North American Market:

The stowage rate has reached high levels both for West Coast and East Coast, and the spaces are quite tight in the next coming two weeks, leading to increased freight rates. Though the ILWU strike on West Coast Canada has suspended at this moment.there is a high risk of another strike. Port congestion reamains serious, additionally a large volume of goods is flowing towards to East Coast Canada and West Coast America, which further intensifying the pressure of tight spaces for West Coast America.

There are no congestion in US base ports, with vessel waiting time about 1-2 days in average; in terms of the two major base ports of West Coast Canada, the waiting time is about 3-4 days, and the waiting time for rail transport is approx. 11-13 days.

Latin American Market:

Generally the spaces for Mexico and West Coast of Latin America remain tight while the spaces for East Coast are relative open. The sight freight rate for East Coast of Latin America keeps growing in the first week of August, it is expected that the freight rate for West Coast will follow the increasing trend of East Coast. Some shipping companies are using 40’HC instead of 40’GP due to short inventories.

Europe & Mediterranean Market:

Recently, the SCFI index of Euorpe trade lane has surged, surpassing the expectations. As a result, shipping companies have raised their latest Europe base port freight rates which started from August 1st. Over the next two weeks, overall booking demand is weak and the spaces are generally open. However, some shipping companies are facing a shortage of 40’HC containers despite a general adequate supply of empty containers.

Affected by the blank sailing by shipping lines in 1H of August, concentrated booking orders are accumulated, which leads to tight spaces. Although the SCFI index showed a slight increase at the beginning of the month, it didn’t see a strong rebound of demands. It is predicted that the index will decline in the following weeks. In the short term, the trend of freight rates is expected to rise initially and then experience a decline. Some European shipping companies continue to face a shortage of GP containers, leading to a higher usage of HC containers as substitutions.

Article source: KuehneNagel