Markets/Trades

Easing volumes especially to the US West Coast are starting hit spot freight rates with SCFI rates to USWC dropping by 8% last week. Zim’s surprise decision to relaunch the eCommerce Express (ZEX) service has sparked another round of rate cuts which has prompted CMA CGM to reconsider its plan to launch a similar express service in December. USEC rates are holding their ground as carriers continue to raise concerns over the Panama canal transit restrictions (in number of containership passage pe

Following SCFIS’s 31% WoW move on 13 Nov, CoFIF went limit up at the open on the next day (14 Nov) but gave back more than half of the gain. The market went seesaw rest of the week. The CoFIF traders have been holding a view that the SCFIS will be about 750-880 for next year where the spot SCFIS has been swinging between 600 and 850. While the SCFIS seems to track the SCFI with 2 weeks lag but the relation between the two is not linear. SCFI’s Asia Europe rate is expressed in $ per 20’ dry whil

Asia-North Europe forward freight prices on CoFIF edged a bit lower, ignoring the Nov 1 GRI and the on-going correction in the spot market, while the trading volume stabilizes at just below $900m a day. After 55 trading days since launch, the CoFIF has been a surprising success in the liquidity front, which are sustained primarily by the onshore retail traders. As per the exchange, 80% of the trading volume come from qualified retail traders and nearly all trading volume come from onshore pools

The SCFI transpacific rate assessments surged for a second straight week to pass $2,100/feu to the West Coast and $2,400/feu to the East Coast but these rates cannot be sustained in the traditional slack season in November, with spot rates settling into the usual routine of early month hikes followed by mid-month declines. The same pattern will be repeated through November, with capacity rising sharply this month on both WC and EC routes. Forward capacity forecasts for November currently shows a

Asia-North Europe forward freight prices on CoFIF were mostly unchanged last week, with the SCFI spot rate assessment slipping by 1.7% after surging by 32% the week before, while the latest SCFIS recorded a 1.7% increase following the 7.7% gain a week before. The CoFIF is settled on the SCFIS (Shanghai Export Containerized Freight Index based on Settled Rates) which is based on the blended average settled rates determined by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange with a base index of 1,000 as at May 20

The SCFI transpacific rate assessments have rebounded on the back of the 1 November GRI that has brought spot rates to the West Coast above $1,900 per feu and East Coast to above $2,350 per feu. Despite this, the positive momentum on the transpacific routes will be difficult to sustain as capacity will increase through November after the cuts in October while capacity utilization continues to weaken on services to both coasts. Spot Asia-Europe freight rates surged last week ahead of the 1 Nove

Hapag-Lloyd will receive next month the first of 9 ships of 14,372 teu that it has chartered from SFL and Enesel for 5 year periods in the first benchmark fixture for ships of this size following the expiry of their initial 10 year charter to Evergreen. The first 2 ships (THALASSA HELLAS and THALASSA PATRIS) are currently undergoing upgrades at COSCO Zhoushan including raised lashing bridges that will increase their nominal capacity from 13,808 teu to 14,372 teu. They will join the FE-US East

INE, the exchange where CoFIF contracts are being traded, doubled the transaction fee for the second time during the last two weeks to 0.02% and cap the trading volume at 500 contracts per day, another attempt to cool the short-term trading activities. Each CoFIF contract is priced as Rmb50 x the SCFIS. So 500 CoFIF contract cap amount to about $2.7mn. Despite being halved, the liquidity remains very high after the new policies kicked in. The transaction fee started at 0.001% at CoFIF's launch

Transpacific rates were largely unchanged over the past week with rates to the West Coast rates remaining firmer than the East Coast but sentiment is improving on both coasts as capacity utilization has been stronger than expected with several extra loaders notably by Maersk being added to cater to the overflow cargo. THE Alliance’s announcement late last week of the withdrawal of the EC4 in November will help to remove the surplus capacity on the East Coast especially on the Suez route which i

Market sentiment has turned positive for the first time since August, with momentum building for the November freight rate hikes as further capacity cuts are forthcoming after THE Alliance decided belatedly to suspend the EC4 service to the US East Coast via the Suez in November. This follows earlier cuts made by various carriers on the USWC and Europe routes that have helped to elevate carriers rate restoration efforts. The SCFI recorded its 2nd successive weekly increase, led by gains on the M