Total 238 Posts
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
Register Free Trial Carriers continue to push for an early return to the Red Sea with MSC the latest to join the fray as 7 of it ships crossed the Bab el Mandeb in the last 2 weeks. Maersk has confirmed that it has already returned over 30% of its Cape volumes back to the trans-Suez route and it views the conditions for a full return to the Red Sea have already been met even as it eyes further fleet expansion to combat persistent port and landside bottlenecks. Congestion remains elevated over t
Register Free Trial While traffic on the Strait of Hormuz remains restricted with just 2 containerships making outbound passages last week, traffic on the Bab el Mandeb continues to increase with CMA CGM and Maersk pushing 3 more services back to the Suez route as they continue to defy the threat of Houthi attacks. These moves are aimed at combating the shortage of vessels and container equipment that have been made worse by protracted port congestion across North Asia and Europe. COSCO Shippin
Register Free Trial The container freight rate rally received another boost heading into August as carriers pushed through rate increases across the Transpacific, Latin America, India subcontinent and Middle East routes with the SCFI composite index rebounding by 4.7% as it clawed back part of its recent losses and defying the weakness on the Asia-Europe route where freight rates remain under downward pressure. Cargo demand remains strong out of Asia, and persistent port congestion in China has
Register Free Trial While Houthis choke the Bab el-Mandeb to Saudi oil exports, containerships are still using the strait to deliver cargo to Jeddah and other Red Sea ports with several carriers including Maersk and CMA CGM also sticking to their trans-Suez transits. The pause in military exchanges is providing little clarity on the direction of the market, although container freight futures anticipate freight rates to drop from their recent peaks despite the recent rise in fuel prices. Despite
Register Free Trial The renewed military conflict in the Persian Gulf kept the Strait of Hormuz shut last week, but Maersk and CMA CGM have continued to send their ships through the Red Sea despite the increased risk of Houthi attacks. Although only 24 containerships remain idle in the Persian Gulf with a total capacity of 69,000 teu, there is a growing number of Iranian ships that are stranded in various Asian anchorages that have been added to the idle fleet. The rising tensions is giving con
Register Free Trial The SCFI retreated by 4.3% last week after a 10-week run of successive rate hikes as new capacity additions relieved some of the vessel space tightness that has driven spot rate gains of over 70% since April. Carriers failed to hold on to the early July rate hikes as rates receded across the board. Although carriers are still pushing for 2 more rounds of rate hikes on 15 July and 1 August, rates appears to have peaked for now with space constraints starting to ease with new
Register Free Trial The idled containership fleet has shrunk to the lowest levels since February as the ships stranded inside the Strait of Hormuz dropped to 21 units with most of them already evacuated in the last 3 weeks. Containership availability remains very tight and this is reflected in the rising charter rates and resale prices as carriers scramble to secure any open tonnage to capitalize on the surging freight rates. The SCFI surged past 3,300 despite some of the 1 July rate hikes bein