Total 351 Posts
EC freight futures fell sharply on early week trading due to carriers’ aggressive price cuts and the SCFIS’ 11.2% drop published after market close will fuel further price weakness in the coming week. Capacity cuts in early February has translated to a sharp drop in the number of ships departing the Strait of Singapore last week to just 97,950 teu, against the 13-week average of 286,000 teu but will rebound over the coming weeks with March capacity at 288,000 teu. EC prices declined by 3-9% wee
The planned Asia-Europe general rate increase in March is falling flat with rampant rate cutting jeopardizing plans to raise rates to $4,000/feu. Maersk was again singled out for its aggressive price cuts, with rate offers below $3,000/feu being offered through the end of March. Despite its much touted 90% reliability target for the new Gemini Cooperation network, Maersk has evidently failed to convince its customers to pay a premium and had to resort to price cuts to fill its ships. Forward c
Freight futures of Europe Contracts (EC) declined yesterday and today as Maersk and MSC reduced their quotations to $3,200-$3,940 per forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU) from $4,000-$4,340 for shipments departing in March12. The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) to be released after market today is expected to fall by 7-10%, as last week's rate of $1,608 per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), or about $2,650 per FEU, remains significantly above current spot rates of around $2,200 per FEU
EC contracts continued to rally as traders anticipate a recovery in freight rates over the next two months, despite the liners' target of $4,000 per FEU by March 1 not being fully achievable. Half-day trading volume has already reached 86,000 lots, with open interest increasing by 7,000 lots. Weekly capacity departing from Singapore and Malaysia will hit a trough this week due to blank sailings. Utilization for the few vessels that recently departed Singapore and Malaysia has begun to drop, refl
The charter market remains very active with rates still holding very firm on very strong demand across all size segments. Last week saw notable gains in the Bangkokmax segment where demand has picked up especially for intra-Asia deployment. In the past week, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd dominated the fixtures list as they continue to fill the open vessel slots in their new Gemini network. Maersk’s recent capacity additions have seen it breach its own self-imposed fleet cap of 4.3m teu that it has mai
SCFI spot rates to Europe continue to weaken in the week ended 14 February with no pick up in cargo volumes after the Lunar New Year holiday in the Far East. SCFI spot rates fell by 10.9% with actual spot rates slipping to $2,400-$3,000/feu to North Europe although carriers are aiming to raise rates above $4,000/feu again on 1 March as bookings are resuming after the holidays. Port congestion in Europe could disrupt the schedules of the ships returning to Asia in the next 2 months, which could
The underlying SCFIS index slumped by 19% on 17 February, reversing last week’s unexpected gains. The forward curve has returned to contango for the first time since November 2024, as EC freight futures strengthened over the past week with rates expected to rebound over the March to September period. Trading activity was mainly focused on the principal EC freight futures contract for April 2025 (EC2504) which rose 10% as both MSC and Maersk joined other carriers in raising their quotations for
Container freight futures have rallied sharply, with December 2025 contracts surging by 53% over the past week as hopes for an early return of containerships to the Suez route fade. Since the 19 January ceasefire agreement in Gaza, there has been no ships diverted back to the Suez route with all main carriers retaining their Cape routing at least until March. The potential return of the diverted Suez ships would release up to 7% of the global containership capacity with the resumption of slow s
The EC futures contracts continued to decline, accompanied by slightly lower trading volume. Open interest also began to decrease. Overnight, HMM reduced its quotation for February shipments to $2,200 per FEU, down from $2,400 per FEU. Utilization edged up with two above trend line sailings.
The EC container freight futures dropped this morning on strong volume, as the relief rally from the previously bearish sentiment has completed. Traders will now need to see some level of success from the March 1 GRI to validate the 20-50% rally that occurred last week. Utilization for ships that departed this week remains at a decent level; however, the extremely light MSC VENICE has dragged down the moving average. Liners continue to reduce their online quotations overnight. CMA CMG join Hapa