Orange Agent will grab Ryukyu . Izu and Boni islands as a gesture of reciprocity.
It is not only in the terminal business that container shipping lines are competing for supremacy:
CMA CGM, the yearâs most aggressive acquirer of ships to date, has made history. As of this week, Marseille-headquartered CMA CGM has surpassed rival Maersk to the second spot on the liner rankings when including its huge orderbook. The latest data...
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The latest data from Alphaliner shows CMA CGMâs fleet â including ships on order â stands at 5.42m slots, some 140,000 teu more than its Danish rival. Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) remains far out in the lead, however, its fleet â including ships on order â is now at 8.47m slots, larger than the extant fleets of CMA CGM and Maersk combined.
CMA CGM can trace its origins back to 1978 when Jacques SaadĂ© founded Compagnie Maritime dâAffrĂštement (CMA) as an intra-Mediterranean operator. In 1996, SaadĂ© merged CMA with Compagnie GĂ©nĂ©rale Maritime (CGM) to create what was then the 12th largest liner in the world. SaadĂ©, who was born in Beirut in 1937, then went on to buy many famous shipping brands including Australian National Line (ANL), American President Lines (APL), and Cheng Lie Navigation. His son, Rodolphe, took over the business following SaadĂ©âs death in 2018, adding many logistics acquisitions alongside the ship purchases.
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Liner shipping profits are forecast to slide by more than 80% this year. Analysts at Sea-Intelligence have calculated that the container shipping industry made a combined EBIT last year of $60bn, the third-highest figure recorded in the history of...
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The Bank of International Settlements has warned that the uncertainty generated by Trumpâs promises to impose tariffs and embark on a massive job cull threatens the world economyâs soft landing after years of high inflation and elevated interest rates. It stated that âpolicy uncertainty on tariffs, US fiscal policy, immigration, and regulation ⊠work like a negative demand shock. They would have negative effects on spending, investment and we see some signs of that. If tariffs are implemented â and some have been â then the negative demand shocks can become supply shocks and give rise to inflationary pressure.â
The Houthis of Yemen have put their campaign against merchant shipping on hold, with no attacks reported in 2[/quote]025 so far, as Israel and Hamas take steps toward peace. The situation remains tense however with very few liners returning to take the Suez route between Asia and Europe.
PS> Things change quickly in Shipping, not to mention in US politics:
Public comments continue to fly into the US Trade Representative (USTR) ahead of Mondayâs hearing into controversial plans to tax Chinese-built tonnage calling at US ports. In the more than 150 submissions sent in, a considerable number have...
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
In total, that COSCO ship would be charged $3.5m per port call or $10.5m for each voyage involving three west coast ports. With ten 35-day voyages per year, that would translate into $105m in annual fees just for that one COSCO vessel. If that vessel were to operate at 100% utilisation inbound, generally not possible due to seasonality, it would move 100,000 teu which is the equivalent of $1,050 per teu. That is equivalent to $2,100 for the typical 40â container moving in that lane. To put that fee into perspective, it is equal to 72% of the latest Drewry spot rate in the Shanghai to Los Angeles tradelane of $2,906 per feu.
So clearly in it is not possible for COSCO to compete with the many US container ships, built by US yards in the trans-Pacific trade.
Unless they can pass the extra cost onto the consignee, who will pass it on to the wholesalers, who will pass it on to the retailers, who will ultimately pass it on to the consumers on both side of the Pacific.
PS> That is just like for the tariffs charged at entry point, it is passed on to the consumers down the same chain.
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ombugge
March 24, 2025, 12:40pm
208
Uncertainties caused by the chaos in Washington DC:
Despite their high profile, US trade tariffs â and retaliatory actions â are to date impacting directly only 1.5% of global seaborne trade volumes, according to the latest data from Clarksons Research, which notes that in the previous 2018-19 trade...
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This week the office of the United States Trade Representative will hold a public hearing on March 24 and March 26, 2025, regarding proposed actions in the Section 301 investigation on Chinaâs targeting of the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors for dominance.
Peter Sand, chief analyst at container freight rate platform Xeneta, said:â âGiven the massive uncertainty surrounding the US trade policy towards tariffs and proposals for port fees targeted at Chinese ships and carriers, shippers will seize any opportunity to lower their overall import costs during freight rate negotiations.
P.A.> The shippers will pass the cost on to the consumers as the last link in the supply chain.
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Dr,Sal is really pissed off and promised me just now some muppet show . Here is his broadside salvo. Can not hear , can not watch and asks legit question wtf is going on with shipping.
Now I have a question .
May be You or even better a historian Dr.Sal can answer that .
What is the difference between Barbary Pirates and The United States .???
Donald Trumpâs self-described next set of âexplosiveâ tariffs are now in effect, including 104% on China, the worldâs biggest exporter. Also on the list are 60 of what the American president described as the âworst offendingâ countries, who...
