While surfing the web, I found this article on the Daily Green about shipping containers that have been converted into homes: Amazing Homes and Offices Built from Shipping Containers. It features lots of cool photos of shipping containers that have been revamped in very creative ways. Enjoy!

Last year, shippers were faced with increasing rates as carriers recovered from profit loss and limited space on vessels as carriers reduced capacity. The hope was that in 2010, things would pick up. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that will be the case. As discussed in this opinion piece from Supply Chain Brain, carriers will only be adding capacity if they see significant market growth (which hasn't happened yet). Delayed shipments can also be expected, as carriers make service changes to conserve fuel (the on-time deliver rate in 2009 was only 55%!)

According to a recent New York Times article, shipping giant Maersk has cut its top cruising speed in half over the past two years. In doing so, the company cut fuel consumption on major routes by as much as 30%, reducing costs. They also decreased their ships' emission of greenhouse gases.

For those of you that have been following The Box, the story of a shipping container that the BBC has been tracking all over the world for the past 421 days, it's journey is about to come to an end. In 14 months, the Box traveled approximately 51,654 miles (the equivalent of 2.08 trips around the earth!), and carried cargo as diverse as whisky, bathroom scales and tins of cat food.

The World Shipping Council has launched a new informational website with the goal of providing the public a better understanding of the shipping industry. The website includes background info on the industry, benefits of liner shipping, challenges, testimonials, and additional resources.

Today, the Journal of Commerce reported that last week, Hyundai took an order for the first container ship in over a year, anywhere in the world! Middle East oil tanker operator, Abu Dhabi National Tanker Company placed an order for two gearless box ships of 1,060 20-foot equivalent units capacity, the first order since October 2008. The number of vessels ordered has been decreasing steadily over the past few years - 208 vessels ordered in 2008 and 545 in 2007, compared to a whopping 1 (so far) in 2009. Hopefully this is a sign that things are starting to pick up.

As of late, economic conditions have forced carriers to reduce their rates to extremely low levels. Seemingly good news for shippers. However, now many carriers are saying that these rates have sunk to levels that are unsustainable, and they will be forced to raise them again in coming weeks. This could cause a couple of things to happen - first, the carriers could lose business because shippers are unable to pay more at this time for a service they are using less of. Second, if some carriers are unable to survive the recession, there will be fewer competitive options for shippers to choose from.

American Shipper has released the 2009 results of their annual Top 20 Container Lines study. Below are a few highlights from the report:

Traditional ISO tanks, used to transport bulk quantities of liquid, have recently faced some competition from what's known as a "flexitank." Essentially, a flexitank is a large plastic bag that goes inside a standard 20-foot dry box, similar to the design of a box of wine. After the liquid is transported, there is no clean-up required because the plastic bag is disposable. Though there are some challenges with the flexitanks, such as rupture/leak concerns on railroads, and their inability to transport hazardous liquid commodities (like spirits with high alcohol content), wine shippers have gravitated to flexitanks as their top choice for shipping wine to overseas markets. So that $300 bottle of wine you're drinking just might technically be "boxed wine." You can read more about flexitanks in this article from American Shipper: Boxed Wine.