Asia-Europe carriers continue to struggle to maintain an united front on their pricing, with the range of rates remaining wide going into the 2nd half of June. Maersk’s pricing remains highly erratic as it reversed its aggressive price cuts in early June with higher rates in the 2nd half of the month although its rate quotations remain lower than other carriers on the North European routes. Port congestion remains high across all North European main ports, but this has not resulted in any mater
Carriers pushed ahead with Asia-Europe rate hikes in June but the gains were lower than initially expected with the SCFI rates rising to $1,587/teu to North Europe, compared to initial plans to raise rates to $1,800-1,900/teu and $3,000-3,200/feu. Carriers have already started to undercut these rates with the Transpacific rate strength failing to spillover to the European routes. June rates are expected to roll back as attention shifts to the next round of rate hikes in July with CMA CGM announ
Asia-Europe rates are torn in 2 different directions, with the SCFIS declining by 1.4% on 26 May, while the forward looking SCFI recorded a strong gain of 14.1% on Friday. Carriers have stumbled on their bid to hike rates on 1 June, with Maersk once again undercutting their rivals even before the GRI was implemented. Rising congestion at European ports have severely disrupted schedules, with ships rerouting where possible to avoid berthing delays but this has failed to lift market momentum. Alt
Freight rates to North Europe remain under pressure, with the SCFI dropping by 3.3% last week while the SCFIS fell by 5.5%. Rates have remained under pressure since the US tariffs forced carriers to redeploy transpacific capacity to the European route since April but this is set to reverse in the next 3 months as US demand rebounds. Spot rates have dropped to a low as $1,600/FEU with carriers still under-cutting each other through the end of May. However, the situation is expected to reverse so
SCFI rates to North Europe dropped by 4.8% last week reflecting carriers rate actions over the last 2 weeks as market rates dropped to $1,600-$1,800/feu. The additional capacity shifted from the US routes has not helped the market, with volumes negatively affected by the Labour Day holidays in most parts of Asia. Port congestion across North Europe remains critical especially in Antwerp where a nationwide strike has halted port operations last week, with delays also impacting ports downstream.
Asia-Europe rates received a much needed boost with gains on both the North Europe and Med routes as carriers pushed ahead with the mid-April rate increase of $200-300/teu that is holding for now on improved capacity utilization rates. With Chinese volumes shifting away from the US in the weeks ahead, carriers are eyeing increased demand to Europe as well as to the other markets to provide some relief from the turmoil in the US, with the overall SCFI edging up by 0.1% at the end of last week.
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
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
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
Capacity utilization on the Asia-North Europe services fell to their lowest levels since 2020, with no signs of a rebound in cargo volumes. Average utilization has dropped below 90% forcing carriers to slash rates with the SCFI tumbling by a further 15.2% last week. Although carriers are gunning for another round of rate hikes to bring base rates back up to $4,000/feu, it will be a tall order as current spot rates have already dropped below $2,000/feu with some carriers even extending the curre