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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
Register Free Trial The strength of the US container cargo demand remains very much in evidence, with preliminary import volume data for May and June showing imports from Asia declining by only 5.6% in the last 2 months despite the severe disruption from the Trump tariffs. Although imports from China dropped by 24% yoy, volumes from all other Asian origins recorded positive gains, led by Vietnam and Indonesia which grew by 34% and 33% respectively. The 20% tariff on Vietnamese imports announce
Register Free Trial The rapid decline in Transpacific freight rates have forced some carriers to roll back their capacity plans but with tonnage already committed in some cases, carriers are still pushing ahead with new Transpacific service upgrades. Emirates is the latest newcomer to the US market, making a return to transpacific after a 17 year absence, even though another newcomer CU Lines have given up plans to revive its US service after just a single sailing. Niche carriers Hede and SeaLe
Register Free Trial The SCFI rolled back all of the gains of the past 3 weeks as Transpacific rates collapsed under the weight of excess capacity. Freight rates to the US West Coast have recorded their largest weekly losses in the last 2 weeks as their failure to retain any of their 1 June rate hikes have also put the peak season surcharge for contract customers at risk. The early end to the transpacific peak season have not yet dragged down rates on the secondary routes that remain supported b
Register Free Trial Container vessel traffic in the Middle East remains unaffected by the escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict since 13 June with carriers maintaining their scheduled calls at Middle East Gulf and Israeli ports, while Suez transits have also been retained. Zim affirmed the continuation of its services to the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifa while CMA CGM is still proceeding to reroute 3 of their Europe-Indian subcontinent/Far East ships through the Suez this month despite the
Register Free Trial Asia to US freight rates have peaked after carriers rolled back the increases from the last 2 weeks as the new Transpacific capacity injections have exceeded market demand, especially to the Los Angeles/Long Beach PSW gateway where carriers are struggling to fill the ships. Although PNW and US East Coast capacity remains tight, it will not be enough to push through a fresh round of rate increases in mid-June as the carriers focus on holding their recent gains. Carriers’ init