2H Sep rates vary greatly depending on the carrier. Base port China to the East Coast is between USD4000 - 5500 per FEU.
Premium carriers were looking to have rates sitting at levels above USD5400 per 40' from the 15th Sep, these levels have since been revised due to available capacity. October may see a further dip if GRIs fail to stick.
West Coast pricing remains high, sitting at values similar to those out of the East Coast. Space remains tight due to limited vessel availability.
South East Asia pricing remains high, at levels varying between USD3700 - 5200 per FEU, carrier dependent. Space remains challenging.
OOCL announced a GRI of USD300/TEU, effective the 15th September. This impacts all cargo ex NEA to Australia and NZ.
Gold Star Lines announced a GRI of USD500/TEU, effective the 12th September. This impacts all cargo ex NEA to Australia and NZ.
MSC announced a GRI of USD300/TEU, effective the 15th September. This impacts all cargo ex NEA to Australia and NZ.
Space looks better in September, compared to August. TS Lines, PIL, and ANL added extra sailings in the 1st half of September, and SLS and OOCL added extra sailings in the 2nd half of the month. OOCL space is already almost fully allocated.
The Mid-Autumn Festival (15th-17th September) and Golden Week (1st-7th October) will impact overall market capacity.
Container shortages and capacity remain problematic. Particularly 40’HC containers out of China, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
Fremantle and Adelaide capacity is tight, with many carriers pulling their services to this area. Demand exceeds supply currently, and the rates are reflective of the challenges in this trade lane.
Typhoon Yagi has ravaged Vietnam and other areas of South East Asia. This was Asia's most powerful and the world's second-most powerful tropical cyclone this year, 64 people have lost their lives in Vietnam, with Haiphong receiving government support to rebuild. This will no doubt impact services out of Vietnam in the coming weeks. Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-09/dozens-killed-in-aftermath-of-typhoon-yagi-in-vietnam/104330046
Schedule Reliability:
AUS1 service (Maersk/ONE) is blanking sailings ex SHA for ETD 11/Sep and 28/Sep.
AUN service (Maersk/MSC/ONE) is blanking ex NGB for ETD 7/Oct
CAT service (Evergreen/Yang Ming) is blanking ex NGB for ETD 29/Sep
NEAX Service (Hyundai/Evergreen) is blanking ex NGB for ETD 4/Oct
A3C service (Cosco) is blanking ex XGG for ETD 11/Sep & 25/Sep
In July 2024, global schedule reliability dropped by -2.1 percentage points M/M to 52.1%. Schedule reliability in July is almost at the same level as it was at the start of the year and is keeping in line with the trends seen so far in 2024, with reliability largely within 50%-55%. On a Y/Y level, schedule reliability in July 2024 was -12.0 percentage points lower. Source: https://www.sea-intelligence.com/press-room/283-global-schedule-reliability-drops-by-2-1-percentage-points-in-july
Maersk was the most reliable top-13 carrier in July 2024 with schedule reliability of 54.6%. There were another 3 carriers above the 50% mark, with the remaining 9 carriers all in the 40%-50% range. Wan Hai was the least reliable carrier with a reliability of 41.3%. Only ZIM and MSC were able to record a M/M improvement in schedule reliability in July 2024, while Wan Hai recorded the largest and only double-digit decline of -11.6 percentage points. Source: https://www.sea-intelligence.com/press-room/283-global-schedule-reliability-drops-by-2-1-percentage-points-in-july
Port Congestion:
Port congestion is easing in Singapore, Port Klang, and Tanjung Pelepas, however, we are seeing some of the major China hubs (Shanghai/Ningbo) showing increasing congestion.
Carbon emissions remain high in international shipping. Cargo shipping contributes to 7-11% of the world's total emissions. This equates to more than 2 billion tons of CO2.
Explorate partner with SeaRoutes to support our customers in their sustainability goals. SeaRoutes are widely recognized as the most accurate carbon emission solution in the market (Drewry Report), by integrating their data in to every shipment in our app, we give our customers an outsized advantage when it comes to reporting Scope 3 emissions and proactively optimising the emission intensity of their supply chain.
Ahead of Golden Week, carriers are implementing blank sailings on the TPEB trade. This may impact vessel scheduling and overall transit times.
While the majority of retailers in the US are reporting high inventory levels, demand has slipped. This has resulted in rates dipping and no GRIs being pushed out for September.
