Maritime & Trade Research and Analysis

1. The Trade Numerologist: The Optimistic Case for Global Trade

   23 April 2018 John Miller

   We’ve spent a lot of time in this space of late talking about tariffs, protectionism, the weakening of trade deals and the World Trade Organization...

   

2. The Trade Numerologist: Back To The TPP - Trade’s Great Game

   16 April 2018 John Miller

   With trade tensions between China and the US threatening American exports, President Trump last week floated an idea. Maybe, he said, the US...

   

3. The Trade Numerologist: Who gets hurt in a US-China trade war

   09 April 2018 John Miller

   As we’ve been documenting in this space, the prospect of a U.S.-China trade war has rattled world markets, shipping lines and commerce officials...

   

4. The Trade Numerologist: Discord in (Real) Apple Markets

   02 April 2018 John Miller

   As it had threatened, China has imposed new import duties on $3 billion worth of U.S. imports, including a 15% tariff on fruit, to retaliate...

   

5. The Trade Numerologist: Superpower Spat Could Reshape Global Trade

   27 March 2018 John Miller

   After almost twenty years, the global economy is moving into a new trading order, and the emerging rules governing how corporations and companies...

   

6. The Trade Numerologist - Why Farmers Fear Killing NAFTA

   19 March 2018 John Miller

   As negotiators from the U.S., Canada and Mexico prepare to start their eighth round of redoing the North American Free Trade Agreement in April...

   

7. The Trade Numerologist: Why Europe can’t win a trade war with U.S.

   14 March 2018 John Miller

   The declaration by President Trump of U.S. import tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum has sparked what some analysts say could be the...

   

8. The Trade Numerologist: Latin America’s Trade Slump

   12 March 2018 John Miller

   The Trade Numerologist: Latin America’s Trade Slump

   

9. The Trade Numerologist: New U.S. Tariffs On Metals

   02 March 2018 John Miller

   It looks like the Trump truce on dramatically ramping up tariffs on imports into the U.S. is abating.

   

10. The Trade Numerologist: Russia Wants Your Bananas

    01 March 2018 John Miller

    A recent surge in Russian demand for bananas has tightened supplies of the ubiquitous fruit, driving up prices and underscoring how one country...

    

11. The Trade Numerologist: The Battery Scramble

    20 February 2018 John Miller

    The booming market for electric cars like the Tesla Model S, Chevy Volt and Toyota Prius Prime is driving a strong shipping trade in lithium-ion...

    

12. The Trade Numerologist: Where Bicycles Come From

    19 February 2018 John Miller

    Since the invention of the modern bicycle in France, Germany and the U.S. in the 19th century, manufacturers have cranked out billions of two-wheeled...

    

13. The Trade Numerologist: China’s B Plans If U.S. Cuts Imports

    07 February 2018 John Miller

    The winds of global trade are shifting, and they are bound to impact China, the world’s biggest exporter.

    

14. Turkey’s canal plan caps freight infrastructure expansion

    06 February 2018 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    Politics will continue to dominate Turkey’s headlines at home and abroad in 2018, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan steadily tightens his grip...

    

15. Ready or not, digitalization on the way for shipping

    06 February 2018 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    The container shipping industry, widely seen as slow to embrace technology, could be on the verge of a year of significant advance.

    

16. Supply-demand imbalance shaping Asia-Europe contracts

    06 February 2018 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    Surplus capacity coming into the market and demand growth unlikely to match supply appears to have placed a restraining hand on Asia-Europe contract...

    

17. 2017 in review: Port call sizes continue to rise

    06 February 2018 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    Average call sizes at global container ports grew in the first half of 2017 as bigger tonnage was deployed on several key trade routes.

    

18. Asia-Europe 2018: Three space scenarios

    06 February 2018 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    Like it did in 2017, space will dominate discussions European shippers exporting to Asia have with their carriers in the first few months of...

