Total 160 Posts
Transpacific rates eased after 10 consecutive weekly gains that saw spot rates surge by over 200%. Rates to the West Coast dropped below $5,000/feu but are still holding at healthy levels compared to the $1,200-1,300/feu rates that were prevalent in the same period last year. Rates to the East Coast also dropped below $6,500/feu bit is also well above the $2,400-2,600/feu rates from last year. Capacity to both West Coast and East Coast will remain tight in March, with only smaller carriers li
Demand for vessels remain strong ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays with charter rates continuing to firm up across all size sectors. COSCO has been particularly active in recent weeks, with renewals on existing charters while taking on additional fixtures including a few deals for delivery taking place only in the 2nd half of 2024. COSCO renewed 2 sets of 8,000 teu and 9,000 teu units from Seamax and Costamare respectively on firm rates for 2 years and have been linked to 2 more deals for 6
Total containership capacity deployed on Asia to Europe routes have surged to a record high of 6.44m teu, up 23.3% compared to the same time last year. The surge is due entirely to diversion from the Suez to the Cape route since December 2023, with over 700,000 teu of additional capacity added to the trade in the last 2 months alone. 55% of the additional capacity has been absorbed in the FE-Med trades where transit times have increased by 10 days to the West Med and 18 days to the East Med whil
Transpacific freight rates defied market expectations with further rate hikes coming at the end of January after COSCO and MSC pushed ahead with their FAK rate increases from 1 February with the other carriers finally deciding to follow suit. Although some carriers have started to offer rate discounts on selected sailings in February, the increased FAK rates have raised overall market levels which will hold at least until the first week of February before a larger correction sets in after the C
Prices, turnover, and open interests across all forward Asia-North Europe CoFIF contracts fell last week, with the market still in steep backwardation as both spot and near-term contracts are priced higher than the longer dated contracts. The speculative activities have cooled in the CoFIF market as average turnover dropped by 38% WoW to reach a level lower than the open interests for the first time since CoFIF was launched in August 2023. In comparison, the futures’ turnovers in CME are usually
The CoFIF market went into steeper backwardation as the spot SCFIS went up 12% WoW while the CoFIF contracts were down about 4-6% WoW across the board. Liquidation of the Open Interest continued but on a slower pace than previous weeks. There are indications that rates are peaking as the market looks beyond the current tight market to the expected rate correction post-Chinese New year, with the SCFI registering its first drop last week after 8 consecutive weekly hikes. Spot freight rates compi
Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announced on 17 January 2024 the formation of a new long-term global alliance named Gemini Cooperation that will start from February 2025. The move comes one year after the announcement of the break up of the 2M partnership between Maersk and MSC on 25 January 2023 with a 2 year notice period that will take effect from January 2025. Hapag-Lloyd has also given a one year notice to its partners in THE Alliance for an early termination of its participation in the partnership
Be aware if you have been expecting interest rate cut this year: Ocean freight that may have contributed to a chunk of inflation during 2021-2022 have staged a come back. Looking back the past few years, the correlation between freight-to-cargo ratio and US inflation averaged 74%. The take-off in May 2020 and peak in July 2022 of the two lines coincide with each other while the flooring of the freight-to-cargo ratio led the US inflation by few months. The swing from May 2020 to July 2022 for t
It has been a volatile week in the CoFIF market that saw a limit-down day last Tuesday (9 Jan) and a big rally on Friday (12 Jan). Nevertheless, liquidation in the CoFIF market continued for the 3rd week albeit at slower pace. Open interests in CoFIF peaked on 22 December and have since fallen 69%. Further volatile trading is expected this week after the SCFI’s 8.1% gain on the Asia-North Europe route and the SCFIS which jumped by a further 49.7% on 15 Jan after the previous week’s 70.9% rise.
With the stakes raised amidst heightened risks of retaliatory Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, carriers continue to take radically different approaches to their Suez services. CMA CGM and a handful of niche carriers continue to make Suez transits while all of the other main carriers have shifted to the Cape route. The Asia-Europe trade faces a severe capacity shortage in the coming weeks, with some 70 additional ships required to maintain weekly sailings on the 30 regular services on th