Carrier are pushing ahead with transpacific rate hikes in May despite the severe drop in Chinese volumes that has forced carriers to slash Transpacific capacity by over 20% while capacity utilization on the remaining services are down by more than 5%. The reduction in the cargo flow to the US will start to impact arrivals in May, raising the likelihood of an imminent Sino-US trade deal that could trigger a sharp rebound in Chinese cargo bookings to the US. This has helped carriers’ bid to hike t

Shanghai–North Europe EC freight futures remain in retreat as carriers continued to lower their FAK rate quotations. Maersk and ONE have reduced their offers for early May shipments to $1,650 per FEU, with even lower rates offered by Maersk this week at $1,450 per FEU for mid-May shipments. These moves are expected to prompt further selling by futures traders over the coming week, even after the SCFIS dropped by 5.2% on 28 April. The EC2506 contract that expires in June now trades at a 3% disco

Asia-Europe freight rates weakened across the board, with carriers dropping rates to less than $1,600-$1,800/feu in April and early May. Cargo volumes are expected to drop in the next 2 weeks with Vietnam celebrating the 50th anniversary of its reunification on 30 April followed by the Labour Day holidays across Asia on 1 May. Port congestion remains very serious in Benelux, German and UK ports that have been made worse by the Easter holidays but this has not been sufficient to stop the rate de

Register Free Trial Carrier are pushing ahead with transpacific rate hikes in May despite the severe drop in Chinese volumes that has forced carriers to slash Transpacific capacity by over 20% while capacity utilization on the remaining services are down by more than 5%. The reduction in the cargo flow to the US will start to impact arrivals in May, raising the likelihood of an imminent Sino-US trade deal that could trigger a sharp rebound in Chinese cargo bookings to the US. This has helped ca

Zim has withdrawn the Zim Central China Xpress (ZX2) with the last departure from China on 10 April 2025. The ZX2 was launched in July 2024 and called at Shanghai, Ningbo, Los Angeles, Shanghai using 5 ships of 4,500-5,300 teu. The last sailing was made by the 5,500 te MISSISSIPPI that departed from Ningbo on 10 April 2025 and will make its last call at Los Angeles on 24 April 2025. The withdrawal comes in response to a sharp drop in Chinese exports to the US following the imposition of puniti

Charter rates managed to hold their ground despite the market turmoil, but there are cracks appearing with Maersk seemingly pulling back from their recent charter spree with a panamax 4,400 teu fixture failing subs and the ship was reportedly retaken at a lower rate. Although some charterers are holding off requirements for the time being, market demand remains keen with open ships still able to secure firm fixtures. The USTR 301 action announced on 17 April provided a reprieve for Chinese buil

The USTR announced on 17 April the revised Section 301 actions on China’s dominance In the shipbuilding sector, backing down from all of its initial proposals. Although port fees on Chinese operated and Chinese-built ships are retained, carriers will be able to circumvent the fees by swapping out all of the affected ships in the next 180 days as the fee will no longer apply on the operators’ fleet composition or prospective orders but only on ships calling at US ports on a per voyage basis (cha

Freight futures to North Europe extended their recent losses over the past week, with the main EC2506 contract tumbling by a further 10%. Traders ramped up their short positions on expectations that capacity withdrawn from transpacific routes would soon be redeployed to Asia-Europe lanes. Average daily trading volumes tumbled by 31%, while open interest staged a modest 6% rebound week-on-week. The SCFIS index registered a surprise 7.6% weekly rise on 21 April, but the bounce is likely to be sho

Asia-Europe rates resumed their downward slide as carriers failed to protect the small gains they eked out earlier in April. The SCFI slipped by 2.9% on 18 April but the SCFIS released on 21 April showed a surprising rise of 7.6%. The gain is expected to be reversed next week as spot FAK rates have continued to drop as carriers prepare to shift capacity away from the Transpacific to other tradelanes including Asia-Europe. The only factor keeping capacity in check at the moment is port congestio

Register Free Trial Revised USTR action on Chinese ships eliminates the risk of potential capacity disruptions as all of the onerous terms of the US port fee have been toned down. Over the next 180 days, carriers are expected to swap the affected Chinese built ships out of the US and replace them with fee-exempt ships. Chinese carriers such as COSCO may be able to circumvent the onerous port fees if they withdraw their ships and replace them with slots on fee-exempt ships operated by alliance p

Ocean Silk Line (OSL), an affiliate of OVP Shipping, will launch a new intra-Med service in a partnership with Sidra Line. The service will deploy 3 ships of 500-900 teu that will cover 2 inter-looping services connecting Turkey and Libya:- * Turkey North Africa Express (TNX) / Marmara-Med loop calling at Izmit, Ambarli, Alexandria, Misurata, Benghazi, Rades, Izmit * South Turkey North Africa Express (SNX) / Intra-Med loop calling at Iskenderun, Alexandria, Benghazi, Latakia, Iskenderun OVP/

ONE and Admiral Container Lines have launched a new Adriatic Service 1 (AD1) / Adriatic Eastmed 02 (AEX02) connecting Damietta, Koper, Venice, Ashdod, Damietta from 19 April 2025. The service replaces ONE's former AIB/AD1 service calls at Piraeus and Dekheila dropped. ONE had originally announced the addition of a call at Thessaloniki from April 2025 but this has been dropped as well. The new AD1/AEX02 turns in 14 days using the 1,084 teu SVENDBORG and 990 teu ADMIRAL MOON.