    

19. Eight South Korean port areas to grow by 2030

    06 February 2018 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) has said eight South Korean ports will get a total of more than 30 million m² of additional...

    

20. Outlook 2018: Box shipping looks to turn a corner in 2018

    06 February 2018 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    Container shipping is in far better shape than it was 12 months ago, when years of heavy losses culminated in the Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy...

    

21. The Trade Numerologist: Rising weapons trade is too opaque

    31 January 2018 John Miller

    The Trump administration is expected to soon announce new government-backed strategies for boosting U.S. weapons sales, according to news reports....

    

22. The Trade Numerologist: New US Tariffs Target Transshipment

    29 January 2018 John Miller

    The Trump administration in January made its most protectionist move yet, imposing tariffs on imports of large home washing machines and solar...

    

23. The Trade Numerologist: West Virginia is number one

    23 January 2018 John Miller

    A big part of the Trump argument in the 2016 election was that his administration would help US companies “win” again in global trade, by protecting...

    

24. The Trade Numerologist: The Gold's in the Mail

    17 January 2018 John Miller

    For the all the razzmatazz around bitcoin, non-crypto humans still ship a lot of their wealth around the world in auriferous rock.

    

25. The Trade Numerologist: Car trade is cruising

    05 January 2018 John Miller

    Despite populist political turmoil, Western economies are still humming. One barometer: the robust health of the global auto trade.

    

26. The Trade Numerologist: Party time for global booze

    28 December 2017 John Miller

    December and New Year's are peak periods for global alcohol trade, which is thriving as hundreds of millions in Asia, Africa and Latin America...

    

27. The Trade Numerologist: Behind new US tariffs on steel

    27 December 2017 John Miller

    In early December, the US imposed fresh tariffs of up to 266% on imports of Vietnamese steel, one of the first salvos in the Trump administration's...

    

28. The Trade Numerologist: The case for India

    08 December 2017 John Miller

    No nation's potential prospects for persistent prosperity stirs shipping lines, traders and global miners and manufacturers more than India's....

    

29. Poland becoming critical link in European supply chains

    07 December 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    LONDON – The 21,413 TEU mega-ships, the world's largest, that call at the DCT Gdansk terminal on their Asia-Europe voyages highlight Poland's...

    

30. The Trade Numerologist: NAFTA's promise and peril

    01 December 2017 John Miller

    Americans shopping at Target on Black Friday didn't pay extra for mattresses, shirts or avocados from Mexico. One reason is that Donald Trump's......

    

31. The Trade Numerologist: Palm Oil, From EU To Asia

    29 November 2017 John Miller

    Indonesia and Malaysia are again at loggerheads with the European Union over their production and export of palm oil. The two Asian nations...

    

32. The Trade Numerologist: Trade in free Catalonia

    22 November 2017 John Miller

    Tensions over the future of Catalonia could expose how much the Spanish economy depends on its vibrant Northeastern region, and underscore how...

    

33. Rate volatility puts carriers' BCO business at risk

    16 November 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This article by Peter Tirschwell originally published on JOC.com. Despite the goal of newly consolidated carriers to reassert themselves to ......

    

34. The Trade Numerologist: Russia Reboots Trade Ties

    14 November 2017 John Miller

    As President Trump faces an investigation into his campaign's alleged collusion with Russia to win the 2016 election, US trade with Russia is...

    

35. The Trade Numerologist: The Japan solution

    07 November 2017 John Miller

    Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's landslide win in Japan's October 22 elections is considered an endorsement of economic policies designed to ...

    

36. The Trade Numerologist: Scrap's trade problem

    02 November 2017 John Miller

    Here's a paradox, and a challenge, for recyclers and shipping companies involved in global scrap trade: As the global market is getting bigger...

    

37. In spite of CSX pledge, intermodal shippers say service woes persist

    26 October 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    Despite assurances from CSX CEO E. Hunter Harrison that the railroad has overcome service disruptions due to ongoing operational overhauls, domestic...

