https://youtu.be/D6jCz52Ntjg

Lower than ever? Rates on the North Europe tradelane can definitely compete for this title. While carriers do not expect the demand to rebound, the rates from China to North Europe landed at $750 per 20ft and $1,000 per 40ft. The Asia-Mediterranean tradelane is doing much better, showing subtle signs of increasing demand despite the drop in rates by 4% (at $2,821 per 40ft.) The booking prospects have also improved, therefore Maersk was quick to deploy MSC Amelia on the 2M AE11/Jade loop from Asia to Mediterranean ports to meet the awoken demand. 

The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index hit its lowest since the summer 2022 at $1,031.

Carriers on the routes from China to the US canceled half of the sailing before the Chinese New Year which resulted in rates bottoming out, at between $1,300 and $2,000 per 40ft. With Chinese factories shutting earlier than usual (in addition, the schedule is also interrupted by the rising COVID cases) and the approaching low volumes after the Chinese holidays, carriers are no longer trying to solve the unsolvable - to boost the freight rates - and focus on securing cargo volumes. 

Recent data show that manufacturing in the US is expected to go through a 7% decline which will therefore result in lower air cargo volumes since American air cargo is intercontinental. The drop at the end of 2022 was driven by China and it is expected to phantom consequences at least for the next 12 months. 

Nevertheless, China has expressed plans to remain competitive as more and more western companies start looking for alternative suppliers, aiming to focus on the development of its logistics systems that would feature supply/demand adaptation with internal and external connectivity and green initiatives by 2025. 

Routes & services

• Rail Cargo Group’s new subsidiary (EVU) will be handling the traffic between Turkey and Greece to Central Europe, having its own traction with staff and locomotives. Rail Cargo Group has had the expansion of its operations to Turkey in plans for a while now, and the launch of the subsidiary is part of the strategy. 
• Having obtained a new safety certificate, TX Logistik launches a new service between Stockholm Norvik Port and Eskilstuna Intermodal Terminal. The service will run 5 times a week. 
• MSC introduced a feeder service between Coega and Cape Town. The rotation: Coega – Cape Town – Coega. It will start operating on Jan 23, 2023.

Other 

• CEVA Logistics (owned by CMA CGM) launched Finished Vehicle Logistics (FVL) organization as part of its acquisition and integration of GEFCO becoming the largest France-based logistics company. For CMA CGM this acquisition is part of the plan to support US East Coast supply chain growth and expand its presence in this region. 

These are only several changes that occurred in more than 250 bn freight rates across 25 million routes with more than 1 million market players. Want to share some news about your company, services, and routes? Just post them on MAXMODAL, a multimodal network that digitally connects routes and rates worldwide to automate sales and operations across container transportation & logistics industry. Join to innovate.

How can an exclusively trucking company turn to rail? What incentives need to be in place to experiment with combined transport? German rail association Allianz pro-Schiene has the answer-and it is simplified access via digitalisation. That is how the road logistics company Kroop & Co. Transport + Logistik GmbH transported its first container by rail in late December.

Kroop, based in Hamburg, has been a traditional road transport company with no rail experience. However, in late December 2022, it decided to give rail a chance. For the first time, it set up the transport of a container between the DUSS Hamburg-Billwerder terminal and Nuremberg by train instead of by truck.

“We booked the transport digitally and are very excited about the handling. Combined transport is an interesting alternative to truck transport for us because it is more environmentally friendly and saves us a good 20 per cent of the costs in this specific case,” commented Alexander Kähler, head of the local transport and container transport department at Kroop.

Ocean carriers do not expect consumer demand in North Europe to recover until at least March, when they hope container freight rates from Asia will also rebound.

Low rates, down to $750 per 20ft and $1,000 per 40ft from China to North European ports, are being touted in the market either directly through local carrier offices, or via forwarding agents, valid until 1 March.

