#Maritime

TRAC Intermodal selects new president

TRAC Intermodal

TRAC Intermodal has appointed Daniel Walsh, formerly head of the last-mile business at XPO Logistics, as its new president and CEO.

Walsh replaces Jennifer Polli, who will leave the Princeton, New Jersey-based container chassis provider on Sept. 1.

Jennifer Polli leaves TRAC Intermodal (Photo: Courtesy)

Polli joined TRAC in 2012 and rose through the ranks to become president and CEO in 2018. The company credited her for leading the company through “significant transformation,” including its...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/trac-intermodal-selects-new-president

Q&A: COVID, the rise of China, and the future of ocean shipping

container terminal

It’s getting really weird out there in the ocean shipping markets. Global oil demand collapses yet oil tanker rates spike. Tanker profits soar yet stock investors flee. Unemployment surges and businesses fold yet imports flood into ports and container rates skyrocket.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the ever-confounding task of forecasting shipping markets more confounding still.

For insight on what’s next, FreightWaves interviewed Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at BIMCO. Sand, based in...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/qa-covid-the-rise-of-china-and-the-future-of-ocean-shipping

Career Tracks: Maersk veteran picked to lead Westwood Shipping

Maritime industry veteran Jack Mahoney has been named president and CEO of Westwood Shipping Lines Inc. following a nationwide search.

Mahoney, a 21-year Maersk executive, will succeed Guy Stephenson, who is retiring as president and CEO after serving in that role since 2007. 

Stephenson, who will continue in a support role as executive adviser and general counsel, said Mahoney “brings a wealth of relevant experience and leadership skills to set Westwood’s next course. I am confident that...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/career-tracks-maersk-veteran-picked-to-lead-westwood-shipping

Yang Ming’s Q2 strong but not strong enough

Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. reported Friday it had shaved its loss from more than $27 million in the first quarter to $2.25 million in the second.

Still, that means the Taiwanese carrier had a net loss for the first half of the year of nearly $29.5 million. During the first six months of 2020, consolidated revenue was down 12% compared to the same period in 2019, to $2.2 billion. Volume was down 9.86% to 2.38 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). And the first-half net figure...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/yang-mings-q2-strong-but-not-strong-enough

Hormuz tanker risk rises after US seizes Iranian cargoes

product tanker

Tanker rates spiked last year after attacks on tankers in the Middle East. Could history repeat itself? The U.S. has just seized four Iranian petroleum cargoes, adding more fuel to rising tensions at the Strait of Hormuz, where a quarter of the world’s oil transits.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed Friday that “with the assistance of foreign partners,” it seized the gasoline cargoes aboard four Liberian-flagged, Greek-managed product tankers: the Bella, Bering, Pandi and Luna.

The...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/hormuz-tanker-risk-rises-after-us-seizes-iranian-cargoes

Hapag-Lloyd profit swells despite shrinking volumes

Hapag-Lloyd maintains that despite doused volumes in the second quarter, it has the liquidity and strong earnings to stay well above water.

“After the year got off to a decent start, transport volumes significantly declined in the second quarter as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We benefited from the sudden drop in bunker prices, adjusted capacity to lower demand and took additional cost-cutting measures as part of our performance safeguarding program,” CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said in...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/hapag-lloyd-profit-swells-despite-shrinking-volumes

NFI acquires CAI Logistics, non-asset division in intermodal, flatbed and marine

NFI has made the largest non-asset acquisition in its history, buying CAI Logistics, the non-asset logistics division of CAI International.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

Acquisitive NFI has bought a three-pronged logistics service that David Broering, the president of non-asset at NFI, said had “roughly” $110 million in revenue last year. The acquisition “falls into the middle size-wise relative to NFI’s overall acquisitions over the past 20 years,” he told FreightWaves in an email. But...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/nfi-acquires-cai-logistics-non-asset-division-in-intermodal-flatbed-and-marine

Supertanker double-whammy: Less volume, shorter hauls

crude drilling

“The unwinding period is going to be painful. It’s happening,” warned Michael Fogerty, senior vice president of commercial operations of Diamond S Shipping (NYSE: DSSI), during the quarterly call on Thursday. He was referring to the drawdown of crude stocks in Asia that have built up on land and at sea over the past few months.

The Asian drawdown hits very large crude carriers (VLCCs, tankers that carry 2 million barrels of oil) on two fronts. Not only is less crude flowing to Asia, but less is...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/supertanker-double-whammy-less-volume-shorter-hauls

Trade outlook clouds Port of Oakland forecast

Port of Oakland officials attributed a July import cargo volume gain to U.S. retailers restocking inventories depleted during the coronavirus pandemic, but they’re not shopping for party hats just yet.

The California port reported a 6.4% year-over-year increase in containerized import shipments in July, much better than the 1.9% step up in June and welcome news after monthly declines from February through May. 

But Bryan Brandes, the Port of Oakland’s maritime director, cautioned against reading...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/trade-outlook-clouds-port-of-oakland-forecast

Trans-Pacific ‘going crazy’ as demand defies pandemic pessimists

Port of Los Angeles

China-U.S. West Coast container rates continue their astonishing climb. Not because of too little vessel supply, but because of too much import demand. U.S. import demand that is not surging despite of coronavirus, but because of it.

“The trans-Pacific eastbound market is going crazy,” exclaimed Nerijus Poskus, vice president and global head of ocean freight at digital freight forwarder Flexport. Current dynamics are unprecedented, he said in an interview with FreightWaves on Wednesday.

“All of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trans-pacific-going-crazy-as-demand-defies-pandemic-pessimists

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