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
The SCFI assessment to North Europe jumped by 14.2% last week ahead of the planned 1 November rate hike but actual rates are still weak with the CCFI dropping by 6.4% while the SCFIS barely held out for a 0.1% rise after 13 consecutive weeks of declines that have seen the settled index slump by 65% since July. Although the SCFI is expected to post another hefty increase this week, cracks are already appearing on the carriers’ resolve to push through the 1 Nov rate hike, with several carriers al
Spot rates to North Europe and Med dropped sharply last week, with the SCFI falling by 13.2% and 14.0% respectively as carriers continued to slash rates at an aggressive pace. Latest market rates surveyed to North Europe ranged from $2,900/feu to $3,500/feu down from $3,400/feu to $4,200/feu a week ago with the 2M and OCEAN Alliance carriers forced to match the aggressive rate cuts by THE Alliance carriers. Although port congestion remains serious across key Chinese and European ports, this ha
The new Asia-Europe network announced by MSC and Premier Alliance along with the planned Gemini Cooperation will result in one additional Med string in 2025 while the number of services to North Europe remain unchanged. Carriers continue to jostle for market share amidst a rapidly declining rate environment with the SCFI slipping by a further 10.8% last week, while Med rates dropped by 6.4%. The pace of the declines is quickening with carriers keen to cut rates ahead of the Golden Week holida
Carriers continue to slash Asia-Europe rates with the SCFI slipping by 4.6% to North Europe and 2.6% to the Med. Maersk’s announcement on 26 August that it will slash its Peak Season Surcharge for cargo to North Europe from $4,000/feu to $3,000/feu from 15 September is a further negative signal for the market as capacity utilization continues to come off its early peak season high. The weaker market sentiment has driven some capacity withdrawals but these moves are insufficient to check the dr
Asia-Europe rates are faltering with the capacity overhang in play while demand has started to slow. Port congestion along the Asia-Europe corridor is still keeping capacity growth in check. Although capacity utilization remains healthy and is still running at 3% higher compared to a year ago, the earlier space pressure has eased with average utilization for the week before falling to 92% as opposed to the preliminary reading of 96% reported last week as a few late sailings departed from the las
Rates to North Europe continue to hold up much better than the Transpacific, with the SCFI falling just 2.9% from this year’s peak compared to the 22.9% decline on the US West Coast and the 7.9% decline to the Med. Although EC freight futures continue to weaken, carriers are still in a strong position as overall capacity to North Europe remains limited with the 13 week moving average (13wma) still down 3.4% compared to last year despite recent new capacity additions. Actual departures from Asi
SCFI spot rates to North Europe slipped marginally by 1% to $5,000/teu but further drops are expected with capacity utilization falling sharply last week. The 3 recently launched services by Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM and MSC sailed light while the other main Alliance services also recorded sub-par utilization compared to their recent performance. The gap between Med and North Europe rates have narrowed further, with the current Med premium falling to just $360/teu compared to a high of over $1,000/t
The SCFI retreated last week by 1.6% after 14 consecutive weekly gains in a further sign that the market has peaked. While demand remains firm, supply has also risen with capacity injections most notably in the Indian subcontinent, Latin America and US West Coast routes where freight rates are the most lucrative currently. This has capped freight rate increases on those routes, but overall capacity utilisation remains tight, with rates still rising on the Asia-North Europe route as schedule disr
SCFI rates to North Europe slipped back marginally after last week’s 12.5% gain with the 1 July rate increase still largely in place. Carriers are still pushing for a mid-July increase, with mixed views on whether this fresh round of rate hikes will stick. Capacity utilization has slipped in the last 2 weeks, with the launch of 3 new FE-North Europe services and bunching departures on 3 other strings adding some 100,000 teu of additional slots to the market. Slot availability will be down over