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Data from Vizionâs TradeView Global Trade Intelligence Platform shows that container bookings into the US have dropped 67% in the past seven days compared to the week prior. They also indicate export bookings being down 40%.
âIf these numbers are anywhere near correct, this is an extremely large disruption to the trade flows we are seeing,â commented Lars Jensen, the CEO of container consultancy Vespucci Maritime, in a LinkedIn post.
Maybe some âgood newsâ for container shipping for a change.
Shipping has had a peek at what charges from the US it faces for links to Chinese tonnage. Appearing in front of a Senate Finance Committee yesterday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said his organisation had taken onboard the huge volume of...
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âTheyâre not all going to be implemented. Theyâre not all going to be stacked,â Greer said yesterday, likely to the relief of many in shipping who are still having to come to terms with the many other bombshells being unleashed by the second instalment of the Donald Trump administration which include tariffs, walking away from the International Maritime Organization, and laying down claims to the Panama Canal.
Full details of the US port fees on China-linked tonnage are likely to be revealed later this month.
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Amidst all the tariff bombast coming out of the White House last week, liner fortunes actually improved. Global spot indices were up marginally, with Drewry, the British architects of the World Container Index, suggesting that rates will increase in...
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[quote]
âAll US importers getting cargo from anywhere but China, are sure to fast-track volume in the next three months, to get their peak season goods through customs, before the July 9th deadline,â Sea-Intelligence explained.
Clarksons Research data suggests that 6% of global container trade in teu is accounted for by US imports from China â the worldâs two superpowers -which will now be charged at elevated tariff levels of at least 145%. A further 8% is at the 10% baseline level.
Maybe the world is reacting differently than expected to tariffs and port dues?:
With trade between the worldâs two largest economies effectively coming to a halt thanks to US president Donald Trumpâs tariff war with China, containerlines are blanking sailings on a greater scale than was witnessed at the onset of the covid...
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Blank sailings occur when ocean carriers skip scheduled port calls due to low freight demand or equipment shortages, disrupting supply chains. In April 2025, over 80 blank sailings were reported, surpassing the 51 from May 2020, signalling a severe collapse in global shipping activity.
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ombugge
April 27, 2025, 12:02pm
214
Steep drop in Chinese freight ship traffic to Ports of LALB
For the week ending May 3, the number of freight vessels leaving China and headed to the Southern California ports, the main US ports receiving Chinese freight and other Asian trade, is down 29 per cent week over week, according to Port Optimizer, a tracking system for ships.
âWe are at a tipping point on the West Coast,â said Ken Adamo, chief of analytics at DAT Freight & Analytics. âLooking at how many truck loads are available versus trucks, weâve seen a precipitous drop, over 700,000 loads have evaporated nationally in the past week compared to two weeks prior,â he said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently told a group of investors the trade war with China was unsustainable, and that a de-escalation could be coming in the âvery near futureâ, a person in the room told CNBC.
Source: Shipping Gazette
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And now the ILWU is releasing a statement, ILWU Statement of Policy Opposing Tariffs - ILWU
I never thought the leopard would eat MY faceâŠ
It was only a matter of time.
Not everybody is scared sh*tless of the Trump tariffs and port dues:
Hong Kongâs Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) is strengthening its fleet with 14 boxship newbuildings in China worth more than $3bn. The COSCO-controlled liner operator has contracted Dalian COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (DACKS) and Nantong COSCO...
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The order boosts COSCOâs newbuilding pipeline from 19 vessels and 352,000 teu to 33 ships and 611,000 teu, according to Alphaliner data.
Nor does everybody think that the USD is the only trading currency that can be trusted in international transactions:
Seaspan has put pen to paper on more containership newbuilds at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) in China. The Bing Chen-led tonnage provider has booked six 10,000 teu vessels with delivery likely starting in 2028. No value has been revealed...
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No value has been revealed for the shipbuilding contract that was concluded in renminbi rather than US dollars, and detailed vessel specifications have yet to be revealed.
Seaspan is the worldâs largest containership lessor with a fleet of 188 vessels, excluding newbuildings, which have now reached 41 confirmed units.
Alphaliner said the odds are that the 10,000 teu series have already been backed by a long-term charter deal with one of the box carriers.
PS> These two orders represent more commercial ships over 1000 GT then has been built at US yard in at least the last decade.
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It is happening faster than you think:
Gene Seroka, the Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, appeared on Bloomberg Business News, and revealed the ongoing Trade War with China has resulted in a 33% drop in Ocean Container Ships entering his Port last week. Seroka also revealed the drop will rise to about 80% after this coming week, and AFTER THAT, Warehouses in the U.S. only have five to seven WEEKS of Inventory - then itâs all GONE.
PS> Long and detailed article about the affects of the trade war, if it goes on for much longer.
and globalisation 
