Total 318 Posts
EC contracts are mostly up 1-3% on thin volume this morning. There are no long buyers, and short sellers are hesitant to place their bets before the imminent release of the SCFI, which is expected after the market closes tomorrow. If the online quotations from the liners are accepted by any shippers, the SCFI is projected to jump by 37% this week (from 2,481 to 3,400). However, we doubt that the SCFI panel, which includes a large group of forwarders from China in addition to the international l
EC market range bounce this morning after two consecutive days of sell-offs. Liners are still cutting their target freight rates increase over the past two days that now they are aiming to lift the freight rates to high $5,000 per FEU instead of $6,000 per FEU as previously planned for Far East - North Europe shipments embarking after 1 December. The spot freight rate for shipments embarking this week is about $4,000 per FEU, far from the $5,500 per FEU that the liners planned to achieve. Latest
Container freight futures for February 2025 contracts came under heavy selling pressure as it hit the maximum daily limit down of 16% on 25 November on high trading volumes due to rising fears of a Middle East ceasefire as container rates are expected to falter further by February due to the post-Lunar New Year slack. The current EC2502 price of 2,722 still suggests freight rates around $4,000 per FEU. The December 2024 contracts continue to be supported by carriers’ planned December rate hikes
The SCFI and SCFIS continues to move in opposite directions for the 3rd straight week with the SCFI continuing to retreat while the SCFIS remains in ascendance. Actual settled rates reflected in the SCFIS are still catching up with the full effects of the initial November rate hike, while carriers’ current quotations in the SCFI reflects the recent rate weakness as carriers scale back from their initial $4,500/feu asking rate to the current benchmark of $4,000/feu. However, the SCFI is expecte
EC main contracts are down this morning, as data released over the past few days does not support an imminent 50% increase in freight rates for the FE-North Europe route. Since our last Daily CoFIF on November 22, 2024, liners have been reducing their online quotations. While utilization for alliance services remains high at 97%, consistent with the year-to-date average, the overall average utilization has been trending downward after reaching a recent peak last week.
While the moving average utilization for vessels departing from the Far East remains high, the AE55's MSC TESSA, which departed yesterday, registered only 91% utilization—7 percentage points below the moving average. Far East - North Europe Head Haul Vessel UtilizationSince our last Daily CoFIF on November 14, the liners have reduced their quotes for November shipments while increasing their quotes for December shipments, which does not inspire much confidence in the December 1 GRI.
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