And the shipping lines are already installing equipment to clean up their discharges better.
Hitherto, banks have typically lent shipping lines as much as 80% of the value of a ship.
Other shipping lines sell ships when capacity is bloated, and lease them back when needed, to save money.
Most of this is on the company's own vessels, but some space is bought from other shipping lines.
But no sooner had they been formed than the shipping lines began to announce rate rises one by one.
These days many shipping lines believe that bigger is better, not just for the shipping companies' bottom line, but also the environment.
For a start, he says, besides Maersk there are also several smaller shipping lines on the main trade routes which have not joined alliances.
Lop-sided demand has created a logistical headache for shipping lines: they cannot find enough containers in Asia for the journey to America and Europe.
Extraordinarily, although raising money to buy second-hand ships is proving hard, shipping lines still seem to have little trouble arranging finance for new ones.
It "aimed to echo the message of peace and friendship to the neighboring states and guarantee security of the seafaring and shipping lines vis-a-vis sea piracy, " the news agency said.
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It may be just a blip, but in recent weeks, even as the shipping lines have announced further price rises, average rates have fallen, amid signs of a weakening global economy.
But the spot market, where vessels are chartered for specific trips or time periods, is very unpredictable, particularly since regulators put a stop two years ago to an arrangement between shipping lines (the top 15 of which control 80% of the market) to manage overcapacity by co-operating on routes and rates.
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Credit Suisse estimates that 35% of China COSCO's revenue and 32% of China Shipping Container Lines' comes from the Asia-Europe route, while earnings from European trade for the country's port operators varies between 7.3% to 34.1%.
"The history of container shipping involves ship lines taking huge gambles, " says Marc Levinson, who points to a trend for some American and European companies to move manufacturing back from Asia.
CIMC, a Chinese firm that makes shipping containers, dismantles entire production lines in expensive countries and rebuilds them back home.
Sanctions would disrupt a major portion of the U.S.-Chinese shipping market controlled by Cosco, whose business lines include port terminals and warehousing, insurance, real estate and hotel management.
Now is the time for cruise lines, the petroleum industry and the shipping companies to finally stop using their economic might to prevent reform.
Mall lines remain long and the website estimates a 1-2 week wait before shipping for online orders.
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