A.P. Moller – Maersk has decided to formally wind down its operations in Syria effective from 1 December 2023.

"This means we will no longer offer shipments to or from any destinations in Syria," confirmed the company in a statement.

Consequently, bookings to/from Syria will no longer be accepted from 1 December and Maersk vessels will no longer call Syrian ports.

The final Maersk vessel to call Syria will be Maersk Narmada on 28 November.

"Honouring our existing commitments, we will ensure that all bookings to/from Syria with containers already assigned will be facilitated. All customers impacted by this announcement will be contacted individually to discuss delivery details," said the Danish shipping company in its announcement.

Maersk explained that with Syria being a highly sanctioned country, business activity has been very restricted, and the company has conducted limited operations in Syria in compliance with international sanctions.

"This has recently become even more challenging logistically, and we have therefore made the decision to close our operations down completely," noted Maersk.

Suspected cocaine with a street value of US$50 million was found in a Pacific International Lines (PIL) container ship that arrived in Hong Kong on 7 November.

In a joint operation, police and customs officers raided the Hong Kong-flagged 11,923 TEU Kota Pusaka after being informed that two men, identified as non-crew members, had boarded the vessel from a speedboat while it was docked in Guatemala.

Based on the route of the Kota Pusaka and the suspicious conduct, Hong Kong police deduced that the men were not simply stowaways and had smuggled the drugs into the ship and stayed on the Kota Pusaka to deliver the drugs into Hong Kong.

Shortly after the Kota Pusaka arrived at Hong Kong’s Kwai Chung Container Terminal, the police and customs officers boarded the ship and singled out three 40-ft containers, out of the more than 8,000 loaded containers.

The containers, declared as carrying Guatemalan marshmallows, appeared to have been opened and had seal numbers that were inconsistent with the relevant shipping documents, arousing the officers’ suspicions. Seal numbers are used to verify and confirm the shipment of a particular container from the port handler's end.

X-rays showed that the dubious containers had a different density and shape from the other containers on the ship. After opening the boxes, the officers found nine bags tied with a hemp rope. The bags contained life-saving supplies, such as life jackets and buoys, but were found to have concealed 318 packets of white powder that was confirmed to be cocaine. The purported drugs weighed 1 kilo.

The men who allegedly boarded the ship in Guatemala were arrested on the spot. The pair, a 24-year-old Hong Kong citizen and a 19-year-old Ecuadorean, were charged with drug trafficking on 9 November.

While the Hong Kong police revealed only the flag state of the ship involved, vessel-tracking data shows that among the ships that arrived in Hong Kong on 7 November, the Kota Pusaka matches the description of the vessel.

Kota Pusaka had called at Guatemala's Puerto Quetzal port on 25 September. The ship, serving the Asia-South America route, is now on its way to Kaohsiung.

A PIL spokesperson confirmed to Container News that the Kota Pusaka was indeed searched by Hong Kong police officers on 7 November.

She said, “We can confirm that our container vessel, Kota Pusaka, assisted the Hong Kong authorities with their operations. The vessel and crew have since been cleared and have departed Hong Kong.”

Dry weather is set to force large oil tankers to completely stop using the Panama Canal, requiring the vessels to extend their voyages by thousands of miles, a shipping researcher said.

The Panama Canal Authority last week announced increasingly drastic cuts to how many ships it will allow through each day. It did so because Gatun Lake, which sits atop the waterway and feeds the locks below, has historically low water levels. By February, daily transit slots could drop to about half the waterway’s normal capacity.

That will make life especially difficult for what are known as tramp ships — that is, vessels that don’t tend to have fixed schedules but instead rely on when cargoes load — Poten & Partners Inc. said in a note on Friday. The Panama Canal is a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and avoiding it means sailing around Africa or the bottom of the Americas instead.

“Large oil tankers will not feature in this trade anymore,” Poten said.

The fact that container ships have more scheduled loading dates will allow them to snap up the canal’s booking slots before tankers can do so, according to the researcher.

They are also unlikely to get transits via auctions that the canal holds for some slots, it added, citing a recent $2.85 million fee recently paid by a very large carrier of liquefied petroleum gas.

This October was the driest on record in Panama since record-keeping began in 1950.

The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) has announced the addition of the India Gulf Express freight service, operated by the French container carrier CMA CGM, to King Abdulaziz Port.

This strategic move aims to further strengthen Saudi Arabia's maritime links and enhance the Kingdom's position as a leading logistics and economic powerhouse.

This direct route will link Dammam with seven major maritime hubs: Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Mangalore, Colombo, Jebel Ali, Khalifa, and Umm Qasr. Weekly sailings will be conducted using a fleet of four vessels, each with a capacity of up to 9,800 TEUs.

The new rotation is expected to amplify the trade capacity, competitiveness, and connectivity of the globally renowned King Abdulaziz Port, as well as the Kingdom as a whole.

The goal is to provide faster transit times and more cost-effective solutions for local exporters, aligning with Vision 2030's objective of establishing Saudi Arabia as a leading logistics and economic powerhouse.

The introduction of the India Gulf Express service marks the 25th addition to the Kingdom's rapidly expanding network of maritime links by Mawani since the start of the year.

This effort has contributed to the country's score of 77.66 points in the UNCTAD's Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI) during Q3, marking an increase from Q2's score of 76.16 points."

Sentiment for rates on long-haul routes has turned positive for the first time since August. Vessel utilisation has been beyond expectations and Maersk has had to deploy extra loader services.

THE Alliance’s withdrawal of the EC4 US East Coast service in November will also help to reduce oversupply on the lane. On the Asia-Europe side, FAK rate hikes have helped push rates up, supported by capacity cuts.

The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) showed that Shanghai-US West Coast rates closed at US$1,746/FEU, up from US$1,735/FEU the week before. However, the Shanghai-US East Coast rate remained under pressure, dropping to US$2,198/FEU, from US$2,230/FEU the previous week.

Shanghai-Northern Europe rates also grew to US$581/TEU, from US$562/TEU the previous week.

Consultancy Linerlytica remarked in its report on 23 October, “Market sentiment has turned positive for the first time since August, with momentum building for the November freight rate hikes as further capacity cuts are forthcoming after THE Alliance decided belatedly to suspend the EC4 service to the US East Coast via the Suez in November. This follows earlier cuts made by various carriers on the USWC and Europe routes that have helped to elevate carriers’ rate restoration efforts.”

Despite the more bullish sentiment, Linerlytica stressed that the sustainability of the increased rates depends on liner operators’ capacity discipline.

Linerlytica’s statistics show that the idle fleet has dropped slightly in the past week, with only 67 units of 265,591 TEU currently inactive, with several idle units already resuming active service, while four ships were scrapped in the past week.

Linerlytica said, “At least 1 million TEU of excess capacity that needs to be removed over the next two months in order for the rates to stick. The task will be made more difficult by the over 500,000 TEU of new deliveries scheduled to be delivered before the end of the year, which will require more ships to be idled upon delivery.”

Capacity at shipyards remains steady with just over 200 units for 834,784 TEU currently in drydock. Several owners are making use of the current market slowdown to upgrade their fleet with Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company and Hapag-Lloyd all undertaking vessel upgrading programs.

Linerlytica said, “The recent rise of ships in drydock has helped to remove some of the excess capacity but it also means that more refurbished ships will be returning to the market next year even as scrapping rates remain stubbornly low.”