According to the latest data released by Drewry, in the next four weeks (weeks 4-7), the world’s three major shipping alliances have canceled a total of 55 voyages. Among them, THE Alliance has canceled the most voyages with 30 voyages; 2M Alliance has canceled 14 voyages; Ocean Alliance has the least cancellation of 11 voyages.
Of a total of 553 scheduled sailings on major trans-Pacific, trans-Atlantic, Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean routes, 69 sailings were canceled between the fourth week and the seventh week of next year, a cancellation rate of 12%. During this period, 68% of blank sailings will occur on the eastbound trans-Pacific trade route, primarily to the U.S. West Coast, according to Drewry data for this issue.
Before the Spring Festival holiday on February 1, the average space utilization rate of ships on the routes to the West and East US in the past week has basically remained full. The priority transportation market for pre-holiday voyages is strong, and the priority transportation prices have also increased accordingly. Container spot freight rates have increased significantly.
Drewry’s WCI index showed that the freight rate from Asia to the US West Coast increased by 5% to US$11,197/FEU, while the Baltic Index (FBX) to the US West Coast rose by 3% to US$15,145/FEU.
▲Drewry Freight Index
▲Baltic FBX freight index
For the U.S. East Coast, there was mixed news on the spot freight index, with Drewry WCI rising 2% last week to $13,987/FEU, while Baltic FBX fell 2.5% to $17,023/FEU.
The problem of long waiting times for cargo ships at West Coast ports in the United States and Canada remains severe, with cargo piling up before the Spring Festival. The number of port workers has decreased due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Due to severe congestion, ocean carriers are still seeking to reroute inland intermodal cargo to Pacific Coast Southwest hubs instead of transporting it locally. Shippers with urgent shipments or depleted inventory eager to replenish are willing to pay priority shipping prices to obtain valuable shipping space, but the situation is expected to improve after the Spring Festival.
Maersk said in a customer advisory that there may be enough labor to keep production running during the Chinese New Year holiday, so it will not reduce services immediately after the Chinese New Year holiday.
“Instead, we will maintain normal activity levels during the post-holiday off-season to address some of the most significant schedule reliability issues,” the company said.
Export rates in Asia have remained at a high level on most routes. According to data from WCI and FBX, spot freight rates from Asia to Northern Europe were basically flat in the past week, at US$14,053/FEU and US$14,578/FEU respectively.
The Ningbo Container Freight Index (NCFI) weekly review shows that export rates on nine of the 21 routes are on an upward trend, while export rates on the other 12 routes have only declined slightly.
That suggests shippers are still a long way off in hoping for rate adjustments.
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