News highlights week 10 - 2019

The Ocean Alliance carriers (CMA CGM-APL, COSCO-OOCL and Evergreen) will cancel ten transpacific sailings in March and April, confirming early signs that container cargo volumes on this trade are falling short of expectations. OCEAN’s axed sailings will remove 74,180 teu of shipboard capacity from the US West Coast trade lane and 35,620 teu from the US East Coast trade lane. This represents a cut of about 15% of the total capacity that the alliance would have otherwise deployed over the coming four weeks. 

The US trade gap with the rest of the world jumped to a 10-year high of $621bn (£472.5bn) last year, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump's deficit reduction plan. Official data shows that while exports of US goods and services rose by $148.9bn last year, imports jumped by $217.7bn. It means that the gap is the widest since 2008, when the global financial crisis hit and the US fell into recession. The deficit in goods and services during December also hit a near 10-year high of $59.8bn. Exports to the rest of the world fell 1.9% to $205.1bn, while imports rose by 2.1% to $264.9bn.

The contract for the acquisition of DSME by Korean rival Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) was signed on Friday amid protests in Seoul. The deal sees Korea Development Bank (KDB) sell its majority holding of 55.7%, worth more than KRW 2 trillion ($1.78bn), in DSME to form a shipbuilding giant with a 20% share of the worldwide newbuilding market. (TW) 

MSC and CMA CGM have announced the formation of a new Vessel Sharing Agreement for the trade from Europe to the Indian Ocean and Australia. Both carriers will as from mid-September 2019 operate a joint service which will return from Australia to Europe via South East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. Fourteen 9,500 teu ships will be deployed (9 MSC and 5 CMA CGM).

Source: Howe Robinson