Porti & ambiente — le notizie raccolte

Roles have reversed, as far as volumes are concerned, between Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with the latter’s positive start to 2026 nosediving over the past three months, while Europe-SSA volumes turned a disastrous start in buoyant growth. According to Container Trades Statistics (CTS), a 25% year-on-year bump in January volumes for SSA-Europe flows was followed by declines of 0.2% and 1.9% in February and March, with sources tellingThe LoadstarApril is not looking good either. Against this weakening trade, Europe-SSA volumes flipped a 10.3% decline for January volumes into growth of 6.1% for February and a 9% year-on-year bump in March as the lane surpassed 200,000 teu for only the second time in 15 months. This was reflected in rate data from Freightos, which showed a series of spikes, each stronger than the last, between 23 February and 22 May, peaking on 18 May at just shy of $6,700 per feu for Rotterdam-Durban sailings. One source said South African “trade in general is not looking good at the moment, with trade in April significantly down”, although there appears to be bright spots for those less focused on European volumes. A forwarder toldThe Loadstarthat, while they had not done much with Europe in recent times, otherwise, “honestly, had a very good April”, noting overall April volumes had climbed about 12%, year on year. They added: “The majority of our trade remains with the Middle East (which has its challenges), India, the Far East, and South America, and this has been the same for the past two to three years.” It continues a theme that, despite Europe being Africa’s strongest trading partner, with its exports to Africa now exceeding €55bn, African exporters are looking elsewhere to sell their wares. Forwarders toldThe Loadstarthat, even with the uptick for Europe-SSA volumes, there had been a notable drop-off in enquiries they were receiving in both directions, compared with in previous years. Listen now for a data-rich deep dive into the volatility redefining global shipping in 2026

Singamas Container Holdings chairman and CEO Teo Siong Seng has now been indicted by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), accused of conspiring with three other container manufacturers to fix prices. The Ministry of Trade and Industry in Singapore said today that Mr Teo would stand down from his roles at the Singapore Business Federation, Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce, and Enterprise Singapore. Mr Teo informed the ministry that he would “address the DoJ’s allegations”. The Singaporean entrepreneaur became SBF chairman in May 2025, automatically making him part of SERT, which was formed last year to help businesses and workers deal with the impact of US tariffs. His duties as SBF chairman will be assumed by vice-chairman and treasurer Mark Lee. As reported byThe Loadstaryesterday, Mr Teo and China International Marine Containers chairman Mai Boliang are among seven executives from container makers, including Shanghai Universal Logistics Equipment (a Cosco unit also known as Dong Fang International Containers) and CXIC Group Containers named by the US in an alleged price-fixing conspiracy involving restricting production of dry containers to raise prices, between November 2019 to at least January 2024. The US DoJ said that as a result of the conspiracy, prices of dry containers doubled between 2019 and 2021, increasing container manufacturers’ profits by about 100-fold during the Covid pandemic, when container freight rates reached historical highs. US court documents show that after a December 2019 meeting between the alleged conspirators, a Singamas executive reported to Mr Teo that he had reminded the others “not to be high profile since it might violate the monopoly law or being accused of price manipulation by our customers”. In April, Singamas marketing director Vick Ma was arrested in France and is awaiting extradition to the US. Singamas said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing that neither it nor Mr Teo had been notified of the US indictment, adding that it had engaged lawyers. Mr Teo is known to be well connected to the Singapore government and was previously a nominated Member of Parliament. His late father, Chang Yun Chung, founded Pacific International Lines in 1967, but the family ceded control to a unit of Singapore’s state-owned investment group Temasek Holdings, following a bailout in 2020. The bailout restructured $3.3bn of PIL’s debt, saving the company from collapse. Listen now for a data-rich deep dive into the volatility redefining global shipping in 2026

