CK Line has launched a new Korea China Haiphong (KCH) service calling at Incheon, Qingdao, Ningbo, Haiphong, Shekou, Incheon from 30 August 2024. The new KCH service turns in 2 week and will operate initially on a fortnightly basis with the 907 teu TC MESSENGER.
MSC will revise 2 of its China-East Coast South America services from September 2024 covering both the eastbound and westbound directions. The revised Santana service will call at Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Busan, Cristobal, Suape, Salvador, Singapore, Yantian from 14 September 2024 on an eastbound round the world rotation via the Panama Canal and the Cape of Good Hope. The Santana service was revised from a FE-USEC service with the USEC ports omitted from April 2024. Current calls a
Sinotrans has launched a new North China-Philippines (NCP) service calling at Xingang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila (North), Xingang from 22 August 2024. The NCP will turn in 3 weeks using 3 ships of 900-1,200 teu starting with the 1,200 teu KANG QI JIA HONG at Xingang on 22 August followed by the 1,032 teu DONG FANG FU and 907 teu SINOTRANS BEIJING
Maersk will launch a new Far East-Indian Subcontinent 1 (FI1) service calling at Colombo, Laem Chabang, Yantian, Hong Kong, Colombo from September 2024. The service will turn in 4 weeks and will deploy 4 ships of 3,500 teu to 7,800 teu starting with the 4,506 teu DYROS at Colombo on 10 September.
Sinotrans, SeaLead and BTL will launch a new China India West Coast service calling at Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Shanghai from 12 September 2024. The service is branded as the China India West Coast (CIW) by Sinotrans and Far East India Express 2 (FIX 2) by SeaLead while while BTL has not yet announced the name it will use for the service. The service will replace SeaLead's existing FIX 2 service that is operated independently with calls The CIW/FIX 2 will turn in 6 weeks
Hapag-Lloyd has merged its South America – Africa Triangle Service (SAT) with the West Europe-West Africa (WWA) into an extended butterfly pattern covering North Europe-Africa-South America-Africa-North Europe starting from June 2024. The integrated SAT/WWA service will call at Paranagua, Santos, Navegantes, Luanda, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Luanda, Tangier Med, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Le Havre, Lisbon, Tangier Med, Tema, Pointe Noire, Luanda, Paranagua turning in 7 to 8 weeks deploying up to 8 ships
MSC has continued its ship acquisition spree with the 2nd of 4 Panamax ships taken from Chinese operator Safetrans delivered last week. The 4,173 teu SFT EGYPT has joined MSC as the MSC BANJUL IV on 21 August, following the SFT CHINA (renamed MSC TIA V) that had joined earlies on 3 July. 2 more ships (SFT TURKEY and SFT SAUDI) will follow in September, bringing the total number of ships it acquired in 2024 to 36 units. Safetrans has opted to cash out on the 4 ships that it bought at attractive
Carriers continue to slash Asia-Europe rates with the SCFI slipping by 4.6% to North Europe and 2.6% to the Med. Maersk’s announcement on 26 August that it will slash its Peak Season Surcharge for cargo to North Europe from $4,000/feu to $3,000/feu from 15 September is a further negative signal for the market as capacity utilization continues to come off its early peak season high. The weaker market sentiment has driven some capacity withdrawals but these moves are insufficient to check the dr
There is no material increase in port congestion at North America West Coast ports over the past week despite the labour stoppage by Canadian rail workers following the lockout of over 9,000 workers on 22 August before the government called for binding arbitration with no further labour stoppages during the arbitration process paving the way for railway operations to resume on 26 August. Ships faced berthing delays at Vancouver of up to 5 days while the PNW ports of Seattle and Tacoma faced sev
EC freight futures will come under further pressure this week after the SCFIS was published after market close on 26 August with a sharp 7.3% WoW drop, against the 2.3% WoW decline last week. The drop was worse than traders’ expectations as futures prices had rallied last week on stalled Gaza peace talks and the relatively mild drop in the SCFIS on 19 Aug of just 2.3%. Carriers continue to slash rates last week, with average rate quotations from Shanghai to North Europe falling from $8,500/FEU