MSC has continued its ship acquisition spree with the 2nd of 4 Panamax ships taken from Chinese operator Safetrans delivered last week. The 4,173 teu SFT EGYPT has joined MSC as the MSC BANJUL IV on 21 August, following the SFT CHINA (renamed MSC TIA V) that had joined earlies on 3 July. 2 more ships (SFT TURKEY and SFT SAUDI) will follow in September, bringing the total number of ships it acquired in 2024 to 36 units. Safetrans has opted to cash out on the 4 ships that it bought at attractive
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
There is no material increase in port congestion at North America West Coast ports over the past week despite the labour stoppage by Canadian rail workers following the lockout of over 9,000 workers on 22 August before the government called for binding arbitration with no further labour stoppages during the arbitration process paving the way for railway operations to resume on 26 August. Ships faced berthing delays at Vancouver of up to 5 days while the PNW ports of Seattle and Tacoma faced sev
EC freight futures will come under further pressure this week after the SCFIS was published after market close on 26 August with a sharp 7.3% WoW drop, against the 2.3% WoW decline last week. The drop was worse than traders’ expectations as futures prices had rallied last week on stalled Gaza peace talks and the relatively mild drop in the SCFIS on 19 Aug of just 2.3%. Carriers continue to slash rates last week, with average rate quotations from Shanghai to North Europe falling from $8,500/FEU
Container freight rates are poised to fall by over 70% by June next year, based on the latest CoFIF EC contracts traded on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE). Although the drop is not as severe as the freight rate collapse seen at the end of 2022, current freight futures prices anticipate continuous declines over the coming 12 months, with no rebound expected at the end of this year and no repeat of this year’s post Chinese New Year rate rally in 2025. Carriers have failed to che
Register Free Trial [https://www.linerlytica.com/register/?utm_source=W202435] Carriers failed to check the decline in freight rates with the SCFI slipping by 5.6% last week, led by sharp drops on the Transpacific and Middle East routes. The SCFIS, which is a better measure of actual market spot rates, have been dropping continuously since its July peak to the US West Coast in contrast to the SCFI false signal of a rate rebound a week ago, with cumulative losses reaching 38% since July. The ou
The 16,022 teu CMA CGM JULES VERNE has made an eastbound Suez Canal passage on 13 August 2024 and after a stop at Jeddah, the ship passed the Bab al-Mandab Strait on 19 August without any incident. It marks the largest containership to return to the Suez/Red Sea route since February this year, with all the other main carriers still avoiding the passage to avoid attacks on vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen. The CMA CGM JULES VERNE is deployed on the Mediterranean Club Express (MEX) using 15 s
X-Press Feeders have deployed the first 2 of its 1,260 teu methanol dual fuel containerships on the Green Finland X-PRESS (GFX) service connecting Rotterdam, Antwerp, Helsinki, Tallinn, Kotka, Rotterdam. The GFX was launched on 12 July 2024. with the methanol fueled 1,260 teu ECO MAESTRO, with the sistership ECO LEVANT joining the service on 17 August 2024. The 2 ships are part of 14 dual-fuel units that X-Press Feeders have ordered at 3 separate shipyards in China for delivery in 2024-26 that
The newbuilding market remains red hot with PIL the latest carrier to jump in with a new order for 5 LNG dual fuel units of 13,000 teu at Hudong Zhonghua announced on 19 August 2024. The ships are aimed at the Latin America trade with deliveries starting from late 2026. Wan Hai also confirmed LOIs for 16 new methanol dual fuel units of 8,000-8,700 teu at CSBC and Hyundai Samho. These orders bring the total containership newbuilding capacity contracted since the start of 2024 to 2m teu, with the
Port congestion remains elevated through the past week with North Asia and South America experiencing the most severe delays. Delays at Chinese ports have remained acute, with Ningbo and Shanghai seeing especially high levels of congestion. The explosion at the port of Ningbo on 9 August on board the 6,588 teu YM MOBILITY has affected operations at the Ningbo Beilun Second Container Terminal (NBSCT) but the port remains open despite various erroneous reports on the closure of Ningbo port. NBSCT