The nation’s major container shipping companies aim to return to the black this year by deepening cooperation. This collaboration comes at a time when the companies are aiming to find a balance between continuous service expansion and capacity control, and dealing with the oversupply issue that has plagued the industry this year.
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) — the nation’s second-largest container shipping firm in terms of fleet size — yesterday announced the launch of a joint service with Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), Pacific International Lines Pte Ltd of Singapore and Sinotrans Container Lines Co Ltd (中外運集裝箱運輸) of China.
The joint service on routes to Taiwan, China and Australia will be effective from June 7, operated by six 4,250 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container vessels.
Earlier this month, Evergreen Marine, the nation’s largest container shipper, upgraded its service network in South America in partnership with Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運), Pacific International and COSCO Container Lines Co Ltd (中遠集裝箱運輸) of China.
South America is forecast to see strong economic growth this year, which supports Evergreen Marine’s strategy of expansion there, the company said.
The recent intensive cooperation between major container shippers indicates that they expect sales to rise during the second quarter — a traditional peak period for the industry.
It also signifies that the companies may have more opportunities to raise freight rates successfully if they have better control over supply, further pursuing stronger profitability for this year, Capital Securities Corp (群益證券) said in its latest report.
Evergreen Marine plans to implement a rate restoration program on June 3 for trades from Far East and Indian sub-Continent to the Mediterranean region, by raising the rate by US$650 for a twenty-foot equivalent unit.
Given the strategy of cooperation between major Taiwanese container shippers, Capital Securities expects the trend in average freight rates for long-haul routes to remain slightly above the break-even point this year.
That may further support the nation’s three major container shippers to return to the black this year, reversing their weak sentiment for the first quarter, the report said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last