Markets/Trades

The active fleet has started to creep upwards and is now at their highest levels since 2020, reaching 17.7m teu on lower idling and drydocking positions as well as easing congestion in North America and Europe. The pick up in vessel scrapping has hardly made a dent on the overall supply of ships as it is limited to smaller ships. The delivery schedule for new ships is picking up as well, with over 2.5m teu of new capacity scheduled in 2023. The idle containership fleet continued to fall, with

The Golden Week holidays in China provided little respite for the sliding freight and charter rates. There was no SCFI publication last week due to the Chinese holidays but SCFIS (SCFI on Settled Rates), another index also from Shanghai Shipping Exchange, was published yesterday (10 Oct) where the SCFIS for Shanghai-USWC has fallen to level last seen in May 2020: 1,384, down 11% from the last print on 26 Sep. The SCFIS for Shanghai-Northern Europe was 3,434, fell 13% since 26 Sep but still a mul

The SCFI composite index has fallen by 59% from its peak in January 2022, but rates remain elevated against their historical averages despite the recent drops. In 2019, the composite index stood at just 811 points compared to 2,072 points currently. Rates from China to South Africa, Europe, South America and Australia in particular are all expected to come under pressure over the coming weeks as they remain well above their 2019 average. In week 38, spot rates to the US West Coast continued to

Charter rates recorded sharp falls last week, with the negative sentiment in the freight markets finally filtering through to the charter market. With freight rates rapidly collapsing across all tradelanes, charter rates are belatedly catching up with further rate falls to follow given the rising number of vessels available spot and on a prompt basis. Shorter period charters of up to 6 months are no longer commanding any premiums over 12 month rates, while the gap on 24 month rates are also na

The SCFI assessment of $3,050/feu to the US West Coast remains higher than latest market rates offered by carriers that have already dropped below $2,500/feu and will soon breach the $2,000/feu level, ensuring further SCFI downward revisions in the coming weeks. USWC rates have collapsed completely, and contract rates have also been annihilated with various carriers already agreeing to revise full year contract rates to match the current spot  market rates in order to protect their volume share

Freight rates continued their spectacular collapse last week despite the severe port congestion that has built up in North Asia due to Typhoon Muifa, with the SCFI slipping by 33% within the past 4 weeks and down 50% year on year. Vessel utilisation on head haul routes have continued to drop despite shortfalls in ship departures, with carriers lacking resolve to remove excess vessel capacity in the market beyond ad hoc blank sailings that have been ineffective in curbing the rate drops. Yet, ca

Over the last few weeks, the main East West head hauls displayed some concerning signs that utilization are trending down despite of very sharp drop in vessel capacity departed from Far East. These drops might just be short term volatility but in a market that is still debating if a material volume drop may be imminent, the implied in volume drop in the last few weeks that are still within the usual peak season period should be followed by stakeholders in the container liner sector. For most o

Charter rates are weakening as tonnage availability is starting to pick up. In the Bangkok-max sector, the number of vessels available spot (less than 14 days) are at the highest levels in over a year, with rates falling in tandem. SFL was forced to accept a reduced rate of $23,000/day for the 1,740 teu GREEN ACE on a short fixture to Aladin Express after Allseas defaulted on its charter commitment on the ship at short notice. The ship was originally to join Allseas on its Asia-Europe service a

Rates to the USWC have slipped further with the SCFI assessment at $3,484/feu while the CCFI assessment has dropped to 2,195 points. Carriers are continuing to offer lower rates for September bookings with rates of below $3,000/feu already on offer. Rates to the USEC are also coming under pressure, with the SCFI assessment dropping by $551/feu last week. The USEC rates will continue to weaken in the coming weeks as the gap between the WC and EC rates are expected to narrow further, barring any

Carriers’ attempts to drive out the marginal players in the market by aggressive rate cuts have so far failed to achieve any of the desired results, as spot freight rates suffered another large fall last week while trade capacity has not been reduced. Exit are not obviously available for the new entrants, even if they are looking for one. Tonnage shortage over the past two years means the vessels could only be chartered for exceptionally high charter rates and much longer period commitment,