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Shipping $ Series: SITC shareholders in line for bumper payout

Hong Kong-headquartered intra-Asia carrier SITC has seen its share price hit record highs in recent days after its board last week voted to approve a special dividend, returning some HK$5.4bn (US$688m) to shareholders. "The board is pleased to announce that it has resolved the declaration and payment of the special dividend of HK$1 (equivalent to US$0.13) per ordinary share of the company to be payable to the shareholders whose names appear on the company's register of members at the close of business on 11 December 2026," it said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) filing on Friday. According to the CapitalIQ platform, 49.1% of SITC's stock is freely floated on the HKSE, amounting to 2.71bn shares, with the remaining 51.9% held by a British Virgin Islands company. Its share price closed on Monday at HK$47.9, just shy of the record HK$52 seen on 13 October, shortly after the special dividend was first proposed. It is further sign that investors in shipping stocks are having bumper year, in what Loadstar Premium's DeskOne has labelled the "Shipping $ Series", a moniker prompted by a similar "extraordinary special dividend" issued earlier this month by non-operating shipowner Danaos. The Greek shipowner, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has also seen its stock price break all records in recent weeks, and notified the market it was issuing a $5 special dividend to shareholders in mid-October. Meanwhile, approval of SITC's special dividend followed the release of its unaudited operational performance for the first nine months of the year, which showed the intra-Asia carrier remarkably insulated from most of the geopolitical events battering large parts of the shipping industry. It reported carrying 2.91m teu during the period, a 5.9% increase on the 2.75m teu it carried in the first nine months of 2025. Meanwhile, according to Container Trades Statistics (CTS) data from the first eight months of 2026, intra-Asia volume growth stood at 8.6%. Although this could be interpreted as SITC losing market share, given the continued strength of the intra-Asia trades it is unclear whether SITC could have taken advantage of that market growth, considering the rather limited capacity of its vessels. As Alphaliner explained in a September analysis, while SITC is the sixth-largest intra-Asia carrier in terms of fleet capacity, the five larger carriers are all mainline operators that deploy considerably larger ships in the trade than the specialised regional carriers. Alphaliner data shows the average size of a deepsea carrier's intra-Asia vessel at 2,699 teu, "more than double the 1,338 teu average for regional carriers". SITC's average ship size is 1,444 teu. Alphaliner added: "SITC, the leading regional carrier in intra-Asia, makes the point vividly: it runs 109 ships, but its considerably smaller average vessel size leaves its total capacity at 157,000 teu, well behind Maersk and Cosco, putting SITC in sixth spot. "This is in line with SITC's focus on direct services to smaller and niche ports in Asia, rather than competing on scale. SITC is the only carrier on the list besides Maersk (108 ships) and Cosco (122 ships) that operates a fleet of more than 100 vessels in the region," Alphaliner wrote. However, its nine-month earnings appeared to be above market average, with its average freight rate (excluding slot exchange fee income) sitting at $825.90 per teu, "representing an increase of approximately 9.4% from $754.90 per teu for the corresponding period in 2025". CTS's intra-Asia price index for the first eight months shows overall growth of 5.3%, with declines in the first three months completely reversed in the following half year. SITC group revenue for the first nine months was up 14.2%, to $2,808.1m, it said in the HKSE filing.

UPS: Data centre logistics market to be worth $15bn

UPS has seen its data centre volumes rapidly increase this year and is expecting the logistics market associated with the industry to be worth $15bn per year. Speaking shortly after announcing the company's third-quarter results, the express giant's chief executive Carol Tomé highlighted an "explosion of data centre growth" in the US and described the logistics opportunities associated with the industry as "enormous". "In fact, we estimate the logistics opportunities associated with data centres alone is $15bn," she said. She added that "the numbers are crazy" and could potentially even double. Tome said that in the third quarter of the year, UPS' high-tech small package business grew 30% year-on-year, although she added that this was from a small base. The growth in high-value shipments provided the company with a "really solid foundation to grow earnings". Meanwhile, UPS saw third-quarter revenues increase 6.7% year on year to $22.8bn, while operating profits were down 3.3% to $1.7bn and net income declined 11.3% to $1.2bn. However, the results included a charge of $279m comprised of transformation strategy costs of $130m as well as a $182m charge associated with a goodwill impairment in Supply Chain Solutions. This was partially offset by a gain on sale of MD-11 assets of $33m. Its supply chain division saw revenues rise 18.2% in the quarter on the back of higher rates in air and ocean freight, while logistics revenues improved based on healthcare demand.

Early lunar new year means shippers need to plan ahead, says Seko

Seko logistics is urging shippers sourcing from China to bring forward purchase orders and confirm ocean bookings at least four weeks ahead of shipment, as an earlier lunar new year in 2027 threatens to compress the window for moving cargo before factory closures. Falling 11 days earlier than in 2026, next year's holiday starts on 6 February, and Seko MD for the UK and Ireland Paul Lockwood told The Loadstar: "We are already seeing customers adjust critical path planning to bring their ex-factory dates forward to allow for the earlier lunar new year. "One customer has advised they raised their purchase order with their suppliers three weeks before the typical purchase order date to account for this, and to ensure they are not 'back of the queue' in the production cycle." The move reflects growing concern that orders placed too late could miss pre-holiday shipping windows and face delays as exporters compete for capacity, shippers already battling disruption across Asian container networks. Analysis from Sea-Intelligence found vessel delays, caused by typhoons and port disruption, had absorbed around 3m teu of global container capacity, equivalent to 8.5% of the total, compared with a 2011-19 average of 2.2%. "At the same time, ocean carriers typically introduce additional blanked sailings around the lunar new year period, while exporters concentrate shipments into the weeks immediately before the holiday," a spokesperson for Seko's China office told The Loadstar. "This makes the pre-holiday period one of the busiest times of the year for China's exports. We therefore recommend placing bookings at least four weeks in advance and building sufficient time into factory completion, origin collection and port delivery plans." The spokesperson noted that relatively few factories had formally announced their 2027 holiday schedules, but existing plans indicated that production shutdowns would vary by region, with those Seko works with in northern China planning a 25 January-15 February shutdown. However, local practices in some regions often see manufacturers beginning the holiday period up to a week ahead of the spring festival and not fully resuming operations until after the Lantern Festival on 20 February. In southern China, the downtime is expected to be even longer, with some operators set to shut down three weeks ahead of the festivities and not be back up to full production for a fortnight after the holiday. Seko Logistics' client solutions group director for the UK & Ireland, Dan Eckett, said: "Ocean freight is heavily impacted in the weeks leading up to the new year, as exporters accelerate shipments ahead of factory closures. "This creates pressure on vessel space, equipment availability and carrier schedules, so we typically recommend building an additional one to two weeks into transit plans and ensuring supplier bookings are confirmed well before that three-week threshold, not after it." For UK importers, this means production completion dates and port cutoffs must be worked backwards from the intended sailing, with contingency built in for delays at origin, if they are to avoid the viable albeit economically questionable airfreight and sea-air services.