Hapag-Lloyd has launched a comprehensive efficiency process that could result in layoffs in the weeks to come, confirms the liner company to ShippingWatch. The company is currently negotiating with staff through its Work Council.
Container carriers' cash flow will likely decrease upwards of USD 1.3 billion this year due to growing bunker fuel oil costs, projects SeaIntel in a new analysis.
Søren Skou will soon have spent two years heading the Maersk Group and working on the transformation of the conglomerate and the share price that served as key reason for his appointment. "Things take time," says Skou.
"It can certainly not be ruled out that we at some point will look at ownership structure," Maersk CEO Søren Skou tells ShippingWatch after the shipping company's blockchain venture with IBM is criticized in the sector.
Maersk's interim report confirms the liner company's commercial difficulties, while challenges now also include rising unit costs, analyst Lars Jensen of SeaIntelligence Consulting tells Shippingwatch. The Maersk share is plunging.
Blockshipping has formed a new partnership with a Danish it company aimed at boosting blockchain plans for the container sector.
Packed order books for container ships and newbuild deliveries this year will put pressure on the container market in 2018 and increase capacity by more than 6 percent.
Maersk's Ocean segment, which covers Maersk Line, Hamburg Süd and a series of port terminals, delivered an operating profit of USD 492 million in the first quarter. Results unsatisfactory on the short term, says CEO Søren Skou.
Hyundai Merchant Marine booked a bigger deficit in the first quarter of the year compared to last year, as weak freight rates and higher bunker prices factored in.
Analyst firm SeaIntel projects in an analysis that container rates will decrease 2.5 percent annuall. Liner companies should increase their focus on costs.
After close to three years, it is now time to review the container consortia block exemption regulation that exempts liner companies from the EU's regular competition rules. European shippers are concerned.
Maersk and IBM's blockchain solution for the container sector is not relevant to CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd in its current form. There is a need for a joint industry standard, says Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen.
Blizzards and hurricanes hit container carriers hard in the first quarter and delayed Hapag-Lloyd's ships. Maersk Line, set to publish its interim report Thursday, also tells ShippingWatch that the weather resulted in delays.
The rising bunker prices represent a growing cost item in the shipping companies´reports, also at German box carrier Hapag-Lloyd. In an interview with ShippingWatch, CEO Rolf Habben Jansen now opens the door to LNG as new ship fuel.
Rates on the container routes from South America's east coast to the US, dominated by the biggest liner companies, are weak and will be slow to recover, projects Drewry.
It is no use complaining to liner companies about delayed ships, says Otto Schacht, VP and head of global ocean freight solutions at Kuehne+Nagel, in an interview with ShippingWatch. "It doesn't help," he says. Schedule reliability is currently at a record-low.
Hapag-Lloyd saw gains in the first quarter of this year following its merger with UASC last year, growing on EBITDA while the bottom line remains at a deficit. "The market environment is challenging," says CEO Rolf Habben Jansen.
Liner company MSC gets 30-year concession to operate Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi, which will serve as a regional hub for the company, which partners with Maersk Line in the 2M alliance.
The world's largest owner of container tonnage, Seaspan, expects to see large-scale consolidation in the market in coming years.
The container industry could save a double-digit billion USD figure by digitalizing the invoicing process, says Drewry in a new analysis.
The most recent data indicate a serious setback in demand and container rates after a strong start to the year, writes SeaIntel.
Maersk Line, Cosco and Hapag-Lloyd are, according to Bloomberg News, among the most vulnerable companies in regard to revenues in 2018, due to a toxic cocktail of increasing bunker fuel prices and falling rates.
Profit dipped for the third consecutive year at Maersk-owned feeder-liner company Seago Line. In 2017, the result was weighed down significantly by lower rates, higher bunker prices and last summer's cyber attack.
Staff shortages is one of the main reasons that the Japanese container merger ONE has experienced problems in its launch phase, which customers have complained about, the company tells Lloyd's Loading List.
Container carrier OOCL delivered an improved result for the first quarter 2018, according to a trading update. This bodes well for the sector, note several analysts.
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