Total 263 Posts
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
Further turmoil on the transpacific market is expected next year with potential US import tariff hikes dampening the buoyant demand that has seen eastbound container volumes from Asia to the US jump by 14.7% in the first 9 months of 2024. US imports have been particularly strong in the 3rd quarter, with average monthly volumes matching the COVID peaks in 2021-2022. Imports from Vietnam have increased by 26%, with its share of US imports from the Far East reaching 14% compared to just 5% a decad
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
The SCFI assessment to North Europe jumped by 14.2% last week ahead of the planned 1 November rate hike but actual rates are still weak with the CCFI dropping by 6.4% while the SCFIS barely held out for a 0.1% rise after 13 consecutive weeks of declines that have seen the settled index slump by 65% since July. Although the SCFI is expected to post another hefty increase this week, cracks are already appearing on the carriers’ resolve to push through the 1 Nov rate hike, with several carriers al
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
Charter rates have picked up in the past week with the smaller sizes also enjoying a revival as larger ships are mostly all sold out. Availability of the larger sizes above 3,000 teu are scarce, with open candidates snapped up quickly and periods extended to 2-3 years, while charterers seeking shorter periods will need to pay higher premiums. Forward fixtures have extended beyond the first half of 2025, with several charters done for 2nd half 2025 positions. The strong gains have extended to t