Total 455 Posts
Container freight futures continued to see-saw, as the large drop on 4 March after last week’s 6.2% decline in the SCFIS index was followed by a rebound on 6 March as Maersk’s General Rate Increase (GRI) notice sparked a minor rally. Over the past week, the EC contracts were generally down apart from the April 2025 and February 2026 contracts that traded flat. Average daily trading volumes remained robust, while open interest dropped slightly by 3%. The forward curve remains optimistic, with Ju
The SCFI rebound on the North Europe route proved to be short-lived as carriers continued to slash rates. The SCFIS is also expected to resume its slide after the surprise 6% gain on 10 March, mirroring the weakness in the spot market where average survey rate quotations are still falling. Capacity utilization remains stubbornly poor, with no pick up in demand to be seen. Capacity discipline remains scarce, with the OCEAN Alliance still planning to proceed with the launch of their new NEU3 serv
The EC contracts gapped down at the open but recovered throughout the day, with longer-dated contracts even closing in positive territory as traders believed MSC Lion's capacity reduction signaled discipline from the liners. However, Lion's capacity adjustment had already been reflected in the sailing schedule ten days prior, and our latest Deployment Watch (based on 22 Feb schedule data) suggests weekly capacity in March would still amount to 288k per week with smaller ships for the Lion servic
Wild swing for the main EC contract, EC2504, this morning going from being 3.8% up in first 30m minutes at market open to down 3.8% before recovering by lunch break. Overnight, CMA CGM dropped its online quotation to below $3,000 per FEU for all March shipments. Maersk released $2300 per FEU after lunch break that put the EC2504 decidedly in the negative territory for the day.
EC freight futures fell sharply on early week trading due to carriers’ aggressive price cuts and the SCFIS’ 11.2% drop published after market close will fuel further price weakness in the coming week. Capacity cuts in early February has translated to a sharp drop in the number of ships departing the Strait of Singapore last week to just 97,950 teu, against the 13-week average of 286,000 teu but will rebound over the coming weeks with March capacity at 288,000 teu. EC prices declined by 3-9% wee
The planned Asia-Europe general rate increase in March is falling flat with rampant rate cutting jeopardizing plans to raise rates to $4,000/feu. Maersk was again singled out for its aggressive price cuts, with rate offers below $3,000/feu being offered through the end of March. Despite its much touted 90% reliability target for the new Gemini Cooperation network, Maersk has evidently failed to convince its customers to pay a premium and had to resort to price cuts to fill its ships. Forward c
Freight futures of Europe Contracts (EC) declined yesterday and today as Maersk and MSC reduced their quotations to $3,200-$3,940 per forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU) from $4,000-$4,340 for shipments departing in March12. The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) to be released after market today is expected to fall by 7-10%, as last week's rate of $1,608 per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), or about $2,650 per FEU, remains significantly above current spot rates of around $2,200 per FEU
EC contracts continued to rally as traders anticipate a recovery in freight rates over the next two months, despite the liners' target of $4,000 per FEU by March 1 not being fully achievable. Half-day trading volume has already reached 86,000 lots, with open interest increasing by 7,000 lots. Weekly capacity departing from Singapore and Malaysia will hit a trough this week due to blank sailings. Utilization for the few vessels that recently departed Singapore and Malaysia has begun to drop, refl
The charter market remains very active with rates still holding very firm on very strong demand across all size segments. Last week saw notable gains in the Bangkokmax segment where demand has picked up especially for intra-Asia deployment. In the past week, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd dominated the fixtures list as they continue to fill the open vessel slots in their new Gemini network. Maersk’s recent capacity additions have seen it breach its own self-imposed fleet cap of 4.3m teu that it has mai
SCFI spot rates to Europe continue to weaken in the week ended 14 February with no pick up in cargo volumes after the Lunar New Year holiday in the Far East. SCFI spot rates fell by 10.9% with actual spot rates slipping to $2,400-$3,000/feu to North Europe although carriers are aiming to raise rates above $4,000/feu again on 1 March as bookings are resuming after the holidays. Port congestion in Europe could disrupt the schedules of the ships returning to Asia in the next 2 months, which could