There are threats of strike action come 1st October if a new contract is not agreed upon by the ILA. The current contract expires on 30th September, with the US East Coast and Gulf ports at risk of union action. Sea Intelligence reported “Using historical data, we estimate US East Coast handling volumes of 2.3 million teu in October, which translates into 74,000 teu per day, split 36,000 on imports and 38,000 on exports. For empties alone, a strike would mean the inability to load 20,000 teu each day,” Source: https://www.heavyliftpfi.com/sectors/ila-reiterates-strike-threat-as-shippers-assess-options/32072.article
After Canadian rail strikes were quickly ended by the government, the union representing thousands of Canada's rail workers has filed an appeal against a government order that had forced them to return to work. According to Bloomberg, train movements at both railways are nearly back to normal following the brief lockout. CN employees went back to work on August 23, while CPKC's returned on August 26. In a written statement, CN said that it expects the full recovery process to take "several weeks," while CPKC said that it's "making progress." Union workers will remain on the job while the TCRC's appeal works it way through federal courts in Canada. Source: https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/40292-canada-rail-union-challenges-order-that-ended-work-stoppage
Industrial action has been threatened by the Air Line Pilots Association (Alpa), representing some 5,200 Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge pilots, if an agreement with the Canadian flag carrier cannot be reached. Air Canada has told its cargo customers to expect more than a week of disruption if a planned 72-hour strike goes ahead on Tuesday (17 September), noting it was preparing for the worst. Source: https://theloadstar.com/air-canada-warns-of-cargo-disruption-if-strike-goes-ahead/
A tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico could develop into a hurricane that threatens southern Louisiana and northern coastal Texas on Wednesday. Ports along the Gulf Coast were monitoring the storm on Tuesday. Resilinc, a supply chain data monitoring platform, estimates that Francine will impact the aerospace, oil and manufacturing industries across nearly 11,000 sites. Source: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/gulf-coast-ports-monitoring-francine-as-storm-inches-closer-to-louisiana
ZIM has renewed ties with Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), signing a three-year cooperation agreement on voyages from Asia to the US East and Gulf coasts. The agreement between ZIM and MSC includes slot swap and vessel sharing agreements across six services. Source: https://splash247.com/zim-renews-ties-with-msc-on-the-transpacific/
Rates into the West Coast have been dropping, with the Drewry container index sitting at USD6030 per 40' on 5/Sep. In contrast, the East Coast pricing holds firm at USD8451 per 40'.
Hapag Lloyd, Maersk, and MSC have shifted their direct sailings to Savannah due to congestion and operational challenges out of Charleston. Demand remains low into Oceania.
There are several blank sailings from Asia to Europe, before Golden Week in early October.
The Britannia service - MSC will be blanking.
Freight rates from Shanghai to Rotterdam plunged 14% or $985 to $6,219 per 40ft container. Likewise, rates from Shanghai to Genoa declined 12% or $769 to $5,842 per FEU, according to Drewry.
MSC unveiled its new standalone east-west service network and revealed it has concluded a vessel-sharing agreement (VSA) with THE Alliance, covering nine Asia-Europe services. In February 2025, when the 2M partnership of MSC and Maersk is set to disband, while at the same time, Hapag-Lloyd will depart THE Alliance to form the Gemini Cooperation with Maersk – at which point, the remaining three THE Alliance carriers – ONE, Yang Ming and HMM – will rebrand as the Premier Alliance and enter into a slot-share agreement with MSC covering the Asia-Europe trades. Source: https://theloadstar.com/new-strings-attached-shape-up-for-2025-with-premier-alliance-launch/
Following five rounds of negotiations, the Central Association of German Seaport Enterprises (ZDS) tabled an offer that the union representing the port workers, Ver.di, has recommended be accepted. It is now surveying members on their responses. If accepted, the backdated deal will span 14 months to August 2025 and will result in an increase of €1.15 per hour as of October and include a €430 bump in holiday pay. Furthermore, standard overtime and overtime for public holidays and Sundays will be pushed up and all employees, whether part-time or full-time, will receive a tax- and duty-free inflation compensation bonus of €1,700 this October. The port’s intermodal operator said: “Unfortunately, these circumstances have a huge impact on transport costs, which we will no longer be able to absorb in the future.” Source: https://theloadstar.com/union-urges-hamburg-port-workers-to-agree-deal-following-disruptive-weekend/
Space is tightening ahead of the China Golden Week holiday (1st-7th October), particularly the space to SYD and BNE. E-commerce continues to dominate the available capacity.
Peak Season for airfreight is set to commence, with demand typically taking a steep incline in Q4. According to the latest Xeneta data, the global average air cargo spot rates in August were $2.68 per kg, “boosted by continuing supply and demand imbalance”. Global cargo demand continued its double-digit growth, rising 11%. Source: https://theloadstar.com/q4-air-cargo-surge/
International air cargo demand increased 14.3% compared to July 2023, driven by all regions and major trade lanes. Asia Pacific carriers recorded the largest expansion with 17.7% YoY, and demand on the Middle East Europe trade lane outpaced all others with an impressive 32.2% annual surge.
High winds in Victoria impacted container parks. Operations were put on hold due to severe weather conditions. This will have an impact on container releases and deliveries as the backlog is cleared.
Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has said that the 2024-25 BMSB [Brown Marmorated Stink Bug] seasonal measures will apply to vessels from “high risk countries”, on shipments to Australia and New Zealand. China and the United Kingdom have been identified as emerging BMSB risk countries. Furthermore, all shipments from Italy require treatment before arrival in New Zealand “despite commodity and container type” as it has “large BMSB populations and increased associated risk”. Source: https://theloadstar.com/stink-bug-threat-triggers-new-rules-on-cargo-to-australia-and-new-zealand/
China’s exports unexpectedly accelerated in August, reaching their highest value in nearly two years and providing a rare boost to an economy weighed down by deflationary pressures. Exports climbed nearly 9% from a year earlier to about $309 billion dollars, the highest since September 2022 and strongly beating estimates. Imports expanded just 0.5%, the customs administration said Tuesday, leaving a trade surplus of $91 billion for the month. Source: https://gcaptain.com/chinas-exports-jump-to-two-year-high-in-rare-boost-for-economy/
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