MSC has announced it will implement a Panama Canal Surcharge (PCS) of US$297 / container for cargo from Adia to the Caribbean transiting the Panama Canal.

The new surcharge will be effective from 15 December.

"During the second quarter of 2023, the Panama Canal Authority decided to reduce the draft from 14.94 to 13.41. Despite several measures to conserve water taken over the last months, the lack of precipitation in the area is affecting the water level of the Panama Canal. Consequently, the Panama Canal Authority has recently confirmed further restrictions regarding the number of vessels crossing the canal," said MSC in a statement.

The company noted that these restrictions, combined with the increase of the Canal Tariff implemented earlier this year, are having a direct impact on overall MSC operations costs.

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."