ACL has ceased to serve the Swedish Port of Gothenburg directly in its 2018 schedule after 50 years, citing increasing costs and lower productivity. Instead, Gothenburg will be served by a feeder service rather than by direct call. The new port rotation will be Liverpool-Hamburg-Antwerp-Liverpool while the North American rotation will remain as Halifax-New York-Baltimore-Norfolk-New York-Halifax. The 100,430gt/2017 built Atlantic Sun made the last call at Gothenburg on 15th January. The change adds 3.5 days to ACL’s schedule, thus restoring reliability to the service. For Ro-Ro cargo bound to/from Sweden, ACL is setting up a relay service using the Grimaldi Euromed vessel between Wallhamn and Antwerp.

APL announced on 11th December a new North Atlantic Service (NAS), expanding its offerings in the Trans-Atlantic trade. NAS promises market leading transit times as it serves the major North European markets and the U.S. East Coast. For instance, a cargo from London to New York will be delivered in 12 days while shipments on board the NAS from Le Havre to Miami will arrive in 13 days. With direct port calls in London, Dunkerque, Zeebrugge and Philadelphia, NAS further expands APL’s coverage in the Trans-Atlantic trade. The NAS commenced from London on 3rd January 2018 with the following port rotation: Zeebrugge-London-Rotterdam-Dunkerque-Le Havre-New York-Savannah-Miami-Savannah-Philadelphia-Zeebrugge. December also saw APL celebrate 150 years of shipping in Japan. From 7th January 2018 the IPM service was enhanced from Jebel Ali, calling at the ports of Jebel Ali, Hamad, Karachi, Mundra, Hazira, Nhava Sheva, Djibouti, Jeddah, Damietta, Piraeus, Malta, Aliaga, Mersin, Port Said West and Aqaba. The new ports added are Hamad and Aqaba in the Middle East and Hazira in India, plus the IPM service will serve Jebel Ali instead of Khor Fakkan.

CMA CGM Group announced on 1st December that subsidiaries MacAndrews and OPDR were to merge on 1st January in order to further strengthen its multimodal offer in Europe. CMA CGM is currently the third largest container shipping company by TEU capacity and the merger is in line with the CMA CGM Group’s strategy to develop its intra-regional activities and accelerate its development. The merger will see the Group maintain a presence in 16 countries, 36 agencies and 18 services. It will boast 595 employees, 310 at OPDR, and 285 at MacAndrews. Both subsidiaries have greatly strengthened the CMA CGM Group’s capabilities in Europe. MacAndrews is the oldest shipping company in Europe and was acquired by CMA CGM in 2002. It offers rail, land and maritime transport services to customers and is a specialist in container transport on short-sea routes as well as multimodal solutions in Europe. MacAndrews connects Great Britain, the Iberian Peninsula and Poland. OPDR was acquired by the CMA CGM Group in 2015 and is an expert in intra-European short-sea transport and logistics. OPDR mainly covers Central Europe, Spain (including the Canary Islands), Portugal and Morocco. The CMA CGM Group has assured that employment in each entity, as well as existing services, will be maintained. CMA CGM upgraded the MIDAS Loop 1 connecting South Africa with the Indian Subcontinent and Middle East Gulf as from 22nd December when the Robin Hunter’s Midas 1 port rotation incorporated a direct weekly call at Cape Town. South Africa coverage with a Durban export call should resume in May 2018, whereas the Westbound call remains unchanged. The rotation is: Cape Town-Port Elizabeth-Jebel Ali-Khor Fakkan-Mundra-Nhava Sheva-Colombo-Durban-Pointe Noire-Apapa-Tincan/Lagos-Cotonou-Tema-Cape Town. CMA CGM then announced on 26th December the resumption of the CIMEX 9 service, a third direct service between Asia and Iran to supplement the CIMEX 6 and CIMEX 8 services. The port rotation is as follows: Kaohsiung –Shanghai-Ningbo-Xiamen-Shenzhen (Da Chan Bay)-Bandar Abbas (T2)- Jebel Ali. The service had already commenced on 16th December from Kaohsiung and 19th December from Shanghai with the 54,851gt/2008 built Basht.

