Newsletter – March 21, 2018

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

Maersk CFO Jakob Stausholm in shock resignation over reorganisation

source: theloadstar.co.uk

Maersk Group’s chief financial officer, Jakob Stausholm, has decided to leave the company at the end of the month, as his finance role will now fall under the remit of IT. Read more here (login required).

CMA CGM seizes title of most profitable container line with 2017 performance

source: theloadstar.co.uk

CMA CGM recorded a net profit for 2017 of $701m to easily outperform its peers and wrench the mantle as the industry’s most profitable global container line from Maersk Line. Read more here (login required)

Two big box ships collide in Karachi, 10 containers lost, none hurt

source: shippingazette.com

SHIPPING, which fell into the sea after two containerships collided in Karachi Port, have yet to be recovered, Pakistan’s Geo TV News reports.

The South Asia Port Terminal (SAPT) will open for traffic once the containers, which were carrying imported cars and general freight have been recovered from the bottom.

The ships have been docked at Karachi Port and the damage will also be repaired after Hapag-Lloyd’s 8,000-TEU Tolten collided with the 6,350-TEU Hamburg Bay at South Asia Port Terminal.

udging from witness accounts the collision happened when Tolten was maneuvering on arrival. More than 10 containers, some of them damaged, fell overboard. Three tugs attended. [Excerpted from shippingazette.com]

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

US retailers warn White House over tariff threats

source: lloydloadinglist.com

Associations representing some of the largest brands in retail today have written to President Trump outlining their concerns about “the detrimental impact broadly applied tariffs could have on American families” as the Trump administration considers a range of protectionist trade measures. Read more here.

Chinese exports soars 44.5pc in February, imports soften as expected

source: shippingazette.com

CHINESE trade data for February shows a surprising surge in China’s exports and a positive outlook for the year, despite worries of American protectionism.

Export growth accelerated to 44.5 per cent year on year from 11.1 per cent in January, exceeding market expectations, reports Bloomberg.

Import growth softened to 6.3 per cent from 37 per cent last month, in line with predictions.

Taking January and February together, export growth accelerated to 24.4 per cent from 9.7 per cent in the fourth quarter and import growth rose to 21.7 per cent from 12.5 per cent over the same period.

The leap in exports came mainly from shipping to the US, EU and Japan, with the growth rate increasing from nine per cent in January to 42 per cent in February, and to other emerging markets (Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa), which saw the biggest jump to 76 per cent from 12 per cent.

Exports to Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan slowed to 11 per cent from 17 per cent. By product type, much of the growth came from labour-intensive consumer goods, such as toys, footwear and furniture, suggesting solid global consumer confidence.

The slowing of imports was expected by market analysts due to the historical distorting effect of Chinese New Year, which lands at varying times in January and February.

Thus, imports slowed across the board, even producing a contraction of four per cent from US, EU and Japan.

Nomura view the robust January-February trade data as promising for the yuan by signalling a positive global growth outlook in 2018, “especially if the Chinese authorities manage to engineer a gradual and controlled deleveraging process to stabilise the economy.” [Excepted from shippingazette.com]