Markets/Trades

EC futures barely moved on thin volume today, despite a 12% jump in SCFIS overnight. Hapag-Lloyd lowered its January shipment quotations from $6,000-$8,000 per FEU to below $6,000 per FEU, while Maersk has yet to post any quotes for January shipments. Although the industry average utilization for the FE-NEUR route has rebounded to mid-November highs, THE Alliance sailings have shown relatively weak utilization in recent weeks, reflecting the price Hapag-Lloyd has paid for its leadership in raisi

Charter activity is slowing down as the end of 2024 approaches with no signs of charter rates abating after their strong run up over the past 12 months. Activity is focused entirely on the smaller sizes of below 5,000 teu with no fresh deals in the over-5,000 teu segment due to the acute shortage of open tonnage with increasing numbers of forward fixtures done for 2nd half 2025 deliveries. Activity in the smaller sizes remain brisk, with the 1,700 teu/2,700 teu/4,200 teu segments still registe

Asia-North Europe carriers failed in their bid to raise freight rates in mid-December with spot rates rolling back some of their earlier gains with the SCFI slipping by 2.2% last week. However, the SCFIS jumped by a larger than expected 14.0% on 16 December, reflecting the delayed effects of the early December rate hikes. Most carriers are holding their rates until the end of the year, before making another attempt to raise rates to $6,000/feu on 1 January. Maersk continues to offer selective d

EC contracts mostly lost ground over the past week with the longer dated EC futures after February 2025 registering drops over between 1% to 5%. In contrast, near-term contracts were firm with December 2024 and February 2025 contracts gaining some ground as carriers managed to hold on to the 1 December rate increases. The SCFIS released after the market close on 16 December 16 jumped by 14% week-over-week and 22% over the past two weeks, outperforming market expectations bringing the index to wi

Both the CCFI and SCFI rebounded last week with carriers successfully reversing the recent slide in freight rates with Asia-Europe rates still holding on to most of their recent gains while Transpacific rates are staging a late rally amidst growing USEC port labor tensions and the threat of rising trade tariffs. Average CCFI rates in the 4th quarter is holding just above the 2nd quarter levels which will ensure that carriers’ earnings will remain healthy in the last quarter of 2024 with carrie

The EC contracts rose today in anticipation of a strike at the US East Coast ports, following Trump's announcement that he would side with the labor union. However, the government's support for labor may mean that liners will have to make concessions, making a strike even less likely. The recent increase in average vessel utilization for FE-WCNA and the decrease for FE-ECNA suggest that cargo owners may have already begun shifting their east coast-bound shipments to vessels heading to the west c

Selling pressure on EC contracts continued today, with longer-dated contracts underperforming. This indicates that the primary driver at this point is the incremental changes in the Middle East as it moves toward a ceasefire deal. EC traders remain hopeful for one more round of freight rate increases in the FE-N.EUR before the CNY holidays. The utilization moving average ticked up slightly due to a couple of fully loaded vessels (APL CHANGI and ESTELLE MAERSK) that departed the Straits of Sing

EC contracts continued to decline throughout the day due to the possibility of a ceasefire following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Near-term contracts continue to outperform, fueled by hopes of another round of freight rate increases in December. Average utilization remained largely unchanged overnight. Evergreen and HMM raised their quotes by a few hundred dollars for shipments departing in the second half of December.

EC futures dropped across the board over the past week, with the earlier exuberance over the December rate hikes cooling off as spot market rates settle into a tighter range which will likely hold for the rest of the month before carriers attempt another round of rate hikes on 1 January. The SCFIS rose by 7.2% in the latest 9 December release to reach 3,033 points, but EC2412 still trades at a 12% premium at 3,398 with possible downside pressure as the mid-December rate increases appear to have

Asia-North Europe spot rates stabilized last week with rates settling into a tighter range of between $5,200 to 5,600 per FEU. The SCFI slipped marginally by 0.3% on Friday after the 22.5% surge the previous week, reflecting the roll back from the higher rates that carriers had initially targeted from the 1 Dec rate hike. The lagging SCFIS index rose by 7.2% on 9 December as the higher rates are registered. The current rates are expected to largely hold through until the end of the month, with