Port of Valencia in Spain, the already busiest container port in the Mediterranean, is set to expand. TiL would partner with Valencia Port on this construction to add a fourth port with the container capacity of 5 million TEU, a project worth more than 1.5 billion dollars.
Maersk has established a new air cargo division, Maersk Air Cargo, to show its determination to march into the air cargo market since this April. And its airfreight services will be expanded further, as represented by the move to launch direct flights between China and the US by the end of this year.
Svitzer, a giant Australian towage operator, has planned a lockout of tug crews due to a labor dispute with maritime unions. According to Svitzer, this lockout would begin this Friday (18th November) and continue indefinitely. 582 tug employees would be prevented from working.
Over the next five weeks, the 2M Alliance has announced 18 blank sailings. In the context of currently weak global demand, MSC, a global leader in the container shipping industry, has four container ships set to enter the market.
Mississippi River, the largest river in the US, has been enduring record-low water levels due to the long-lasting drought across much of the US since early October. The river is traditionally viewed as the lifeblood of the American economy: barges going upriver and downriver carry grain, fertilizers, raw materials, and other goods that are essential to the US industry and agriculture. However, the barge traffic on the river has been slowed for a long period of time.
Dating back to September 2022, Maersk has already suspended an Asia-US east coast loop. Ocean carriers like Maersk and MSC had announced a series of canceled sailings in response to the reduction in bookings to North America due to a huge demand drop in global trade lanes.
