Strong Chinese exports for the month of June triggered an increase in shipping and port operations worldwide.
Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) reports that the analysts expect favourable export tides to flow over to the second half of 2014, with some analysts projecting a double-digit improvements year-on-year.
The latest customs data reveal that the exports reached USD 186.8bn, an increase of 7.2% year-on year in June.
Shipments heading to the United States rose by 7.5% compared to last year, while the shipments on course to the European Union saw an ever steeper incline of 13.1%.
The latest container volume figures best reflect the overall increase in exports.
The largest container port in the world, Shanghai, marked a 11% increase of containers handled, with the port of Guandong marking an increase of 5.3%.
The numbers reached in May and June are head and shoulders above the stats reported for the first months of the year.

An improved sentiment prevails in trans-Atlantic Panamax freight rates as demand tightens for tonnage capacity.

Several routes saw freight rise, according to Platts’ data, those being Virginia-Rotterdam coal route (improved to $9.25/mt on Friday, up from $9/mt), Alabama-Rotterdam coal route,  also increased and was assessed at $12.75/mt, up from $12.5/mt, Baltic-UK Continent runs with time-charter rates at $5,750/d basis UKC delivery, up from $5,250/d along with the Ventspils, Latvia-Rotterdam route which also increased for 25 cents, reaching $6/mt on Friday.
'With August historically being a quiet month in terms of activity, the current bottleneck is likely to be cleared soon, making the market even more reliant on the grain season in the Black Sea and US Gulf.

An increasing volume of stems has already been heard working from the Black Sea with most of those being wheat exports from the Ukraine and Russia,' Platts said.
As shipping sources indicated, this might make trans-Atlantic runs to the Mediterranean and Black sea, more attractive for shipowners, despite a complicated geo-political situation in the region.
'It does feel a bit more positive in the North Atlantic,' said an operator.
'There is still a tonnage bottleneck for promptish cargoes, so we might see further improvements if the cargoes keep flowing next week.'

The Chinese government and the influential China Shipowners' Association (CSA) have expressed concerns over the recently proposed 2M container shipping alliance between Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC).
Shang Ming, chief of the anti- monopoly bureau at China's ministry of commerce, said in an interview to the local media that the formation of the 2M alliance may result in lower bargaining power for China's import and export enterprises.

The potential freight shipping price monopoly by 2M would hence lead to higher costs of consumer goods, Shang believed.
Zhang Shouguo, executive vice chairman of CSA, anticipated that the 2M alliance would further raise the competitiveness of Maersk Line and MSC, posing greater challenges for Chinese shipping lines.
Zhang pointed out that while seven of the world's top 10 businest container ports are in China, Chinese shipping carriers only accounted for less than one-third of the market share.

The proposed 2M alliance is a 10-year vessel sharing agreement between Maersk Line and MSC on the Asia-Europe, transatlantic and transpacific container trade lanes. The alliance will encompass 185 vessels with a capacity of 2.1m teu deployed on 21 strings.
The announcement of the 2M alliance on 10 July comes less than four week after the grander P3 alliance between Maersk Line, MSC and CMA CGM was rejected by China.

Both Zhang and Shang did not specifically object to the 2M alliance, but they highlighted that the global market share of Maersk Line and MSC is 14.5% and 13.4% respectively, giving them a total share of 27.9%. In Asia alone, the combined market share of Maersk Line and MSC could be up to 35.8%.
Given that the P3 fell at the hurdle of the Chinese approval, all eyes will be on the Chinese authority's reactions to 2M.
China's ministry of commerce had rejected the P3 alliance due to its combined 47% market share on the Asia-Europe trade, potentially bringing about 'adverse effects on restricting competition'.

Hanjin Shipping saw its losses extend in the second quarter of 2014 over the previous corresponding period due mainly to foreign currency translation loss, but its container shipping business returned to profit.

Net profit in the second quarter widened to KRW199.8bn ($195m) compared to a deficit of KRW80.4bn in the same period of 2013. South Korea's Hanjin Shipping attributed the results to foreign currency translation loss of KRW122.8bn from appreciation of KRW against USD.

Revenue during the quarter fell 14.1% year-on-year to KRW2.15trn.

The company's container division, however, recorded operating profit of KRW37.5bn, turning around from an operating loss of KRW35.8bn a year ago, as a result of various cost cutting efforts such as rationalisation of unprofitable routes, bunker price saving and reduction of operating costs.
The slow dry bulk market saw Hanjin Shipping's bulk division posted an operating loss of KRW24.9bn, narrowing from a loss of KRW44.4bn a year earlier.

Looking ahead, Hanjin Shipping expects an increase in container shipping volumes as the market enters the peak season. As for the dry bulk market, Hanjin Shipping said that an increase in iron ore exports from major US exporters is likely to gradually normalise the market.
As of 30 June 2014, Hanjin Shipping secured KRW300bn after it completed the spin-off of its dedicated dry bulk business in a bid to improve its debt-to-equity ratio and financial structure.

Hanjin Shipping's debts worth KRW1.3trn has been transferred to newly spun-off joint venture firm H-Line Shipping Co, which is 22.2% owned by Hanjin Shipping and 77.8% owned by private equity firm Hahn & Company.

Singapore's economy grew by 2.1 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, and half as fast as the first quarter's 4.7 per cent growth.

Year on year, the manufacturing sector grew 0.2 per cent in the second quarter, moderating from the 9.9 per cent in the previous quarter, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The decline was attributed to a contraction in electronics output and slower growth in transport and engineering.
The construction sector rose by five per cent on a year-on-year basis, compared to 6.4 per cent in the preceding quarter on a slowdown in private sector construction activities.

