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Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
As CMA CGM Flirts with Red Sea Comeback, Will Others Follow Suit?
CMA CGM is reshuffling its deck of vessels to expand its presence in the Red Sea. Starting in June, the ocean carrier will reroute its Med Express (MEDEX) service—which connects ports across the Middle East, Indian subcontinent and Mediterranean Sea—back through the Suez Canal. More from Sourcing Journal Carriers Ramp Up Trans-Pacific Capacity on Expected Demand Rally CMA CGM's $600M Vietnam Port Project Reflects 'Sharp' Container Demand Trans-Pacific Cargo Space Vanishing Fast Ahead of Tariff Deadlines According to a CMA CGM spokesperson, the container shipping firm is reallocating ships on a trade lane that had already been temporarily using the Suez route, and is not deploying additional vessels via the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait. 'At this stage, the majority of the Group's vessels continue to be rerouted via the Cape of Good Hope,' the spokesperson told Sourcing Journal. 'CMA CGM does not plan to resume transits through the Suez Canal on a large scale in the short term, unless security conditions allow it. Until further notice, the CMA CGM Group will continue to seek escort assistance from the European Union Naval Force's Operation ASPIDES for its ships to ensure the highest level of safety for its crew members, vessels, and its customers' cargo.' The first westbound transit on the route will be with 9,700 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) CMA CGM Pelleas ship, which will leave Sri Lanka's Colombo Port on June 10. The ship will also conduct the first eastbound voyage for the service out of Jeddah Islamic Port in Saudi Arabia on July 24. The weekly service line will use a fleet 10 ships that can carry between 6,000 to 10,000 TEUs, and dock at ports including Nhava Sheva and Mundra in India, Abu Dhabi and Jebel Ali in the U.A.E., Genoa in Italy and Barcelona and Valencia in Spain, among others. Fourteen ports comprise the MEDEX line, which last, Since late 2023, when the Yemen-based Houthi militant group began attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait, CMA CGM had opted for MEDEX vessels to instead sail around Africa's Cape of Good Hope. The longer route adds between one and two weeks to total ocean transit times, and has been a key determinant in pushing up freight rates due to the ensuing capacity crunch. A Red Sea return would mark a big step for container shipping in returning to the conflict-ridden waterway, which remains a no-go zone for most ocean carriers concerned about the attacks. Although the Houthis haven't attacked a container ship thus far in 2025, and have appeared to indicate they won't be targeting non-Israeli ships any longer, the industry has still been hesitant about redeploying ships in the area. 'The open question for now is of course how many services we need to see from CMA CGM reverting back to the Red Sea before the other major carriers will re-assess and also revert back to a Suez routing,' said Lars Jensen, CEO of Vespucci Maritime, in a post on LinkedIn. Companies have been avoiding a return largely because they cannot guarantee safety on the route, and because war-risk insurance premiums for carriers remain elevated compared to pre-Red Sea crisis levels. The higher freight rates also add an incentive, contributing to higher profits industrywide. Unlike the other major carriers, CMA CGM hasn't spurned the Suez Canal entirely since the Houthis began their onslaught on shipping. The France-based company opened up transit on a case-by-case basis in February 2024, and had already been working with the French Navy to help escort vessels through the Red Sea when necessary. This is a benefit major carriers like Denmark-based Maersk and Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) don't have. CMA CGM's fleet has regularly been sailing one service on the Suez route as part of the Ocean Alliance the carrier has with Cosco Shipping, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) and Evergreen. The weekly BEX2 (Phoenician Express) service from Far East to the Mediterranean has been in regular rotation since July 2024. That line stops at major Asian ports including Shanghai and Ningbo in China, Busan, South Korea and Singapore. It likely strayed away from Houthi attention because it transported cargo to and from Beirut, Lebanon, according to Alphaliner. On June 23, CMA CGM also plans to do a single Suez Canal voyage via its Far East-to-Mediterranean MEX service, when the 16,000-TEU CMA CGM Jules Verne leaves eastbound from Jeddah. The Ocean Alliance service is not a permanent shift. Both the services and one-offs have put CMA CGM far ahead of competitors when it comes to Suez sailings. CMA CGM ranked first in net tonnage of container vessels passing through the Suez Canal from January to April, representing 19 percent of cargo moved during that period. During the quarter, 486 container vessels sailed through the Suez Canal, amounting to 17,234 metric tons. During a meeting with the Suez Canal Authority earlier this month, CMA CGM's executive vice president of assets and operations, Christine Cabeau, hinted at the MEDEX shift. She indicated that the group wanted a second fixed service to traverse the canal. The Suez Canal Authority, which has seen substantial losses in revenue since the Houthi attacks began, is offering 15-percent rebates for container vessels opting to sail through the trade artery. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd partner on new Asia-Long Beach service
