Total 169 Posts
Register Free Trial The de-escalation in the Sino-US trade war came earlier than expected after the 2 countries agreed to lower reciprocal tariffs to 30% for Chinese exports to the US for 90 days from 14 May 2025 while tariffs on US exports to China is lowered to 10%, setting the stage for a surge in Transpacific cargo volumes in the next 3 months. The volume rebound will coincide with the traditional summer peak season, with freight rates set to surge as a result. Carriers have pre-announced p
Register Free Trial Ocean freight traffic slowed over the past week across Asia due to the Labour Day holidays but average freight rates largely held their ground despite the continuing market turmoil triggered by the US tariffs. Transpacific rates bucked the downward pressure as carriers moved swiftly to remove excess capacity that allowed them to secure rate hikes in both the spot and contract markets, although the rate strength is due more to an anticipated cargo surge if a Sino-US trade dea
Register Free Trial Carrier are pushing ahead with transpacific rate hikes in May despite the severe drop in Chinese volumes that has forced carriers to slash Transpacific capacity by over 20% while capacity utilization on the remaining services are down by more than 5%. The reduction in the cargo flow to the US will start to impact arrivals in May, raising the likelihood of an imminent Sino-US trade deal that could trigger a sharp rebound in Chinese cargo bookings to the US. This has helped ca
Register Free Trial Revised USTR action on Chinese ships eliminates the risk of potential capacity disruptions as all of the onerous terms of the US port fee have been toned down. Over the next 180 days, carriers are expected to swap the affected Chinese built ships out of the US and replace them with fee-exempt ships. Chinese carriers such as COSCO may be able to circumvent the onerous port fees if they withdraw their ships and replace them with slots on fee-exempt ships operated by alliance p
Register Free Trial The US-China standoff continues to keep container market sentiment poor with US tariff concessions far from sufficient to restore Transpacific volumes with cargo bookings in the next 3 weeks reported to be down by 30-60% in China and by 10-20% in the rest of Asia. The Labour Day holidays will further dampen cargo demand in May, and could force carriers to cancel additional sailings over the coming weeks in order to stop further freight rate erosion. Only 3 Transpacific serv
Register Free Trial Blanket US imports tariffs announced last week have resulted in significant cargo booking cancellations in Asia, thwarting carriers’ efforts to raise transpacific freight rates and placed the May contract negotiations in limbo. The effective US tariff rate, on a container volume weighted basis, will rise substantially to 36% setting the stage for a full blown trade war with our global container demand growth projections already cut to -1.1% in 2025. EC freight futures tumbl
Register Free Trial Carriers secured their first rate gains in 2025 as they pushed through the 1 April GRI. However, the tentative capacity cuts led by MSC and OCEAN Alliance are not matched by Gemini and Premier Alliance which will continue to test the carriers’ resolve to enforce capacity discipline amidst growing concerns over weakening cargo demand as the new Trump tariffs loom. Weariness over constant changes in US trade policy have pushed shippers to conclude the new transpacific contrac
Register Free Trial The continuation of the Red Sea diversions. elevated port congestion and a relatively low level of new ship deliveries in March continues to boost the containership charter market but has failed to revive the sagging freight market with the SCFI slipping by a further 2% last week to bring YTD losses to 48%. Carriers half-hearted bid to raise rates on 1 April is coming to a premature halt, with weak cargo demand keeping capacity utilization in check. Although the number blank
Register Free Trial Capacity utilization is slipping across all key trade routes with 3 out of the 4 main tradelanes falling below 90%. Despite this, carriers are pushing ahead with new service launches with a new Asia-North Europe service and 3 new Asia-South America services to be launched next month including a new China-Mexico service that will feature 7 new Asian entrants to the Mexican market. The unabated demand for ships is keeping the charter market high despite the freight market slu
Register Free Trial MSC’s ascension to the top of the container terminal operators table was as remarkable as its rise to the top containership operator rank and leaves little room for its rivals to catch up. The bold move by MSC and its consortium partners to acquire Hutchison Ports’ terminal assets ex China will widen MSC’s global footprint, with access to new hubs in Rotterdam, Felixstowe, Port Klang, Laem Chabang, Lazaro Cardenas, Balboa and Cristobal that will complement MSC’s existing ter