A.P. Moller – Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC and Ocean Network Express have established the Digital Container Shipping Association in the Netherlands, after gaining regulatory approval from the Federal Maritime Commission in March. Thomas Bagge is the CEO and statutory director of the DCSA. The association has already started working on enhancing standardization, digitalization and interoperability.
The US Coast Guard allowed the Dublin Express to leave the New York Container Terminal in Staten Island, on April 5. The departure was approved following completion of repairs and cleaning of the vessel. The Unified Command, including state and federal agencies and the responsible party, will continue cleanup operations until all affected parts of the Arthur Kill Waterway are completely restored.
The Unified Command for the Goethals Oil Spill positively identified that tar balls recovered from Jacob Riis Park correlate to the fuel oil discharge caused by the container ship Dublin Express, on the Arthur Kill Waterway, on March 28.
Almost three months after a major fire on the 7,510 TEU container ship ‘Yantian Express’, German owner Hapag-Lloyd said that all containers in the fire impacted areas in way of cargo holds 1 and 2 (on and under deck) have been discharged from the vessel.
XVELA, a maritime business network for ocean carriers and terminal operators, announced that Hapag-Lloyd plans to implement its collaboration services to improve transparency throughout the transportation supply chain and more efficiently employ assets and resources. The first phase of this rollout will use XVELA’s services to enhance communication and collaboration between Hapag-Lloyd planners and terminal partners.
Hapag-Lloyd released a statement informing its customers that it launched a new Turkey North America East Coast Service (TNE) that will begin in April. The service will call 9-daily; Hapag-Lloyd will provide one out of five vessels.
Hapag-Lloyd ordered the world’s first mega-container vessel, MV SAJIR, retrofit to LNG from MAN Energy Solutions. The pilot project will include the conversion of the current HFO-burning engine to a dual-fuel prime mover capable of running on HFO and LNG. The retrofit of MV SAJIR will be done at the Chinese Hudong/HRDD shipyard.
Two of the biggest container shipping companies, Maersk and the Mediterranean Shipping Company, were cleared in an investigation of the sector by the US Department of Justice, on Tuesday February 26. If the investigation was to charge the companies, it could have imposed large fines at a time when the container sector faces many difficulties due to slowing global economic growth.
Hapag-Lloyd announced on February 25, a 32% year-on-year increase in 2018 operating profit, citing higher transport volumes, enhanced freight rates and ongoing cost synergies from merging with rival UASC in 2017. The operating profit before interest and tax (EBIT) reached the 443 million euros ($502.63 million) up from 411 million euros in 2017, according to the company’s statement in detailing preliminary results.
According to Hapag-Lloyd’s statement, the company sent ‘Nordviolet’ in Venice, to take over shipments on the line’s Adria Express, since ‘Sadt Dresden’ suffered main engine failure when docking. The latter, unloaded its boxes to Venice, for Nordviolet to transfer them.