Container spot rate pricing momentum was firmly behind Asia-Europe carriers this week, with double-digit increases seen on the routes into North Europe and the Mediterranean. This week’s World Container Index (WCI) from Drewry showed how the 15 May FAK (freight all kinds) rate levels implemented by carriers continued to stick this week; the WCI’s Shanghai-Rotterdam leg was up 15% week on week, to end at $2,773 per 40ft, while the Shanghai-Genoa route increased 10%, to finish at $4,082 per 40ft. The price increases were also supported by strong demand, as the trade appears poised to replicate last year’s early peak season. “According to Drewry’s Container Capacity Insight, only three blanked sailings have been announced on the Asia to Europe trade route for next week, indicating higher capacity deployment to accommodate peak season cargo. “As the early peak season looms, with carriers continuing to raise FAK levels, Drewry expects rates to increase further in the coming weeks,” it said. Source: Drewry This week also saw carriers announce new FAK rates levels for 1 June implementation, with CMA CGM following MSC’s announcement last week of $4,700 per 40ft to North Europe, and Mediterranean shipments in the range of $5,500–$5,700 per 40ft; while Hapag-Lloyd is going for $4,300 to North Europe and $5,500 to the west Mediterranean. On top of that, CMA CGM has also unveiled a $500 per teu peak season surcharge on the Asia-North Europe trade, from 1 June. “Overall shipping demand increased this week – liner companies subsequently announced freight rate hikes for early June, further boosting market shipping sentiment,” a port source in Ningbo toldThe Loadstar. At this week’s TOC Europe event in Hamburg, DHL Global Forwarding’s senior VP of global ocean freight LCL, Markus Panhauser, predicted spot rates would rise further over coming weeks. “The strong demand is driving that,” he said, adding: “Look at the short-term rates, the SCFI last Friday jumped, we jump again next week, and it will jump again the week after, because the Christmas season started to shift. “The transatlantic is strong and the transpacific is also recovering, so if you look at global trade from a carrier’s point of view, the recovery of freight rates is predominantly about demand rather than blank sailings,” he told delegates. The WCI’s transpacific routes saw spot rates grow more moderately than Asia-Europe this week, with the Shanghai-Los Angeles leg up 1% week on week, to $3,385 per 40ft, while the Shanghai-New York route grew 2%, to $4,317 per 40ft. Drewry added that it expected to see the peak season also arrive early on transpacific trades, citing ONE’s 1 June PSS of $2,000 per 40ft as an example. Analysts at Linerlytica also noted that Amazon rearranging its summer sale to take place a month early was also creating a mini-peak in demand. “Transpacific rate hikes on 15 May are sticking, with space remaining tight on the back of increased e-commerce cargo, driven partly by Amazon’s decision to move its Prime Day sale from July to June, which has created a compressed window for cross-border shipments. “The increased demand has already prompted Maersk to add a seasonal USWC extra loader service, with more expected to follow,” it added. However, at the same time, carriers have continued restrict proforma capacity: according to Drewry, seven blanked sailings are due on the transpacific next week, “indicating tighter capacity and creating scope for carriers to implement higher FAK rates”. MSC today announced two more blanked sailings on its Asia-US east coast network, with the America service due to be skipped in week 23 and the Empire service to be skipped in week 24.

Here atThe Loadstar, we’ve been watching Cargolux for well over a decade. It has had its ups and downs – from financial stress to union trouble and ownership changes. But one thing has become increasingly clear: the airline’s fortunes tend to mirror the wider cargo market remarkably closely. Few periods illustrated that volatility more dramatically than the years between the weak-yield environment of the mid-2010s, the extraordinary Covid cargo boom, and the uneasy “new normal” emerging today. The company’s latest results show that, while the unprecedented profits of 2021 and 2022 are gone, the feared collapse to pre-pandemic conditions never fully arrived. Cargolux reported net profit of approximately $465m for 2025, following around $448m in 2024, still historically strong by the standards of much of the previous decade. For years, freighter operators were trapped in recurring cycles of overcapacity, weak yields, and questions over whether large aircraft such as the Boeing 747 still had a viable long-term future. A decade ago, the industry worried about too many freighters. Today, airlines are worrying about whether new ones will arrive quickly enough. Cargolux recently confirmed its B777-8F deliveries had slipped from 2027 to 2029, reflecting wider disruption affecting the global freighter replacement cycle. Older aircraft that many expected to disappear years ago continue flying, because demand remains strong enough to support them economically. That alone says something about how dramatically the market has changed for carriers. Lufthansa Cargo reported adjusted EBIT of €324m ($375m) for 2025, up 29% year on year, while first-quarter 2026 EBIT also improved sharply as tighter market conditions and stronger Asian demand supported profitability. The numbers suggest air cargo has stabilised at a materially higher baseline than many expected once the pandemic boom faded. Part of that is structural. Ecommerce remains strong. Manufacturing continues shifting gradually from China into South-east Asia. AI infrastructure and data-centre traffic are emerging as premium cargo segments. And geopolitical disruption, from the Red Sea to Russian airspace closures, continues tightening effective capacity across parts of the market. But if the cargo market itself has proved surprisingly resilient, European airlines increasingly argue that the competitive environment has become far less fair. Cargolux chief executive Richard Forson put it bluntly during a recent interview. “We are all not competing on the same basis anymore,” he said, referring to the growing operational distortions caused by airspace closures and geopolitical conflict. For European airlines, the closure of Russian airspace has become especially painful. Flights between Europe and Asia now frequently involve significant detours, adding time, fuel burn, crew costs, and operational complexity. Meanwhile, some competitors continue benefiting from shorter routings and lower operating costs. Lufthansa Group has repeatedly highlighted similar concerns in recent results commentaries, warning that European airlines face structural disadvantages on Asian routes because of Russian airspace restrictions. At the same time, Europe is also pushing ahead aggressively with sustainability regulation and SAF obligations that many rival airlines outside the region do not yet face. For long-time observers of the cargo market, however, there is also something strikingly familiar about today’s pressures. When Cargolux reported a net loss in 2011, the airline blamed high fuel prices, rising leasing costs, and delays to B747-8 freighter deliveries.More than a decade later, many of those themes still dominate the industry: volatile fuel costs, delayed aircraft programmes, and geopolitical disruption. But there is one important difference. Then, the industry’s main problem was overcapacity and weak demand. Today, airlines are, instead, dealing with constrained supply, persistent geopolitical disruption, and increasingly uneven operating conditions. While European cargo airlines remain profitable, many executives now privately question how long they can continue competing globally if operational and regulatory burdens continue diverging. AI infrastructure cargo barely existed as a meaningful segment a decade ago. Ecommerce has permanently altered capacity dynamics. Geopolitical disruption has become semi-permanent, rather than exceptional. And replacement freighter aircraft are increasingly difficult to secure. For years, Cargolux’s results have served as a rough proxy for the health of the wider cargo market. And it looks as if the industry may be entering a new era: structurally stronger than the old market, but also more fragmented, volatile, and uneven than before.

