Maersk has signed a four-year contract with FMCG and food production giant Unilever to provide operational management of its global ocean and air freight transport. The agreement will also see the carrier develop and manage Unilever’s International Control Tower Solution, which will build on the Virtual Ocean Control Tower debuted earlier this...
Lockdowns across China’s Zhejiang province have prompted multiple factory closures, and new restrictions have been placed on trucking. China reported new Covid cases in Tianjin and Guangzhou this week, including the Omicron variant, but the outbreak in Zhejiang, another major manufacturing heartland, remains the most serious. For example, 20 listed companies operating in...
There are unconfirmed reports that up to nine crew have been kidnapped in a pirate attack on a container ship in the Gulf of Guinea, some 48nm southwest of Equatorial Guinea. Security consultancy Dryad Global initially reported six crew missing but later amended that to up to nine crew. Few details are...
DB Schenker has internally announced the appointment of a chief transformation officer (CTO), sources say, charged with leading the German group on a “sustained strength” trajectory after a “hugely successful stint” since the pandemic began in Q1 20. (UPDATE: the full announcement released today by the DB Schenker management board can be found below...
Rumours that Maersk will restrict some customers to spot bookings from 1 January could be “a big opportunity” for smaller forwarders to win business from their multinational competitors. Sean Crook, director at Sydney-based forwarder Neolink, says Maersk and subsidiary Hamburg Süd have “definitely been pushing everyone to online bookings and/or FAK [freight...
Cargo in aircraft passenger cabins will no longer be accepted by China in the new year – a move expected to keep air freight rates high. China’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) said “only anti-epidemic-related items are allowed to be loaded in the cabin”. It added: “At the same time, the new regulations also...
Evergreen and Yang Ming are not following the contractual stance of rival operators, including Maersk and Cosco which are locking-in customers to multi-year contracts The two Taiwanese carriers believe they should not bind their customers. Yang Ming president Patrick Tu said: “We have to consider customers’ wishes. They may think freight rates may not...
US importers and forwarders are looking to New York’s Port Elizabeth Terminal for a faster intermodal link to the US Midwest and Canada. APM Terminals Elizabeth is marketing a new service that claims faster transfers from ship to rail, with multiple daily train departures to the interior. Key to the operation is a...
As it continues to drive its container line services towards a high majority of long-term contract business, Maersk has introduced six different types of agreement for the 2022 tender season. The launch of the new contract options comes as rumours persist that Maersk and subsidiary Hamburg Süd will spurn forwarder bookings next...
Ocean carriers face ‘Hobson’s choice’ on the containership charter market: agreeing to owners’ hugely inflated daily hire rates or risking losing the vessel to a competitor. Hapag-Lloyd has just agreed a three-month charter commencing in January of the 4,253 teu Synergy Oakland for an eye-watering $130,000 a day from Greek non-operating owner...