COSCO Shipping saw a 23% increase in cargo carried during the third quarter of 2017, loading 5.49 million TEU compared to Maersk Line’s 5.26m, thus taking the number one spot from the Danish company. COSCO is also acquiring OOCL, which carried 1.6m TEU in the same quarter, so 2018 could well see the Chinese operator maintaining first place in the rankings as Maersk Line’s acquisition of Hamburg Sud will only add around 4m TEU per annum to its quota.

Cosmoship Management of Greece has ordered four 1,500 TEU capacity containerships at Guangzhou Wenchong in China. Delivery of all four vessels is scheduled for the second half of 2019 and these will expand the fleet to 14 vessels, with capacities ranging in size from 1,000 TEU to 1,800 TEU.

Diana Containerships Inc. has, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, entered into a time charter contract with Wan Hai Lines (Singapore) Pte Ltd. for one of its Post-Panamax container vessels, the 71,786gt/2009 built Hamburg. The gross charter rate is $11,000 per day for a minimum period of 120 days to a maximum of 220 days. The ship was previously chartered to CMA CGM and Diana Containerships Inc.’s fleet currently consists of 11 container vessels (6 Post-Panamax and 5 Panamax).

Euroseas Ltd. an owner and operator of dry bulk and container vessels, has taken delivery of the 68,687gt/2001 built Akinada Bridge, a 5,600 TEU Post-Panamax container vessel, which the Company had previously agreed to acquire. Following delivery in January, the vessel commenced a 50-120 day charter at a gross daily rate of $11,250. Furthermore the Company has sold one of its container feeder vessels, the 23,809gt/1998 built Aggeliki P, a 2,008 TEU capacity vessel, for a gross price of around $4.6 million. Euroseas Ltd. was formed on 5th May 2005 under the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands to consolidate the ship owning interests of the Pittas family of Athens, Greece, which has been in the shipping business for over 140 years.

Hapag-Lloyd’s 118,945gt/2017 built and 10,500 TEU capacity Santos Express was christened on 21st November in the Brazilian city of Santos, home to the largest port in South America. The ship was named by Carolina Valle de Andrade Faria. The ship is the fifth and final vessel of the 333m long/48.5m beam Valparaíso Express class and now serves the ASE2 loop.

Maersk Line officially concluded the acquisition of the Hamburg Süd Group on 28th November 2017. The company plans to strengthen Hamburg Süd’s position worldwide in a challenging market environment, improving the market position, and offering customers many advantages. The success of Hamburg Süd in its almost 150-year history is based on the great experience and expertise of the employees, a deep understanding of the markets and the needs of their customers, as well as the high product quality delivered. The product range of the Brazilian Aliança, with its focus on the cabotage trade, will continue unchanged, and the subsidiaries operating in the tramp sector, Rudolf A. Oetker (RAO), Aliança Bulk (Aliabulk), and Furness Withy Chartering (as well as the Hamburg Süd Travel Agency) will carry on their business activities as before. Hamburg Süd’s latest ship, the 43,628gt/2017 built Polar Costa Rica, was christened on 29th November in Shanghai. The sad news for many came the day after the takeover was completed when the announcement was made that Hamburg Süd ships would no longer carry passengers anywhere in the world. Maersk Line has also confirmed its intention to reflag a number of Hamburg Süd vessels, including the 10,600 TEU capacity flagships Cap San Juan, Cap San Lazaro and Cap San Vincent, to either Danish or Singapore registration early in 2018.

Matson Inc. announced on 29th November that production had commenced on the two new Con-Ro vessels for its Hawaii fleet that are scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2019 and second quarter of 2020, respectively. After a small ceremony at General Dynamics NASSCO’s shipyard in San Diego, the cutting of steel plates began, initiating the construction of both ships. Matson is calling these vessels the Kanaloa Class in honour of the ocean deity revered in the native Hawaiian culture and will name each of the new vessels after predecessor ships from Matson’s 135-year history. The first vessel will be christened Lurline, the sixth Matson vessel to carry that name, while the second vessel will be its fifth named Matsonia. The 23 knot vessels are being built on a 3,500 TEU vessel platform, which is 265m long with a 34m beam and a draught of 11.5m. Enclosed garage space is also provided for up to 800 vehicles or breakbulk cargo. In addition, the new vessels will have state-of-the-art green technology features, including a fuel efficient hull design, environmentally safe double hull fuel tanks, fresh water ballast systems and dual-fuel engines.

