Markets/Trades

Following a strong start in the first 2 months of the year, container cargo demand has fallen back in March with the volume rebound after the Chinese New Year failing to materialise. Current projections suggest full year container volumes will drop by 1.1% in 2025, as the muted cargo demand is expected to last through the summer peak season. The demand outlook for the rest of this year remains uncertain, with the threat of additional US tariffs that will be unveiled on 2 April expected to furth

The US tariffs announced on 2 April will have a larger impact on container markets, relative to other shipping segments, due to the heavier import duties on China and Vietnam which together account for 51% of total US container imports in 2024. The trade-weighted tariff rate is more than 36% based on Linerlytica’s calculations derived from each country’s share of total US container imports. The high import duties on other Southeast Asia and South Asia countries leaves little room to substitute c

Container freight futures tumbled on 7 April as concerns over a potential global recession following Trump’s tariff announcement. Apart from the short dated EC2504, all the other EC contracts have declined by 10-15% since the tariffs were announced on 2 April. However, the sell-off was less dramatic than the 20% correction in liner equities over the same period. Trading volume surged to 120,000 lots on 7 April on heavy trading but open interests dropped by just 3% today, as the futures largely a

The 1st April Asia-Europe rate hike flopped, with carriers failing to push through their announced rate increases with cargo demand showing no signs of strength. The SCFIS registered its 4th consecutive weekly decline with carriers more willing to slash rates than to cut capacity despite the deteriorating market conditions. Carriers are hoping that worsening port congestion at both Chinese and European & Mediterranean main ports could provide support for another attempt to hike rates, while car

Freight futures opened lower following the announcement of new tariffs by President Trump, which have raised the cumulative tariff on Chinese imports to 54% since the start of his presidency. However, futures recovered throughout the day, ending broadly unchanged as short sellers closed their positions ahead of the long weekend holiday in China. The main contract, EC2506, gained 1.29% for the day. Linerlytica's online quotation system also showed marginal improvements over the past two days, al

Container freight futures edged up by 1–5% week-on-week, driven largely by short covering rather than fresh buying. Overall open interest fell below 90,000 contracts for the first time since the Lunar New Year holidays, a sign of waning market enthusiasm. Open interest in the main EC2506 contract that expires in 3 months dropped by 25% over the week. Trading sentiment has cooled further, with weekly trading volumes tumbling by 24%. The SCFIS released after the close of trading on Monday slipped

The SCFI rates for Asia-North Europe have edged up at the end of last week, rising marginally by 0.9% as carriers’ 1 April rate hike takes hold. However, market conviction remains low as carriers continued to slash their online spot rates to below $3,000 per FEU for April departures, underscoring the widening gulf between rate-hike announcements and market realities. SCFI rates to the Med continued to slip, dropping by 5.4% with no capacity discipline in display after MSC switched their 24k teu

Container freight futures dropped in mid-week trading on 19 March after Maersk extended their $2,000 per FEU rate through early April, mirroring a similar move by MSC the week before. The 1 April rate hike has effectively been abandoned even before it started with the EC2504 contracts taking the biggest hit. The EC2506 and EC2508 contracts remain relatively unscathed and are still trading at a 29-37% premium over the SCFIS from last week with open interest up by 4% week-on-week. Average utiliza

Carriers are reducing Asia-North Europe rate quotations for the first week of April, sparking yet another round of failed rate hikes on this route. Although capacity utilization picked up in week 10 due to a large number of sailings skipped, the reprieve will be temporary as carriers are bringing back capacity over the next few weeks including the launch of the Ocean Alliance’s new NEU3 service from week 15 that will add another 8,000-14,000 teu per week . The repeated failures to push through

Container freight futures retreated over the past week with growing concerns over the carriers’ persistent rate cuts. Despite MSC’s announcement on 12 March to raise its Asia-North Europe base rates to $4,000 per FEU from 1 April, it has provided rate offers at $2,090 per FEU until 6 April, effectively undermining their planned rate hike. Trading volumes fell by 17% week-over-week, while open interest remained largely unchanged as trader wait for fresh directions. Despite last week’s sharp decl