Moreover, for the immediate period after the Chinese New Year, when cargo prospects are looking particularly soft, one of the biggest carriers is offering shippers an FAK rate of $550 per 20ft from Dalian to Felixstowe for a shipment window of 1 to 14 February.

To qualify for this rate, a booking must be made by 15 January.

The container spot market indices are still not reflecting the ‘market’ rates to North Europe, although Xeneta’s XSI was the closest this week, as its component slid by another 8%, to $1,885 per 40ft.

“The supply of shipping space was abundant and the marketing strategy of carriers was still based on soliciting cargo, therefore the market rate dropped,” says the Ningbo Containerized Freight Index (NCFI) weekly commentary.

However, there was better news this week for carriers serving the Asia-Mediterranean tradelane, where “increased demand” prompted 2M partners MSC and Maersk to reinstate a sailing on the AE11/Jade loop that had been voided.

Spot rates on the route, as recorded by Drewry’s WCI index, declined by 4% this week, but remain significantly higher than North European rates, at $2,821 per 40ft.

Meanwhile, on the transpacific, carriers will be encouraged by the easing of inflation, down to an annualised rate of 6.5%, which is expected to result in the Federal Reserve being less aggressive with its interest rate hikes and thus encourage consumers to start spending again.

Container spot rates from Asia to the US west coast appear to have bottomed out, at between $1,300 and $2,000 per 40ft, as carriers cancelled half their sailings on the route ahead of the CNY.

And on the more robust Asia-US east coast tradelane, spot rates seem to be levelling out at around $2,800 to $3,600 per 40ft.

On the transatlantic, the impact of carriers deploying extra capacity and the start of services by market entrants is, unsurprisingly, putting pressure on freight rates.

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Flexport is to cut 20% of its jobs, with impacted people receiving emails in the next few hours in Europe and North America, and tomorrow in Asia.

A letter to employees from co-CEOs Dave Clark and Ryan Petersen began with: “We begin the new year with more optimism than ever about Flexport’s future.”

But it went on to say: “While we are looking forward to what’s to come in 2023, we must also make hard decisions necessary to set us up for long-term success.

“We are overall in a good position, but are not immune to the macroeconomic downturn that has impacted businesses around the world. Our customers have been impacted by these challenging conditions, resulting in a reduction to our volume forecasts through 2023.

“Lower volumes, combined with improved efficiencies as a result of new organisational and operational structures, means we are overstaffed in a variety of roles across the company.”

The letter added that the company would reduce in size, impacting about 20% of its global workforce, some 600 people, under the restructuring.

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Ocean carriers are slowing-down their ships and deploying extra tonnage on more robust routes as they endeavour to soak up surplus capacity.

And the transatlantic tradelane, which has so far avoided the worst of the freight rate collapse contagion affecting export services from Asia, is seen as a good option.

Maersk advised today it would be adding three extra ships during the first quarter on the North Europe and Mediterranean to US east coast and Gulf coast loops it operates together with its vessel-sharing partner MSC within their 2M alliance agreement.

It said during Q1 it would add one ship to the 2M North Europe to US east coast and Gulf coast TA1/NEUATL1 and TA3/NEUATL3 loops, and one to the Mediterranean to US east and Gulf coast TA6/MSC Pearl string.

Mearsk said: “Slowing global demand has left us with extra capacity that we can use to improve the reliability of our services.

“With these changes we can reduce schedule gaps and slidings, boost weekly coverage and allow for more robust supply chain planning,” it added.

And the company was keen to emphasise the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the slower service speeds of the ships. It said this would “help us meet our goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our business by 2040”.

Nonetheless, extra capacity on the route will add to the downward pressure on freight rates on the transatlantic, which has begun to see weekly declines of up to 10% across the spot market indices, to levels of around $6,500 per 40ft.

In June last year, spot rates on the route were close to $10,000 per 40ft, with rates boosted by a combination of a capacity crunch, equipment shortages and port congestion in both North Europe and the US.

https://youtu.be/bPrbyA0SpNY