The services producing industries increased by 2.8 per cent, following the 3.9 per cent growth in the first quarter, on the back of slower expansion in the wholesale and retail trade and transportation and storage sectors.

Danish shipping giant Maersk Line, the world No 1 container carrier, has announced a US$450 per TEU freight rate increase on the Asia-northern Europe trade lane effective August 1.

On average, spot rates between Asia and Northern Europe fell 5.5 per cent to $1,230 per TEU in the week ending Friday. Container shipping companies are aiming for higher rates from August 1.

Rate increases announced so far include $550 per TEU by CMA CGM, $1,000 per TEU by Hapag-Lloyd and $600 per TEU by Hanjin Shipping. Full increases announced vary from 36 to 81 per cent, but only 62 per cent of announced price hikes for July 1 were implemented successfully, said Reuters.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are preparing shippers for low-sulphur fuel surcharges of up to US$150 per FEU when regulations are enforced in the Emission Control Areas (ECAs) of Europe and North America, reports London's Loadstar.
So far only Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have announced an intention to recover the extra cost of the low-sulphur fuel - currently at $900 per tonne, some 50 per cent more than standard bunker.

Maersk Line said it will buy 650,000 tonnes of low-sulphur fuel a year, or seven per cent of its annual bunker needs, at an additional cost of around $250 million.

As yet, Hapag-Lloyd has not indicated the level of its ECA surcharge, telling its customers they will be informed in a 'timely manner'. The regulations come into force in January.
Shippers will likely point to the already considerable fuel savings that container lines have achieved as a result of slow steaming or reduced slot cots resulting from the economies of scale new mega ships provide.
Feeders face an uneven playing field. Those using hub ports in the English Channel, North Sea and the Baltic must burn costly low sulphur fuel all the time, but those using British west coast and Irish ports are free of such regulations.

China's GDP rose 7.5 per cent in the second quarter year on year, the first growth acceleration in three quarters, Bloomberg reported, citing official data.

That was higher than 7.4 per cent in the previous quarter and came on the back of higher state spending and credit easing.

Industrial production rose 9.2 per cent in June from a year earlier, topping the nine per cent median estimate of analysts and 8.8 per cent in May. Fixed asset investment excluding rural households increased 17.3 per cent.

'The data are quite positive,' said Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at JPMorgan in Hong Kong.

'The government will continue to support the key sectors it is supporting now, but will not expand to sectors it is not encouraging,' he said.

Premier Li Keqiang's government has brought forward railway spending, reduced reserve requirements for some lenders and cut taxes to protect an annual growth goal of 7.5 per cent.

Even with the support, analysts have forecast China is headed for the slowest full-year expansion since 1990, said Bloomberg.

More than a 120 striking truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach voted to return to work Friday, ending a five-day protest that briefly halted cargo flows at the ports, organizers said. The drivers decided late Friday to end their job action against three firms they accuse of widespread workplace violations.

The decision came after the companies promised to allow all drivers back to work without retaliation and a request from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for a 'cooling-off period,' organizers said.

In a statement, the mayor said that the city held meetings with both sides and that the outcome will allow Los Angeles' harbor commission time to investigate the 'serious allegations regarding worker safety, poor working conditions and unfair labor practices.'

Was the North American Free Trade Agreement a success, failure or both? Twenty years after NAFTA went into force, the Baker Institute's Mexico Center attempted to answer this question at its inaugural conference. Daniel Lederman, deputy chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank, argued that the answer might not be that simple, saying that 'the debates over the developmental, distributional and employment effects of NAFTA remain unresolved.'

On one hand, NAFTA's facilitation of trade linkage and liberalization certainly helped modernize the economic superstructure of the Mexican business model. This benefitted the Mexican economy in the long run, as it led to the adoption of contemporary standards and practices that brought Mexican market models up to par with those of the U.S. and Canada. However, international and domestic events have intrinsically altered the Mexican economy and its trade structures. The war on drugs gave rise to localized violence along the U.S. border - areas best positioned to take advantage of NAFTA. The 1994 micro-financial crisis, the resulting devaluation of the peso and the global financial crisis of 2008 all served to dampen the growth of the Mexican economy.

Perhaps the most important development during this period, however, took place thousands of miles from North America: the evolution of China into an international trade giant, marked by its entrance into the World Trade Organization in 2000. More than anything, the specter of Chinese competition damaged the Mexican manufacturing sector. In fact, according to the World Bank, average annual GDP growth for Mexico from 2001-2006 was 1.29 percent lower than GDP growth from 1994-2000. Combined, these unforeseen market forces worked to the detriment of the Mexican economy, and it is hard to speculate the direction the economy might have taken without NAFTA. Thus, NAFTA's success in institutionalizing contemporary market norms must be heavily qualified by the harsh economic realities of post-NAFTA Mexico.

Trading blocs will continue to be an integral part of North American economic growth, but an important caveat is that treaties like NAFTA - made to enhance international free trade - cannot be mistaken for economic development models. NAFTA was most remarkable for facilitating international market cooperation and modernizing Mexican trade and business practices, not for turning Mexico into a developed economy, as was speculated.

Moving forward, agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership could provide increased market integration and liberalization. If the TPP were signed today, the trading partners would include 40 percent of the global population and 60 percent of the world's aggregate GDP. As a result of these partnerships, increased international trade would strengthen business and economic ties between countries. For Mexico as well as other countries, the TPP could surpass the qualified success of NAFTA and allow for the diversification of markets and real developmental growth. However, while NAFTA's impact on Mexico suggests that such multinational treaties can help build modern standards for trade and business practices, to overemphasize the connection between trade and development would be a mistake.