Ukraine Russia

How war, shipping boom, China lockdowns impact Panama Canal

Panama Canal shipping

What’s the single most important concentration of infrastructure keeping America supplied with goods? The Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, which handles around 40% of the country’s containerized imports. What’s the second most important? One could make a strong case for the expanded Panama Canal.

America could never have handled the historic import deluge of the past two years if Panama had not built the third set of locks, the larger “Neopanamax” locks that debuted in 2016 and brought much...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-war-shipping-boom-china-lockdowns-impact-panama-canal

Shipping stocks in crosshairs as fears mount on China, war, inflation

shipping stocks

Shipping stocks fell sharply on Monday as Wall Street’s main indexes closed higher. Multiple shipping names sank by double digits, adding to last week’s pullback.

U.S.-listed shipowner shares face simultaneous sentiment pressures on multiple fronts.

The longer China’s COVID lockdowns last and the further they spread, the more concern there is on China’s economy, its demand for tanker and dry bulk import cargoes, and its ability to export containerized cargoes. Russia-Ukraine war fallout is...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/shipping-stocks-in-crosshairs-as-fears-mount-on-china-war-inflation

Noose tightens on Russian economy as import options dwindle

Russia economy shipping imports

There’s no global trade embargo on Russia. No sanctions barring shipments of most consumer goods or manufacturing components. But you don’t have to target the cargo itself to throw a giant monkey wrench into the supply chain.

Russia’s import options are dwindling as it becomes more difficult for ships, trucks, planes and railways to move Russian cargo — and as shippers and carriers “self-sanction” despite being legally able to serve Russia.

Most Russian-flagged cargo ships were banned from...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/noose-tightens-on-russian-economy-as-import-options-dwindle

If globalization is really over, what happens to supply chains?

supply chain

Tariffs, COVID, port pileups, the Ever Given, the Russia-Ukraine war, mounting U.S.-China tensions — it seems like threats to world trade are the rule, not the exception. What does this mean to the future of global supply chains?

The positive view: Importers see the risks ahead and will act. They will preemptively revamp supply chains and become nimbler and more resilient. Economic benefits of globalization are too great to give up. Countries and companies will work around hurdles.

“No one can...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/if-globalization-is-really-over-what-happens-to-supply-chains

Retail boss warns on supply chain, likens demand risk to ‘Big Short’

supply chain

Some quarterly calls by public companies are basically worthless, featuring analysts lobbing softball questions to CEOs who cherry-pick facts to pump their own stock.

And then there was Tuesday afternoon’s call hosted by Gary Friedman, CEO of luxury home furnishings brand RH (NYSE: RH), formerly known as Restoration Hardware.

Friedman — with what one analyst called “brutal honesty” — expounded upon supply chain woes, surging ocean freight rates, soaring inflation and a sudden plunge in consumer...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/retail-boss-warns-on-supply-chain-compares-demand-risk-to-big-short

Ship charter rates still ‘spectacular’ but war could tip the balance

container shipping

Do container line bosses believe the historic freight boom will end anytime soon? If the ship charter market is any indication, it sure doesn’t look like it.

Liner companies continue to pay record-high sums to rent container ships for up to five years, even as the Russia-Ukraine war caps rate gains. 

The Harpex index, which measures container-ship charter rates, has held steady at its highest level ever for the past three weeks. Alphaliner recently said that charter rates are at “historic highs”...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ship-charter-rates-still-spectacular-but-war-could-tip-the-balance

Biden-EU energy pact: LNG shipping game changer or wartime hype?

The U.S. government doesn’t control where cargoes of LNG are shipped — that’s decided by private companies. Nonetheless, the Biden administration and the EU announced a high-profile plan Friday to steer more U.S. LNG exports to Europe and partially replace pipeline gas from Russia.

The short-term pledge — to ship at least 15 billion cubic meters (bcm) more U.S. LNG to the EU this year — looks very doable. But that’s just one-tenth of the 155 bcm of natural gas the EU bought from Russia in 2021.

Th...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/biden-eu-energy-pact-lng-shipping-game-changer-or-wartime-hype

Why Russia-Ukraine war has not ignited crude tanker rates (yet)

crude tankers shipping

Wars involving oil producers traditionally cause tanker rates to spike. A month into the Russia-Ukraine war, rates for most crude tankers remain abysmally low. Rates for product tanker rates are up but not exceptionally high.

“The immediate knee-jerk reaction was: Disruptions create strength in the market,” said Evercore ISI analyst Jon Chappell. “We saw that in 1991 and we saw that in 2003, so the thinking was: Here we have another geopolitical event that’s going to lead to [oil] storage and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/why-russia-ukraine-war-has-not-ignited-crude-tanker-rates-yet

Armada carrying US LNG heads to Europe, but it won’t be enough

LNG shipping

Fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is being felt across all shipping markets, but none more so than liquefied natural gas shipping. Consequences to this shipping segment have been immediate, sweeping and possibly permanent.

Traditionally, about 30% of U.S. LNG exports has gone to Europe, but the destination mix has dramatically changed. Over the past two months, around 70% of U.S. LNG is going to Europe, according to Evercore ISI analyst Sean Morgan.

Ship-position data from MarineTraffic...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/armada-carrying-us-lng-heads-to-europe-but-it-wont-be-enough

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