The global container shipping industry saw profits surge to more than $10 billion in the second quarter on record volumes and rising freight rates after Red Sea diversions.

LOS ANGELES — Companies linked to two cargo ships accused of damaging a pipeline months before it ruptured have agreed to pay $45 million to settle lawsuits brought by business owners and residents.

The German government is close to reaching a compromise over a disputed sale of a stake in a Hamburg container terminal to China’s state-owned shipping conglomerate Cosco Shipping Holdings Co.

The U.S. lifted sanctions against a unit of China’s biggest shipping company that was accused of hauling Iranian crude in violation of American restrictions.

The day rate for a standard tanker east of the Suez Canal jumped 57% in the week to Oct. 9, as issues related to U.S. sanctions on units of China’s COSCO Shipping Corp. start to hit just as the heating season begins to boost demand.

China plans to ask the U.S. to lift sanctions on its biggest shipping company at high-level trade negotiations in Washington this week, people familiar with the matter said.

West Coast seaport officials and trucking executives are monitoring Cosco Shipping’s $6.3 billion bid to purchase Orient Overseas International Ltd. to see how the consolidation would affect their businesses.

Cosco Shipping Holdings Co. offered $6.3 billion to acquire the container carrier controlled by former Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa’s family in a deal that would catapult the mainland Chinese group into world’s third-largest shipping line

The Cosco Development arrived to fanfare on the East Coast last week as public officials celebrated the largest containership in history to cross the Panama Canal with destinations to Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina.

China Cosco Holdings Co., Asia’s largest container shipping company after a government-led merger last year, posted a loss in the first half as excess capacity dragged down cargo rates.