Market focus is shifting to the new Alliances’ services to be launched in February, when the currently buoyant container freight and charter market will be keenly tested. Freight futures to Europe have slumped in the past week with carriers already rolling back their recent rate gains even as forward rates are expected to fall continuously through the rest of 2025. The Transpacific market is moving in the opposite direction, with carriers able to secure an early January rate hike on strong capacity utilization ahead of a potential US East Coast port strike.
The number of blanked sailings on both the Asia-Europe and Transpacific routes in February are expected to be over 50% higher than last year, with the transition to the new Gemini, MSC and Premier Alliance services expected to severely disrupt scheduled sailings (see detailed trade deployment tables & charts on page 13-21). This could provide some respite to the anticipated rate slump next month.
Johnson Leung
Fleet and Market data for 2024
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