Topic “carriers” — Exporter Magazine

Lack of funding, oversupply and poor freight rates are going make 2012 a “crisis” year for the shipping industry, says Andrew Broomhead, CFO of Hong Kong’s largest operator of dry-bulk vessels Pacific Basin, according to CNBC. A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S may be the only shipping line to profit from growing trade between Asia and Europe even as rates reach a two-year low, according to a Bloomberg report Rising fuel prices, tumbling freight rates, piracy and now radiation fears will make this year one of the most difficult in decades for the maritime industry, forcing some shipping companies out of business, according to a Reuters report carried by mb.com.ph. Calling it a “voluntary guideline contract programme” for 2011-12, the TSA recommended rate increases of US$400 per (NZD$521) 40-foot container (FEU) for cargo moving to the U.S. West Coast and $600 per FEU for all other cargo. Despite fears to the contrary, all major ocean carriers survived the global economic downturn by cutting capacity through layups and slow steaming, according to the Shipping Gazette citing this year’s Drewry’s Annual Market Review & Forecast 2010-11.