Register Free Trial The idled containership fleet has shrunk to the lowest levels since February as the ships stranded inside the Strait of Hormuz dropped to 21 units with most of them already evacuated in the last 3 weeks. Containership availability remains very tight and this is reflected in the rising charter rates and resale prices as carriers scramble to secure any open tonnage to capitalize on the surging freight rates. The SCFI surged past 3,300 despite some of the 1 July rate hikes bein

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd will return to the Suez route on their jointly operated Gemini AE15/SE3 service on a truncated rotation that will call at Qingdao, Kwangyang, Ningbo, Tanjung Pelepas, Port Said Damietta, Colombo, Singapore, Qingdao with calls at Canakkale, Yarimca and Ambarli to be omitted. The revised rotation takes immediate effect with the sailing of the 19,076 teu MAJESTIC MAERSK that has already departed from Qingdao on 8 June 2026 now on its way to the Suez with an unscheduled stop

BAL Container Line will add an ad-hoc transpacific sailing with its newly delivered 14,400 teu BAL ATHENA for a single round trip connecting Ningbo, Shanghai, Long Beach, Shanghai on 24 July 2026 to take advantage of the booming transpacific freight rate. Current spot rates from Shanghai to the US West Coast has soared to over $7,000/FEU compared to $1,800/FEU in February 2026 as rates jumped by 400% on the back on strong market demand. The BAL ATHENA is the first of a 2 ships order placed by B

Zim will launch a new ZIM Falcon Service (ZFS) connecting Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Yantian, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Paranagua, Navegantes, Montevideo, Bueno Aires, Shanghai from 13 September 2026. The service will turn in 77 days and will deploy 11 ships of 5,000 to 8,000 teu that are solely operated by Zim. Following the launch of the ZFS, Zim will withdraw from its current cooperation with Maersk on the Asia-South America East Coast (ASE) service on which it currently contributes 2 of the

Register Free Trial The vessel evacuations from the Persian Gulf continue despite Iranian threats as 26 containerships with a total capacity of 195,000 teu or more than half of the stranded ships have already withdrawn from the Gulf. Activity within the Gulf has also picked up with over 60 ships now employed on intra-Gulf services as the idle fleet dropped by more than 40 units over the past 2 weeks. Strong cargo demand across all tradelanes have pushed global TEU-mile demand growth to 7.3%, w

AD Ports Group has exercised a call option to increase its stake in Global Feeder Shipping (GFS) from 51% to 81% on 24 June 2026. The move marks the end of a prolonged 4 year courtship that was first announced on 3 November 2022 when AD Ports signed an agreement to acquire a 80% stake in GFS for total consideration of AED 2.9 Bn (US$800m), with the Maghami family retaining a 20% stake in GFS. The transaction was expected to close in the first quarter of 2023 but the final completion was delayed

MSC has launched a new Orca service connecting Busan, Vladivostok, Busan from 29 June 2026 using the 1,840 teu MSC PRETORIA II. The service will operate in conjunction with the MSC Golden Horn service that serves the same route using the 1,496 teu MSC RICCARDA II.

TVL Marine has launched a new Hong Kong-Taiwan service connecting Hong Kong, Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong from 25 June 2026 using the 1,103 teu TVL KEELUNG. TVL Marine owns 5 containerships of 1,100-1,800 teu built between 2015 and 2021 that are chartered to KMTC including the TVL KEELUNG that was chartered out as the SUNNY CALLA to KMTC until the end of May 2026.

ANL (part of the CMA CGM Group), COSCO and OOCL will launch a new China Australia Express (A3X/ACX) as the 4th service of the Asia Australia Consortium (A3) that complements their existing A3N, A3C and A3S joint services. The A3X/ACX will call at Qingdao, Shanghai, Shekou, Melbourne, Sydney, Qingdao, turning in 42 days and deploy 6 ships of 3,000-4,000 teu starting with the 3,314 teu COLOMBO at Qingdao on 27 July 2026. With the launch of the new A2X/ACX, the A3 Consortium will offer weekly dou

Register Free Trial The positive momentum in the container market continues with the mid-June rate hikes sticking without rollbacks in the strongest rate ascent since the Red Sea diversions started at the end of 2023. Carriers are gearing for another major rate hike in July with increases as high as $5,000/feu on certain routes. Cargo demand is now clearly outpacing the availability of vessel slots with the peak season in full swing coupled with the strong growth of cleantech exports out of Chi

SM Lines will launch a new Shenzhen Busan Express (SBX) service connecting Yantian, Busan, Yantian from 6 July 2026 using the newly chartered 1,103 teu ULTIMA. The SBX service will replace the direct call at Yantian on the SM Line PNW service that will be shortened to call at Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Vancouver, Seattle, Busan, Ningbo with the last direct call at Yantian on 29 June 2026. The revised PNW service will turn in 35 days using 5 ships of 4,250 to 4,380 teu compared to 42 days previousl

Register Free Trial The re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz after the US-Iran peace deal due to be signed this Friday will release some 51 containerships with a total capacity of 300,000 teu presently stranded in the Persian Gulf (full list of ships in page 2). The capacity set to be evacuated from the Gulf could provide some short-term relief to an over-stretched container market but uncertainty remains over when regular services to the Persian Gulf can be restarted which would add to additiona