The EC freight futures to North Europe remain bullish with buying interests shifting towards the longer dated contracts in 2025 with EC2502 (February 2025) and EC2504 (April 2025) contracts registering double digit gains last week, bringing them above the corresponding months’ closing rates in 2024. The newly launched EC2506 contract gained 32% since the launch last Tuesday on rising conviction that the Red Sea crisis will last through 2025. However, the EC2408 contract for August 2024 slipped
EC freight futures traded to new highs across all contracts through April 2025, with the main August 2024 contract rising by 12% WoW to 5,399 points. The latest SCFIS as at 24 June increased by 1.6% to 4,766 with current futures prices implying a 13% upside for spot freight rates from Shanghai to North Europe between now until to the end of August. The bullish outlook looks set to persist in the coming week as rates remain firm with a further round of FAK rate increases due to be applied on 1 Ju
EC futures recovered essentially all of their losses after a volatile week with the longer dated contracts slumping to their 16% limit down levels on 11 June in reaction to the UN ceasefire resolution adopted on 10 June but rebounded over the next 3 trading days with little change to their pre-UN resolution levels. The main EC2408 contract was up 2% WoW, but could extend its gains this week following the SCFIS’ 10.8% WoW gain on 17 Jun. The new capacity additions on the Asia-North Europe route
The SCFIS index to North Europe gained a further 12.8% to reach 3,799 on 3 June 2024, further narrowing the gap between current spot rates and the CoFIF Asia-North Europe freight futures’ EC2406 and 2408 contracts which are now trading at a 10% premium to the current SCFIS. The prices for these 2 contracts with the earliest expiry dates slipped marginally last week on lower traded volumes, with the market lacking fresh directions. The June and August futures rates are now on par, which suggests
What is CoFIF? o INE Container Freight Index Futures (CoFIF) are a type of futures contract traded on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE). Where is CoFIF traded? o The Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), an associated company of the Shanghai Futures Exchange; the two are operated and managed by the same management team. o The INE is regulated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and serves as every trader's ultimate counterparty. All trading profits and lo
Asia-North Europe freight futures surged to a new record high with the August 2024 CoFIF contract (EC2408) closing at 4,313 on 27 May but daily trading volumes dropped as traders waited for the next catalyst. Open interests ended the week relatively unchanged in number of lots but stand at a record high in dollar value due to the rise in prices since 9 May. Capacity utilization on the Asia-North Europe route has come off slightly from their recent high but this has not dampened freight rates wi
The CoFIF container freight index futures traded at a new hight in volatile trading last week. Initial concern that CMA CGM’s resumption of Suez transits on one of its Asia-Med strings (see page 20 Weekly News Briefs) could trigger a response by its rivals proved to be unfounded, while the Shanghai Futures Exchange’s action to enforce the position restrictions to ring-fence speculative activities did little to dampen trading volumes as average daily turnover reached $3.5bn. Open interests are do
CoFIF freight futures to North Europe rallied sharply last week on the back of the sharp spot rate hikes driven by the current shortage of capacity on the trade. Effective capacity to North Europe is down 5.1% despite having 17.8% more in total vessel capacity deployed compared to a year ago, with the longer route via the Cape of Good Hope taking away almost 23% of the effective capacity. The SCFIS increased by 13.7% on 13 May to reach 2,512 with further increases expected over the coming weeks
Asia-North Europe freight futures rallied over the Labour Day shortened trading week, with rates on the 2 main futures contracts (EC2406 and EC2408) trading higher on 30 Apr and 6 May. The 2 short dated contracts rallied as the Middle East peace talks faltered with the 2 contracts accounting for nearly 80% of daily trading volumes, while the longer dated contracts for EC2412, EC2502 and the newly launched EC2504 were tactically sold off as trading hedges. Average daily volumes were unchanged b
Hong Kong, 1 May 2024 - BANDS Financial and Linerlytica launch the first virtual container freight futures trading competition exclusively for companies and executives involved in container shipping's Asia-Europe route. The competition is open to 20 companies and 200 individuals in separate company and individual leagues. Contestants receive virtual money to trade CoFIF, and the 3 contestants from each league with the highest equity at the end of the 6-month competition period will win the 2024