An explosion at the port of Beirut in Lebanon has caused carnage in the country’s capital. The blast occurred after what appeared to be fireworks seen crackling over the buildings before a massive blast engulfed the surrounding buildings at around 5pm UK time.
Reuters is quoting local medical source who say that at least ten people have been killed in the blast,...
https://container-news.com/massive-explosion-rips-through-the-port-of-beirut/
Ningbo-Zhoushan Port has become the largest shareholder of Jiangyin Sunan International Container Terminal as it targets throughput growth.
China’s busiest port and the second busiest container port after Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan Port said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange that it had acquired the Hong Kong-incorporated Paul Y. Corporation, which owns a 40% stake in Jiangyin Sunan, paying around CNY286.25 million (US$41 million) for the acquisition.
Jiangyin Sunan operates the No.3...
https://container-news.com/ningbo-zhoushan-takes-majority-stake-in-yangtze-river-terminal/
Further industrial action has been advised by the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) in Montreal Canada, as Longshoremen’s Union has filed another 72-hour notice of strike, Hapag-Lloyd has warned customers
Commencing at 07:00 local time on 3 August the strike will end at the same time on 7 August, but this week’s action will only close the port’s Termont Terminal, while the Montreal Gateway Terminal will continue to work normally.
“The situation remains fluid and may change at short notice,”...
Wan Hai Lines is now offering a solo Far East-US West Coast service after Pacific International Lines (PIL) withdrew from the Transpacific trade.
The China Pacific Service 1 (CP1) was launched on 2 July, with the 4,680TEU Wan Hai 515 departing Shanghai and reaching Long Beach on 25 July. Wan Hai 515 was followed by a chartered vessel, the 6,008TEU ER London, which left Shanghai on 29 July.
The subsequent sailings will be in mid-August, when two other chartered vessels, the 4,943TEU Texas Trader...
https://container-news.com/wan-hai-goes-solo-on-pacific-trades/
Administration is a expanding as fast as ship sizes, as more containers on board the latest ultra large container ships means the documentation must also follow. Cash strapped operators are turning to digitalisation to solve the big data conundrum, says Lars Fischer is Managing Director of Softship Data Processing Ltd, Singapore.
It wasn’t so many years ago when the industry excitedly welcomed the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller into the global fleet. This 18,000TEU vessel – and her sisters – heralded a...
Shippers using the Pakistani Port of Karachi are facing massive detention charges on cargo that they cannot move out of the port as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic with some cargo owners facing bills of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
One incensed cargo owner told Container News that the shipping lines were “thieves and looters” as he had run up a bill in excess of US$200,000 in detention charges since the pandemic began.
In Pakistan, the problems began when the border with landlocked...
https://container-news.com/shippers-accuse-lines-of-profiteering-over-karachi-detention-charges/
Pacific International Lines (PIL), the embattled Singaporean liner operator, said that market conditions remain challenging and expenditure must continue to be controlled.
In a filing to the Singapore Exchange on 30 July PIL disclosed that it will receive interim funding of US$112 million from Heliconia Capital. The funds, said PIL, are to be used only to meet urgent operational requirements, while negotiations with Heliconia, a unit of the Singapore government’s investment company Temasek...
https://container-news.com/pil-says-expenditure-must-be-controlled/
Surveys conducted by US based freight forwarders are showing that factories in China could be experiencing a slow in orders that will hit the maritime container industry in September.
According to consultant Jon Monroe, in order to get an accurate understanding of the near future demand factory orders can offer an early warning as these orders are made up to 60 days before cargo is loaded onto vessels.
Monroe said that he had seen a number of surveys conducted by forwarders in China, and “At...
https://container-news.com/chinese-factories-see-september-orders-slow/
Chinese state-owned groups China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH) and Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) have expressed an interest in restructuring troubled Chinese domestic container shipping group Antong Holdings.
In filings submitted to the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) on 24 July 2020, Antong, which operates a liner service through Quanzhou Ansheng Shipping, said that it had signed an agreement with AVIC Trust, a non-banking financial institution.
On 28 July 2020, Antong made...
https://container-news.com/troubled-antong-mulls-restructuring-options/