The Port of Rotterdam is already Europe's busiest, both by TEU and by tonnage, and its lead is only growing. Rotterdam's share of the European container market is now at 31 percent, its highest level since 2000.

Last year, containerized cargo throughput at Rotterdam rose by a spectacular 11 percent to reach 13.7 million TEU. Growth was especially strong in the second half of the year, with performance up 12 percent over the same period in 2016. 

Most of the growth was in traffic to and from Asia, South America and North America. Feeder volume for all European shipping areas also grew by 21 percent, with especially strong performance for Scandinavia and the Baltic states. Throughput at the ultramodern Maasvlakte 2 terminals rose sharply, despite last summer's well-publicized  cyberattack at APMT, and volume also increased at almost all other terminals.

The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for regulating global shipping, has agreed to move forward with a proposed ban on the carriage of high sulphur marine fuel once new low sulphur fuel requirements come into force in 2020.

Under new regulations coming into effect January 1, 2020, ships will be banned from burning any marine fuel with a sulphur content above 0.5% unless they are fitted with an approved "equivalent arrangement", such as an exhaust gas cleaning system, aka "scrubbers".

The aim of the new limit is to reduce sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions from ships to improve air quality and protect the environment.

The National Retail Federation is predicting imports will be up 4.9 percent in the first half of this year, which could mean even more shipments hitting the roads and rails of Southern California.

Consumer confidence, higher employment and tax reform are factors in the need to bring more products to the ports, according to Jonathan Gold, the federation's supply chain expert.

The region's twin ports are already shattering records.

The Port of Los Angeles moved 9,343,192 twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs in 2017, the most in its 110-year history and a 5.5 percent increase over 2016, according to a news release.

Last year was the busiest year in the Port of Long Beach's 107-year history; it moved 7.54 million TEUs. And traffic in January hit 657,830 TEUs, up 12.9 percent from the prior year.

Carriers and their customers need to get used to the idea that it costs more to buy marine fuel.

After several years of incredibly low prices on bunker, it has become more expensive for carriers to tank up their vessels, as will likely be evident from the annual reports for shipping companies ticking in the coming weeks.

Bunker oil is without a doubt the largest operating expense, and therefore carriers will feel the pain as the prices are now in the process of moving away from their hitherto low levels.

"Bunkers take up a huge proportion of the operating costs, sometimes up to 70 percent when prices are high. It does not take a brain surgeon to figure out that when the bunker price dropped it was a bonanza. But that's over as prices rise from a low of USD 150 a ton to USD 400," says Jason Silber, Global head of Platts Ocean Intelligence.

The world's biggest container shipping line is trying to stop customers like Amazon.com Inc. and  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. from becoming competitors in just a few years' time.

"Amazon is a threat if we don't do a good job for them," Soren Skou, the Chief Executive Officer of  A.P. Moller Maersk A/S, said in a phone interview. "If we don't do our job well, then there's no doubt that big, strong companies like Amazon will look into whether they can do better themselves."

Shares of FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc.  dropped last week on a report that Amazon plans to handle more deliveries to its customers' doorsteps. The question the maritime industry is now asking itself is to what extent the online retailer will also try to take greater control of transportation of shipments bound for Amazon warehouses. For now, those tend to be handled by Maersk and companies like it.

Oil prices are falling and analysts and market players are as eager as ever to explain the decline in accordance with their own bullish or bearish leanings. It's a natural correction that was only to be expected after the buildup of long bets on crude oil and oil product futures, the bulls insist. It's the start of a trend, thanks to the major jump in U.S. production, the bears counter. Now, data from physical oil markets has surfaced that supports the bears' stance.

North Sea Forties, Russian Urals, WTI, and Atlantic diesel have all fallen to their lowest in several months, Reuters  reports, citing commodity traders and analysts. These are physical markets - the markets where actual oil is taken from one place and shipped to another to be refined into fuel and other products, as opposed to the speculative futures market. If the physical market points down, chances are the price drop - 15 percent in three weeks - is not just a blip, as OPEC's Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said earlier this week.

However, rates softened sharply as VLCC earnings dipped well below $10,000 per day for MEG/East voyages, Fearnleys reported. 

 

Tonnage was in abundance and continued high cargo volumes will be required for some time to balance the tonnage list. 

By mid-week (Wednesday), rates may have bottomed out, but any major increases from present levels will be a long and hard upward struggle. 

 

Suezmaxes finally found a little improvement. The past week was more fluid in terms of cargoes entering the market, which shifted some of the tonnage backlog.