Markets/Trades

The Panama Canal transit restrictions have not stopped carriers from adding 20% of incremental capacity on the FE-USEC route since the end of August, with the average capacity deployed over the last 5 weeks reaching 246,000 teu, compared to 204,000 teu in the preceding 5 weeks. Capacity utilisation has slipped to 85% in the meantime, while the SCFI freight rates tumbled from over $3,100/feu to 2,550/feu with rates as low as $2,100 currently on offer. Although carriers have cancelled 40% of the

Transpacific freight rates are eroding rapidly, with carriers slashing rates on both the West Coast and East Coast by as much as $500 below the current SCFI assessments. There is little hope of a rate rebound over the October holidays in China despite the increase in the number of blank sailings that will mostly hit Asia last port departures on week 41, with up to 40% of the weekly capacity removed. The lack of permanent capacity cuts will continue to put pressure on transpacific rates. Rates

CoFIF closed last week (15 Sep) down 1-3% in price and down 47% in trading volume. Daily turnover dropped below $1bn for the first time since CoFIF launch on 18 Aug. Open interests, the balance of CoFIF that traders hold overnight, was up 9% WoW. The influx of liquidity on 5 Sep turned out to be due to one trader’s irregular position building that has been stopped by the exchange as per a notice published in INE’s Chinese website after market close on 5 Sep. To raise barrier for irregular tradi

The erosion in charter rates continue, with further drops expected as the market slips into the traditional cargo slack season in October. Capacity utilisation on all key routes are trending lower and this could kill carriers appetite for further tonnage. SeaLead has chartered its largest ship taking over the 10,114 teu EXPRESS BERLIN from Danaos. COSCO has also received last week the first 7,092 teu newbuilding that it has chartered for 3 years from X-Press Feeders. Russian operators continue

The 1 September rate gains on the transpacific have all but evaporated, with rates to the US East Coast falling sharply with the SCFI assessment registered a 8.4% drop last week. Capacity utilization has dropped on the East Coast with average capacity deployed in September reaching a record high of almost 250,000 teu per week or 12.5% higher compared to August. In contrast, average capacity to the West Coast is  7.4% lower in September, which has only partially stemmed the rate fall. Rates to

CoFIF closed another week up only 1-3% across its 5 contracts while average daily turnover was up 46% WoW back to $1.9bn a day. Although the spot SCFIS reported 8% WoW drop after market on 4 Sep, the CoFIF market saw a huge boost of liquidity the next day (5 Sep) where total trading volume jumped to 400,000 lots, the highest since the launch of CoFIF, while the price of most traded contracts, EC2404, went up 7% for the day. Though, the market quickly gave up most of those 7% gains in the follo

Transpacific freight rates rose by $100 after the 1 September GRI but the rates gains were lower than expected and carriers have already started to cut rates with the outlook turning negative. Several carriers have already withdrawn their transpacific peak season surcharges (PSS), signifying the early end of the peak season even before the Golden Week holidays in China in October. East Coast and PNW rates are under pressure with capacity still in excess supply on these 2 routes compared to the

The CoFIF container freight futures closed mixed at the end of its 2nd trading week on 1 September with short dated contracts holding relatively better than the longer dated contracts, after taking a dip on 28 Aug. The North Europe EC2408 contract remain in contango at 1,010 relative to the SCFIS spot level of 975 last week, and the latest SCFIS reading of 897 as at 4 September. Although average trading volume dropped 30% WoW to $1.3bn, it remains highly liquid compared to other container freig

Transpacific freight rates are holding at the $1,800-$1,850 per feu level to the US West Coast, with sentiment turning downwards ahead of the 1 September GRI (General Rate Increase). Although carriers will be able to lift rates above the $2,000 level in the coming week, there is considerable skepticism that the rates can hold through the rest of the month. Rates to the East Coast have also started to slip, with more capacity available from extra loaders and limited number of blank sailings thro

CoFIF's (Containerized Freight Index Futures) closed the first full week of trading mostly up despite of bad Euro zone PMI print that came out a day ago and the 6% WoW drop in spot SCFIS on Monday. The SCFI, which usually leads all freight rates indices in container shipping sector, came out at 3pm today down for second week in a row after showing some strength in mid August. While EC2404 (Apr 2024 contracts) are down 6% WoW and EC2406 (Jun 2024 contracts) are flat WoW, other three contracts