Maersk Line reported negative $161mn at EBIT level for 1Q 2024, failed to turn-around as its other liner peers did. The relatively less efficient operation may have led to bigger sequential volume drop for Maersk Line during 1Q 2024, comparing to its peers, which led to higher unit costs. Management revised up the lower end of the full year 2024 guidance from negative $5bn given few months ago to negative $2bn at this result. But the main takeaway for the market is that Maersk is still guiding

HMM and SM Line will exchange slots on the transpacific PSX and CPX services starting from June 2024. The 2 South Korean carriers swap 300 teu each week on each service and the agreement will expire on 30 April 2025 with no automatic renewals. The PSX service calls at Shanghai, Kwangyang, Busan, Los Angeles, Oakland, Busan, Kwangyang, Incheon, Shanghai and is operated by HMM using 7 ships of 8,500 to 10,000 teu with an upgrade to 13,700 teu ships planned later this year. ONE, Hapag-Lloyd and Ya

COSCO has reached an agreement with ONE to purchase slots on the West India North America Express (WIN) service from 16 May 2024. COSCO will market the service as the India East Coast Express 2 (IPE2) and joins HMM as slot buyer on the new service that it markets as the India America Express (IAX), with each carrier taking 500 teu and 1,700 teu respectively per week, including 5o and 170 reefer slots each. ONE launched the service on 9 May 2024 on an extended routing through the Cape of Good

CMA CGM will launch a new M2X Mexico Express service calling at Xingang, Qingdao, Busan, Ensenada, Manzanillo, Lazaro Cardenas, Yokohama, Busan, Xingang from 11 May 2024. The M2X will turn in 56 days using 8 ships of 4,200 teu starting from 11 May 2024 with the 4,253 teu ANL WANGARATTA at Busan. The service will compete directly with COSCO/OOCL's newly launched WSA5/TLP5 service that will start on 6 May 2024 calling at Busan, Dalian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Ensenada, Manzanillo, Ensenanda,

CMA CGM will launch a new Karibu Express service connecting Jebel Ali, Mombasa, Longoni, Pointe Des Galets, Mombasa, Mogadishu, Jebel Ali. The service will turn in 42 days using 6 ships of 1,570 to 1,850 teu starting with the 1,853 teu CMA CGM KAILAS at Jebel Ali on 12 May 2024. Port rotation of the CMA CGM Karibu service

Unifeeder has announced the launch of a new China Gulf Express (CGE) service from 19 May 2024 calling at Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Jebel Ali, Shanghai. The CGE will turn in 35 days and deploys 5 ships that are yet to be named. The premium service will provide fast transit times of 15-18 days between China and Dubai and is aimed at feeder and NVOCC customers to provide transhipment connections at Jebel Ali to ports in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, East Africa and Pakistan.

As expected, liners' earnings turnaround in 1Q 2024 on higher freight rates as a result of re-routing to CoGH. COSCO reported after Monday (29 Apr) close and ONE via Mitsui OSK reported during lunch break on Tuesday (30 Apr). The other common patterns as read through for the other liner results to come are (1) top line tracked below CCFI; (2) low teen growth in volume; (3) net interest income leads to higher net profit than EBIT; and (4) earnings are still at very high level in context of the

Hong Kong, 1 May 2024 - BANDS Financial and Linerlytica launch the first virtual container freight futures trading competition exclusively for companies and executives involved in container shipping's Asia-Europe route. The competition is open to 20 companies and 200 individuals in separate company and individual leagues. Contestants receive virtual money to trade CoFIF, and the 3 contestants from each league with the highest equity at the end of the 6-month competition period will win the 2024

X-Press Feeders have launched a new Tyrrhenian X-Press (TYX) service from 27 April 2024 calling at Algeciras, Tangier, Vado Ligure, Civitavecchia, Salerno, Napoli, Algeciras. The service turns in 14 days using 2 ships of 1,809 teu, the ADRASTOS and GREEN POLE.

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

Fresh bottlenecks are developing with the recent pick up in container demand resulting in increased congestion across all regions. The Middle East Gulf is starting to see increased congestion around Dubai, with ships waiting for up to 5 days in part due to the recent adverse weather in the UAE. Congestion has eased slightly in Dammam but traffic remains busy due to cargo diversions from Jeddah where vessel traffic continues to be negatively affected by the Red Sea crisis. The 2 main SE Asia h

The charter market went into overdrive last week, with fixture activity, rates and periods all rising in tandem. Carriers’ tonnage demand is still not fully covered despite the high level of new ship deliveries as the surging freight market is  supporting the rise in charter rates in all segments except for the 1,100 teu and smaller sizes. The composite charter index is up 10% YoY, with the larger sizes enjoying much higher increases. CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk and SeaLead were the most activ