Total 309 Posts
EC container freight futures plunged between 4% and 11% week on week, with April contracts taking the hardest hit. Although average daily trading volume ticked up by 4%, it is 29% lower than the 2024 full year average of 87,000 lots per day. The EC2502 February contract dropped 9% WoW and is currently trading at a 40% discount to the latest SCFIS index released after market close on 6 January, with rising concerns over carriers’ aggressive pricing in January with further rate cuts expected post
EC2502 broke below 2200 this morning as Maersk has lowered its quotations for shipments departing in the second half of January to below $4,000 per FEU, prompting other liners to reduce their online FAK rates. As of yesterday (January 2), the latest utilization rates remain high, though the peak may have been reached on December 22, 2024. January's average weekly capacity, which is up 17% month-over-month, may be too high for Maersk to believe that liners will be able to achieve further freigh
2024 has been turned out to be a highly profitable year for charter owners with the Linerlytica charter rate index up 160% year over year at the end of December. The 4,200 teu panamax segment registered the largest gains over the last 12 months, with a YoY gain of 211%. Although demand has been very strong for all ship sizes of over 4,000 teu, there were limited numbers of open ships in the larger segments above 5,000 teu that were available to take advantage of the increased demand. The longer
The settlement price for EC2412 ended higher than expected with the last 2024 SCFIS assessment on 30 December coming in 4.4% higher than a week before, bringing the final settlement to 3,445 which was 1.5% above the closing price of 3,396. Despite the stronger finish in December, EC futures for 2025 traded lower over the past week, with the main contract for EC2502 falling 13% week-over-week on lower daily volumes. Traders shrugged off the SCFI North Europe rebound on 27 December, as attention
Asia-North Europe rates largely held their ground in the last week of December before the next rate hike attempt in January. SCFI rates to North Europe reversed 3 consecutive weekly declines with a small 0.5% gain while the SCFIS rebounded by 4.4% to erase all of its previous week’s losses. The strong rate environment at the end to the year has helped carriers push ahead with a better outcome on their 2025 annual contract negotiations, with contract rates ranging from $2,500 to $3,5000/feu whic
EC2502 continues to decline as Maersk's January quotation has weakened the liners' resolve to pursue further freight rate increases amid the shipment rush before the CNY holidays. HMM has lowered its quotation for January shipments to below $4,800 per FEU, indicating that HMM believes the FAK freight rates have already peaked.
The containership charter market slowed in the past week both in terms of new fixtures and vessel deliveries with the holiday season approaching. Demand remains high relative to the tonnage available for charter, keeping both charter rates and resale prices at very high levels. Most of the activity is focused on the 1,700 teu and 2,700 teu sizes where rates are still registering marginal gains while the other segments is flat on the lack of new fixture benchmarks. Second hand transactions remai
The main futures contract for EC2502 fell 2% week-over-week on significantly lighter volume compared to previous weeks, with traders liquidating 11% of their open interest amidst concerns that spot rates may have peaked. Longer-dated freight futures dropped further on weakening sentiment for post Chinese New Year rate developments with sellers increasing their short positions. Traders were spooked by Maersk’s rate quotation for January shipments that was $500 below the $6,000 per FEU target set
Asia-North Europe rates slipped marginally in the past week with the SCFI dropping by 2.2% while the SCFIS fell by 2.7% as carriers continued to roll back some of the rate increases that they have obtained earlier in December. Maersk in particular has been blamed for their aggressive rate cutting, forcing rivals to offer lower rates that have been extended to the first week of January. Carriers’ initial plans to raise rates to $6,000/FEU in January now appear doomed although they are still push