Freight futures to North Europe dropped across the board last week, with US
recession concerns weighing negatively on market sentiment. The emergence of
some sub-$8,000/feu quotations for shipments departing in second half of August
for Asia-North Europe route triggered a fresh round of sell-offs for the EC2410
contracts last Thursday, as the rate erosion appears to be accelerating even
though capacity to North Europe remains tight. Preliminary vessel utilization
for the Asia-North Europe route