Total 292 Posts
The longer dated EC contracts expiring after February 2025 have recovered most of their losses in the previous week as hopes for an early end to the Gaza conflict has diminished following the hawkish statements from Israel and increased strikes against targets in Gaza and Lebanon. The short-dated contracts for December 2024 and February 2025 largely held their ground despite increased scepticism over the carriers’ ability to push through additional rate hikes in December after their failure to
Most EC contracts are down this morning as overnight CMA CGM slashed its online quotation for November shipments to low $4,000 per FEU from $5,460 per FEU . Tianjin Shipping Index, the only daily freight index, dropped 1.6% overnight. No new vessel utilization data today.
Longer-dated EC contracts have rebounded as traders reassess the likelihood of a ceasefire in the Middle East, following reports that Israel has committed to continuing its military operations in Lebanon. Overnight, OOCL reduced its online quotation by 15-20%, now pricing shipments departing in November at $4,050 per FEU. This change comes as OOCL's DEMARK service left the Far East with utilization rates below 90%, which has pulled down the moving average utilization for alliance services that h
All EC contracts are down this morning, following a consistent trend since last Wednesday, where the longer-dated contracts have underperformed. Maersk released its quotations for December shipments at $6,000 per FEU, while MSC reduced its quotation for November shipments to $3,740 per FEU. Although the average utilization for the alliance services has reached new highs since June, independent services such as MSC's Britannia and Hapag-Lloyd's CGX have been trending downward. Far East-North Eur
EC container freight futures slumped on 11 November 2024 with the "Trump Trade" driving down longer-dated contracts on trade tariff concerns as well as a potential resolution of the Gaza crisis that could lead to the resumption of regular vessel traffic through the Red Sea. Near-term contracts for December 2024 and February 2025 slipped by smaller amounts after a brief rally at the end of last week as hopes for the pull forward of cargo bookings were dampened by carriers offering discounted rat
The SCFIS finally caught up with the recent spot rate hikes, rising by 11.8% on 14 November after 2 weeks of lackluster gains, reflecting the backward looking nature of the index that captures actual settled rates. The cumulative gain of 14.6% logged by the SCFIS in the last 4 weeks has lagged behind the SCFI’s 30.3% rise in the same period. However, the positive rate momentum is shifting with MSC slashing their rates to $3,700-3,800 per feu until the end of November, undercutting rivals’ rates
Charter rates continue to firm across all size segments, with the lack of supply of fresh tonnage pushing charterers to commit to not just higher rates but also forward deliveries into 2025. All of the laycans registered in the past week was in the smaller size segments of 2,800 teu and below, with the lack of tonnage in the larger sizes continuing to limit the number of transactions recorded. Interest from Russia related carriers remain firm with Uniglobal and OVP taking on smaller feeder ship
The outcome of the US presidential elections will drive further instability in the container markets, with US imports poised to rise ahead of the potential imposition of new tariffs. Based on data collected since 2018, the cargo front loading could raise US container imports by as much as 10% to 15% in the next 3 months. Although this will drive up freight rates in the short term, the longer term impact of any trade war on global container volumes will be negative even though US import tariffs i
This morning, many container freight futures contracts dropped to their daily limit. The EC market is circulating a story about MSC reducing freight rates to $3,800 per FEU. The author has not yet been able to validate this claim. However, the fact that MSC and Maersk are still not quoting over $5,000 per FEU for shipments after mid-November may have triggered a reaction from EC traders. The sell-off this morning is still concentrated on longer-dated contracts, reflecting a belief in the EC mark
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