The Israeli government’s decision on the Zim sale to Hapag-Lloyd has been postponed by 30 days to allow Hapag-Lloyd and Israeli private equity fund FIMI to revise its offer in order to address Israeli opposition to the sale. Meanwhile, Hapag-Lloyd has reversed its decision on Red Sea transits as it sent the 14,993 teu AL JMELIYAH on the Asia-Med SE1/AE12 service on the Suez, with Maersk making 10 trans-Suez trips of its own lasat week as the 2 Gemini Cooperation partners continue to eye a full return to the Red Sea.
Capacity remains very tight with port congestion still soaking up over 4m TEU of vessel capacity with vessels waiting for of up to 12 days in Shanghai and Ningbo. The disrupted schedules are also driving up congestion at downstream ports in South China and Southeast Asia, while the Dutch port strike has also caused delays especially at Rotterdam. SCFI freight rates continue to trend upwards as the port congestion continues to provide rate support, with the cargo backlog expected to keep ships fully utilized even through the traditionally slow Golden Week holidays in China starting on 1 October.
Johnson Leung
EBIT earnings rebound in 2Q with further gains still to come
Carrier earnings rebounded in the 2nd quarter of 2026, as the average EBIT margins of the 11 main carriers surveyed rose to 10.4% compared to 4.8% in the 1st quarter. An even sharper jump expected is in the 3rd quarter with the CCFI already up 37% so far this quarter, with average EBIT margins set to rise above 25% to mark the best quarterly performance since 2024.
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