Total 318 Posts
The containership charter rates remain firm with limited availability in all segments. Gemini Cooperation partners Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are still scrambling to assemble sufficient ships for the launch of their new joint services starting in February 2025 with more than 20 open vessel slots still to be filled. The published schedules for February shows a large number of blanked sailings that will coincide with the port Chinese New Year slack period, but also reflects the partners’ tonnage short
COSCO remains the largest carrier on the Transpacific market, with a 16.5% share of total container volumes shipped on the Far East-US route for the 2024 contract season from May to November 2024. COSCO’s larger capacity share on the US West Coast allowed it to dominate the market compared to their European rivals (CMA CGM and Maersk) who deploys a larger proportion of their capacity on the US East Coast.
EC2502 briefly dipped below 2500 before recovering some losses. The main support for this contract hinges on the anticipated freight rate increase to $6,000 planned for December 30. However, the success of this increase will depend on vessel utilization, which has been trending downward since mid-November. Overnight, CMA CGM reduced their quotations for shipments scheduled in the second half of December by $400 to $600 per FEU.
Longer-dated EC contracts fell this morning as EC traders interpreted the fall of the Assad regime in Syria as a positive step toward peace in the Middle East. Near-dated EC contracts, such as EC2412 and EC2502, outperformed after Maersk issued an email after market on Friday (6 December) announcing a freight rate increase aimed at raising rates to $6,000 per FEU starting December 30, 2024. This $6,000/FEU target was originally set for December 1. Overall, trading volume remains light. However,
EC contracts saw minimal movement this morning as traders awaited the release of the SCFI for direction. Overnight, Maersk continued to slash their quotations, offering $4,400 per FEU from Qingdao to Rotterdam on an AE10 vessel departing on 22 December, compared to $4,700 per FEU for shipments departing from Shanghai before December 15. The utilization moving average remains around 97%, consistent with the level observed since second half of November. However, the week-to-date average utiliza
Carriers appetite for new tonnage continues to push charter rates higher. Apart from raiding the depleted charter market for additional tonnage, carriers have returned to the newbuilding market in droves with Maersk confirming a 20 ship order on top of additional charter deals as it tries to narrow the self-created gap with MSC. The orderbook ratio has rebounded to 27% from 20% in June on the back of more than 3.8m teu of new capacity that has been ordered in the last 6 months alone. The contai
Containerised cargo imports into the US from Asia have continued to grow over the last 7 years despite the introduction of US import tariffs since 2018. Overall cargo growth grew by 3.5% on a compounded basis between 2017 and 2024 with all Asian origins recording positive cargo growth, including China that posted growth of 0.8% during the period. Although China’s share of total US imports from Asia decreased from 70.4% in 2017 to 58.9% in 2024, it remains the largest origin country of containe
EC traders are disappointed by Maersk's lack of further action to increase freight rates over the past two days. While Hapag-Lloyd has become the first to announce its intention to raise freight rates to $8,000–$9,000 per FEU starting December 15, Maersk is already quoting lower freight rates for shipments departing after that date compared to those leaving now. The rates for each departure date have been reduced by 3% to 13% since November 30. Utilization is holding steady but remains 1.5 perce
The SCFI released after the market close last Friday jumped by 22% week-over-week but remains below the current price of EC2412, implying $5,500 per FEU. While the overall SCFI index tends to follow its own trend, SCFI Europe does not show the same sensitivity to trends. In the past 15 years, the SCFI Europe has rallied over 20% week-over-week 46 times, with 28 of those rallies followed by a decline the following week. Utilization for most vessels that departed over the weekend tracked below t
The EC2412 and EC2502 experienced a gap down at the open but have since recovered some of their losses, as EC traders maintain hopes for a freight rate increase this weekend. Contrary to the consensus in the EC market, we believe that the December 1st rate increase is unlikely, as liners are still quoting rates below $4,000 per FEU for shipments departing on November 30. The moving average utilization rate has improved slightly, aided by the fully loaded MADISON MAERSK that departed Tanjung Pel