Congestion at North Continent main ports have worsened noticeably in the past week, with average waiting times at Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg rising to over 2.5 days, with barge traffic also affected by recent low water conditions. Carriers are still pushing for a July Asia-North Europe rate hike with the SCFI recording a 10.6% increase last Friday while the SCFIS registered its 5th consecutive weekly gain with a larger than expected 9.6% jump on Monday. Scepticism remains on the carriers’ a
Register Free Trial The rapid decline in Transpacific freight rates have forced some carriers to roll back their capacity plans but with tonnage already committed in some cases, carriers are still pushing ahead with new Transpacific service upgrades. Emirates is the latest newcomer to the US market, making a return to transpacific after a 17 year absence, even though another newcomer CU Lines have given up plans to revive its US service after just a single sailing. Niche carriers Hede and SeaLe
Hede Shipping will launch a 3rd independent HDS3 transpacific shuttle service connecting Nansha, Los Angeles, Nansha from 15 July 2025. The HDS3 will turn in 6 weeks and will be operated on a fortnightly frequency using 3 ships starting with the 4,298 teu REN JIAN 8 at Nansha on 15 July, followed by the 2,702 teu DORIS OCEAN on 29 July and the 4,395 teu REN JIAN 16 on 12 August.
Sinotrans has added a new China-Haiphong Service 2 (CHS2) connecting Qingdao, Ningbo, Haiphong, Qingdao from 6 June 2025. The CHS2 turns in 14 days and deploys the 698 teu HAI SU 7 and HAI SU 6.
MSC and Zim have merged their Pelican/Zim South Lotus (ZSL) and Lone Star Express/Zim Gulf Central (ZGC) service connecting the Far East with the US East Coast into a new Lone Star Express/Zim South Lotus (ZSL) service from 15 May 2025. The revised service will call at Cai Mep, Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Mobile, Houston, Tampa, Miami, Bahamas Freeport, Singapore, Cai Mep. The new Lone Star Express/Zim South Lotus (ZSL) service will turn in 13 weeks and deploys 13 ships of 8,000 to 10,000
Crowley will expand it Central America port coverage with a new US Northeast-Central America service connecting Gloucester City (New Jersey), Puerto Cortes, Santo Tomas de Castilla, Gloucester City from 3 July 2025. The service turns in 14 days and will deploy 2 newly delivered Avance-class LNG powered ships of 1,340 teu with 300 reefer slots.
Emirates Shipping Line (ESL) will return to the Transpacific trade from July 2025 in a partnership with UWL on the Sun Chief Express service. ESL first entered the Transpacific trade in 2006 when it partnered Zim, SCI and MacAndrews on the India-USEC Indus Express (IDX) and with Zim on the Asia-US Gulf Express (AGX). ESL shut down the IDX in December 2007 and withdrew from the AGX in May 2008 thus ending its participation on the US routes after less than 2 years in the trade. The new ESL trans
Russian operator E-Line Shipping has filed for bankruptcy in St Petersburg on 6 June 2025 with total debt of over $2m and customer claims of over 71m rubles. The company was established in February 2023 in Moscow to provide shipping services between China, South Korea and Russia. It launched a Korea Vladivostok Express (KVE) service in March 2023 using 3 ships of 700-1,700 teu and extended its network with a China-St Petersburg service in 2024. 2 of its chartered ships were detained by owners f
SeaLead will launch a new PNW transpacific service connecting Shekou, Ningbo, Shanghai, Seattle, Vancouver, Shekou in July 2025. The PNW service will turn in 6 weeks and will initially deploy 3 ships of 2,200 to 3,400 teu on irregular schedules. The service is scheduled to start from 4 July 2025 with the 2,274 teu CICCIO at Shekou, with the second sailing due on 27 July with the 3,398 teu ALE. The schedules are subject to changes as the rapid decline in transpacific freight rates could derail S
Sidra Lines have launched a new Havana Med Service (HMS) connecting Iskenderun, Mersin, Alexandria, Benghazi, Misurata, Valencia, Mariel, Veracruz, Iskenderun from 20 June 2025 using up to 3 ships of 500 to 1,100 teu on irregular port rotations. The first sailing departed from Alexandria on 20 June 2025 with the 523 teu SIDRA HALIMA, to be followed by the 1,130 teu SENATOR at Iskenderun on 27 June 2025.