TS Lines founding chairman and CEO Chen Te-sheng will retire on 1 June and hand over the reins to his son, Chen Shao-hsiang (pictured). The regional carrier said yesterday that this was part of a pre-established succession plan, and 74-year-old Mr Chen will take on a senior advisory role, indicating that he will retain a certain degree of decision-making influence. The Chens are related to Taiwan operator Wan Hai Lines’ founding family. for which the senior Mr Chen worked for 20 years, leaving in 1999 to join a Malaysian shipping line. In 2001, he founded TS Lines. Under Mr Chen, the carrier has grown from an asset-light operation that only operated intra-Asia services with chartered feeder vessels. The Covid-fuelled container shipping boom transformed TS Lines, as sky-high charter rates convinced Mr Chen to expand the owned fleet, commissioning newbuildings and buying second-hand ships. In November 2024, TS Lines was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after an IPO that raised $127.7m. Today, TS Lines is the 20thlargest shipping line and owns 34 of its 42 operated ships, with a total capacity of 108,463 teu. Another 18 vessels, totalling 107,216 teu, are under construction and will be delivered over the next three years. Chen Shao-hsiang had been groomed to take over the family business, and was appointed vice-chairman in March 2025 after working for TS Lines for three years. A graduate of the London School of Economics, he has more than 17 years’ experience in the shipping industry. At TS Lines’annual banquetin February, he said the world had changed since his father founded the company, with geopolitical tensions altering tradelanes and the uncertain environment necessitating more self-sufficiency. Since then, TS Lines has diversified beyond its intra-Asia focus to South America and the Middle East, and continues to expand its fleet and order more containers. Since 2024, it has ordered nearly 50,000 new box, raising the carrier’s owned container ratio close to 50%. Listen now for a data-rich deep dive into the volatility redefining global shipping in 2026

Key takeaway: The biggest overhaul to US freight registration in 30 years has gone live, with anti-fraud tools at its core. But a massive IT migration in the middle of a freight recovery raises uncomfortable questions about who gets locked out, and who should have been locked out years ago. On the evening of 14 May*, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) pulled the plug on the registration systems that have underpinned US trucking, brokerage, and freight forwarding ...