    

38. The Trade Numerologist: Jet trade takeoff

    26 October 2017 John Miller

    A simmering trade dispute between the US, UK and Canada underscores how the global aviation market has become one of the richest opportunities...

    

39. The Trade Numerologist: The coal conundrum

    19 October 2017 John Miller

    After enduring a rough decade, the global coal trade has appeared to be back from the dead in 2017. The world's dirtiest fuel is continuously...

    

40. The Trade Numerologist: The deal with China

    17 October 2017 John Miller

    When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, Western governments and companies agreed to give Beijing low-tariff access to their markets...

    

41. NY-NJ joint chassis pool collapses

    13 October 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This article by Hugh Morley originally published on JOC.com. The Port of New York and New Jersey is searching again for a way to create an ......

    

42. Chinese terminal operators closing gap with majors

    11 October 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This article by Turloch Mooney originally published on JOC.com. The number of overseas port locations with investment from China's big three...

    

43. The Trade Numerologist: Chemical Europe

    09 October 2017 John Miller

    The European Union's 2006 REACH legislation, which imposed sweeping new regulations on the continent's trillion-dollar chemicals industry, was...

    

44. The Trade Numerologist: Trading with North Korea

    05 October 2017 John Miller

    The U.N. Security Council last month tightened sanctions on North Korea, including new trade restrictions. It said it would ban textile exports...

    

45. The Trade Numerologist: The wooden road

    25 September 2017 John Miller

    As the southern US rebuilds after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma - estimates of potential damage are as high as $200 billion -- it should create...

    

46. China wastepaper import ban less severe than feared

    21 September 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This article by Bill Mongelluzzo originally published on JOC.com. Although about 16 percent of US wastepaper exports to China could be lost due...

    

47. Of billions lost, Hanjin creditors may get two cents to dollar

    18 September 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    Creditors of bankrupt carrier Hanjin Shipping have filed claims totaling $10.5 billion, but the company has recovered only $220 million owed...

    

48. Global port volume heads for a six-year high

    15 September 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This article by Greg Knowler originally published on JOC.com. The solid increase in container volume being reported by the world's carriers in...

    

49. The Trade Numerologist: The tao of US imports

    14 September 2017 John Miller

    President Trump won an election in 2016 partly because he was willing to buck the established order on global trade. Pandering to blue collar...

    

50. How to boost US container exports

    01 September 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    A weakening of the US dollar to other currencies is raising US exporter hopes for increased volumes in the low single-digits this year. That's...

    

51. Share your cyber security insights about the Maritime industry

    20 August 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    Share your Cyber Security insights at Fairplay Maritime Cyber Security Survey 2017 by submitting the survey today.

    

52. LA-LB ports move forward on major environmental plan

    17 August 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This article by Bill Mongelluzzo originally published on JOC.com. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach Wednesday released an update of their...

    

53. Longer US auto factory closures bodes poorly for trade

    14 August 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This article by Reynolds Hutchins originally published on JOC.com. Automakers in the United States are keeping plants closed longer during regularly...

    

54. JOC Insights: US exports of cotton

    10 August 2017 Mario O. Moreno

    US cotton exports up strongly year to date According to our data from IHS Markit Global Trade Atlas, US cotton exports by volume were up nearly...

    

55. ILWU unionization push threatens employer oversight of LA-LB terminals

    20 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on JOC.com. Longshore efforts underway in recent months to organize management superintendents at individual...

    

56. Era of automated ships moves a step closer

    19 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. A shift in the technological tectonic plates occurred on 20 June creating a ripple in the...

    

57. Industrial distributors fight to fend off e-commerce 'disruption'

    18 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on JOC.com. E-commerce is transforming long-established business models of industrial distributors, the third-party...

    

58. Newbuilding deliveries could spike in Q1

    14 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Newbuilding deliveries are set to spike in the first quarter, particularly in the tanker...

