Tag: Shipping
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The Jones Act Under Pressure: Background and Current Policy Debate The Jones Act, formally known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, has governed domestic maritime commerce in the United States for over a century. The act mandates that cargo moving between U.S. ports must be transported aboard vessels that are American-built, American-flagged, and crewed…
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COSCO’s Operational Suspension: From Policy to Practice In a significant escalation of Panama Canal port disputes, Chinese state-backed shipping giant COSCO Shipping has suspended operations at the Balboa port terminal on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal. This move represents a critical transition point in the ongoing dispute over Panamanian port control, shifting the…
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The Current Crisis: MSC’s Emergency Fuel Surcharge Announcement On March 16, 2026, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s largest container carrier by fleet size, announced significant emergency fuel surcharges across multiple critical trade lanes. This decisive move reflects the cumulative impact of rising bunker fuel prices driven by ongoing geopolitical instability in the Middle East…
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The Scale of the Strait of Hormuz Disruption The Strait of Hormuz, the critical chokepoint through which approximately 21% of global oil and 20% of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows, faces extraordinary disruption that has paralyzed normal shipping operations. Over two million twenty-foot equivalent units of containerized cargo are currently trapped in the region,…
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Transpacific Capacity Withdrawal Signals Demand Shock Container shipping lines operating transpacific routes have cancelled nearly 40 sailings, representing a significant withdrawal of capacity from Asia-North America trade lanes. This capacity reduction reflects softening import demand from the United States and weakening overall transpacific trade volumes. The cancellation of scheduled sailings indicates that shipping lines have…
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Extreme Ice Conditions Creating Historic Shipping Constraints The Baltic Sea is experiencing the worst ice conditions in 15 years, with the Gulf of Finland completely frozen and ice coverage across the Baltic reaching approximately 80% of the sea surface. Ice thickness in critical areas has reached 40 centimeters, creating conditions where standard merchant vessels cannot…