China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) has announced the launch of what is claimed to be the world’s largest capacity containership coming in at 24,116 TEUs. The ship, named MSC Tessa, was floated out of its building dock at the Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding’s Changxing Shipbuilding Base, located on Shanghai’s Changxing Island, on August 1. Hudong Zhonghua is […]
Author Archives: nsMomentumBlog
Stormy Seas on the Horizon
Shipping stocks are collapsing as rates and demand for most industry segments continue to rise. Recession fears are growing almost as much as new job listings. Inflation is spiraling while trucking rates collapse. China decides to print more money as the US Federal Reserve raises rates. The US Navy watches mines proliferate in the Black […]
Container Overboard!
There is a stretch of coastline in southern Cornwall known for its dragons. The black ones are rare, the green ones rarer; even a dedicated dragon hunter can go a lifetime without coming across a single one. Unlike the dragons of European myth, these do not hoard treasure, cannot breathe fire, and, lacking wings, cannot […]
Plastic Scrap has a Shipping Problem
As of today (April 15), the world’s third largest shipping line, will no longer accept deliveries of scrap plastic on any of its ships. CMA CGM’s ban is a milestone in a global backlash against wealthy nations—especially the US—dumping plastic waste in China and Southeast Asia. China used to be the biggest destination for scrap plastic; in 1992, the […]
Big Claims Expected for RO/RO Vessel
The blaze on the 6,400 ceu Felicity Ace off the coast of Portugal’s Azores islands is finally easing. The Panama-flagged ship caught fire last Wednesday while on its way from Emden, Germany to Rhode Island, US. Two large tugs with firefighting equipment arrived on site yesterday and are spraying water onto the ship together with the patrol boat with […]
Porsche’s and VW’s On Fire in the Atlantic
The 22 crew members of the car carrier Felicity Ace have been rescued after the ship caught fire Wednesday near the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. The 17-year-old ship, owned by Mitsui OSK Lines and sailing under the Panama flag, was en route to the Port of Davisville in Rhode Island. It had departed from […]
Are Ships Too Darn Big?
All eyes were on the Ever Given when it got stuck in the Suez Canal, but it’s not the only too-big boat for too-small ports—a problem for holiday deliveries. RIGHT NOW, AROUND 57 container ships are lingering outside the Port of Los Angeles—the largest port in the US—desperate to unload their cargo and move on. As the […]
Words from an L.A. Longshoreman
A California longshoreman told describes what it’s been like to work the California ports during record backlog. They chose to remain anonymous due to their job, but their identity has been verified . I’ve been working as a longshoreman at California’s San Pedro Bay Port Complex for close to 15 years, and the only thing […]
LA/LB Ports: Moving to 24/7
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have expanded the hours during which trucks can pick up and return containers as part of their efforts to improve freight movement and reduce delays through the ports as they continue to experience record volumes. The Port of Long Beach will maximise nighttime operations in what the port’s […]
Container Shipping Market Meltdown
The “stratospheric” freight rates and shipping lines’ huge Q2 profits have been slammed by cargo owners, and a new report claims the carrier alliances are “suppressing” cargo. According to a market review by MDS Transmodal and the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), container traffic grew 4% in Q2, up 22% year on year, returning close to […]