Total 193 Posts
Register Free Trial Carriers are pushing ahead with their 1 November rate hikes after successfully holding on to their mid-October gains, buoyed by rising market sentiment as a US-China trade deal could be reached by this week. The US-China port fees are expected to be part of the package deal to be finalized when the leaders of both countries meet on 30 October. Port traffic in the US and China have not been materially impacted so far, with primarily COSCO’s ships in the US and Matson’s ships
Register Free Trial The special port fees applied by the US and China on each country’s ships took effect on 14 October but the impact has been less severe than initially expected. Chinese authorities have not applied the 25% US ownership rule strictly and only Matson is affected by the fees so far although Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd diverted 2 of their US-flagged ships on the Transpacific TP7/WC5 service to avoid the port fees. At least one US-flagged operator has received waivers due to their new
Register Free Trial Sino-US trade tensions escalated over the past week after China announced retaliatory special port fees targeted at US-linked companies with a much wider coverage than initially expected. Even following a last minute notice to exempt ships built in China, container carriers could be liable to pay up to $2.3Bn in the first year for calling at Chinese ports, compared to $1.2Bn that Chinese operators would pay for calling at US ports starting from 14 October. The US threatened
Register Free Trial Freight rates from the Far East remains under pressure with slower market activity due to the Golden Week holidays in China. Although carriers are pushing for 15 October rate hikes aimed at reversing the recent rate slump, the reinstatement of most of the regular services following the Golden Week blanked sailings provides little support for the rate push. The current high charter rates and forward fixtures stretching into next year, as well as the total absence of vessel sc
Register Free Trial Extreme weather conditions in South China and North Vietnam have severely disrupted vessel schedules with elevated port congestion in the Far East persisting through the week. The disruptions failed to support freight rates which remain in freefall even as attention shifts to carriers’ mid-October rate restoration efforts to stop the bleeding. However, prospects are bleak given the weak cargo volumes and lack of capacity curbs. New US tariffs targeting kitchen cabinets and f
Register Free Trial Although global container volumes have remained resilient so far this year, freight rates continue to be beaten down. The SCFI rally was short-lived as the composite index slumped by 14.3% last week in its 3rd worst weekly drop since 2009 as carriers gave up all their Transpacific rate gains in early September and resumed their price war ahead of the Golden Week holidays in China. Rates from China to the emerging markets were not spared, as carriers slashed rates across the
Register Free Trial Container freight rates resumed its decline with the SCFI slipping by 3.2% last week, with sharp drops in rates from China to Europe, Mexico, Middle East and India. Even the SCFI rate gains on the Transpacific is masking the weakness in the US trades, with market rates already falling rapidly. The suspension of 2 services to the US West Coast in September is insufficient to stop the rate rot as only 1.5% of the total capacity on the route is removed. The USTR 301 service fe
Register Free Trial \Although the composite SCFI index was unchanged last week, it masked conflicting performances across various key tradelanes with the Asia-Europe route slumping to its sharpest weekly decline since February while the Transpacific route showed surprising resilience and managed to hold on to most of its 1 September rate hikes. The resilience is not expected to last, with freight rates remaining under pressure due to the lack of capacity discipline. Golden Week blank sailing pr
Register Free Trial The SCFI staged its first rebound after 11 consecutive weekly declines but the rebound will be short lived as freight rates will resume their downswing in the absence of capacity cuts by carriers. The market continues to be in a stand-off with the planned September rate hikes not expected to hold as carriers shift their focus to filing their excess vessel capacity and building up cargo roll pools ahead of the Golden Week holidays in China in October. While the freight rate
Register Free Trial Spot freight rates continued to slip for the 11th consecutive week, with prospects for a September rate rebound vanishing quickly as carriers continue to resist capacity cuts to match the drop in demand. Cargo booking volumes have fallen by between 5% to 20% in the last 2 weeks with the Transpacific, Asia-Europe and Latin America routes under heavy pressure. The withdrawal of 11 US sanctioned ships has lifted the idle fleet to a 15 month high, but this has not eased the tig