    

59. Ports face slower growth due to structural changes in global trade

    14 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Ports are facing slower growth as fundamental structural changes in the container shipping...

    

60. US-listed shipowners go on a buying spree during first half

    13 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    US-traded shipping companies embarked on a major wave of acquisitions in the first half of 2017, capped off by International Seaways' 29 June...

    

61. Carriers, ports fear impact of US steel protectionism

    13 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on JOC.com. The global steel industry is under a sword of Damocles that threatens to produce a trade war between...

    

62. Cosco-OOCL tie-up will further limit shippers' options

    11 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on JOC.com. The eye watering $6.3 billion that Cosco Shipping Holdings and Shanghai International Port Group......

    

63. Lack of monitoring undermines coatings convention

    10 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Questions are being asked about the use of organotins in anti-fouling paints. Credit: Withheld...

    

64. Maersk cyber attack highlights importance of EU data protection rules

    10 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. With the Maersk hacking debacle still fresh, a presentation by Moore Stephens on the ......

    

65. Long-term environmental costs riding on MEPC 71

    07 July 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Shipowners concerned about the costs of environmental regulations on vessel operations have...

    

66. Procurement-focused relationships 'undermine' collaboration on berth productivity

    19 June 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Communication structures that foster higher levels of trust and collaboration between container...

    

67. Spike in Capesize S&P reveals optimistic sentiment

    15 June 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Over the past month some second hand Capesize prices have soared up to 38% for one Japanese...

    

68. Diplomatic row could harm Qatar maritime interests

    13 June 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. The most serious crisis to break out in intra-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relations since...

    

69. Singapore, Rotterdam hub ports target digital solutions

    09 June 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Two of the world's giant maritime hubs, Asia's transshipment centre of Singapore and ......

    

70. Panama Canal eyes more transit slots as demand escalates

    07 June 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. As the one-year anniversary of its locks expansion project nears, the Panama Canal Authority...

    

71. US sees growing challenge to ballast equipment testing

    06 June 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. The ability of the US Coast Guard to monitor independent laboratories testing ballast water...

    

72. Fog, larger alliance ships cause massive Yangshan delays

    06 June 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on JOC.com. More than 100 container ships are delayed outside the Shanghai port of Yangshan as a combination...

    

73. Project cargo market heading for patchy recovery

    10 May 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. The weakness in oil and other commodity prices until late 2016, combined with geopolitical...

    

74. Operators are the greatest danger to container market

    09 May 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. New vessel orders are threatening to blight the container shipping sector whose growth remains...

    

75. Outlook for carriers seen worsening on overcapacity, debt

    09 May 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on JOC.com. Carriers began the year emboldened by improving freight rates in the wake of the tighter capacity...

    

76. Maersk separates IT and digital divisions to speed up digitalisation

    05 May 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Maersk Line is setting up separate internal IT and digital divisions as part of a range...

    

77. Global syndicated marine loan volume falls off a cliff

    04 May 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Shipping has been warned that access to bank finance will be very tight. Newly released...

    

78. Consolidation of transhipment hubs within new alliances likely, says liner network specialist

    07 April 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Increased terminal consolidation within the alliances should be expected as lines make a...

    

79. Funding changes set to change the tanker landscape, says Euronav's Rodgers

    07 April 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. The landscape of tanker shipping is poised to change in the years to come as financing will...

    

80. Ocean Rig bankruptcy: Another ball in Economou's juggling act

    06 April 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. After a long period of escalating distress in the wake of lower oil pricing, George Economou-led...

    

81. Bulker owners seize the day

    06 April 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Expectations that fortunes will improve in the bulk carrier sector this year are supported...

    

82. Quantifying One Belt One Road may be a fool's game

    05 April 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. China's One Belt One Road (OBOR) programme continues to generate high levels of interest...

    

83. 'Tariff effect' to create majority of initial savings of new Japanese liner shipping entity

    05 April 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Most of the estimated initial combined savings of JPY110 billion (USD960 million) per year...

