Freight futures opened lower following the announcement of new tariffs by President Trump, which have raised the cumulative tariff on Chinese imports to 54% since the start of his presidency. However, futures recovered throughout the day, ending broadly unchanged as short sellers closed their positions ahead of the long weekend holiday in China. The main contract, EC2506, gained 1.29% for the day. Linerlytica's online quotation system also showed marginal improvements over the past two days, al

Port congestion remains elevated across all main regions, with only a minor drop over the past week due mainly to improvements in some North Asia ports. Congestion at North and Central China ports remain elevated, with weather related work stoppages across key ports continuing to keep the queue of vessels waiting at anchorages high at Shanghai/Ningbo and Bohai ports. Fog closures and the bunching of vessel arrivals kept North Asia at the top of the congestion hotspot chart, with European ports f

Container freight futures edged up by 1–5% week-on-week, driven largely by short covering rather than fresh buying. Overall open interest fell below 90,000 contracts for the first time since the Lunar New Year holidays, a sign of waning market enthusiasm. Open interest in the main EC2506 contract that expires in 3 months dropped by 25% over the week. Trading sentiment has cooled further, with weekly trading volumes tumbling by 24%. The SCFIS released after the close of trading on Monday slipped

The SCFI rates for Asia-North Europe have edged up at the end of last week, rising marginally by 0.9% as carriers’ 1 April rate hike takes hold. However, market conviction remains low as carriers continued to slash their online spot rates to below $3,000 per FEU for April departures, underscoring the widening gulf between rate-hike announcements and market realities. SCFI rates to the Med continued to slip, dropping by 5.4% with no capacity discipline in display after MSC switched their 24k teu

Bengal Tiger Line, Evergreen, Regional Container Line and Wan Hai Line will team up to launch a new Vietnam-Thailand-East Coast India service calling at Ho Chi Minh City, Laem Chabang, Singapore, Port Klang Northport, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Port Klang, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City. The service will turn in 4 weeks using 4 ships of 2,400 to 2,800 teu starting with the 2,646 teu WAN HAI 317 at Ho Chi Minh City on 20 April 2025, followed by the 2,742 teu WHUTTHI BHUM, 2,870 teu EVER BRAVE and 2,46

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

Free Trial: users could just register to access to Linerlytica website including newsletter i.e. Market Pulse library for a period of free access. "Weekly Market Pulse" includes News and Newsletter Market Pulse Library at US$1,500 per user per year. "Linerlytica Website" - the Full Suite Product includes "Weekly Market Pulse" plus database access with search, filter and sorting functions covering the topics of Port Congestion, Vessels, Orderbook, Fixtures, Sales, Services (utilization), Operat

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.