Register Free Trial Carriers secured their first rate gains in 2025 as they pushed through the 1 April GRI. However, the tentative capacity cuts led by MSC and OCEAN Alliance are not matched by Gemini and Premier Alliance which will continue to test the carriers’ resolve to enforce capacity discipline amidst growing concerns over weakening cargo demand as the new Trump tariffs loom. Weariness over constant changes in US trade policy have pushed shippers to conclude the new transpacific contrac

The port congestion situation in Europe has escalated further, with total capacity waiting at North European and Mediterranean anchorages surging to over 935,000 teu last week, accounting for 32% of the 2.92m total capacity waiting at ports globally. Ports in Gibraltar and Iberia were hit by poor weather last week, with Algeciras and Tanger amongst the ports that were affected. Valencia, Barcelona and Piraeus also experienced increased delays as Med congestion continues to surge. In North Europ

Container freight futures dropped in mid-week trading on 19 March after Maersk extended their $2,000 per FEU rate through early April, mirroring a similar move by MSC the week before. The 1 April rate hike has effectively been abandoned even before it started with the EC2504 contracts taking the biggest hit. The EC2506 and EC2508 contracts remain relatively unscathed and are still trading at a 29-37% premium over the SCFIS from last week with open interest up by 4% week-on-week. Average utiliza

Carriers are reducing Asia-North Europe rate quotations for the first week of April, sparking yet another round of failed rate hikes on this route. Although capacity utilization picked up in week 10 due to a large number of sailings skipped, the reprieve will be temporary as carriers are bringing back capacity over the next few weeks including the launch of the Ocean Alliance’s new NEU3 service from week 15 that will add another 8,000-14,000 teu per week . The repeated failures to push through

Register Free Trial The continuation of the Red Sea diversions. elevated port congestion and a relatively low level of new ship deliveries in March continues to boost the containership charter market but has failed to revive the sagging freight market with the SCFI slipping by a further 2% last week to bring YTD losses to 48%. Carriers half-hearted bid to raise rates on 1 April is coming to a premature halt, with weak cargo demand keeping capacity utilization in check. Although the number blank

China United Lines will add a new Jeddah-Port Sudan (JPS) service from 11 April 2025. The JPS will turn weekly with the 599 teu ZHONG LIAN SHAN TOU that is currently positioning from China to the Red Sea.

COSCO and X-Press Feeders have revised the rotation of their jointly operated Eastern Caribbean Service (ECX)/Trinidad Guyana X-Press (TGX) service with the former call at Kingston replaced by a new call at Manzanillo in Panama from 1 April 2025. The revised ECX/TGX will call at Manzanillo (Pan), Caucedo, Port of Spain, Georgetown, Paramaribo, Port of Spain, Kingston. The revised service will continue to turn in 21 days using 3 ships of 1,100 teu to 1,300 teu, starting with the 1,110 teu WIND f

Evergreen will launch a new Vietnam Thailand Malaysia service (VTS) calling at Shekou, Nansha, Sihanoukville, Laem Chabang, Singapore, Batam, Port Klang Westport, Shekou from 18 April 2025. The service will turn in 3 weeks and will initially operated with 2 ships of 1,800-1,900 teu, EVER CORE and EVER CHARM, with 1 blank sailing in each 3 week cycle. It will feature a direct connection from South China, Cambodia and Thailand to Batam, with Evergreen and SITC the only carriers to provide regular

A new Central America carrier, ServiPort Marine Line has launched a Honduras-South Florida service connecting Puerto Cortes, Port Everglades, Puerto Cortes with the 310 teu general cargo ship SVL HONDURAS from 7 March 2025 with a weekly service frequency.

Global port congestion continues to show no improvements with several main Chinese ports experiencing severe delays, particularly in Ningbo, Shanghai and Qingdao where waiting times have increased to up to 5 days. The total number of ships waiting at anchorages n North Asia averaged over 1m teu last week due to both weather-related delays as well as high vessel traffic. These delays will also impact ports further downstream especially around Southeast Asia where congestion has also been rising.

US efforts to revive its shipbuilding industry will achieve little traction despite the USTR’s proposal to impose a levy on Chinese built ships as well as remissions for operators using US built ships. There are currently only 63 US-flagged containerships, accounting for just 0.9% of the global fleet of 6,874 ships currently. Only 25 of the US flagged ships were built in the US primarily to serve the Jones Act trades, while the rest of the 38 ships were built outside of the US. Maersk, CMA CGM

Container freight futures retreated over the past week with growing concerns over the carriers’ persistent rate cuts. Despite MSC’s announcement on 12 March to raise its Asia-North Europe base rates to $4,000 per FEU from 1 April, it has provided rate offers at $2,090 per FEU until 6 April, effectively undermining their planned rate hike. Trading volumes fell by 17% week-over-week, while open interest remained largely unchanged as trader wait for fresh directions. Despite last week’s sharp decl