The economic growth uncertainty, caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and consequent global sanctions, is taking a bite out of investment expectations for the global supply chain industry that had begun to recover from Covid-induced headwinds. One such casualty of the gathering storm is the fate of India’s national carrier, the Shipping...
A Greek truck driver died and 10 Bulgarian, Turkish and Greek people are unaccounted for after ro-ro Euroferry Olympia, owned and operated by Grimaldi, Caught fire in the early hours of Friday morning. The till-smouldering vessel today is at anchor off the port of Kassiopi, in Corfu. The vessel was carrying more than...
Freight forwarder association Clecat is asking the EC competition directorate to urgently investigate what it claims are “distortions” in the liner shipping market. Clecat wrote to commissioner Margrethe Vestager calling for the regulator to establish “the degree of concentration, consolidation, coordination, and cartelisation in the upstream container liner shipping services markets serving...
Through its brokers, Zim has made it known to containership owners that it is prepared to outbid competitor lines to secure charter tonnage. According to Alphaliner, the Israeli carrier “has been the most aggressive charterer in the past 12 months”, having concluded over 120 fixtures of existing and newbuild tonnage. “What owners are...
Maersk said this week it anticipated container spot rates would fall back in the second half of the year, justifying its strategy to secure 70% of its volume under long-term contracts. Spot rates are already showing signs of softening, post Chinese New Year, on the Asia-North Europe tradelane, and the return to...
Bangladesh’s strained logistics sector could see major foreign investment, following a call by the EU for the country to relax restrictions. The EU is pushing Bangladesh to open up its logistics industry to foreign investment of up to 100%, from 49%. This would see foreign companies being able to invest independently, rather than...
Ocean carriers fear that fiscal policies designed to stem inflationary pressures in Europe will weaken consumer appetite for non-essential goods, and are preparing to react quickly to adjust capacity. Container spot rates from Asia to North Europe were flat this week, due to the Chinese New Year holiday, with Drewry’s WCI holding...
China United Lines (CULines) has applied to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The liner operator, which is majority owned by the Chinese state, did not provide any fund-raising target or timetable in its listing prospectus, but stated that it plans to use the proceeds to expand its fleet, acquire...
Shipping lines continue to rail against the introduction of new legislation in the US that is aimed at curbing some of the excesses that both importers and exporters have complained about over the past two years. A Senate version of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act is now under consideration in the US...
Shareholders in Toyota had little room for cheer last month, as the world’s largest automaker expects to miss its production target of 9m vehicles for the year. The blame is laid mainly on a year-long shortage of semiconductors. The company will build 700,000 cars this month, up from a year ago, but 150,000...
