Container freight futures have rallied sharply, with December 2025 contracts surging by 53% over the past week as hopes for an early return of containerships to the Suez route fade. Since the 19 January ceasefire agreement in Gaza, there has been no ships diverted back to the Suez route with all main carriers retaining their Cape routing at least until March. The potential return of the diverted Suez ships would release up to 7% of the global containership capacity with the resumption of slow s
Taiwanese shipping lines saw a reversal in their monthly revenue, rising 6% month-on-month in January after six consecutive months of decline. Freight rates appear to have improved sequentially, as the CCFI overall index increased by 1% over the same period. However, the bulk of the revenue growth likely stemmed from volume, with preliminary port throughput data indicating a robust uptick in January.
The EC futures contracts continued to decline, accompanied by slightly lower trading volume. Open interest also began to decrease. Overnight, HMM reduced its quotation for February shipments to $2,200 per FEU, down from $2,400 per FEU. Utilization edged up with two above trend line sailings.
Interasia Lines (IAL), TS Lines (TSL) and Yang Ming (YM) will launch a new Japan-Taiwan-South China-Vietnam service calling at Osaka, Kobe, Keelung, Kaohsiung, Nansha, Shekou, Haiphong, Hong Kong, Shekou, Osaka from 17 March 2025. The service will be branded as the Japan-Haiphong Service (JHS) by IAL, Japan-Taiwan-Hong Kong 3 (JTK3) by TSL and Japan Kansai Express (JKX) by Yang Ming, turning in 3 weeks using the 1,708 teu INTERASIA FORWARD, 1,909 teu TS GUANGZHOU and 1,803 teu YM INAUGURATION.
The EC container freight futures dropped this morning on strong volume, as the relief rally from the previously bearish sentiment has completed. Traders will now need to see some level of success from the March 1 GRI to validate the 20-50% rally that occurred last week. Utilization for ships that departed this week remains at a decent level; however, the extremely light MSC VENICE has dragged down the moving average. Liners continue to reduce their online quotations overnight. CMA CMG join Hapa
Maersk reported a 59% increase in full-year profits in 2024 but continues to lag behind industry peers in financial returns, EBIT margin, and volume growth. Although Maersk recorded its third-best annual performance in company history, its financial returns (based on annualized RoE and RoA) slipped ranked to seventh since 2002, hindered by excessive cash reserves and underperformance in its logistics business segment. Maersk is sitting on net cash of $7.6bn as at end of 2024, equivalent to abou
Charter rates have resumed their tentative climb after the holidays in the Far East, with a shortage of prompt tonnage keeping rates at elevated levels across all size segments. Improved rates were recorded in the feeder sizes where most of the chartering activity have been focused especially in the Atlantic. There are limited deals in the larger sizes, with one notable fixture last week for the 4,957 teu X-PRESS BARDSEY on a short 2-3m charter to CMA CGM at a relatively strong rate of $63,000 t
The reduction in cargo volumes in North Asia after the Chinese New Year holidays has helped to ease the congestion at Chinese and Korean ports with the total vessel capacity waiting at anchorages in North Asia falling by over 50% from its recent peak in January. With 30% to 60% of the regular capacity departing from Chinese ports blanked in the last 2 weeks, vessel activity has slowed down considerably, allowing ports to recover from the recent high volumes. Early flash reports suggest January
EC freight futures surged following the Chinese New Year holidays, with April-December 2025 contracts rising by 20% to 53% in the shortened 4 day trading week. Average daily trading volumes and open interest positions both increased by 19% on strong trading interest sparked by the potential escalation of the conflict in the Middle East after the US proposal to take over Gaza was rejected by the majority of the Arab states. Several EC contracts hit their upper daily trading limits on 7 and 10 Fe
SCFI spot rates to North Europe fell sharply last week, dropping by 15.9% from the pre-holiday level with blank sailings unable to keep pace with the drop in cargo volumes across most Far East origins. Rates to the Med have held up relatively better, with the Med rate premium over the North Continent widening to 68% with the strong demand in the Red Sea taking away some of the Med capacity operated by niche carriers that are using the faster Suez route. Although Hapag-Lloyd announced a speculat