MSC’s standalone network is a show strength to the market, says chief executive Soren Toft as the world’s largest container carrier sets out its stall in advance of next year’s dissolution of the 2M Alliance that will reconfigure the global box trades

Greece-owned ships that comprise 17% of the global fleet accounted for more than 30% of vessels attacked by drones, missiles and other weapons in the Red Sea, underscoring the risks faced by Western shipowners who continue to transit the chokepoint

The containership sale and purchase market is picking up after the summer slowdown, with MSC continuing to snap up ships. Meanwhile, there is little sign of any upturn in boxship recycling because of relatively high secondhand values, due to strong demand for tonnage

The onset of Houthi attacks has prompted a complete repositioning of container transhipment activity at ports either side of the Suez, in a trend that has brought a wealth of impromptu box traffic to some ports and a imposed a hefty hit on trade to others 

It would be reasonable to expect transits through the Bab el Mandeb to continue to fall given the threat posed by the Houthis remains largely unchanged, but risk appetite is dynamic, and there is likely an element of risk normalisation that is making Red Sea voyages less daunting — and even appealing — for some

Newbuilding contracts for 123 ships valued at some $14bn were signed in the past two weeks

China’s colossal container hub on the brink of becoming the first port to post annual teu figures above the 50m teu mark. Shanghai was among nearly all of the top 10 ranked ports to report strong growth in box number in the first half of the year

ACP administrator Ricaurte Vasquez talks lessons learnt amid the historic drought and what happens when rainfall inevitably falls short again in the next El Nino