Newsletter – August 30, 2023

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

HMM sale – Hapag-Lloyd frozen out of second-round bidding

theloadstar.com
South Korean authorities have excluded Hapag-Lloyd from the second round of bidding to acquire flagship carrier HMM.
Reports claim the creditor banks involved in the sale of HMM, Korea Development Bank and Korea Ocean Business Corp, took note of the country’s maritime community and ruled out Germany’s largest carrier as a potential suitor. Read more here (login required).

MSC blanks Swan and Dragon loops ahead of Golden Week holiday

theloadstar.com
With just over a month before China’s national Golden Week holiday – after which the slack season begins in earnest – ocean carriers are belatedly ramping-up their blanking programmes.
For example, MSC advised today that, “in line with lower demand”, it would again be suspending its standalone Asia-North Europe Swan loop, this time for six consecutive weeks, from week 37 through to week 42, in mid-October. Read more here (login required).

Carrier operating margins fall into single digits for first time in 3 years

splash247.com
There’s good news and bad news in the lead article in this week’s report from Alphaliner, the leading container publication from brokers BRS.
First, the good news. Analysing Q2 results for the nine global carriers who publish their earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) shows that volumes bottomed out in the first quarter. Read more here.

CANADA BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Floatel wins accommodation vessel contract in Canada

splash247.com
Oslo-based offshore accommodation specialist Floatel International has secured work for one of its vessels in Canada.
The owner and operator of five semisub flotels has been awarded a two-to-three-month charter deal by Cenovus Energy at the White Rose field. Read more here.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

Category 3 Idalia makes landfall in Florida

freightwaves.com
Hurricane Idalia briefly intensified into a dangerous Category 4 storm early Wednesday morning before making landfall as a high-end Category 3 on Florida’s west coast.
The eyewall made landfall in the Big Bend area near Cedar Key and, as of 8 a.m. ET, the eye was located just inland from the coast. Read more here.