month reported...

One could be forgiven for thinking that contracts in shipping are no longer worth the paper they are written on. First we had charterers in the dry bulk sector simply walking away from unfavourable contracts at the top of the market. Now in container shipping we have lines on the transpacific trade trying to unilaterally increase rates on annual contracts just months after they were agreed. It would certainly be interesting to be a fly on the wall when shipping line sales people meet major US shippers and try to explain that they now, in effect, want to tear up...

LONDON -- Container ship charter owners are preparing to idle scores of vessels for extended periods over the coming weeks as hire rates reach new lows and ocean carriers press for steeper discounts to compensate for collapsing liner freight rates.There were 392 box ships of 1.1 million TEUs, or 8.8 percent of the world fleet, without work in mid-February, according to AXS-Alphaliner, a Paris-based consultant that tracks laid-up tonnage.But that figure “may yet even prove to be a conservative estimate,” says London shipbroker Clarkson.Leading charter owners are laying up their ships because hire rates don’t cover vessel financing costs. Euroseas,...

This year will be the toughest test yet for the global container shipping industry and further casualties among operators are a real possibility, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants, which issued the warning in its latest quarterly Container Forecaster. The London-based consulting firm said long-held industry rules have changed or become skewed because the downturn happened so dramatically that the existing supply-demand mechanics in all trades have faltered at the same time, leaving no bright spots for the industry. Four container operators, including China's SYMS and SA Independent Liner Services of South Africa, failed in late 2008, Drewry said. Although carriers...

The Interstate 69 corridor, a Mexico-to-Canada concept discussed since 1991, has received government recognition as a "corridor of the future," a designation that immediately means $800,000 in federal money for studies. Local officials say it could mean more trade in South Texas. The corridor -- a 2,680-mile international trade route from Mexico to Canada also known as the Trans-Texas Corridor-69 -- was one of two designated Tuesday as corridors of the future. Interstate 10 from California to Florida also received recognition. Hailed as a route that would facilitate trade resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement, I-69's Texas portion...

A two-year ban on long-term toll road leases with private companies, pockmarked with exceptions and thus largely symbolic, cleared a Texas Senate committee Wednesday on a unanimous vote. However, the more meaningful action on toll roads should begin in the next two weeks, when a large bill addressing a wide range of concerns over tollways will be introduced in the Senate. The much-publicized moratorium bill by Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, Senate Bill 1267, has an excellent chance of passing the Senate, given that 29 of 31 senators have either signed on as co-sponsors or voted for it in committee. But despite...

(April 3, 2007)—Gov. Rick Perry spoke out Tuesday against proposed legislation that would put a two-year moratorium on private toll road projects including the Trans-Texas Corridor and urged lawmakers to “ensure vital transportation projects continue as planned.” Several bills are pending in Austin aimed at putting the brakes on the massive highway project. State Representative Lois W. Kolkhorst of Brenham has filed a bill that would kill the project altogether and a second measure that calls for a two-year moratorium on allowing private entities from buying the rights to build and operate toll roads. During a visit with US Transportation...

Can the Port of Humboldt Bay be a participant in the new “Silk Road” as experts predict West Coast shipping trade traffic with China will triple by 2020? It could happen with the help of the Port of Oakland, which is setting the stage for a agreement with its northerly neighbor to begin an formal relationship in the upcoming months with the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District. But actual container shipping between Oakland and Humboldt's deep-water port couldn’t happen any sooner than 2011, according to Port of Oakland Maritime Director Wilson Lacy, who presented an overview of the...