The Chinese New Year celebrations are now over and the Year Of The Snake is well and truly underway, so it seems to be the perfect time for an Asia ocean freight market update.

The largest shake up of carrier alliances in over a decade has also got underway this month, with 2M Alliance now a network of the past, Gemini Cooperation starting operations and the newly named Premier Alliance up and running.

So, a brief overview of the latest position is as follows:

Rates

Rates remain relatively low as the traditional low demand period follows Chinese New Year. However, carriers are trying to push up rates through a General Rate Increase (GRI) in March. Whether market conditions make this feasible remains to be seen, we are monitoring this closely.

Capacity

According to a report in The Loadstar, the Asia-European capacity has been cut by around 11% with the introduction of new sailing schedules across the board. Prior to the carrier shakeup, around 249,000 TEU was available through all sailings per week, but that seems to have reduced to 211,000. This may not impact space immediately, but could be significant later in the year.

Asia Ports

Congestion is still impacting several Far East ports, including Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, and Yantian, along with a number of ports in South East Asia.

European Ports

As reported earlier this week, both Le Havre and Rotterdam are being impacted by a series of strikes. Bremerhaven is witnessing delays due to congestion, and Felixstowe continues to have major vessel waiting times due to the same.

 

As ever, the volatility of the Asian market makes it impossible to predict anything with complete confidence, but we will continue to keep you updated with all significant changes.

If you have any questions regarding the above, then Westbound are here to help. So, please do not hesitate to contact us.