1: In early April, several analysts reported that container shipping spot rates are on the decline in 2022 with experts pointing to lower consumer demand, full inventories, as we enter the post-Chinese New Year lean period, as well as Covid-19 related shutdowns in China, as contributing to an ongoing decline in rates, leading the question of whether rates have peaked even before the industry’s massive new building efforts begin to provide the expected dramatic increases in capacity late in 2023 and beyond.
2: MSC may have overtaken Maersk as the container shipping line with the biggest overall container fleet capacity, but when ranking shipping lines according to their potential reefer carrying capacity, the Danish carrier remains number one, according to Alphaliner, which also reported that final operating profits for the top-10 carriers under its survey of shipping operations reached USD 115 billion last year.
3: At the end of March, Alphaliner reported that the global inactive containership fleet exceeded 700,000 teu in terms of overall capacity: the highest level recorded since late 2020; adding that this reflects the typical upswing in vessel drydocking that is commonly observed in the months that lead up to the summer peak season.
4: Skyrocketing demand for container capacity along with pending environmental regulations which are ageing out older segments of the industry have been driving strong order volume for containerships, and industry association BIMCO says that the containership orderbook has now surpassed 6.5 million teu; the first time it has reached that level in 15 years.
5: The Court of Justice of the European Union has upheld multimillion-euro fines against several major airlines, including Air France-KLM, Cargolux and Singapore Airlines, for their participation in an international air cargo cartel that first started more than two decades ago and was active for a period of just over six years.
6: Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) overtook Memphis International Airport (MEM) to reclaim the number 1 ranking among the world’s airports for cargo tonnage in 2021. Total cargo throughput at HKG increased 12.5% year over year and 4.5% from 2019 to again exceed 5 million tonnes, according to preliminary data from Airports Council International (ACI).