SCFI spot freight rates to North Europe rose a further 3.8% last week, while rates to the Med were largely flat with a gain of just 0.1%. The tighter capacity and bottlenecks around Southeast Asia and North Europe ports have helped to narrow the rate gap between North Europe and Med which has shrunk to $500/teu compared to a peak of over $1,000/teu just 2 months earlier. Rates look set to continue to rise in July but the pace of the rate gains could slow as the recent capacity additions to Nort
Fears over a container market correction sparked by the possible end to hostilities in the Middle East proved to be premature as Chinese freight futures regaining all of last Tuesday’s losses, with further gains still to come after the SCFIS recorded a 3rd straight week of double digit % gains. The introduction of 3 new North Europe strings by Hapag-Lloyd (CGX) in June, followed by MSC (Britannia) and CMA CGM (French Peak) in July has not dampened the rate momentum with the SCFI rising by 5.7%
Transpacific spot rates rallied sharply last week ahead of the 1 May GRI with rates to the West Coast rising to $3,600/feu and East Coast rates reaching $4,600/feu. Several carriers are still pushing for additional increases that could bump rates past $4,000 and $5,000 respectively over the coming week. Capacity remains tight in May but additional capacity on the West Coast is expected in June which could ease some of the current rate pressure. OCEAN Alliance has suspended the NEU3/AUE7/FAL7 se
Speculative traders returned to the CoFIF market last week with average trading volumes doubling compared to the week before. Prices for longer dated contracts for June 2024 through February 2025 rallied. The EC2406 and EC2408 contracts rose above 2,500 compared to the latest SCFIS index at 2,135, implying an expected increase of over 17% from current rate levels. Market conviction on the May rate hikes have strengthened with several carriers pushing for higher FAK rates backed by improved vess
Transpacific contract rates for smaller BCOs are settling at the 1,600-1,700/feu level to the US West Coast, which are $200-400 higher than the rates done for larger BCOs. These rates are also 10-20% higher than average contract rates for the 2023-24 season but are substantially lower than current spot market rates of $2,800 to 3,100 per feu which will provide incentives for other BCOs to accept higher contract rates. Several carriers have filed for a fresh round of rate increases from 1 May o
Transpacific rates continue to fall sharply, with increasing pressure on carriers to lower their contract rate offers. The gap between current spot rates and asking rates for the new 1 May 2024 contracts remain very wide, with the majority of contracts still not concluded. After failing to push through the 15 March GRI, carriers are also facing similar resistance to the 1 April GRI of $1,000-2,000/feu with the low market conviction that the hikes will stick. Although Transpacific freight volume
Spot freight rates tumbled for the 6th consecutive week as the SCFI shed a further 6% last week with more cuts still to come. Carriers failed to push through a mid-March rate increase, with hopes for an April rate hike also fading quickly. Transpacific rates continue to fall sharply, with both the West Coast and East Coast rates tumbling by more than 6% last week. There is still room for rates to fall, with spot rates still 10-20% lower than the current SCFI assessments. Contract rate negotia
There is no fresh direction on the transpacific, with rates continuing to erode. Although the SCFI rates to the USWC held above $4,000 per feu, carriers are offering special rates that were as much as $500 lower than these FAK rates in order to secure additional volumes. The recent rate correction has weakened carriers’ bargaining position for the new service contract that will start from May 2024 with final contract rate levels expected at below $2,000/feu against benchmark rates of $1,200-1,6
The freight rate correction gathered pace after carriers failed to defend their pre-Chinese New Year gains with the SCFI shedding 6.2% last week. Although the Red Sea dividend remain in play with spot rates still 96% higher compared to December last year, cargo demand has not rebounded sufficiently after the Chinese New Year holidays to provide rate support with carriers unable to mount a serious 1 March GRI attempt on the transpacific route ahead of the crucial annual contract negotiations. Tr
The Red Sea crisis continues to drive the container market as the number of ships diverted to the Cape route hit a fresh high with no signs of abating. This will continue to create a capacity shortage across all routes, with the Cape diversions and incremental capacity needed to connect to Red Sea and Med ports already soaking up more than 7% of the global containership fleet. Freight rates retained most of the January gains, with the SCFI shedding only 5.8% of its pre-Chinese New Year peak whil