The long position holders also entered liquidation mode as the new quotations from the liners continue to disappoint with quotation for last week of October lowered to $1500 per FEU. EC2510, which is trading at 7% premium to the latest SCFIS, is testing the 1,100 level. The recent low of this contract was 1,050 on 19 September.
Futures traders in Shanghai maintain their risk-off mode—further liquidation by short sellers pushed prices higher. EC2510 dropped as diverging quotations among liners again cast doubt on the mid-October GRI. The new Chinese Port Dues targeting ships owned or controlled by US interests affect only 6 ships or 1.6% of the capacity currently deployed in the Far East to North Europe route.
Classical risk off rally today starting from the afternoon session: big price move but also a lot of liquidation. So most of the buy trades were just short covering. The news was China's big port due on US related vessels kick in today, which may force the carries to withdraw some capacity etc. What may have gone unnoticed in the market was the Maersk listed $1,800 per FEU for the 30 Oct i.e. the first week of November, which is even lower than the freight rates that it quoted for the shipments
There were more sell-offs today, but overall trading volume was lighter than yesterday but still showed better speculative interest comparing to what we have seen seen in the past month. Open interest rebounded above 70,000. SCFI-EUR jumped 10% after the market, reflecting liner quotations, though cracks remain apparent as several carriers have extended their current rates into the third week of October.
Futures traders in China returned from the week-long holiday to a sell-off triggered by peace news from the Middle East. However, near-term contracts proved resilient, with EC2512 dipping below 1,600 at its intraday low before rebounding to close just 1.8% lower, while EC2510 held firm, supported by liner efforts to raise rates for shipments departing from 15 October. Maersk and ONE posted freight rates below the industry average target of $2,000 for the second half of October, signaling early
The freight futures in Shanghai experienced a wild ride over the past two trading sessions, with a spike at the open yesterday followed by a retreat over the past two days, apparently finding a short-term bottom this afternoon. The spike yesterday was driven primarily by short covering, as open interest has hardly changed. Then Maersk offered $1,400 per FEU for shipments departing on the first week of October, which gave short sellers added conviction. The short sellers returned today and added
Maersk’s offer of $1,550 per FEU after the market closed yesterday triggered a more meaningful decline for all freight futures contracts, with trading volume nearly double that of the previous day. Most contracts closed at their daily lows. The most notable development, however, was the increase in open interest, particularly for EC2510. Typically, traders begin to liquidate positions in a contract about two months before expiry and roll over their bets to the next expiring contracts. But this h
The container shipping industry has reached a pivotal point this year in the application of freight futures as a hedging tool. Major players are starting to act, rather than avoiding or merely considering the use of freight futures. The freight futures products are ready, and more options with potentially even better designs will be available soon. There are already two freight derivatives products in operation. One is the SCFIS (Europe) Futures Contract (EC) listed on the Shanghai Internationa
The trading volume is drying up, with open interest holding up only because of the hotly contested EC2510 contract. There is no sign yet of traders willing to roll over their EC2510 positions into longer-dated contracts. If the bears are correct, volumes will fall sharply once the October contracts expire, creating a difficult environment for the launch of two additional futures products—one on ICE based on the NYSHEX index and the other on Euronext based on the Xeneta index. For the first time
No one was willing to make a move today, as all eyes are on what Maersk will offer for late-September shipments. With no fresh news to set the tone, most contracts moved higher on traders’ concerns that the market may have already bottomed. Trading volume was light today but open interests edged up by 927 contracts. As of the time this note was published, Maersk’s new offer had still not surfaced. However, after market close, OOCL posted a rate of $1,650 per FEU—down another $200 per FEU, which