Rates rebounded after the National Holiday, with unexpected demand filling vessels in late October.
GRIs took place from the 1st November, with base port China to AU East Coast now sitting at USD4600 per 40’. Premium services are now at USD5000 per 40’.
West Coast pricing sits slightly below at USD4400 per 40’, with premium services closer to USD4800 per 40’.
The Drewry WCI composite index increased 4% to $3,213 per FEU, which is 69% below the previous pandemic peak of $10,377 in September 2021 but 126% more than the average 2019 (pre-pandemic) of $1,420. Source: Drewry
ANL will implement a GRI of USD300/TEU, for all cargo ex North East Asia to Australia East Coast from the 15th November 2024.
OOCL will implement a GRI of USD200/TEU for all cargo ex North East Asia to Australia from the 15th November 2024.
Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia all remain hot markets. Space is limited and prices are fluctuating. Market value for early November varies between USD3900-4800/40’. This is highly dependent on the origin port and carrier.
Busan remains congested. Space issues continue to be problematic. Rates exceeding USD5000/40’. Book 4-6 weeks in advance.
The A3 service is implementing various port rotations to avoid congestion and/or delays in Australia. This is pushing transit times out for some vessels. The A3 service is the most expensive (and fastest) option out of China. We are now finding that with the changes in port calls, the CAT service is offering a faster and more reliable service.
Maersk (AUN) remains the most cost effective option out of China. However, we are seeing large roll pools due to over booking.
Australian Ports:
DP World Australia, Patrick Terminals, and Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) will align their landside pricing tariffs to commence from 1 January each calendar year. The Container Transport Alliance Australia (CTAA) said it welcomes the change as it means that “transport operators can advise their landside customers once per year of the new landside charging arrangements for the two major terminal operators across Australia (Patrick Terminals and DP World Australia) and for VICT in Victoria”. Source: The DCN
Severe weather conditions have caused congestion and delays across Sydney terminals. Waiting time from 24-96 hours due to congestion and vessel bunching.
Capacity:
Christmas is coming! Based on current delays, containers departing in late November have a greater risk of missing customer deadlines. If customers want to receive their goods before their holiday, loading in early November is the best choice.
TSL/OOCL/ANL will arrange 5 extra loader vessels in November, with an estimated additional loading capacity of 12,000 TEU
OOCL extra loader vessel will call at Bell Bay. Route details as follows: SHA 13/Nov → NGB 14/Nov → MEL 02/Dec → Bell Bay 07/Dec → SYD 10/Dec
Schedule Reliability:
Due to the disruption and delays in shipping schedules after Golden Week, the rolling rate of each carrier in recent weeks has been higher than 50%. COSCO has transferred some containers to Singapore/Hong Kong to ease their shipping capacity, so we can expect some shipments to be delayed by approximately two weeks.
Port congestion in Australian ports has delayed vessels in returning to China, which has hampered efforts to improve schedule reliability.
In September global schedule reliability declined by -1.2 percentage points M/M to 51.4%. While schedule reliability in 2024 has stabilised within the 50%-55% range, it’s been on a slight downward trend since the May peak. Source: Sea Intelligence
Maersk was the most reliable top-13 carrier in September 2024 with schedule reliability of 55.5%. CMA CGM followed with schedule reliability of 50.9%, as the only two carriers above the 50% mark. The remaining 11 carriers were all in the 40%-50% range. Wan Hai was the least reliable with 40.4% schedule reliability. Source: Sea Intelligence
A3C (ANL) service schedules will slide by 1 week from OOCL DURBAN027S/027N and omit Xiamen to assist with schedule recovery. All Xiamen bookings will be reschedule to next available vessel. Source: ANL
ANL - Tianjin Bridge 196 will omit Lyttelton to ensure on-window arrival at Tauranga and to assist with schedule recovery. Additionally, the vessel will perform a discharge only call at Auckland. Source: ANL
Hapag Lloyd -Ever Unicorn 179N phase out in week 44 at NGB. Phase out rotation KHH-SHA-NGB. KHH/SHA/NGB imports for direct discharge.
Hapag Lloyd - Ever Envoy 191S phase in at SHA in week 44 to replace Ever Unicorn.
CAT service will be blank sailing in week 47.
Hapag Lloyd - Ever Urban 0182N phase out in week 43 at NGB. Phase out rotation PUS-TAO-SHA-NGB, PUS/TAO/SHA/NGB imports for direct discharge. YTN imports to discharge at T/S at PUS.
Hapag Lloyd - Ever Ulysses 0163S phase in at PUS in week 43 to replace Ever Urban.
NAX service will be blank sailing in week 46.
With schedule unreliability ramping up this peak season, you may want to trial our Delivery Management feature. It helps your team book and manage deliveries on the fly, reducing knock-on issues from delayed shipments. Here’s how it works:
Self-Booking Slots: Choose preferred delivery times through the app. For Explorate-managed deliveries, requests go straight to our transport team; if you manage transport independently, export your requests via CargoSync to easily share with your freight forwarder.
Empty Notify Action: Speed up container dehire and reduce admin time by notifying carriers directly through the app.
Multiple Delivery Addresses: Ensure containers are routed correctly with immediate access to accurate delivery addresses for each shipment.
Container Priority: Set and adjust container priorities across shipments, keeping transport coordinators in the loop with real-time notifications.
CSV Export: Export selected delivery dates to CSV, providing you with flexible scheduling options, unbound by carrier availability.
To see how this feature can simplify delivery management during peak season, start tracking a shipment or reach out to your operator for a trial.
Rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles and Los Angeles to Shanghai increased by 1% to $4,839 and $718 per FEU, meanwhile, rates from Shanghai to New York, New York to Rotterdam, and Rotterdam to New York remained stable. After a decline since August, spot rates ex-China increased this week, and we expect this trend to continue as the Christmas rush intensifies. Source: Drewry
Canada’s west coast ports including Vancouver and Prince Rupert are to be hit with labour action, following the closure of terminals at the port of Montreal yesterday. The ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union 514) issued a strike notice for Monday, November 4 at 8.00. Should a lockout or strike occur at Vancouver and Prince Rupert, it could put more pressure on the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, which have been recovering from higher-than-anticipated volumes from cargo diversions linked to the brief strike along the US East and Gulf coasts. Source: The Loadstar
The Port of Montreal is warning that shippers may face diverted cargoes as an indefinite strike began Thursday at two marine terminals handling Mediterranean Shipping Co. container services, with over two dozen vessels facing an impact depending on the length of the current work stoppage. The strike at the two terminals will idle more than 1 million TEUs of Montreal’s total 2.3 million TEUs in terminal capacity. Source: JOC
TPEB demand is holding steady - largely driven by front loading of inventories, resilient retail sales, and tariff concerns pending the presidential election results.
The spot/freight-all-kinds (FAK) rate from Asia to the West Coast as of Oct. 28 was $4,200 per FEU, up 133% year over year. The East Coast rate of $4,300 per FEU is up 87% from October 2023. Despite the elevated rates, carriers are notifying forwarders of general rate increases (GRIs) of about $500 to $600 per FEU they will attempt to pass on from Nov. 1. Normally, spot and FAK rates drop in the final two months of the year after holiday merchandise has been shipped from Asia. Source: JOC
Vessels are full out of China to the US - particularly to the West Coast. The carriers have very modest blanking schedules and the market is tight. Suggest booking 2-3 weeks in advance.
Shippers are avoiding East Coast and Gulf ports amid fears of a second strike in January 2025. 45,000 dockworkers at various hubs will go on strike again if their union leader does not land a new contract with employers by a Jan. 15 deadline. The small strike (3 days) in October resulted in congestion and delays which took weeks to clear. This has resulted in record volumes at Los Angeles and Long Beach ports - with main large retailers (Levi Strauss/Newell Brands/Costco) already diverting their inbound volume to the West Coast. Source: Reuters
Severe thunderstorms and flooding rainfall are pounding a large portion of the central and southern United States Monday, including areas still recovering fromdestructive storms over the weekend. Source: CNN
Schedule disruptions on the North-South trade lane have resulted in port delays, which are spreading across South America’s East Coast. Vessels arriving late from the U.S. are causing delays for cargo leaving ports in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Source: Shipco
Container shipping lines on the main east-west trades this week managed to reverse 15 weeks of consecutive declines in spot freight rates by managing to push through a general rate increase on ex-Asia loadings. This week’s Drewry World Container Index (WCI) saw the spot rate on the Shanghai-Rotterdam leg rise 8% week on week, to $3,396 per 40ft, while the Shanghai-Genoa leg grew 11%, to $3,648 per 40ft. It is unlikely that these increases will stick. Source: The Loadstar
Carriers will continue their diversions around the Cape of Good Hope for the foreseeable future. This will be a key factor in 2025 contract negotiations, with extended transit times now a regular occurrence.
Recurrent storms in eastern Spain that led to massive flooding last week and killed at least 217 people, mostly near Valencia, dumped rain on Barcelona on Monday, prompting authorities to suspend commuter rail service. The rains had forced air traffic controllers to change the course of 15 flights operating at Barcelona’s airport, and several highways have been closed due to flooding. Source: ABC News
E-commerce shopping in November led to a surge in air freight shipments. E-commerce goods occupied most flight capacity. The flight plans of some goods were affected by the temporary shipment of e-commerce goods. And now the air freight time from China to major airports in Australia has been extended to more than 7~10 days.
Space constraints out of India, paired with extended transit times, show no signs of abating.
There are backlogs out of Southern China, with prices on the increase. Capacity is fully utilised on most carriers. Suggest booking 7 days ahead.
September marked the global air cargo industry's 14th consecutive month of demand growth, with a 9.4% YoY. Concurrently, last month’s CTK volumes were the highest on record. Source: IATA
International routes have experienced exceptional traffic levels for the fifth month, with a 10.5% YoY increase in September. Airlines are benefiting from rising e-commerce demand in the US and Europe amid ongoing capacity limits in ocean shipping. Carriers from all regions have seen growth in international traffic for most of the year compared to the previous year, and September continues this trend, showing strong growth rates between 1.8% and 19.8%.
Air cargo capacity growth last month mirrored demand trends, driven largely by international routes, which saw an 8.1% YoY increase. This growth continued the pattern of recent years, with a significant boost in international belly-hold capacity, which surged by 10.3% YoY, marking the 41st consecutive instance of double-digit annual growth in this category. Overall, international air cargo capacity reached its highest volumes for any September on record despite decelerating growth rates. Source: IATA
Retail Update.
The latest data from the US Census Bureau shows that there is a consistent inventory increase in the retail sector. Not only are retailers increasing inventories, but the pace of increase has also quickened. From the chart, it is evident that inventories are beginning to exceed the trend line. In fact, in absolute terms, the deviation has now in August 2024 reached a point where the retailers’ inventories are 26 billion USD higher than what can be accounted for by the normal trend development. Source: Sea Intelligence.
General News.
Weifang Port has become the first port in China to officially achieve carbon neutrality, amid a huge push to decarbonize the global shipping industry. On 15 October, the port in Shandong was certified as carbon-neutral by the China Classification Society Quality Certification Company, according to a government statement. Source: Maritime Executive.
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