France's CMA CGM, the world's third-largest container shipping firm, reported a first-quarter net loss and targeted US$1 billion in cost cuts to keep operating margins positive during the current market downturn. Weak freight rates in the past year have left many lines operating at a loss.
The Panama Canal Board of Directors this week formally approved the development and construction of a transshipment port in Panama’s Corozal region. Upon completion, the port will have the capacity to handle more than five million TEUs within a 120-hectare area at the Canal’s entrance to the Pacific. The project is now awaiting the final step for approval from Panama’s National Assembly.
The world’s largest containership was named at a ceremony held by builder Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI) this week. Named CSCL Globe, it is the first of five 19,000 TEU containerships for China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL), and takes the title of world’s largest containership from Maersk Line’s 18,000 teu Triple E class vessels.
A record has been set with a Triple-E vessel carrying the highest ever number of containers between Europe and Asia. Mary Maersk left Algeciras, Spain, on its eastward journey bound for Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia with no less than 17,603 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), the highest number ever loaded on a vessel.