Zhonggu Logistics will issue up to 133,333,333 A-shares to raise CNY3 billion (US$461 million) that will finance newbuildings, new containers and develop information technology solutions, following the company’s 2020 net profits to CNY1.02 billion (US$157 million), a 19% year-on-year increase. China’s largest domestic liner operator, which launched its first overseas route in March, stated that […]

CMA CGM has confirmed new reefer surcharges from Morocco to several destinations worldwide, which will take effect from 15 April. In the first instance, the French shipping line will implement a peak season surcharge of US$1,000 for reefer cargo from Morocco to all US destinations. In addition, CMA CGM will apply equipment repositioning surcharges (ERS) […]

Dominating the past year’s news has been the pandemic, mainly about the social distancing and lock-down regimes in various countries, but also the heralded way out of the Covid nightmare has been the development of vaccines that will mitigate the viral effects. Those vaccines were delivered in record time and have been disseminated amongst the […]

Evergreen is offering a direct service between South Korea and Vietnam, for the first time, with a new Korea-China-Vietnam (KCV) service starting mid-April. The Taiwanese liner operator is joining its rivals in targeting cargo growth in Vietnam by deploying three ships, each with capacity ranging from 1,600TEU to 1,800TEU. KCV’s service route will be Busan, […]

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. […]