Medlog, MSC’s dedicated Turkish subsidiary, has acquired its largest containership thus far in the form of the 26,061gt/2003 built and 2,207 TEU capacity Med Samsun. The ship will be deployed on Turkish cabotage trades and previously served Ahrenkiel Steamship of Germany as the AS Amalia.

Mercosul Line, a leading player in Brazil’s domestic container shipping market, was officially transferred from Maersk Line to CMA CGM on 8th December. Mercosul has a fleet of four container vessels and around 290 employees. CMA CGM and Maersk Line announced a binding agreement in June 2017, the deal being subject to Brazilian regulatory approval and the closing of Maersk’s Hamburg Süd acquisition, both of which had been finalised.

MPC Container Ships AS announced in December that it had entered into agreements to acquire the 9,272gt Annika and 9,610gt Antigoni, 987 and 1,049 TEU capacity vessels built in 2008 at Daesun Shipbuilding, South Korea. The total purchase price for the two vessels was reported at $16.1 million. The two ships were delivered to MPC in January 2018, boosting the fleet to 41 vessels. The company has also purchased from German ship-owner Harmstorf Reederei the 28,372gt/2006 built and 2,742 TEU capacity Vilano, Cap Pasado and Cap Blanche, which are to be renamed AS Cleopatra, AS Christiania and AS Carlotta, respectively.

MSC and CMA CGM are reportedly planning to upgrade 21 14,000 TEU capacity vessels to ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) of 17,000 TEU nominal capacity. If they proceed, the conversions are likely to take place at Chinese shipyard Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry (BSIC), which states that it has already won firm orders to upgrade nine MSC ships, with another two subject to negotiation. BSIC has also reportedly signed with CMA CGM to lengthen five of the carrier’s 13,800 TEU capacity vessels, with another five subject to options. The upgrades would involve the insertion of 30m midsections, equivalent to two 40ft bays, which would lengthen the vessels from around 365m to just under 395m. MSC has purchased the 21,583gt/1998 built and 2,169 TEU capacity Santa Francesca from her German owner, Claus Peter Offen. The ship has been renamed MSC Masha (sister to the MSC Giannina) and entered service from Antwerp on the Northwest Europe-Iberia-Morocco service.

Navigare Capital Partners of Denmark, a new shipping fund, has acquired three Neo-Panamax 10,000 TEU capacity container ships. The company, which has the Maersk family as primary owner and counts several pension funds as investors, was established in March 2017 and aims to make long-term investments in ships across all segments. So far, the company has launched the Maritime Investment Fund I, in which Pension Danmark, Danica Pension, Lærernes Pension and the Maersk family have invested a little over $300 million, while the company’s partners have also contributed. Two of the ships, the 94,730gt CMA CGM Mekong and CMA CGM Ganges, were built in South Korea in 2015 and were purchased from Oceanbulk Carriers of Greece. Both ships are on charter contracts with CMA CGM. The third ship, Hull no. 1170, is a resale left over when the original owner was unable to pay for delivery of the ship from Chinese yard Yangzijang.

Navios Maritime Containers Inc. announced on 14th December that it had taken delivery of four 2008-built Panamax containerships. These vessels are employed on charters with a net daily charter rate of $27,156. The charters expire in 2020 and are expected to generate approximately $70.0 million of EBITDA, assuming expenses approximating current operating costs and 360 revenue days per year. Navios Containers previously agreed to acquire the four 2008 built 4,730 TEU containerships for a total purchase price of $96.8 million. The company financed the acquisition of these vessels with the net proceeds from its recently completed $50 million private placement and $50m of additional bank debt it has secured on terms consistent with its existing credit facilities. Following this acquisition, Navios now controls 20 vessels, totalling 84,520 TEU with a current average fleet age of 9.8 years.

