Spot freight rates and container freight futures drifted further downwards last week, with the resolution of the ILA contract negotiations on the US East Coast removing the last catalyst for a rate rally before the Chinese New Year. The SCFI recorded its worst weekly performance since October, slipping by 8.6% last week with rates dropping across all tradelanes. Market sentiment has turned negative, with further rate cuts expected in the next 4 weeks.
Freight futures are predicting rates to fall by 55-65% over the course of this year, with the only short-term upside coming from the disruptions to services in February as 6 out of the 9 largest carriers will be reshuffling their East-West service networks due Alliance reconfigurations. Ports across Asia, Europe and North America remain highly congested and this would add the disruptions in the coming weeks with Gemini Cooperation partners facing the biggest challenges as they transition to a new integrated hub and spokes network.
Johnson Leung
OCEAN Alliance unveils Day 9 service network
The OCEAN Alliance carriers will have the largest market share and widest market coverage in 2025 after they unveiled their Day 9 product that will be launched in April this year. 3 additional Alliance services will be added to their existing service network, giving them a dominant position on the Transpacific market with 15 sailings to the West Coast and 8 sailings to the East Coast. It will also have the widest coverage to North Europe with a 7th service to be added, matching MSC’s coverage that includes 4 self-operated services and slots on 3 additional services operated by the new Premier Alliance. MSC will remain the dominant carrier to the Med where it will offer 6 weekly services including slots on 2 services operated by the Premier Alliance. Gemini cooperated will become the smallest alliance with the fewest number of weekly sailings on offer in 2025.
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