Carriers will retain their current Cape of Good Hope routing in February with no immediate return planned to the Red Sea despite the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement concluded on 19 January 2025. According to Linerlytica’s survey of vessels diverted to the Cape route, the total number of ships have risen in the last 10 days driven by the busy shipping window before the Chinese New Year. If the fragile ceasefire in Gaza fails to hold, the vessel diversions affecting some 350 ships for 4.5m TEU c
Register Free Trial The main container carriers have shown no urgency to return to the Red Sea as the fragile truce in Gaza continues to show cracks which spurred a minor rally in the freight futures to Europe in the past week despite continued downward pressure in spot freight rates. The SCFI has slipped by 17% since the start of the year with further drops expected in February as carriers are still caught in the downward rate spiral ahead of the new Alliance network launch in February. The w
Maersk will launch a new Safina service connecting Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas, Salalah, Duqm, Jebel Ali, Colombo, Singapore from 23 February 2025, replacing its existing Safina that it operates jointly with X-Press Feeders as the China Jebel Ali X-Press (CJX). The existing Safina/CJX calls at Shanghai, Ningbo and Shekou will be removed while new calls at Salalah and Duqm are added. The revised service will turn in 5 weeks using ships of 2,000-3,000 teu.
ONE, Evergreen and Yang Ming have launched a new jointly operated Aegean Express (AEX) / Europe Mediterranean Sea (EUM) / North Europe-Aegean Express (NEA) service connecting Southampton, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Piraeus, Ambarli, Gebze, Gemlik, Aliaga, Piraeus, Southampton from 14 January 2025. The Southampton call will replace London Gateway that will only be served on 2 trips on 14 January and 9 February. The service will turn in 4 weeks and will deploy 4 ships of 2,500 to 2,900 teu with ONE oper
ONE and Yang Ming have launched a new jointly operated Levant Express (LEX) /North Europe-Levant Express (NEL) service connecting London Gateway, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, El Dekheila, Damietta, Haifa, Mersin, London Gateway from 16 January 2025. The LEX/NEL service will turn in 4 weeks using 4 ships of 2,700 teu to 5,000 teu starting with the 2,741 teu LORRAINE at London Gateway on 16 January 2025. ONE will provide 3 ships while Yang Ming will operate one ship on the service. The call at Lo
COSCO and X-Press Feeders have launched a new Eastern Caribbean Service (ECX)/Trinidad Guyana X-Press (TGX) service connecting Kingston, Caucedo, Port of Spain, Point Lisas, Georgetown, Paramaribo, Port of Spain, Kingston. The service will turn in 21 days and will deploy 3 ships of 900 teu starting with the 1,110 teu WIND from X-Press Feeders at Kingston on 25 January 2025 and the 1,296 teu AS FIORELLA from COSCO Shipping.
Longer-dated contracts continue to rebound, primarily due to short covering as traders speculate on the schedule of liners' return to Red Sea. FAK quotations from liners have remained largely unchanged, with liners still holding at the low $3,000 level, consistent with the current EC2502 price. However, vessel utilization continues to trend downward.
The longer-dated contracts rebounded with high volume as traders re-assessed the schedule for liners' return to the Red Sea. Meanwhile, CMA CGM announced that the "CMA CGM COLUMBA will sail through the Suez Canal to call at the port of Jeddah as part of a single ad hoc call. Vessels on the EPIC service will therefore not systematically transit through the Suez Canal." ONE has revised its online spot quotation from $2,228 to $3,100 per FEU to remain in the pack with other liners. However, freigh
Port congestion continues to hold up 8.5% of the global fleet at the end of last week, with European and Southeast Asian ports experiencing worsening delays ahead of the new alliance reshuffle that will take place in early February. Very high yard utilization is reported across all main European ports, with Rotterdam under particular scrutiny as the ECT labour dispute threatens to spiral into strikes although no confirmed dates have been announced. Although market attention has shifted to the e
The US Trade Representative (USTR) concluded its investigation of China’s shipbuilding industry on 16 January 2025 and warned of further action to address what it deemed as unfair dominance of the sector. Based on Linerlytica’s analysis of all containerships currently trading in the US, Chinese built ships account for 225 units out of the 1,045 ships currently deployed in the US (excluding Jones Act trades) compared to just 10 ships that were built in the US. In TEU capacity terms, Chinese ship