News Highlights week: 08 - 2020

apag-Lloyd will raise its low-sulphur surcharge for exports from China and Hong Kong on March 2 for 30 days following "strong price fluctuations" in the fuel price since the imposition of the IMO 2020 mandate on Jan. 1, the German container carrier said in a statement earlier this week. 
Global containerised trade in 2019 experienced a significant slowdown in growth, according to full-year figures. The latest data published by Container Trades Statistics shows that volumes moved on deepsea services rose to 169m teu, an increase of almost 1% on 2018 levels. That compares with 4% growth in 2018. 

Logistics experts predicted Monday that delays in resuming China's factory production and inland transportation supply chains due to the deadly coronavirus will push the return of normal post-Lunar New Year trans-Pacific cargo flows to late February or early March. Furthermore, carriers over the weekend announced an additional 21 blanked sailings, which means that beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) now face at least 82 blankings through February and into March, with additional cancelled sailings possible.
As MSC and Maersk prepare to bid farewell to partner HMM, they’ve found a new Korean liner to help out on the transpacific. HMM, South Korea’s flagship carrier, will join rival THE Alliance on April 1. MSC and Maersk, the founder of  the 2M grouping, have signed up SM Line to cooperate on the transpacific from the start of April. 

MKT