Total 194 Posts
EC freight futures to North Europe tumbled on 8 July, with 4 out of the 6 contracts hitting their daily 16% limit down level, while the two exceptions EC2408 and EC2410 dropped by 4.1% and 15.6% respectively. The daily price movement limit will be revised from 16% to 19% for contracts expiring in December onwards starting from 9 July. Open interests went up 2% WoW with traders taking more overnight positions for EC2410, EC2504 and EC2506. The EC market was spooked by concerns that freight rates
SCFI spot freight rates to North Europe surged by 12.5% with the peak season demand surge continuing while supply is still constrained by port congestion. Pre-GRI cargo bookings surged ahead of the 1 July rate hikes which pushed up demand further despite new capacity from Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM as well as several extra loaders using smaller ships. The launch of MSC’s Britannia in July will put further pressure on overall capacity utilization to North Europe which remains tight despite the intr
The EC freight futures to North Europe remain bullish with buying interests shifting towards the longer dated contracts in 2025 with EC2502 (February 2025) and EC2504 (April 2025) contracts registering double digit gains last week, bringing them above the corresponding months’ closing rates in 2024. The newly launched EC2506 contract gained 32% since the launch last Tuesday on rising conviction that the Red Sea crisis will last through 2025. However, the EC2408 contract for August 2024 slipped
The container market remains red hot with short term charter rates breaching the $150,000 per day benchmark and spot freight rates rising above the $8,000/feu level, setting new highs not seen since the end of 2022. New services out of Asia continue at a rapid pace, led by the Mexico route with 6 new services launched since May, followed closely by 5 new services to the US West Coast and 3 new services to North Europe. There is clearly insufficient tonnage available to keep up with the rampant
SCFI spot freight rates to North Europe rose a further 3.8% last week, while rates to the Med were largely flat with a gain of just 0.1%. The tighter capacity and bottlenecks around Southeast Asia and North Europe ports have helped to narrow the rate gap between North Europe and Med which has shrunk to $500/teu compared to a peak of over $1,000/teu just 2 months earlier. Rates look set to continue to rise in July but the pace of the rate gains could slow as the recent capacity additions to Nort
EC freight futures traded to new highs across all contracts through April 2025, with the main August 2024 contract rising by 12% WoW to 5,399 points. The latest SCFIS as at 24 June increased by 1.6% to 4,766 with current futures prices implying a 13% upside for spot freight rates from Shanghai to North Europe between now until to the end of August. The bullish outlook looks set to persist in the coming week as rates remain firm with a further round of FAK rate increases due to be applied on 1 Ju
New containership deliveries has reached 1.62m TEU this year but there remains a shortage of ships globally with freight and charter rates continuing to surge ahead as the market enters the traditional summer peak season. The vessel diversions from the Red Sea to the Cape route has effectively removed more than 1.6m TEU from the market since the beginning of December while the recent increase in port congestion has taken out a further 0.5m TEU of vessel capacity from circulation as the active f
EC futures recovered essentially all of their losses after a volatile week with the longer dated contracts slumping to their 16% limit down levels on 11 June in reaction to the UN ceasefire resolution adopted on 10 June but rebounded over the next 3 trading days with little change to their pre-UN resolution levels. The main EC2408 contract was up 2% WoW, but could extend its gains this week following the SCFIS’ 10.8% WoW gain on 17 Jun. The new capacity additions on the Asia-North Europe route
Fears over a container market correction sparked by the possible end to hostilities in the Middle East proved to be premature as Chinese freight futures regaining all of last Tuesday’s losses, with further gains still to come after the SCFIS recorded a 3rd straight week of double digit % gains. The introduction of 3 new North Europe strings by Hapag-Lloyd (CGX) in June, followed by MSC (Britannia) and CMA CGM (French Peak) in July has not dampened the rate momentum with the SCFI rising by 5.7%
Global container port throughout is expected to reach a record high of 947m teu in 2024, with full year growth forecasts revised upwards to 4.7% following 2 consecutive years of lacklustre growth of 0.7% in 2022 and 2023. The sharp rise in cargo volumes in the first half of 2024 has propelled port congestion to a new 18 month year high, with notable gains at several key Asian hubs including Singapore (up 7.7% YTD), Tanjung Pelepas (up 20.1% YTD) and Colombo (up 20.4% YTD).