The US East Coast port strike has just ended. As of October 1, the container vessel capacity waiting outside the US East Coast and Gulf region amounted to 346,185 TEU. This is one of the key factors contributing to the global container vessel capacity affected by port congestion, which now stands at 2.8 million TEU. No SCFI today (4 Oct) as China is on a week-long holiday, but based on the liners' online quotations, FE-WCNA freight rates was lower since last Friday with Maersk reduced its quota
EC freight futures traded sharply higher on 30 September with all contracts from December 2024 to August 2025 hitting their 20% maximum daily limit, bringing their weekly gains to 41% to 55%. The US East Coast ports strike is driving the bullish short-term sentiment despite continued weakness on the Asia-Europe freight market as the SCFIS fell by 3.7% on 30 September while the SCFI dropped by 13% last week as carriers continued to slash rates ahead of the October Golden Week holidays. Average E
Short-covering continue to be the driver moving up prices of the container freight futures as traders close their freight futures positions to rotate to equities. Open interests fell 23% in a week. Main contract ie EC2412 rallied again this morning after have moved up 8% in the previous 2 trading days. Liners are still cutting their freight rates, which on average dropped 5% over the past weekend. The lowest quotation have broken below $3000/FEU with the THE Alliance liners leading the freight
Freight futures for Shanghai-North Europe route continue their rebound today with main contract which is EC2412 up 7% for the day at 10:50, following the broader capital market in China. Average online quotations for Shanghai to North Europe base ports dropped 1% to 8% overnight, with shipments departing in middle of October see the biggest freight rates cut. CMA CGM released first update since 18 Sep that it slashed its quotations by 14%. Maersk took the lead from HMM by offering the lower fr
In the Asia-Europe trade, most freight rates quoted online are still down with Hapag Lloyd making relatively bigger cut than what other liners do. Lowest FAK quotation is $3,382 per FEU from HMM. Utilization for departures on 24th Sep, both TEH services, were above average, supported by THE alliance members' more aggressive pricing. Asia-Europe Head Haul Capacity UtilizationLast Friday, the average quotation given by the liners is about $4,136/FEU, which is consistent with the SCFI (Europe)'
EC freight futures rebounded on 23 September with smaller than expected rate cut by 2M and OCEAN Alliance carrier, with the spillovers from the expected US East Coast dockworkers’ strike scheduled to start on 1 October. EC traders continue rely heavily on surveys of carriers’ FAK rate quotations which dropped by -7% last week (Week 38) compared to the -18% drop in Week 35. However, the EC rates is expected to weaken in the coming week following the 13.9% WoW drop in the SCFIS on 23 September wh
EC freight futures closed higher last week, with the INE taking an extended 4-day break for the mid-autumm festival from 14 to 17 September. Traders covered their short positions over the past week after Maersk temporarily set their floor rates at $4,400 per FEU but the restraint proved short lived with carriers resuming their aggressive price cutting while Maersk lowered its online quotation to $4,000 per FEU over the weekend, marking a further 10% decrease week over week. The market is expect
The main EC freight futures contracts for December 2024 (EC2412) tumbled by 23% over the past week on high trading volumes. Carriers continued to slash FAK rates to North Europe, with market sentiment remaining bearish. Contrarian views are providing support for EC2410 on the belief that October contracts have been oversold at its current 52% discount to the SCFIS. Open interests increased by 11% WoW, indicating the high conviction that traders have on their positions.
The pace of the SCFI and SCFIS declines continued to accelerate last week with the SCFI assessment to North Europe falling by 11.9% while the SCFIS that came out after market close on 2 Sep dropped by 6.9% following the previous week’s 7.3% decline. Carriers continue to cut their spot rates, with average FAK quotations falling below $6,000/FEU with carriers giving up all the rate gains secured since June this year. Asia-North Europe volumes are down 5% from their peak, with average capacity uti
EC freight futures will come under further pressure this week after the SCFIS was published after market close on 26 August with a sharp 7.3% WoW drop, against the 2.3% WoW decline last week. The drop was worse than traders’ expectations as futures prices had rallied last week on stalled Gaza peace talks and the relatively mild drop in the SCFIS on 19 Aug of just 2.3%. Carriers continue to slash rates last week, with average rate quotations from Shanghai to North Europe falling from $8,500/FEU