    

84. New York shipping professionals poised for 'Trump bump'

    28 February 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Donald Trump's presidency should boost fee prospects within New York's maritime ...

    

85. Private equity pursues more targeted shipping approach

    28 February 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Private equity (PE) groups may be much less interested in taking shipping equity stakes...

    

86. Terminal operators need to get used to lower growth levels, says new APMT boss

    28 February 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Terminal operators can expect downward pressure on tariffs to continue in certain markets...

    

87. Chembulk's Jack Noonan: from the sea to the corner office

    28 February 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com. Shipping bosses come in different breeds. Some rise to the top after careers in banking....

    

88. Hong Kong and Shenzhen unlikely to lose services with alliance regrouping, says HPH Trust CEO

    28 February 2017 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    This story was originally published on Fairplay.IHS.com Terminals in Hong Kong are facing pressure from unprofitable shipping lines to reduce...

    

89. JOC Insights: US Christmas trees and decorations imports

    30 January 2017 Mario O. Moreno

    US imports of Christmas trees & decorations to hit an eight-year high US containerized imports of Christmas trees and decorations stalled in...

    

90. JOC Insights: US toy imports

    12 December 2016 Mario O. Moreno

    US toys TEU imports forecast to hit a six-year high US containerized imports of toys as measured by TEU volume fell in the third quarter by only...

    

91. JOC Insights: US soda ash exports

    09 November 2016 Mario O. Moreno

    Global soda ash expanding at 4 percent a year over 2010-2015 Global exports of soda ash by ton volume have expanded at a compound annual growth...

    

92. JOC Insights: US furniture imports

    23 September 2016 Mario O. Moreno

    US furniture imports up for 19 straight quarters US containerized imports of furniture as measured by TEU volume expanded in the second quarter...

    

93. JOC Insights: US exports of distiller's dried grains and soluble (DDGS)

    05 August 2016 Mario O. Moreno

    U.S. exports of DDGs (distiller's dried grains and soluble) have soared in recent years from 1 million tons in 2006 to more than 12 million tons...

    

94. US exports of poultry

    13 July 2016 Mario O. Moreno

    US poultry exports tumbled 13.0 percent in 2015 for a total volume of 3.5 million metric tons

    

95. JOC Insights: US exports of logs & lumber

    06 June 2016 Mario O. Moreno

    US containerized exports of logs and lumber fell by 11.5 percent in 2015

    

96. JOC Insights: World containerized trade of footwear

    23 March 2016 Mario O. Moreno

    World containerized exports of footwear decelerated the pace in 2015 to an estimated 0.5 percent growth rate, after expanding by 3.0 percent...

    

97. JOC insights: US imports of tableware and household articles of plastic

    10 February 2016 Mario O. Moreno

    US imports of tableware and other household articles to hit an all-time volume high

    

98. US imports, exports on upward track

    14 January 2016 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    After reaching a record high in 2015, US containerized imports are likely to stay on an upward track this year as housing market gains strengthen...

    

99. West Coast import volumes back to normal?

    15 October 2015 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

    Recently the congestion at the West Coast ports led to a noticeable growth in traffic on the East Coast, but it appears that volumes might be...

    

100. [Infographic] Streamline Your Data-Driven Decision Making

     14 July 2015 IHS Markit Maritime & Trade Expert

     Increasingly companies across all industries are adopting data-driven decision making in their strategic planning and with good reason. Companies...

     

101. Video: Assessing the marine usage of LNG fuel

     23 September 2014 Krispen Atkinson

     Availability of shale gas, combined with new maritime sulfur-emission regulations, is making liquefied natural gas a potential fuel option for...

     

102. More trade, bigger ships

     01 July 2014 IHS Markit Expert

     As trade grows, so too will the shipping industry. Challenges ahead include political violence at a growing number of ports and stricter environmental...

     

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