Total 187 Posts
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
Register Free Trial The 90 day tariff extension for China moves the current US tariff expiration to 10 November 2025, but the impact on container volumes will be limited as front loading has already shifted most of the peak season cargo in June and July. Further rate weakness on the Transpacific and Asia-Europe routes were recorded last week with the SCFI slipping for its 10th consecutive weekly decline, with the composite index shedding 35% of its value in that period. Prospects for a rate reb
Register Free Trial Market speculation of a management buyout at Zim has sparked a rally in the company’s shares with CEO Eli Glickman reported to have partnered with Abraham Ungar who owns Ray Shipping to make a bid to acquire the Israeli carrier. Zim’s share price has been trading at a discount of over 50% to its book value and is expected to release its 2nd quarter financial results on 20 August. The move comes as freight rates continue to slip with the SCFI falling for the 9th consecutive
Register Free Trial Revised US tariffs that will take effect on 7 August will have a negative impact on overall global demand even though the average tariff rates were lower than initially announced on 2 April. Although global container growth projections have been revised upwards, over-supply pressure persists with freight rates remaining under pressure after the SCFI extended its losing streak to its 8th consecutive week. Further rate declines are expected throughl October, with prospects for
Register Free Trial Global container throughput growth has remained resilient in the first half of this year, with total volumes growing by 5.3% with all regions apart from Oceania recording positive growth in the first 6 months of the year. However the outlook for the second half is more gloomy, as cascading impact of US tariffs start to affect container volumes negatively. The US-EU trade deal is expected to hit Transatlantic westbound freight rates, with US imports expected to drop by more t
Register Free Trial Container freight rates continued their precipitous fall as the SCFI shed a further 5% last week with weaker rates across all main trades led once again by the Transpacific. Carriers’ reluctance to withdraw surplus transpacific capacity amidst the tariff chaos doomed their mid-July rate hike efforts. Rates to North Europe that have held up well in the last 2 months are also starting to crack with vessel utilization rates dropping noticeably last week, potentially signaling a
Register Free Trial The extension of the US import tariff pause to 1 August has not helped transpacific freight rates that retained their downward trajectorory with cargo demand still slipping from the June peak. Carriers are retaining most of their transpacific capacity through the end of August despite the collapse in freight rates. The rate weakness is spreading to the East Coast with the widening gap to the West Coast rapidly eroding. In contrast, European routes have been surprisingly res