Blystad-owned Songa Container's fleet value has increased by around USD 108 million since the start of the year, even with one ship less in the fleet, writes Finansavisen.
South Korean container line HMM exits the first months of the year in an overheated container market with the highest operating result ever. The development will last through at least the second quarter, estimates the company.
After years of cautious expansion into logistics, Maersk is now ready to grow at least 10 percent a year, management said this week. In an interview with ShippingWatch, Vincent Clerc, CEO of Ocean & Logistics, lays out the thinking behind Maersk's growth strategy.
Family-owned Norwegian shipping company Klaveness has sold four smaller container ships for a profit, Group CEO Lasse Kristoffersen says to Finansavisen.
Despite weak growth in freight traffic across the North Atlantic, freight rates have risen by more than a third in recent weeks as container carriers have shifted available tonnage to more lucrative routes in Asia and across the Pacific.
Container line Hapag-Lloyd grew significantly on both the top and bottom line and got off to an unusually good start to 2021. The company maintains its full-year expectations.
Shipowner Danaos Corporation is benefiting from the current upturn with high rates and demand. Ship chartering rates have risen to levels not seen for at least ten years, says CEO.
The Suez Canal faces an expansion. Earlier this year, the Canal was the center of global attention when ultra-large container ship Ever Given blocked all passage through the waterway for nearly a week.
Yet another container line opts for LNG as a fuel to propel its fleet. This time, the company is Maersk's alliance partner MSC, which charters 11 LNG-powered ships from Eastern Pacific.
Although the Suez Canal Authority has lowered its claim against Ever Given after the blockage of the canal, the claim is still deemed "exceptionally large" by the ship's insurance company, writes Reuters.
While an increasing number of carriers opt to include LNG vessels in their fleets, one of the world's largest shippers, Ikea, makes it clear that the liquefied natural gas is not the way to go for shipping companies to decarbonize.
Maersk expects to be able to achieve a 12 percent return on invested capital ahead to 2025, says CEO Søren Skou during the shipping group's capital markets days Tuesday. This target is significantly higher than previously stated targets.
As a result of the overheated container market, German shipping company Borealis Maritime sells off an older container ship with a profit of just over 300 percent after only two years of ownership.
Demand for containers heading to the US continues to be high as Americans still invest in physical goods rather than services despite the vaccine roll-out, estimates analyst firm Sea-Intelligence.
The Suez Canal Authority has offered to shave off a third of its compensation claim against the owners of container ship Ever Given, which blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week.
Revenue grew in the first quarter at Maersk Container Industry, which reports of growing demand from customers outside the Maersk Group. CEO Sean Fitzgerald told ShippingWatch about the strong start to the year in an interview in March.
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Unless Maersk starts ordering more vessels to keep up with its competitors, the container carrier is set to lose its position as the world's largest, perhaps even by 2022. ShippingWatch has asked CEO Søren Skou if he is ready to abdicate the position – or if he intends to expand the fleet.
The extraordinarily strong container market has made the stock value of large container carriers soar. Asian shipping lines in particular have seen a rise, while Maersk is in the lower end in terms of percentage-wise increase, writes Alphaliner.
Most container ships currently struggle to stay on schedule. More than half of Maersk's ships arrive late at the moment, but CEO Søren Skou maintains the expectation of a marked improvement this year. He hopes to see an end to the repercussions from the Suez Canal blockage soon.
Maersk books a record profit for the first quarter of 2021. The result for the period almost amounts to last year's full-year result. "A.P. Moller-Maersk delivered an exceptionally strong performance in Q1 2021 with record profit for the quarter," says CEO Søren Skou.
The market for container transport is headed for a "new normal" with a market characterized by high freight rates in a cyclical upturn that could last for years, says analyst Lars Jensen. Both shippers and logistics companies could face hard times.
It has been almost five years since Søren Skou replaced Maersk CEO Nils Smedegaard Andersen, but even though container rates and earnings in liner shipping are currently thundering upwards, Skou has yet to deliver an important part of what he promised to the owners.
Seaspan, one of the world's largest suppliers of tonnage to container carriers, expanded its fleet like never before in the first quarter of 2021. The company's operating profit increased to USD 216 million.
Strong increases in volumes and freight rates boosted earnings and kept state-owned Chinese container line Cosco busy in the first quarter of the year. Routes on the Pacific particularly drive growth.
Strong demand ensured solid progress and a billion-dollar profit for container line ONE in its staggered fiscal year 2020. The coronavirus pandemic is cause for great uncertainty about this year's outlook.
Reporter 
Operations Controller - XO Shipping 
Dry Cargo Broker Thurlestone Shipping Denmark 
Senior Accountant to Finance & Accounting - Clipper Bulk