Total 434 Posts
Contrarian traders entered the market this morning, driving up the prices of all futures contracts except for the EC2508. Although most contracts surrendered the majority of their gains by the close, all long-dated contracts still finished higher on the day. Furthermore, open interest rebounded to 78,000 from 74,000 yesterday. The EC2510 alone has an open interest of 54,361 contracts, representing approximately $500 million in value. This indicates that there is no shortage of bullish sentiment
MSC is believed to have fixed the 8,204 teu TSC DORADO and TSC LONDON that were released from detention in Malta in July after idling for the last 3 years. They will join MSC after completing drydock in Turkey. The removal of these 2 ships from the idle list has pushed the idle fleet to its lowest level in over 2 years. MSC has also taken the 8,827 teu VALIANT on 4 August for new 5 year charter on private terms after the ending its last charter to Hapag-Lloyd. It was part of a forward charter de
New SCFI rate assessments for 40’ containers are now available, with the assessments showing a steep decline in Med rates with FEU rates already falling behind North Europe. The removal of 9 SeaLead ships with an average capacity of 5,700 teu on the China-Med 5CX service will affect rates to the East Med and Black Sea as the service is focused on Egypt and Turkey but is not expected to impact rates to the West Med. North Europe rates also remain under pressure with several carriers offering sp
Global container throughput growth have been revised upwards and is expected to grow by 2.6% in 2025, in line with the IMF’s revised global GDP growth outlook released last week due to cargo front loading during the first half of this year, lower effective US tariff rates, improved financial market and government fiscal stimulus by several key countries. Despite the revision, the US tariffs have already spurred higher inflation and slower job growth which will lead to slower growth in the 2nd h
EC2510, the benchmark contract for Far East–North Europe freight futures listed in Shanghai, is currently the most hotly contested in the market. Bulls argue the contract is undervalued based on technical analysis—price charts suggest a bottom is forming around 1,450—while bears point to fundamental signals from the physical market, noting freight rates peaked during the last two weeks of July. On Wednesday (July 30), EC2510 opened higher on strong volume as bulls speculated that a typhoon appr
EC2510 closed at the day’s low of 1460, which is close to last week’s lowest point—a level some traders view as a technical bottom. However, this support will likely be tested tomorrow after Maersk released a quotation of $2,800 per FEU for shipments departing in the second week of August, following the market close. Hapag Lloyd had already lowered its quotation to $2,835 per FEU for shipments departing in the first week of August. Only 51,000 contracts were traded today, while open interest dro
The gap between Asia-North Europe and Asia-Med rates have narrowed to the lowest levels since October last year, with Med rates under persistent pressure after dropping by 19% over the last 4 weeks. The SCFI assessment to the Med dropped by a further 4.4% last week while rates to North Europe were largely flat. Capacity utilization remains firm to North Europe but cracks are starting to show with spot rates creeping below $3,000 per feu, with further rate cuts expected in August as the summer p
The freight futures market in China continued its volatile trajectory, driven by a broadly bearish consensus that has kept the forward curve in backwardation. However, intermittent speculative bets—fueled by hopes of further freight rate increases in August and expectations of a relatively mild slack season—have pushed futures prices higher at times. Following a couple of days of declines on Tuesday (22 July) and Wednesday (23 July), which were triggered by Maersk’s significantly low spot rate
Global containership capacity has risen by 2.43m TEU in the last 12 months, registering a growth of 8.1% YoY with 2.48m TEU of new vessel deliveries added against just 0.05m teu that were scrapped. African routes helped to absorb 23% of the net capacity additions with 0.57m teu added on the trade since July last year. MSC’s redeployment of their 24,000 teu ships to the FE-West Africa trades since March have played a key part in the rise of African vessel capacity and relieving the capacity overh
Asia-North Europe rates have started to drop back after their recent rally, with capacity utilization rates dropping conspicuously in the past week. EC freight futures continue to trade haphazardly over the past week, reflecting the lack of clear market direction with strong initial gains giving way to doubts as spot rates are showing early signs of weakening. How long can carriers sustain the recent rate gains to North Europe remains the key question given the weakness that has already crept i