Freight futures extended their decline for a second consecutive day as CMA CGM and Evergreen made substantial cuts to their FAK rate quotations for sailings over the next two weeks, while Hapag-Lloyd lowered its August quotation to below $2,000 per FEU. Trading volumes remain thin, although open interest increased by 1,148 lots to reach 80,688 lots. EC2510, the benchmark contract, is approaching the 1,300 resistance level. The SCFI-Europe index, released after market close, fell 8.35% to $1,668

COSCO has added a new call at Yangpu on the OCEAN Alliance PSW6 service from 10 August 2025 to offer direct connections between Hainan and the US West Coast. The revised PSW6 service will call at Cai Mep, Yangpu, Nansha, Yantian, Kaohsiung, Long Beach, Cai Mep starting from August 2025 with the former call at Hong Kong dropped. The Yangpu call on the current PSW10 service has also been dropped. The PSW6 turns in 7 weeks using ships of 13,300 to 16,800 teu from COSCO. The service is branded as S

Premier Alliance carriers (HMM, ONE and Yang Ming) will split its current Mediterranean Pacific South 2 (MS2) into 2 separate services covering the Asia-Med Mediterranean 2 (MS2) service and the Middle East Gulf-US Gulf Pacific South 2 (GS2) service. The move will allow ONE to remove 10 China built ships currently deployed on the MS2 service from the US with the planned USTR port fee scheduled to take effect from October 2025. The current MS2 service deploys up to 21 ships of 13,000-15,000 teu

The freight futures listed in Shanghai dropped 1-2.7% for the day, except for EC2508 as short sellers add to their positions. Daily trading volume rebounded to 45,149, the highest in a week while the open interests have also increased by 3,174 lots to 79,540.

Quiet day and not much news flows. EC2510 dropped 1.33% for the day. Trading volume is thin as traders regard the contracts are already fairly priced. Some more liquidations on EC2510 and surprisingly also EC2512.

Rates to North Europe and Med have both dropped below $3,000/feu on the SCFI’s FEU assessment, with the pace of rate reductions accelerating as it becomes clear that the peak season is over. The extension of the US tariff pause on China has also reduced the pressure to shift part of the Chinese exports to Europe, which would have a negative detrimental impact on the European rates. The 90 day extension of the US tariffs on Chinese imports until 10 November has provided little relief to the fla

The containership orderbook has reached a record high of 10.4m TEU, following the flurry of new ship orders placed in the last 12 months, with the orderbook ratio rising to 31.7% of the fleet - its highest levels since 2010. The last time the orderbook ratio exceeded this level in 2004-2009, it ended in a decade-long supply overhang that took 10 years to clear. There is still over 1m TEU of pending ship orders that are due to be added before the end of this year.

The smaller-than-expected SCFIS decline after market close yesterday (18 Aug) lifted EC2508 by 2% today, while the other contracts slipped by less than 1% on thin volume of 34,375 contracts. Total open interest decreased by 519 to 77,773 contracts. Maersk listed $2,100 per FEU FAK rates for shipment departing first week of September, same for shipment departing last week of August.

The containership charter market remains very buoyant, although total fixture volumes are relatively low due to limited vessel availability. SeaLead has taken the over-panamax 6,078 teu BZ CHONGFU on a 24-month charter in a deal that was fixed before the inclusion of 16 of its chartered on the US OFAC sanctions list. The Singapore-based carrier is now very short of tonnage as it has terminated the charter of the 16 ships with a total capacity of 74,286 teu ranging in size from 2,400 teu to 6,900

Register Free Trial The 90 day tariff extension for China moves the current US tariff expiration to 10 November 2025, but the impact on container volumes will be limited as front loading has already shifted most of the peak season cargo in June and July. Further rate weakness on the Transpacific and Asia-Europe routes were recorded last week with the SCFI slipping for its 10th consecutive weekly decline, with the composite index shedding 35% of its value in that period. Prospects for a rate reb

The freight futures market edged higher again today, though the main activity was a continued liquidation of EC2510 positions. The 1.1% rise in EC2510 was therefore largely the result of short covering. Despite pricing in a downcycle over the next 12 months, futures traders remain firmly of the view that (1) liners will be able to push up freight rates during each seasonal uplift in volume, and (2) $2,000 per FEU is a strong resistance level. The SCFI Europe index, released after the close, fel

Prices for longer-dated contracts rebounded slightly on thinner volumes and some liquidations. The benchmark EC2510 contract edged down 0.18%, while open interest fell by 4,042 to 56,698 contracts — possibly an early sign that long-position holders are throwing in the towel. Vessel utilization for the first 9 sailings of Far East-North Europe route this week rebounded to 96% but still below the peak of 97% in July. Track vessel utilization here. Hapag Lloyd lowered its quotations for the Augus