As China’s supply chains become increasingly diverse, and its ports busier, MSC has announced a new intra-Asia service to helpbusinesses “thrive” in this “dynamic market”. Analysis today from Braemar suggests China’s export engine remains remarkably resilient despite years of “decoupling” rhetoric. “Stop ignoring the numbers,” wrote analyst Jonathan Roach. “Global container throughput in early 2026 is growing at roughly 1%. China is at 3.5%. The rest of Asia is managing around 2.5%. Europe is barely moving at 0.5%. The US is down nearly 5%,” he said. Mr Roach highlighted strong growth at major Chinese ports, particularly Ningbo-Zhoushan, which handled 11.55m teu in the first quarter, up nearly 15% year on year. “While US volumes are contracting and European ports drift along at near-zero growth, Ningbo is putting up numbers that most emerging market economies would envy as a GDP print,” he said. Shanghai handled 4.7m teu in March alone, beating last year’s record level, while Qingdao processed close to 9m teu in the first quarter and Tianjin continued operating “at full throttle”, according to Mr Roach. Even the southern Chinese ports, while softer, remained resilient.He noted:“Shenzhen, around 2.8m teu a month, Guangzhou picking up ASEAN trade and vehicle exports. Not spectacular. Not collapsing either.” Mr Roach argued that Chinese exporters had already adapted to geopolitical tensions by building new trade corridors into South-east Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Gulf. And reflecting the growing demand for intra-Asia routes, MSC announced yesterday it would launch a standalone service offering “direct and fast connections” between “vital ports” in China and Vietnam. The Ochna service will rotate Dalian-Tianjin Xingang-Qingdao-Haiphong-Ho Chi Minh-Dalian, with the first sailing, by theMSC Hailey Ann II, scheduled for 19 June. “The pivot toward developing economy markets… has been under way for years and is now accelerating,” reported Mr Roach. “China’s manufacturers have spent the past three years systematically building new trade corridors because they read the western political environment clearly and early. Chinese exporters have more options than their critics assume, and a well-documented habit of using them.” The head of procurement, pricing, and commercial relations of ocean product at Noatum Logistics, Stephanie Loomis, toldThe Loadstarthat, although the push to reduce reliance on China had been building since the pandemic, and intensified sharply following the US “Liberation Day” tariffs, moving production was far from straightforward. “Anybody that understands a supply chain knows this is never easy to change; it’s difficult to find new suppliers, so there was a very, very fast acceleration to expand,” she said. According to Ms Loomis, South-east Asia has absorbed “the vast majority of the declines out of China”, while interest is also growing in India, the Middle East, and Turkey, depending on commodity.

’Experts at playing the market’, we argued on 13 December 2024 with regard to rampant CH Robinson (CHRW), the largest freight broker in the US. At that time, CHRW traded at $111 apiece. Spot the difference Now, after reaching a new record of $203.34 earlier this year, the shares trade at around $178. It’s worth a stunning $21 billion in market cap. Or about $1.8 million per employee, as the headcount keeps shrinking for the AI-driven freight broker: 11,705 heads on payroll in Q1 ...