Maersk (OTC: AMKBY) and Hapag-Lloyd (OTC: HPGLY) announced new container services from East Asia to the U.S. Port of Long Beach. The additions by the Gemini Cooperation partners, which include the redeployment of at least one ship back into the eastbound trans-Pacific to U.S. West Coast trade, come as carriers scale up during a 90-day pause in reciprocal tariffs by China and the United States. Maersk's Gemini TP9 service will be covering East China and North East Asia to Long Beach. The port rotation is Xiamen, China – Busan, South Korea – Long Beach – and return to Xiamen. The first sailing is the 4,600-TEU Rhone Maersk on June 24, with a return from Long Beach scheduled for July 15. The ship is being phased out of a West Africa-Asia will operate the 4,250-TEU Synergys Keelung on the same eastbound rotation from Xiamen on July 1. The new service adds an additional 1.2% of capacity to the Pacific trade into the U.S. West Coast, said analyst Lars Jensen, in a LinkedIn post. In the past week container vessel capacity on the trans-Pacific grew by 11%, according to Sea-Intelligence. Also, Maersk hiked its peak season surcharge from the Indian Subcontinent and Middle East to the U.S. and Canada East and Gulf coasts. The charge increases from up to $500 depending on origin/destination to an additional $500 as of next Monday from South and East India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The carrier said as of June 16, across-the-board surcharges will be $1,500-2,000 per said waiting times are rising at North China and other ports due to congestion, and intermittent port closures caused by strong winds and dense fog. Wait times range from 24-72 hours at Shanghai Yangshan; 24-36 hours at Ningbo, China; 24-72 hours at Qingdao, China; 12-36 hours at Singapore; an average of 18 hours at Busan, South Korea but 72 hours at PNIT Terminal. Japan's Yokohama has waits from 12-24 hours. Find more articles by Stuart Chirls more than halfway through $1B stock buyback Drewry: China-US container rates up by double digits Savannah sees record containers amid tariff frenzyZim profit up on higher container volume, rates The post Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd partner on new Asia-Long Beach service appeared first on FreightWaves. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
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US trade representative holds second hearing on Chinese ship fees
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will hold a second round of hearings Monday in Washington on port fees for China-built,- owned and -operated ships docking at American ports. The punitive fees are meant to blunt China's maritime dominance and help kick-start U.S. shipbuilding. Public comments ahead of the USTR's first hearing in April led to dramatic changes, notably from a scheme of blanket charges on all ships to fees based on net tonnage and number of containers carried. Expectations are that any changes by USTR this time will be less substantial in regard to container shipping. 'We might expect fewer revisions this time around – simply because the first proposal would be highly destructive to the maritime supply chain servicing the U.S., whereas the second proposal is more manageable from a container shipping perspective – although it still contains problematic elements … for example in relation to car carriers,' said Lars Jensen of consultant Vespucci Maritime in a LinkedIn post. American exporters of bulk commodities such as grain and soybeans say the fees will make their products less competitive in the global market. 'Individuals don't pay [directly] to build aircraft carriers; farmers don't want to pay to build ships,' said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agricultural Transportation Coalition. 'If we are not competitive on price, buyers will find other markets.' Jensen said shippers should expect that ocean carriers will attempt to pass on resultant costs in the form of new surcharges. He added that U.S. companies still face higher costs due to the Trump administration's proposed new tariffs on containers, cranes, chassis and chassis parts. Any new changes could go into effect either in mid-October or in 180 days depending on whether USTR revises the implementation date. Find more articles by Stuart Chirls Beach sees record TEUs on trade war effect Hapag-Lloyd expects swift China ramp-up after bookings jump 50% Tariff two-step: After pause, China-US container traffic increases Maersk looks to fill up corridors in a flash (sale) The post US trade representative holds second hearing on Chinese ship fees appeared first on FreightWaves. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
