Markets/Trades

EC freight futures rebounded on 23 September with smaller than expected rate cut by 2M and OCEAN Alliance carrier, with the spillovers from the expected US East Coast dockworkers’ strike scheduled to start on 1 October. EC traders continue rely heavily on surveys of carriers’ FAK rate quotations which dropped by -7% last week (Week 38) compared to the -18% drop in Week 35. However, the EC rates is expected to weaken in the coming week following the 13.9% WoW drop in the SCFIS on 23 September wh

Rates to North Europe continued their sharp falls with the SCFI assessed rates falling by 8.8% to North Europe and 12.2% to the Med. Carriers continue to slash rates, with THE Alliance carriers particularly aggressive with the rate cuts last week with quotations falling below $4,000/feu. Although departures from Shanghai have been severely disrupted in the last 2 weeks due to congestion following Typhoon Bebinka, the reduced capacity available did not stop rates from dropping with demand remai

Charter rates remain broadly flat in the past week, with supply in the larger segments above 4,000 teu still very tight while more open candidates are available in the 1,700-3,000 teu segments. Maersk has been particularly active in the last month, including forward fixtures extending into 1Q 2025 as it tries to secure ships to cover its tonnage requirements for next year when the new Gemini Cooperation is scheduled to start from February. Sinotrans has taken the first 3 units of 4 ships that i

Rates to North Europe dropped by over $1,000/feu in the past week as carriers continued to slash rates in their futile attempt to secure additional cargo ahead of the Golden Week holidays on 1 October. The rate restraint at the beginning of last week was short lived, with further rate cutting still to come. Departures from Shanghai will be erratic following the aftermath of typhoon Bebinca due to serious vessel bunching that would also cause serious disruptions to vessel schedules at downstrea

EC freight futures closed higher last week, with the INE taking an extended 4-day break for the mid-autumm festival from 14 to 17 September. Traders covered their short positions over the past week after Maersk temporarily set their floor rates at $4,400 per FEU but the restraint proved short lived with carriers resuming their aggressive price cutting while Maersk lowered its online quotation to $4,000 per FEU over the weekend, marking a further 10% decrease week over week. The market is expect

The new Asia-Europe network announced by MSC and Premier Alliance along with the planned Gemini Cooperation will result in one additional Med string in 2025 while the number of services to North Europe remain unchanged. Carriers continue to jostle for market share  amidst a rapidly declining rate environment with the SCFI slipping by a further 10.8% last week, while Med rates dropped by 6.4%. The pace of the declines is quickening with carriers keen to cut rates ahead of the Golden Week holida

The main EC freight futures contracts for December 2024 (EC2412) tumbled by 23% over the past week on high trading volumes. Carriers continued to slash FAK rates to North Europe, with market sentiment remaining bearish. Contrarian views are providing support for EC2410 on the belief that October contracts have been oversold at its current 52% discount to the SCFIS. Open interests increased by 11% WoW, indicating the high conviction that traders have on their positions.

Carriers are rushing to secure ship contracts despite rising newbuilding prices and growing concerns over over-capacity by the time these ships hit the water in 2027-2029. COSCO is the latest carrier to join in the new order frenzy with a fresh order revealed last week for 12 units of 13,700 teu at its COSCO Yangzhou shipyard for delivery over 2027-2029 bringing the total capacity contracted in August to a record high of over 1.4m teu, including several Letters of Intent (LOIs) that are expect

Asia-Europe spot rates continued to slide in the last week of August with the SCFI rates to North Europe slipping by 11.9% while rates to the Mediterranean dropped by 9.7%. Carriers continued to undercut each other with FAK rates dropping to the $5,500/feu level with no action to cut capacity in September as  blanked sailings are only planned in October. These measures would come too late to arrest the rate decline, with current EC futures already pricing in a 50% reduction to current levels by

The pace of the SCFI and SCFIS declines continued to accelerate last week with the SCFI assessment to North Europe falling by 11.9% while the SCFIS that came out after market close on 2 Sep dropped by 6.9% following the previous week’s 7.3% decline. Carriers continue to cut their spot rates, with average FAK quotations falling below $6,000/FEU with carriers giving up all the rate gains secured since June this year. Asia-North Europe volumes are down 5% from their peak, with average capacity uti