ocean container shipping

All-time high: Shares of container company Textainer still rising

The big surprise for shipping stocks has been the outperformance of certain container industry names despite the post-boom plunge in volumes and freight rates. Container-equipment lessor Textainer (NYSE: TGH) is a case in point.

Textainer’s stock just hit its highest price since the company went public in 2007. Its shares are doing even better than they did at the peak of the COVID-era boom.

Box leasing companies are in close contact with their customers — the shipping lines — and during a...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/all-time-high-shares-of-container-company-textainer-still-rising

Shipping line ONE’s profits plunge but still top pre-COVID levels

chart of ONE container rate index

During the peak of the supply chain crisis, accusations flew, alleging that shipping lines were somehow colluding to prop up rates and gouge customers. Recent results posted by ocean carriers undermine those claims. They show the container shipping market behaving the same way commodity shipping markets always have: Rates spike when cargo demand exceeds transport supply, and once the imbalance passes, competition brings rates and utilization back to normal.

Ocean Network Express (ONE), the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/shipping-line-ones-profits-plunge-but-still-top-pre-covid-levels

Container shipping giant CMA CGM still earning over billion a quarter

chart of CMA CGM financial KPIs

The bad news for France’s CMA CGM, the world’s third-largest ocean carrier: Profits continue to slide. The good news: The company is still raking in over a billion a quarter, net profits and revenue per container are still well above pre-COVID levels, and it still has a huge cash cushion courtesy of its boomtime windfall.

CEO Rodolphe Saade said Friday that “performance remains robust” despite “difficult market conditions” amid “further normalization” of shipping rates.

Liquidity still high at...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/container-shipping-giant-cma-cgm-still-earning-over-billion-a-quarter

Zim downsizing its container ship fleet as demand disappoints

Israel-based ocean carrier Zim (NYSE: ZIM) is cutting its exposure to the freight market by offloading multiple leased vessels. News of its divestment strategy was first reported in late June and fresh details are now emerging.

There have been reports this week of seven early charter terminations by Zim as well as two sublets. Two of the early charter terminations were confirmed by the vessels’ owner.

Charters terminated early for Euroseas duo

Euroseas (NASDAQ: ESEA) said that charters of its...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/zim-downsizing-its-container-shipping-fleet-as-demand-disappoints

Trans-Pacific shipping rates rise as carriers make capacity cuts

Shipping lines finally seem to be making some headway in managing vessel capacity in the Asia-U.S. trades.

Spot rates have been on the rise for three straight weeks, rebounding to levels last seen in early 2023 and late 2022, according to several index providers. U.S. import bookings remain above pre-COVID levels, and multiple analysts are now highlighting positive rate effects from reduced vessel capacity.

Liners managing down trans-Pacific capacity

“Typically, higher demand leads to higher...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trans-pacific-shipping-rates-rise-as-carriers-constrain-capacity

Q2 container line earnings could surprise to the upside

Container lines won’t release final results for the second quarter until next month, but early disclosures suggest they have stemmed the bleeding, at least temporarily.

Hawaii-based niche carrier Matson (NYSE: MATX) announced preliminary results late Thursday, projecting Q2 2023 net income of between $76.3 million and $81.5 million. This range is more than double Q1 2023 net income of $34 million.

Matson CEO Matt Cox confirmed that his company’s China service saw higher demand in the second...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/container-line-earnings-could-surprise-to-upside-in-q2

Ship fuel spreads and LNG prices fall to lowest levels in years

chart of ship fuel price spreads

Fuel is one of the biggest costs in ocean shipping, and fuel pricing has seen some big changes in recent months, featuring new dynamics that haven’t been seen in years.

Prior to the IMO 2020 regulation implemented on Jan. 1, 2020, most of the world’s commercial ships ran on 3.5% sulfur fuel known as high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO). Ships with exhaust-gas scrubbers can continue to burn HSFO under IMO 2020, while others — the majority of the commercial fleet — have switched to more expensive fuel with...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ship-fuel-price-dynamics-in-flux-as-war-effect-wanes

Port labor deal in British Columbia collapses, strike resumes

a chart of rail moves from Vancouver and Prince Rupert

The dockworkers union strike that shuttered the container ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, Canada, was supposed to be over. It’s back on again.

The initial strike started July 1 and lasted 13 days. On Thursday, the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) announced that a tentative four-year contract agreement had been reached with the International Warehouse and Longshore Union (ILWU) Canada, via a proposed settlement from a federal mediator.

The key word here turned out to...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/port-labor-deal-in-british-columbia-collapses-strike-resumes

It’s over: Labor deal ends strike at Vancouver, Prince Rupert ports

After being shuttered for 13 days, the key container shipping ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, Canada, will open “as soon as possible” after a new labor deal was reached, the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) announced Thursday.

The tentative agreement has a four-year term and is subject to ratification by both parties. No details were disclosed. The announcement of the end of the port labor impasse came after a federal mediator delivered...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/its-over-strike-that-closed-vancouver-and-prince-rupert-ports-ends

How ‘historic’ decarbonization deal could inflate future shipping rates

Decarbonizing shipping is like herding cats, and that herd, otherwise known as the International Maritime Organization (IMO), unveiled major new global emission-reduction targets Friday.

From a future freight rate perspective, it was a win for tanker and dry bulker owners. The uncertainty over future regulations that has stymied newbuilding orders was not only kept in place, it was exacerbated.

“Ultimately, the result is a much more aggressive ‘where’ target, without much additional clarity on...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-historic-shipping-decarbonization-deal-could-inflate-freight-rates

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