Ocean shipping

Container import roller coaster: down, up, down … up?

roller coaster

U.S. container imports are certainly on a wild ride.

The numbers plunged after the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. They briefly bounced back when delayed bookings were loaded after China came back online. Then they sank again after social-distancing rules shut down U.S. businesses and container carriers “blanked” (canceled) sailings.

Now, it looks like there could be at least some momentum in the positive direction, which might mean that container lines that blanked around 20% of...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/container-import-roller-coaster-down-up-down-up

IMF develops real-time intel on container, tanker, bulker moves

containers

The modern history of global trade will be divided into B.C. and A.C. — before-corona and after-corona. What happened B.C. might as well have occurred in an alternate universe and the pace of change A.C. is so frenetic that even one-month-old data has lost much of its value.

With make-or-break business decisions in the balance, the focus has predictably turned to data that signals future trends, such as container-shipping “blank sailing” information from companies such as eeSea and...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/imf-develops-real-time-intel-on-container-tanker-bulker-moves

Stranded crew crisis is ticking time bomb for global trade

ship crew

You may have read those Kafkaesque stories about seafarers marooned on cargo ships month after month, unable to go home at the end of their work contracts due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

You may have thought, “How unfortunate,” then turned your attention back to your own pressing business problems amid the pandemic.

A crisis for an Indian seafarer stuck on a Liberian-flagged ship because Indonesian authorities won’t allow passage to the airport may seem distant from the challenges of a U.S....

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/stranded-crew-crisis-is-ticking-time-bomb-for-trade

Maersk: Container volumes could fall 25%

container ship

Container volumes will drop sharply in the second quarter but the industry is in better position to manage the coronavirus crisis than previous downturns, according to Soren Skou, chief executive officer of A.P. Moller-Maersk (APM, Copenhagen: MAERSK-B), the owner of the world’s largest container line.

On Wednesday morning, APM reported net income of $209 million for the first quarter of 2020 compared to a net loss of $656 million in the same period last year, with ocean shipping revenues up 3%...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/maersk-container-volumes-could-fall-25

Will ocean carriers scale back sailing cancellations?

container terminal

Container-liner schedules are about to provide a telling clue on U.S. cargo demand.

Arrival schedules for May and June are set. U.S. ports will see double-digit declines in inbound capacity. Whether carriers will keep “blanking” (canceling) sailings on the same scale into the third quarter remains unknown, but not for much longer.

If mass cancellations extend into July at elevated May-June levels, it means that carriers are not receiving enough bookings from shippers, implying a weak recovery...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/will-ocean-carriers-scale-back-sailing-cancellations

Commentary: How are freight professionals adjusting to COVID-19?

The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates. 

On April 9, FreightWaves ran Commentary: Can supply chain tech startups survive COVID-19?, followed on April 23 by Commentary: How supply chain startups are surviving COVID-19.

For most people who focus on supply chain, innovation and technology, a related and perhaps even more salient question is the question about how professionals in traditional supply chain...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/commentary-how-are-freight-professionals-adjusting-to-covid-19

Capesize shipping rates sink 21% in a single day

bulk ship

The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) rose to fame in the mid-2000s as a leading indicator of the global economy. If the BDI went up, industrial production was set to increase; if it went down, vice versa.

The BDI lost its luster as a macro bellwether during the decade after the financial crisis, as the index became overwhelmingly driven by shipping oversupply, not cargo demand.

Is it time once again to view the BDI as a signal of global industrial demand? If so, it’s looking scary.

Capesize rates crash

There...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/capesize-shipping-rates-sink-21-in-a-single-day

Tanker veteran warns on rates: The storm is coming

tanker ship

Diamond S Shipping (NYSE: DSSI) capped a blockbuster run of tanker earnings with an announcement of huge profits and a record quarter, just like the other four listed owners reporting this week.

But the Diamond S conference call on Friday was not a predictable sequel to calls with analysts the days before. The mood was less uplifting and self-serving, more foreboding and straight-shooting.

Diamond S CEO Craig Stevenson and his CFO Kevin Kilcullen did not mince words about the trouble they see...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/tanker-veteran-warns-on-rates-the-storm-is-coming

Floating storage is far from dead in the water

Europeans and Americans are getting back to work. There are more cars on the roads. Saudi Arabia and other oil producers are hitting the brakes on output. The price of crude oil has doubled. All of which might give the impression that the much-ballyhooed floating-storage tanker trade is dead in the water.

Absolutely not true, according to executives of Euronav (NYSE: EURN) and International Seaways (NYSE: INSW), the latest in a parade of tanker owners reporting blockbuster earnings this week.

Eur...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/floating-storage-is-far-from-dead-in-the-water

Inside the ‘mind-blowing,’ ‘crazy,’ ‘insane,’ ‘ridiculous’ tanker sell-off

crude tanker

The plot thickens.

On Wednesday, U.S.-listed tanker stocks reported record-high results, executives confirmed strengthening rates on conference calls, the broader stock market was relatively stable (at least until the last hour), the price of crude oil declined … and yet, stocks of tanker owners fell sharply in heavy trading.

It was “the craziest price action I’ve seen in my nine years covering the space,” Jefferies shipping analyst Randy Giveans told FreightWaves.

There have been plenty of bad...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/inside-the-mind-blowing-crazy-insane-ridiculous-tanker-sell-off

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