All EC contracts are down this morning, following a consistent trend since last Wednesday, where the longer-dated contracts have underperformed. Maersk released its quotations for December shipments at $6,000 per FEU, while MSC reduced its quotation for November shipments to $3,740 per FEU. Although the average utilization for the alliance services has reached new highs since June, independent services such as MSC's Britannia and Hapag-Lloyd's CGX have been trending downward. Far East-North Eur
EC container freight futures slumped on 11 November 2024 with the "Trump Trade" driving down longer-dated contracts on trade tariff concerns as well as a potential resolution of the Gaza crisis that could lead to the resumption of regular vessel traffic through the Red Sea. Near-term contracts for December 2024 and February 2025 slipped by smaller amounts after a brief rally at the end of last week as hopes for the pull forward of cargo bookings were dampened by carriers offering discounted rat
This morning, many container freight futures contracts dropped to their daily limit. The EC market is circulating a story about MSC reducing freight rates to $3,800 per FEU. The author has not yet been able to validate this claim. However, the fact that MSC and Maersk are still not quoting over $5,000 per FEU for shipments after mid-November may have triggered a reaction from EC traders. The sell-off this morning is still concentrated on longer-dated contracts, reflecting a belief in the EC mark
The freight futures market continues to follow a pattern similar to yesterday, with near-term contracts being bought and longer-dated ones sold. One point we overlooked yesterday is that Hapag Lloyd began quoting $7,000/FEU rates online. However, most liners kept their online quotations unchanged over the past two days. Utilization improved slightly overnight, as the CMA CGM ZHENG HE, which departed yesterday, registered nearly 100% utilization. Far East - North Europe Head Haul
The EC market is in "Trump trade mode" this morning, with near-term contracts rallying while longer-dated contracts have dropped. This movement is based on the expectation that Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods will lead to an increase in shipments before the tariffs are implemented, followed by a decrease in shipment volume afterward. However, the author believes that the impact of the tariffs is weaker than the organic growth in U.S. consumption, which is a key demand factor for container shipp
EC2502, the main contract of EC, rose 10% yesterday (November 5) on strong volume and maintained this gain through the morning session today, despite increasing concerns about the impact of the Trump administration on Chinese exports. Since our last daily update on November 1, COSCO and Evergreen have also raised their quotations for Asia-North Europe shipments to over $5,000/FEU. However, utilization has been declining since November 1. Far East - North Europe Head Haul
Europe Contracts (EC) saw an increase of 3-10% during the morning session, with 47,174 contracts traded. EC2502 emerged as the main contract by volume, rising by 10% today following MSC's announcement to raise the FE-NEUR freight rate for the second half of November shipments to $5,500 per FEU. ONE also increased its quotations for the second half of November to $5,000 per FEU, up from $4,600 per FEU quoted yesterday. The CMA CGM CHAMPS ELYSEES departed yesterday (October 31) at 101% utilizatio
The EC2412 dropped to a low of 2,900 at the open yesterday (29 October) and then continued to recover as traders digested the conflicting freight rate quotations from different liners. Average utilization continued to improve as shippers rushed to send out their shipments ahead of the general rate increase scheduled for November 1, this Friday. On October 28, four ships departed Singapore for Northern Europe with over 96% utilization. Over the past two days, online quotations from the liners
Shanghai-North Europe freight futures slipped marginally by 1-2% at the start of the week with doubts emerging over the sustainability of the 1 November rate hike. The SCFIS index finally ended its 13-week losing streak with settled rates to North Europe holding up by 0.1% on 28 October just ahead of the planned 1 November rate increase while the SCFI pre-empted the increase on Friday with a 14% week-over-week rebound. Although the SCFIS is set to rise next week on the back of the November hike
EC2412 is up 3.5% at intermission in the morning session, reaching 3262 and edging closer to yesterday's high of 3320, which also marks the peak of the recent rebound since mid-September. TS Lines, primarily involved in intra-Asia trade, is set to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on November 1. Three additional ships departed between October 24 and 23, maintaining utilization above the trend line. Though, jury is out on whether the pick up in utilization is due to the shippers advancin