MSC will relaunch the Asia-US East Coast Liberty service from 8 August 2024 with a revised rotation calling at Shanghai, Busan, Miami, Savannah, Charleston, Philadelphia, New York, Singapore, Shanghai. The new Liberty service will turn in 12 weeks and will deploy up to 12 ships of 4,000 to 5,000 teu. The first sailing is scheduled at Singapore on 8 August 2024 with the 4,432 teu MSC HOUSTON V. Port rotation of the new MSC Liberty serviceThe Liberty is the first Asia-USEC service to be launche

Charter rates are still rising despite a slowdown in fixture activity as there is only a limited number of ships still open for charter. Most of the activity is focused on the smaller sizes below 2,000 teu where rates are still rising, but charter periods are starting to shorten with few operators willing to take these ships on longer than 12 month periods at current rates. 3 newbuildings started their charters last week, with 2 newly delivered Eastern Pacific units joining OOCL and CMA CGM res

Global port congestion remains elevated after the recent improvements observed in Southeast Asia ports, with increased delays at several neighboring ports that has seen an increase in volumes as a result of the diversions away from the congestion in Singapore and Port Klang. This includes ports like Laem Chabang, Cai Mep and Kaohsiung that have seen an increase in congestion in the past month. The higher volumes and vessel bunching has also kept waiting times at Chinese ports high especially at

SCFI spot rates to North Europe slipped marginally by 1% to $5,000/teu but further drops are expected with capacity utilization falling sharply last week. The 3 recently launched services by Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM and MSC sailed light while the other main Alliance services also recorded sub-par utilization compared to their recent performance. The gap between Med and North Europe rates have narrowed further, with the current Med premium falling to just $360/teu compared to a high of over $1,000/t

All EC freight futures retreated last week on concerns that market rates have peaked, with the escalation in the Middle East crisis over the weekend doing little to reverse the negative trading sentiment. Apart from the August 2024 contract, all of the other contracts dropped by double digits. The SCFIS defied market expectations and recorded a 5% WoW gain after market close on 22 July which could lift the August contracts for the rest of this week but the near term sentiment continues to be fo

Register Free Trial [https://www.linerlytica.com/register/?utm_source=W202430] Any further escalation of the Red Sea crisis would have a limited impact on the container markets as only 14% of the ships currently deployed on the Asia-Europe trade is using the Suez Canal. The share of the overall capacity is even smaller, as only 4% of the 7.48m TEU deployed is using the Suez route as the majority of the carriers there are deploying smaller ships, with CMA CGM the sole exception as it retains a s

CMA CGM has retained the Suez routing for its Asia-Med Phoenician Express (BEX2) service despite escalating tensions in the Middle East over the past week after Israeli forces attacked the port of Hodeidah in Yemen on 20 July in retaliation for the Houthi drone attack that hit Tel Aviv on 19 July 2024. The Phoenician Express (BEX2) calls at Shanghai, Ningbo, Busan, Shekou, Singapore, (Suez Canal), Alexandria, Beirut, Tripoli, Koper, Trieste, Rijeka, Alexandria, Jeddah, Port Klang, Shekou, Shang

More signs of Asia Europe freight rates being peaked has emerged: 5 out of the 7 departures from Far East to North Europe over the last few days were below trend and the latest trend (on 2-week moving average) has been below the average of the past year. AE10 MAYVIEW MAERSK Departed Tanjung Pelepas on 17 July was only 79.41% full comparing to the 2-week moving average of 94.9%. FE4 HMM GARAM departed Singapore on 16 July was only 90.7% full, comparing to the 2-week moving average of 94.3%. T

CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd will terminate their jointly operated India-US East Coast Indamex and Indamex 2 services from August 2024 and replace them with separate services that will be operated independently by the two carriers. Hapag-Lloyd has announced a new TPI (Indamex) service that will call at Port Qasim, Nhava Sheva, Mundra, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, Port Qasim from 8 August 2024 with the 9,274 teu TORRENTE. The service will turn in 11 weeks and will be operated independentl

MSC has taken 2 more secondhand purchases last week, as its total capacity operated edges closer to the 6m teu mark. The vintage 25 year old 5,364 teu EVER UNITY has joined MSC last week as the MSC UNITY VI for deployment on its South Africa Ingwe service while the 2,867 teu AS CLARITA will join MSC after its current drydocking as the MSC CLARITA III for deployment on the Upper Gulf Express service in the Middle East. MSC’s aggressive vessel acquisition drive has allowed it to avoid the charter

Global port congestion dropped slightly last week, with capacity at anchorages ending the week at 1.97m teu or 6.5% of the global fleet. The situation at Southeast Asian ports is gradually improving with waiting times at Singapore and Port Klang dropping to less than 2 days although there remains sporadic delays at these ports. Singapore has paid a heavy price for the recent congestion with its latest container throughput volumes in June dropping by 5.2% compared to May as carriers omitted calls

The Far East to the Indian Subcontinent, Latin America and US West Coast routes have seen a significant increase in new capacity injections in the last month, with capacity rising by 9.0%, 6.0% and 4.7% respectively with a slew new services and extra loaders added since June. These capacity additions will continue through August, keeping the charter market tight as carriers are still short of tonnage needed on these routes. However, the incremental capacity added has put a cap to recent freigh