EC contracts saw minimal movement this morning as traders awaited the release of the SCFI for direction. Overnight, Maersk continued to slash their quotations, offering $4,400 per FEU from Qingdao to Rotterdam on an AE10 vessel departing on 22 December, compared to $4,700 per FEU for shipments departing from Shanghai before December 15. The utilization moving average remains around 97%, consistent with the level observed since second half of November. However, the week-to-date average utiliza
EC traders are disappointed by Maersk's lack of further action to increase freight rates over the past two days. While Hapag-Lloyd has become the first to announce its intention to raise freight rates to $8,000–$9,000 per FEU starting December 15, Maersk is already quoting lower freight rates for shipments departing after that date compared to those leaving now. The rates for each departure date have been reduced by 3% to 13% since November 30. Utilization is holding steady but remains 1.5 perce
The SCFI released after the market close last Friday jumped by 22% week-over-week but remains below the current price of EC2412, implying $5,500 per FEU. While the overall SCFI index tends to follow its own trend, SCFI Europe does not show the same sensitivity to trends. In the past 15 years, the SCFI Europe has rallied over 20% week-over-week 46 times, with 28 of those rallies followed by a decline the following week. Utilization for most vessels that departed over the weekend tracked below t
The EC2412 and EC2502 experienced a gap down at the open but have since recovered some of their losses, as EC traders maintain hopes for a freight rate increase this weekend. Contrary to the consensus in the EC market, we believe that the December 1st rate increase is unlikely, as liners are still quoting rates below $4,000 per FEU for shipments departing on November 30. The moving average utilization rate has improved slightly, aided by the fully loaded MADISON MAERSK that departed Tanjung Pel
EC contracts are mostly up 1-3% on thin volume this morning. There are no long buyers, and short sellers are hesitant to place their bets before the imminent release of the SCFI, which is expected after the market closes tomorrow. If the online quotations from the liners are accepted by any shippers, the SCFI is projected to jump by 37% this week (from 2,481 to 3,400). However, we doubt that the SCFI panel, which includes a large group of forwarders from China in addition to the international l
EC market range bounce this morning after two consecutive days of sell-offs. Liners are still cutting their target freight rates increase over the past two days that now they are aiming to lift the freight rates to high $5,000 per FEU instead of $6,000 per FEU as previously planned for Far East - North Europe shipments embarking after 1 December. The spot freight rate for shipments embarking this week is about $4,000 per FEU, far from the $5,500 per FEU that the liners planned to achieve. Latest
Container freight futures for February 2025 contracts came under heavy selling pressure as it hit the maximum daily limit down of 16% on 25 November on high trading volumes due to rising fears of a Middle East ceasefire as container rates are expected to falter further by February due to the post-Lunar New Year slack. The current EC2502 price of 2,722 still suggests freight rates around $4,000 per FEU. The December 2024 contracts continue to be supported by carriers’ planned December rate hikes
EC main contracts are down this morning, as data released over the past few days does not support an imminent 50% increase in freight rates for the FE-North Europe route. Since our last Daily CoFIF on November 22, 2024, liners have been reducing their online quotations. While utilization for alliance services remains high at 97%, consistent with the year-to-date average, the overall average utilization has been trending downward after reaching a recent peak last week.
While the moving average utilization for vessels departing from the Far East remains high, the AE55's MSC TESSA, which departed yesterday, registered only 91% utilization—7 percentage points below the moving average. Far East - North Europe Head Haul Vessel UtilizationSince our last Daily CoFIF on November 14, the liners have reduced their quotes for November shipments while increasing their quotes for December shipments, which does not inspire much confidence in the December 1 GRI.
The longer dated EC contracts expiring after February 2025 have recovered most of their losses in the previous week as hopes for an early end to the Gaza conflict has diminished following the hawkish statements from Israel and increased strikes against targets in Gaza and Lebanon. The short-dated contracts for December 2024 and February 2025 largely held their ground despite increased scepticism over the carriers’ ability to push through additional rate hikes in December after their failure to