OOCL introduced the Japan Vietnam Service (KTX7) from 14th January to expand the current service portfolio by providing more comprehensive network coverage of the markets between Japan and Vietnam. OOCL currently offers six loops in the KTX suite of products, connecting Japan to South East Asia markets and the KTX7 will strategically extend the market reach by adding the call to Shimizu.  Together with the recently launched JCV service, OOCL can also offer very competitive transit times on two direct services from Haiphong to Japan as well as from Xiamen to Japan which enhances the overall connectivity of the markets being served. The launch of KTX7 commenced from Hong Kong with the following port rotation: Osaka-Kobe-Shimizu-Tokyo-Ningbo-Hong Kong-Haiphong-Kaohsiung-Xiamen-Osaka. The company then revealed on 21st December that it planned to introduce the Far East Chennai Service 2 (FCS2) as from 23rd January to expand the current service portfolio by enhancing the India network. The FCS2 offers direct services from China and South East Asia to South East India and together with the new FCS service, OOCL can offer two weekly sailings with a more comprehensive coverage between the Far East and India. The sailing rotation is as follows: Shanghai-Ningbo-Hong Kong-Shekou-Singapore-Port Kelang-Chennai-Kattupalli-Port Kelang-Singapore-Shanghai. The 210,890gt/2017 built newbuild OOCL Scandinavia made her maiden call at Felixstowe on 4th January once slightly older sister OOCL Germany had departed.

Regional Container Lines (RCL) launched its first service from Colombo to Tuticorin on 8th January, operated by the 16,661gt/2002 container vessel Charlie. As a feeder company, RCL had been strongly encouraged by the deep sea operators forecasting an increase in volume at Colombo as a transhipment hub.

Seaspan Corporation added another 11,000 TEU containership newbuilding, the 113,112gt/2017 built MSC Madhu B, to its fleet in early December. The 330m long ship has commenced a bareboat charter with MSC for a period of seventeen years. Upon completion of the bareboat charter period, MSC will buy the vessel for a pre-determined amount. The MSC Madhu B is Seaspan’s fourth 11,000 TEU Saver design containership in a series of five under bareboat charter to MSC. This was also Seaspan’s fifth vessel delivery in 2017. The third Saver Class ship, the MSC Nitya B, was delivered in September 2017. Constructed at the Hanjin Subic shipyard in the Phillippines, the first Saver Class delivery of 2018, and fourth in the series, arrived in the form of the MSC Yashi B.

Stefan Patjens Reederi’s 9,991gt/1997 built Leonie P reported the loss of 24 containers overboard in the North Sea overnight 8-9th December approximately 20nm off Terschelling, The Netherlands. The ship was en-route Bremen-Rotterdam and, according to official information, there were no dangerous goods in the lost containers.

The Ocean Alliance will roll out the second phase of the network in April 2018, consisting of more than 40 services, by deploying approximately 340 containerships with an estimated total carrying capacity of 3.6 million TEUs to form an enhanced range of products via a number of improvements in various areas including service coverage, port connections, transit times, schedule reliability and operational efficiency.  OOCL will market 16 Trans-Pacific Services and the Alliance consists of CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Lines, Evergreen Line and OOCL.

The Panama Canal increased the number of daily booking slots available for NeoPanamax vessels from six to seven from 1st December 2017 as Canal operations became more efficient. These seven daily slots are offered in addition to the 23 slots available each day for transit through the Panamax locks.

Yang Ming Line of Taiwan has received $343 million in debt-turned-investments from the Taiwan International Port Corporation, which it plans to use to invest in newbuilds or charters for the Southeast Asia trade lane. The company plans to scrap twenty ships ranging from 3,000 TEU to 8,000 TEU in capacity and will then either build or charter new, larger vessels. At present Yang Ming either operates or purchases slots on 75 services, 23 of which are in the intra-Asia trade lane and has a fleet capacity of 565,756 TEUs deployed via 88 vessels. Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation has established a subsidiary in Thailand, trading as Yang Ming Line (Thailand) Co., Ltd., which began operations as from 1st January.