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Maersk looks to fill up container ships in a flash (sale)
Even as the United States and China called timeout on their tariff war, Maersk, the world's second-largest container line, wants shippers to get back in the game. The Denmark-based carrier ( is offering a flash sale with deep discounts on dozens of inland trade corridors in the United States and Canada through Maersk Spot, the Danish carrier's on-demand digital booking service aimed at small and medium-size shippers. The promotional pricing, announced in an email to customers early Wednesday, reflects the unsettled state of trans-Pacific shipping as the supply chain restarts following a chaotic tariff fight. The escalating tariffs that began with President Donald Trump's Liberation Day on April 2 led to a de facto trade embargo between the trading partners. The effects were immediate, as shipments from China to the U.S. plunged by 35% amid canceled factory orders, and scores of blanked or suspended voyages as container lines redeployed tonnage to other services. The tariffs also brought trade to a halt in the middle of contract negotiations between shippers and carriers. Trans-Pacific container rates to the U.S. have fallen some 30% from a year ago, and a number of carriers have announced general rate increases and other charges as a way to shore up prices on the trade. Those charges, announced prior to the tariff pause, range from a high of $3,000 per forty-foot equivalent unit by Cosco, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd and HMM, to $2,000 by CMA CGM, Yang Ming and Zim, to $1,000 by the alliance of Ocean Network Express (ONE). 'Carriers are in the habit of preemptively announcing GRIs,' shipping analyst Lars Jensen wrote in a LinkedIn post Tuesday. 'If market conditions are then strong, these might stick, otherwise they go unnoticed.' Export-import rates across Maersk's range of services include $455 for Los Angeles-Long Beach, $375 for Fort Worth, Texas, $430 for Chicago and $571 to Vancouver, Canada, among a long list of other lanes. Maersk did not immediately respond to questions about the promotion. Find more articles by Stuart Chirls and effect: Container rates await new demand Ocean lines welcome tariff pause, but is the supply chain ready? Less China means more business for Port of Virginia Maersk: US-China trade war will swing world container demand The post Maersk looks to fill up container ships in a flash (sale) appeared first on FreightWaves.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Q1 2025 Trading Statement
COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT NO 23/2025 - April 29, 2025 Start of 2025 in line with our expectations: Volume and net revenue on par with Q1 2024, despite Easter phasing from Q1 last year to Q2 this year and a sectoral strike in Finland. EBIT growth of 4%. EBIT margin expansion of 0.2 percentage points. EPS growth of 25%. The financial outlook for full-year 2025 is reiterated. Statement by Royal Unibrew's CEO, Lars Jensen: "We are pleased to report that the year has started in line with our expectations. Considering the subdued consumer confidence across our main markets, a full week of strike end March in Finland and the timing of Easter negatively impacting Q1, we are satisfied with our activity levels and financial performance. Our continued focus on operating efficiency is driving improvements in our EBIT margin, in line with our long-term ambitions". Outlook for 2025The financial outlook for full-year 2025 as stated in the Annual Report 2024 is reiterated. Net revenue growth is expected in the range of 5-7%. EBIT growth is expected in the range of 7-13% (DKK 2,100 – 2,225m). The guidance is based on a continued challenging consumer environment and high uncertainty; though not a deterioration from 2024. In recent months, macroeconomic uncertainty has increased following the announcements of trade tariffs by the US. While our direct exposure to US import/export is limited, the ripple effects on global economies and consumer sentiment are difficult to predict at this stage. For further information on this announcement Investor Relations, Flemming Ole Nielsen, +45 25 41 68 04, Media Relations, Michelle Nørrelykke Hindkjær, +45 25 64 34 31, Webcast Investors and analysts can register for a conference call on April 30, 2025, at 09:00 am CEST at the following link: Attachment Royal Unibrew Q1 2025 Trading Statement
