Editor Spotlight berthage , analyst John McCown of the Center for Maritime Strategy wrote .
“ It is unreasonable to consider a de minimis segment of a conglomerate that actually has nothing to do with the canal to be a national security risk ,” Mc- Cown wrote in a Feb . 18 analysis .
Meanwhile , Senate Republicans are laying out the legal argument that the US could retake control of the canal if the neutrality has been violated . And Mauricio Claver-Carone , Trump ’ s special envoy for Latin America , told Politico in early February that the US Army Corp of Engineers could help the canal , with the condition that the US could get a “ a piece of it .”
Expanding the remit of the Panama Canal Authority to the management of port concessions could be one way to increase US oversight without trying to force a cancellation of HPH ’ s concessions , which are in place until 2047 , or retaking control of the waterway .
EU against e-commerce ‘ de minimis ’ exemption
The European Commission ( EC ) has joined the US in calling for the removal of the so-called de minimis exemption for low-value parcels that is a key driver of the massive increase in air cargo imports from China over the past two years . The EC wants joint action from member states to address concerns from the surge of unsafe , counterfeit , non-compliant or illicit products entering the European market , with its consumer protection authority launching an unspecified “ coordinated action ” against Chinese e-commerce giant Shein . Maroš Šefčovič , the EC commissioner for trade and economic security , said that the EU must step up efforts to prevent non-compliant products from entering its market and to ensure fair competition for both European and third-country operators . Last year , 4.6 billion consignments with a value below the EU ’ s de minimis threshold of € 150 ($ 155 ) entered the EU market duty free , mostly from China and double the number recorded in 2023 , EC data shows . In the US , China accounted for two-thirds of the 1.36 billion de minimis imports last year . De minimis regulations in the US allow one shipment of less than $ 800 in value to move between a single shipper and single consignee per day duty free . Removing low-value products from de minimis exemptions will mean all those millions of daily parcels will need to go through customs checks , a process that would immediately overwhelm the system in both the EU and the US . It is for that reason that soon after the Trump administration removed Chinese low-value products from de minimis rules , the exemption was restored .
Shutterstock . com email : mark . szakonyi @ spglobal . com of the total 1.7 million TEUs of orders made last year were for ships capable of sailing on methanol or LNG , with LNG comprising 63 % of the new orders , according to data from Seaweb , a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global . In 2023 , the methanol-LNG split was 66 % in favor of methanol ships .
Evergreen makes big LNG megaship bet
Taiwan ’ s Evergreen Marine has confirmed inking two deals worth up to $ 3.2 billion for the order of 11 24,000- TEU vessels capable of sailing on LNG . Six of the megaships will be built at South Korean yard Hanhwa Ocean and five at Guangzhou Shipyard International Co . in China at a unit cost between $ 265 million and $ 295 million , Evergreen said in a statement Feb . 13 . The vessels are not expected to start coming online until 2028 . Evergreen ’ s order is a switch in fuel direction following an order for 24 methanol-capable dual-fuel ships the carrier
D . Pfleiderer / Shutterstock . com
made in 2023 . While Evergreen did not provide a reason for the decision to invest in LNG-capable vessels , it is part of a wholesale industry shift toward LNG amid growing methanol supply concerns . Maersk illustrated this same need to keep fuel options open in a recent order for dual-fuel vessels totaling 800,000 TEUs capable of sailing on methanol as well as LNG , a deviation from the carrier ’ s deep dive into methanol . About 70 %
Long-term contracts uplifting ro / ro
Vehicle carrier operators anticipate a bumper 2025 , building on last year ’ s strong performance and supported by continued buoyant vehicle shipments from long-term contracts , according to shipping executives . But volumes of high and heavy equipment , including construction and agricultural machinery , will likely remain subdued in the first half of this year with a possible pickup in the second half going into 2026 .
6 Journal of Commerce | March 3 , 2025 www . joc . com