Total 245 Posts
Register Free Trial The return to the Red Sea continues to gather pace, with Evergreen resuming their Suez transits starting from this week, becoming the last OCEAN Alliance partner to return to the Suez route. Yangming will be the next carrier to follow as it joins its Premier Alliance partners ONE and HMM on the Suez route from December. All 3 main carrier alliances along with MSC are set to make a full return to the Suez by the 1st quarter of 2027, leaving Zim as the only main carrier left o
Register Free Trial Further signs are emerging that container freight rates have peaked as cargo demand softens heading into the traditional slack winter season while capacity pressure is easing with the further release of ships returning to the Suez route. Carriers have failed to push through the planned November rate hikes and the pace of rate cuts is accelerating as they scramble to secure cargo before rates soften further. EC freight futures have started to correct after their initial enthu
Register Free Trial Freight rate signals out of Asia remain mixed with the SCFI showing little price movements as the Chinese market was closed for most of last week. The market outlook has turned negative with TEU-mile demand growth slipping further as the number of containerships shifting back to the Suez route continues to grow. Total capacity tied up at anchorages has also started to gradually decline as the National Day holidays in China has helped to clear part of the vessel backlog at C
Register Free Trial The market barometer has turned negative for the first time since January 2026 as TEU mile growth slipped below supply growth due to the reduction in the number of ships rerouted to the Cape and Golden Week blanked sailings in China that have brought down global vessel demand. The pace of new ship deliveries also picked up slightly with almost 200,000 teu delivered in September with no ships deleted in the same period. Market activity will remain subdued in the next 2 weeks
Register Free Trial SCFI freight rates ended its 2 month winning streak as container freight rates eased for the first time since July ahead of China’s Golden Week holidays. Cargo volumes have already started to drop with last week’s mid-Autumn festival holidays across the Far East and carriers start to offer rate discounts for October shipments. The outlook remains positive, with EC freight futures still projecting freight rates to rebound in November and December while containership charter
Register Free Trial Maersk has made the first break from its logistics integrator strategy with a 26 ship vessel order that was confirmed by the company last week. It sets the stage for a new capacity race as the containership orderbook ratio surges to a post 2009 high of 45% with additional orders still to come as vessel demand remain relentless. The current vessel shortage is driving freight rates, charter rates and second hand ship prices to fresh year to date highs, which has ironically mad
Register Free Trial The escalation in the Middle East tensions as Houthi forces advance in Yemen over the last 2 weeks has not deterred carriers from resuming more Suez transits, with COSCO and OOCL the latest carriers to return to the troubled Red Sea region. The move will leave the Premier Alliance partners as the only main carrier group that have not returned to the Red Sea. The total capacity of ships diverted to the Cape route has dropped to a 2 year low of 4.6% of the global fleet. Freig
Register Free Trial The Israeli government’s decision on the Zim sale to Hapag-Lloyd has been postponed by 30 days to allow Hapag-Lloyd and Israeli private equity fund FIMI to revise its offer in order to address Israeli opposition to the sale. Meanwhile, Hapag-Lloyd has reversed its decision on Red Sea transits as it sent the 14,993 teu AL JMELIYAH on the Asia-Med SE1/AE12 service on the Suez, with Maersk making 10 trans-Suez trips of its own lasat week as the 2 Gemini Cooperation partners con
Register Free Trial Terminal operations in Ningbo and Shanghai were severely disrupted again by typhoon Saudel last week, resulting in extended delays of over 10 days in the most severe cases. The elevated port congestion continues to tie up vessel capacity with 3.92m TEU of 11.4% of the fleet still tied up at anchorages last week. Vessel availability remains very tight, keeping charter rates firm as the limited number of ships circulate within the same circle of charterers as new ship deliveri
Register Free Trial Port congestion has reached a new high with over 4.3m TEU waiting to berth at container ports globally, driven mainly by delays across East Asia as fresh storms continued to disrupt vessel schedules. In terms of total TEU, the stranded capacity is higher now compared to the previous peak of 4.0m TEU reached during the COVID pandemic in 2022. The current stranded capacity accounts for 12.6% of the global fleet at 34.4m TEU, which is lower than the peak of 15.7% recorded in 20