Register Free Trial The uncertainty surrounding the return of containerships from the Cape route continues to rile the market with freight futures rallying over the past week after CMA CGM signalled to its rivals against an early return to the Suez that could drag down freight rates that are already under downward pressure. The SCFI dropped by 7.4% last week with further declines expected ahead of the Chinese New Year as carriers eager to build cargo roll pools start to slash rates more aggress

The OCEAN Alliance NEU4 service that is operated by CMA CGM as the FAL1 will make its return to the Suez route eastbound from 6 April 2026. The move is confirmed in the OCEAN Alliance's DAY 10 product announcement that was announced by CMA CGM, COSCO, OOCL and Evergreen on 21 January 2026. CMA CGM had earlier rerouted from the Cape of Good Hope to the Suez on 2 eastbound FAL1 voyages on 5 January and 17 January 2026 before announcing on 20 January 2026 that it will return to the Cape route. Ho

CMA CGM announced on 20 January that it will re-route vessels deployed on their North Europe-Asia FAL 1 and FAL 3 services as well as the Med-Asia MEX service via the Cape of Good Hope. However, even with the withdrawal of the 3 services, CMA CGM will still retain 2 services (Indamex and Phoenician Express) on the Suez route. Unlike the 3 re-routed services that only uses the Suez route on the backhaul eastbound voyages, the 2 retained services uses the Suez on both directions. It is therefore

Register Free Trial Trump’s Greenland tariffs would threaten the fragile balance on the Transatlantic container trades, with westbound rates from Europe to the US already down by 40% since the beginning of 2025. But carriers face a bigger challenge away from the Transatlantic arena as freight rates out of Asia are eroding despite earlier expectations of a market rally ahead of the Chinese New Year. The lack of capacity discipline continues to pull down freight rates with the SCFI shedding 4.4%

TS Lines have launched a new China Philippines 2 (CP2) service connecting Nansha, Shekou, Hong Kong, Manila, Nansha from 18 January 2026. The service will turn in 7 days using the 1,182 teu TS PENANG.

CMA CGM's intra-Asia carrier CNC has added a new North China Thailand 8 (NT8) calling at Xingang, Dalian, Qingdao, Hong Kong, Shekou, Laem Chabang, Hong Kong, Nansha, Xingang from 17 January 2026. The NT8 service turns in 4 weeks and will deploy 4 ships of 1,500 to 2,800 teu starting with the 1,528 teu FSL KELANG and followed by the 2,564 teu CMA CGM QUELIMANE, 2,822 teu CNC JAGUAR and CNC LEOPARD.

Maersk will return to the Suez route on its Middle East Container Line (MECL) service on both directions from January 2026. The service calls at Mundra, Pipavav, Nhava Sheva, Salalah, New York, Charleston, Savannah, Houston, Norfolk, New York, Tangier Med, Salalah, Jebel Ali, Mundra. Based on current pro-forma schedules, the service will turn in 13 weeks using 13 ships of 6,000 to 7,200 teu, with just a 1 week reduction in total turnaround time despite the shorter Suez route compared to the pre

Ellerman will launch a new Baltic Express Service (BALTEX) from 28 January 2026 calling at Riga, Gdynia, Teesport, Tilbury, Rotterdam, Oslo, Riga. The service turns in 14 days and will deploy the 803 teu KRISTIN SCHEPERS and 966 teu NOVA.

Register Free Trial The early market momentum have weakened after freight rates faltered last week, with sharp declines in rates to South America, Oceania and the Middle East. Rates from China to Mexico have recorded the sharpest declines after dropping by more than 65% since early September. Carriers are also rolling back the rate hikes on the Asia-Europe and transpacific routes following China’s decision to remove value added tax rebates from 1 April for several key export products including

North Sea Container Line (NCL) will launch a new Oslofjord service connecting Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Oslo, Brevik, Bremerhaven from 1 February 2026 using the 1,025 teu TUNADAL. The new service will complement NCL's existing North Continent-Norway feeder services that connects Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Rotterdam to the Norwegian outports using 3 ships of 600 to 1,200 teu.

Register Free Trial Developments in Venezuela over the weekend will have little impact on the container markets as total container throughput at Venezuela’s ports have dropped significantly since 2012 when it reached a peak of 1.57m TEU. Total volumes handled at Venezuela have dropped to less than 500,000 TEU per annum since 2019 and currently accounts for just 0.5% of total Latin American container volumes. The potential recovery in trade volumes post-Maduro will take several years to be reali

CMA CGM will take launch a new US East Coast-Oceania KEA service connecting Sydney, Melbourne, Port Chalmers, Tauranga, Manzanillo, Cartagena, Philadelphia, Charleston, Balboa, Tauranga, Sydney from 3 February 2026 through slots on Maersk's Oceania America (OC1) service. The OC1 service turns in 77 days using 11 ships of 3,000 to 3,700 teu operated by Maersk. Hapag-Lloyd and MSC also take slots on this service that are branded respectively as the Australia-New Zealand via Panama (ANP) service a