Motorways of the sea stronger in Barcelona 
In March 2020, the volume of freight traffic at the port of Barcelona totalled 4.9 million t, a drop of 8.3% compared to March 2019. The negative consequences of the coronavirus pandemic is also making an impact on containers - a total of almost 220,000 teu lifted is a hefty... more
Divestments and investments of Royal Vopak
The tank storage company Royal Vopak achieved revenues of EUR 296.9 million in Q1/2020. Ebitda amounted to EUR 200 million compared to EUR 215 million (pre-divestments) in Q1/2019. On 31 January 2020, Vopak completed the earlier announced divestment of its 100% shareholding in... more
Alliances weathering the storm differently
Deep-sea carriers have currently blanked 435 sailings. The Copenhagen-headquartered maritime consultancy Sea-Intelligence said in a recent bulletin that these cancelations stand for a decline in demand of 7 million t in 2020. The blanking measure, however, protects the... more
Passing on oil price reductions
The freight forwarding associations Fiata and Clecat have called on the liner industry to relieve the burden imposed by Covid-19. With regards to the sudden decline of the price of very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), just after the steady rise in costs last year caused by the... more
Luka Koper cuts port dues
The port of Koper (Slovenia) is halving port dues for cargo ships until the end of September 2020. Jernej Vrtovec, the country's infrastructure minister, announced the measure at the initiative of the Luka Koper and the Slovenian Ship and Freight Agents Association during... more
Defy the trend! 
The issue of technology to reduce the logistics and shipping sectors’ effects on the climate lags behind developments in the pharmaceuticals and medical logistics sectors. Converting ships to, or equipping them with, scrubbers (gas separators) is nevertheless progressing. more
Service in the Caribbean enhanced
Evergreen, which started its services in the Caribean in 1995 and appointed four agents in the region in 2008, will now extend its intra-Caribbean CAJ service to the US Gulf. The new rotation will include calls at Port Everglades, New Orleans and Houston, as the maritime... more
Hapag-Lloyd changes rotations in the Med
Hapag-Lloyd is adapting its Adriatic Express Service (ADX) and changing its current rotation as of week 18. On 20 April 2020, the service will be converted from the previous butterfly concept to a round trip. The first vessel performing the new rotation will be the "MV Okee... more
MOL SOV for service in Taiwan
On 1 April, MOL and Ta Tong Marine (TTM) signed a charter contract for the SOV with Ørsted Taiwan Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ørsted in Denmark, through Ta San Shang Marine, a joint company of MOL and TTM. At the same time, Ta San Shang Marine signed a contract... more
Lower throughput in Rotterdam
Throughput in the Port of Rotterdam suffered in the first quarter of 2020, also due to the corona virus pandemic. Goods handling in the first quarter was at 112.4 million t (123.9 million t), 9.3% less than in the same period last year. The number of containers also went... more