Hopes for an agreement between administrations in Washington, Ottawa and Mexico City to extend the USMCA trade pact before 1 July are fading fast, auguring ongoing uncertainty that affects trade and investment decisions. At least the US and Mexican governments are talking about the issue, and they appear to have made some progress in unravelling the fallout from their dispute over airline access to Mexico City’s airports. Companies in the region are getting nervous as the 1 July deadline for USMCA renewal looms. The national associations of electrical manufacturers from all three nations have jointly written to the three trade ministers asking them to “finally unleash the USMCA’s potential”. Not only do they find the trade framework important and helpful, they want to strengthen it. Their letter calls for harmonisation of technical standards, and urges the administrations to consult with industry on changes to rules of origin. In addition, they stressed the importance of preserving the current three-nation structure rather than change to the bilateral agreements Washington has threatened. “Decisive action to renew the USMCA is critical in the face of global competition, including state-subsidised firms in Asia,” they wrote. Other interest groups, including the National Foreign Trade Council and US Chamber of Commerce, have also appealed to the governments to renew the agreement. But apparently these efforts may be to no avail. At an economic forum in Mexico City, the nation’s economy secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, warned of a lasting limbo. “I would be thinking that this review is going to last a little longer, and probably lead to non-conclusive reviews over the next ten years,” he said. If the agreement is not renewed by 1 July, it will become subject to an annual review process, unless one party decides not to continue and serves six months’ notice of its decision to walk away from USMCA. The US president, who had celebrated the agreement as a historical success when it was signed during his first spell in the White House, has indicated that he might opt for separate bilaterals. Whereas Ottawa and Washington have not held any formal talks on the issue, the Mexican government started technical discussions of the framework with the US administration in March. Washington has praised Mexico’s tariffs on nations including China and Vietnam that came into effect in January, but has said it wants to see stricter rules of origin and tougher enforcement rules. Mexico cemented its status as the top US trading partner this year, ahead of Canada and China, with a 7.4% year-on-year rise in northbound flows in Q1, while traffic in the opposite direction grew 10.97% in value. It has also been one of the top destinations for foreign direct investment. Its ascent from 25thto 19thin Kearney’s 2026 Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index has been attributed chiefly to near-shoring. Hence the prospect of a prolonged limbo of USMCA, and the associated uncertainty, would be a drag on future investment in the nation. Morgan Stanley and Kearney have both described the USMCA negotiations as pivotal for investment flows into Mexico. The former noted that clarity around rules of origin and tariffs could unlock delayed investment and accelerate near-shoring into Mexico. Meanwhile, air cargo (and passenger) flows between Mexico and the US seem to be progressing towards more services, as their transport departments have reported progress on settling their dispute over take-off and landing slots at Mexico City’s Benito Juarez airport (AICM). To cope with chronic congestion, the Mexican authorities reduced the number of slots at the airport and banished all freighter operations to the capital’s Felipe Angeles International airport (AIFA). As this reduced some landing slots of US passenger airlines and forced US integrators to AIFA, Washington cried foul and cut 13 existing or planned transborder routes for Mexican airlines and ordered the dissolution of the Delta-Aeromexico joint-venture. Following the reinstatement of the US passenger airline slots at AICM, the two sides have held talks that led to an agreement on conditions of the use of AIFA and AICM regarding cargo. According to US transport secretary Duffy, they reached “consensus on a path to get Mexico to comply with the 2015 aviation bilateral”. Mexico’s Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport said the two sides “established conditions to guarantee equal and transparent access to AICM and AIFA”. While this signals some progress, it does not lift the US ban on Mexican airlines. Mr Duffy needs to see first “that promises are converted into actions”. Until then the restrictions on Mexican carriers remained in place, he said. Notwithstanding the uncertainty and the bumps in the two governments’ communication, US logistics firms continue to expand their reach into Mexico. Lately intermodal appears to be a strong suit to play. US trucking firm Werner is doubling its intermodal cross-border operation using proprietary containers from 400 to 800 units by year end. Management stressed that this allowed clearance of freight at origin and avoided congestion at the border. Last month, Class I rail carriers CSX and CPKC upgraded their South-east Mexico Express with a dedicated train and faster transit times. BNSF has also expanded its intermodal service into Mexico. Listen now for a data-rich deep dive into the volatility redefining global shipping in 2026

È stato affondato il ventunesimo cassone della nuova diga foranea del porto di Genova appartenente alla tipologia di grandi dimensioni, 67 metri di lunghezza, 30 di larghezza e quasi 34 di altezza, più alto di un palazzo di dieci piani. L'opera è realizzata dal Consorzio PerGenova Breakwater guidato da Webuild per conto dell'Autorità di sistema portuale del Mar Ligure Occidentale.Il cassone rientra tra gli elementi prefabbricati che costituiscono la struttura portante della nuova barriera, la cui installazione richiede operazioni ad alta complessità tecnica in ambiente marino. "Operare in mare aperto significa lavorare in condizioni in continuo cambiamento, senza superfici stabili e con il costante movimento delle onde - rimarca il consorzio in una nota -. Nonostante ciò tutte le fasi, anche le più delicate, vengono gestite con un controllo continuo della qualità del materiale durante il pompaggio, garantendo al tempo stesso elevati standard di sicurezza e precisione".La realizzazione dei mega cassoni avviene nel cantiere dedicato di Vado Ligure (Savona), dove è impiegata la Tronds Barge 33, una chiatta semisommergibile lunga 110 metri e larga 45 metri. Si tratta di una piattaforma altamente specializzata che può immergersi fino a 20 metri sotto il livello del mare, permettendo di lavorare in condizioni più stabili e facilitando le operazioni di costruzione e messa in acqua dei cassoni, anche in un contesto complesso come quello marino.In parallelo alla posa dei cassoni di base, proseguono le lavorazioni della sovrastruttura in mare. Un elemento particolarmente innovativo del progetto riguarda la produzione del calcestruzzo per le coperture dei cassoni, che avviene direttamente in mare grazie a un doppio impianto installato su una chiatta galleggiante, operativa a circa 800 metri dalla costa. In pratica, una vera e propria fabbrica offshore: di giorno produce calcestruzzo direttamente sul posto, mentre nelle ore serali rientra in porto per il rifornimento delle materie prime. Riproduzione riservata © Copyright ANSA Da non perdere Condividi