Any further escalation of the Red Sea crisis would have a limited impact on the container markets as only 14% of the ships currently deployed on the Asia-Europe trade is using the Suez Canal. The share of the overall capacity is even smaller, as only 4% of the 7.48m TEU deployed is using the Suez route as the majority of the carriers there are deploying smaller ships, with CMA CGM the sole exception as it retains a single Asia-Med service that is still on the Suez.
The SCFI recorded a second successive weekly decline, but both the CCFI and SCFIS to North Europe which better reflects actual revenue to carriers have continued to rise. The recent decline in spot freight rates have spooked the freight futures market but it has not dampened charter market sentiment with charter rates still rising on tight demand from carriers. The pace of new ship deliveries has also slowed, with the monthly growth rate declining to 0.5% from a peak of 1.2% a month ago with just 173,700 TEU delivered in the past 30 days.
Linerlytica
CMA CGM continues Suez routing on BEX2 despite rising Middle East tensions
The escalation in Middle East tensions over the weekend has not altered containership movements in the Red Sea region. 14% of the 513 ships currently operated on the Asia-Europe/Med route are still using the Suez route, involving mainly smaller operators based in China, Russia, Singapore, Turkey and UAE that are trading to the Black Sea and Baltic Sea.
All of the main carriers on the Asia-Europe trade have diverted their ships to the Cape route, with CMA CGM being the sole exception as it continues to operate 11 ships on its Asia-Med Phoenician Express (BEX2) service via the Suez/Red Sea route.
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