Newsletter – May 17, 2022

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

CMA CGM unveils US container return incentive program

splash247.com
France’s CMA CGM, the world’s third largest containerline, has implemented an industry-first early container return incentive program at the FMS terminal in Los Angeles and all CMA CGM return locations in Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City and Memphis. The program, designed to improve what the company describes as “supply chain fluidity”, will begin on Monday and continue until July 15, 2022. Read more here.

Has the peak of container shipping’s epic boom already passed?

freightwaves.com
Another quarter, another earnings record for Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s fifth-largest container line operator. But the focus now is less about what happened a few months ago and more about what’s happening now with China lockdowns and consumer demand, and what’s around the corner for supply chains and ocean freight rates.
The implied message of Hapag-Lloyd quarterly release and conference call was: The container boom peaked in the first quarter; it’s downhill from here. Spot rates are falling. Goods demand is falling. “There have been signs that the market has passed its peak [in Q2 2022],” acknowledged CEO Rolf Habben Jansen in the earnings release. Read more here.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Shanghai authorities claim city will open up next week

splash247.com
May 20 has been given as the first official deadline for Shanghai, China’s largest city, to open up.
The metropolis, home to the world’s largest container port, entered lockdown in late March for what was meant to be 10 days as part of China’s strict zero-covid policy. Most of the city’s 25m population have been living in lockdown ever since with a deleterious effect on local transport as the trucking chart below illustrates. Read more here.

India ramps Russian imports

splash247.com
India’s close ties with Russia have seen it ramp up purchases of bargain commodities in the two and a half months since the invasion of Ukraine began.
Data from S&P Global Market Intelligence shows India’s seaborne crude oil imports surpassed 4.8m barrels per day in April, the highest on record, with higher Middle East and Russian volumes displacing cargoes from further afield, such as the US, Canada and West Africa. Read more here.

Viewpoint: China COVID policies to squeeze flow of European exports to North America

freightwaves.comChina’s zero-COVID measures are producing another problem in trade. Logistics providers in Europe told American Shipper they are concerned about an impending empty-container-supply crisis. A bitter combination of blank sailings and an increase in delays of Europe-bound shipments from China have created a cocktail of capacity constriction. Read more here.