The 1,436TEU, 2011 built, container ship Escape operated by the Dutch carrier JR Shipping, based in Harlingen, The Netherlands, suffered a rudder failure just north of the Maasvlakte, in Rotterdam Port on 7 April. The vessel had departed Rotterdam with a cargo of 724TEU and was heading for Helsinki in Finland when the ship’s steering […]

Maersk has announced that its 1,810TEU vessel, Maersk Vallvik, has arrived at the Port of Durban, South Africa with over 700 refrigerated containers to support the upcoming citrus season. “The Maersk Vallvik is phasing into our AMEX (America – South Africa) service and we are using this opportunity to reposition empty reefers from the Middle […]

India’s flagship government policy ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliance), multimodal logistics operator Concor has issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) with the aim of preparing the way forward for local container manufacturers in the forthcoming competitive tender process. Concor is proposing to procure 6,000 containers of 20ft high cube containers, with a minimum developmental order of […]

Thai intra-Asia carrier Regional Container Lines (RCL) is still adding secondhand vessels to its fleet. RCL said in filings to the Thai Stock Exchange on 25 March that it has purchased the 2005-built 2,800TEU Irenes Reliance from Tsakos Shipping & Trading for US$16.1 million as well as a ship from Singapore-registered Sindi Shipping. Shipping databases show […]

A Pacific International Lines’ (PIL) board reshuffle has seen the founding Teo family lose control following a bailout by a unit of the Singapore government’s investment company. PIL announced on 7 April that Lars Kastrup, a liner shipping veteran, previously the CEO of Neptune Orient Lines, and Gan Chee Yen, a director of Temasek Holdings’s […]

Seaspan Corporation has entered into an agreement to acquire two 8,500TEU scrubber-fitted containerships which are already assigned to a long-term charter with an undisclosed liner operator. The vessels are anticipated to be delivered during the second quarter of the year and are expected to be financed from additional borrowings as well as cash in hand. […]

HMM will continue to provide extra container shipping capacity for South Korean small and medium enterprise (SME) exporters until the end of 2021. South Korea’s largest liner operator signed an agreement with Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) on 2 April, pledging to reserve slots for these exporters on all Asia-Europe and Transpacific services, to […]

ZIM and Gold Star Line have extended their service coverage in Oceania with the launch of a new service connecting Australia with New Zealand. The new product is called New Zealand to Australia Service (N2A) and commenced on 2 April with the 2020-built GSL Africa calling the Port of Auckland. The port rotation of the […]

Transpacific rates are once again flying high with eastbound volumes hitting the stratosphere with a US$17,000/FEU rate hitting the top rate for this week. Rates on the Pacific will be affected by the six days of delays at the Suez Canal caused by the grounding of the Ever Given. The effects of the Suez incident […]

Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC) and Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) have won orders for thirteen 16,000TEU dual-fuel container ships, their parent group China State Shipbuilding Corporation announced on 2 April. Describing the commission as CSSC’s largest ever for container ships, the world’s largest shipbuilding conglomerate said that the vessels will have a total contract value […]