Zim is now free to order less expensive and more fuel efficient ships instead. In fact, the company reported that it placed a preliminary order with another shipyard in January. Zim Integrated Shipping Services, the international shipping subsidiary of The Israel Corporation, has managed to remove a major threat to its financial stability by coming to an agreement to cancel an order for five new ships and defer delivery of four others.

Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping company, will stop plying through the Panama Canal to move goods from Asia to the U.S. east coast as bigger ships help the company move it profitably through Suez Canal. Maersk Line will send vessels through Suez Canal that can carry as many as 9,000 20-foot boxes at a time, instead of using two 4,500-box-vessels through Panama Canal, Soeren Skou, chief executive officer of Maersk Line, said in Singapore today. The last sailing through Panama will be on April 7 and the first service through Suez will be a week later, the company said in an e-mail statement.

A.P. Moller-Maersk (AMKBY) expects container ship capacity to grow 11% this year, outpacing demand, the chief of its container shipping business said Monday. The industry is likely to scrap more vessels, sail them at even slower speeds and idle more ships in order to balance supply with growth, Soren Skou, the chief executive of Maersk Line, told reporters at a news conference in Singapore. "We expect to get a reasonable balance between demand growth and supply growth. But it requires that the industry acts in a reasonably fair manner," Mr. Skou said, referring to container shippers avoiding engaging in a fare war to attract customers. Slow steaming, industry term for slowing down ships to save fuel, will reduce effective industry-wide capacity by 2% 2013. Read more: www.foxbusiness.c...

Hong Kong’s Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) more than doubled profit to US$197.2 million last year compared with US$86 million in 2011 on the back of higher freight rates and container volumes. Profit of parent Orient Overseas (International) Ltd (OOIL) jumped 63 percent from $181.6 million to 296.4 million, reported the South china Morning Post. The company, which is controlled by the family of former Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, said it remained cautious on market outlook due to excess capacity and intense competition, which could pressure freight rates.

As Bloomberg reports, A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S (MAERSKB), owner of the world’s biggest container-shipping company, plans to add more vessels to its Singapore base after making the city-state its biggest hub after the headquarters in Denmark. Maersk has about 120 ships under the Singapore flag, the most after 180 in Denmark, Thomas Knudsen, president of the Maersk Line Asia Pacific region, said in an interview yesterday. Additions to Singapore have come at the expense of Hong Kong, where the company now has about 40, he said. “There’s a maritime cluster around Singapore where you have access to pretty much all the different aspects of shipping,” Knudsen said. www.businessweek....

A fire has broken out on a ship newbuilding at the Meyer Werft dock and shipyard in Papenburg, Germany on March 5, 2013. Described in an official press release as ‘a fire leading to significant smoke formation’, the local fire department is still in operation at the yard premises. The affected ship is the Norwegian Getaway, a cruise ship that when completed was designed to carry nearly 4,000 passengers as well as 1,600 crew members. The ship is scheduled to be delivered in 2014, but the current situation is an obvious setback to any current plans. The cause of the fire is yet to be identified. There are currently no reported injuries. While no information has been released regarding the scale of the damage, early indicators suggest that the fire is a minor setback rather than anything greater.

The first of 20 giant Triple-E ships for Maersk Line comes out of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Mechanical Engineering Co. drydock for fitting out alongside. The name "Triple E" is derived from the class's three design principles: "Economy of scale, Energy efficient and Environmentally improved". These ships are expected to be not only the world's largest ships in service, but also the most efficient containerships per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) of cargo.

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company wishes to advise clients of a General Rate Increase (GRI) to be implemented on all cargo for the Cheetah service from any Asian port to South Africa, Indian Ocean, Mozambique and East Africa effective as of April 1st, 2013 B/L date, as follows : USD 300 per TEU, the company reports.

COSCO Container Lines announces Rate Restoration for all Reefer shipments from Far East to Red Sea and Persian Gulf Trade and effective from March 15, 2013, the company reports. The RR will be 500 USD per UNIT. Far East include: China Mainland, China Hong Kong, China Taiwan, China Macao, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Persian Gulf include: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia (Persian Gulf Coastal), Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman. Red Sea include: Saudi Arabia (Red Sea Coastal), Yemen, Jordan, Egypt and Sudan.

We would like to introduce our companies as Business House. Our activities are extended to Agency, Representation, Brokerage (buy and Sell), Tender Consultancy, and Material Sourcing. Please be informed in our country there are around 120 nos. of big and small ship breaking yards engaged in demolition and recycling of old ships. From “Cash Buyers” or Owners who sells their vessel to buyers for demolition. Bangladesh being one of the biggest hub for re cycling of scrap ships since long time back and at present around 120 big and small yards are operating with full capacity. We are well connected with 17 ship yards and steel mills who regularly buy ship for demolition and scraps for melting and re-rolling. Kindly forward us with the ship particulars and pictures available with you for buyer’s consideration. As you know the buyer’s requirement is on LDT – LT basis for Chittagong, Bangladesh delivery. We always offer a very good price to seller to maintain a good business relation. Looking forward to your response soon. Thanking you, Engr. Md. Salauddin Mahmud Bhuiyan Director Raven Corporation C/O: Mohiuddin Ahahmed Bhuiyan A.R.No-156, Wireless Colony Poultry Farm Gate, Pahartali, Chittagong-4202, Bangladesh Mobile: +88 01822896344, +88 01732209892 Email: op@raven-corp.com, bhuiyan_13@hotmail.com, shiptradebd@gmail.com Web : www.raven-corp.com Skype: bhuiyan_777