Weekly Market Update - November 10, 2020

Ocean Freight Market Update

Asia → North America (Transpacific Eastbound)

Rates: West Coast rates have dropped $40-$50 in the last week, the first decline since mid- September. East Coast rates have remained stable. 

Capacity: Space is in short supply, however equipment remains to be the real sticking point, with all carriers in short supply, in particular 40HQ. 

GRI: No further GRI’s have been announced at this time. 

Notes: Peak season is expected well past the holiday season and into mid-February, when a slowdown is expected. 

Asia → Europe (Far East Westbound)

Rates: Continue to rise on the back of the surcharges being applied due to peak season, container surcharge, and port congestion. Rates are hitting levels that have not been hit since 2015.  Further increases expected from the 15th and 22nd November. 

Capacity: As with all trades, the equipment situation is critical, as mentioned previously equipment surcharges are being applied on 40HC in the range of $100 – $175 per unit. 

Notes: Continued issue in the main UK port of Felixstowe has led to carriers and customers alike looking for alternative solutions, which is now putting the remaining ports of London Gateway and Southampton under increased pressure.  

Empty restitution has become an issue as most terminals and Inland Container Depots are full, however Felixstowe is now allowing limited returns as carriers reduce imports to allow more berth time for export movements.  

Other News:

• Intra Asia rates have almost doubled on some key trade lanes in the last 10 days, increasing from around $250 Teu to $470 Teu on the Shanghai – Singapore leg and where rates had been around $140 Teu in September. 
• New record high rates have been set on Asia – Australia , West Africa and South America in the last week, and the Middle East increased by over 12%.

Air Freight Market Update

Asia

• As expected, air freight rates are now stabilizing at a high level unless the cargo is really dense and then some lower than market level rates can be achieved.
• The space situation is quite critical in comparison to last year but has improved slightly over the last week or so.
• Rates to the UK have been increasing sharply over the last few weeks, but they seem to have stabilized over the weekend and if anything we have seen a very small decrease.
• Traditional peak season before the Christmas holiday & Black Friday, putting a strain on capacity which in turn pushes rates up at this time of year.
• There are still some project shipments in the market as mentioned in reports from previous weeks – for example the iPhone 12, Huawei Mate, XBOX, and PS5. These shipments are moving at a higher yield and therefore tend to secure the space due to this.
• Shipments of PPE are still being moved as many countries continue to deal with a 2nd wave of COVID-19 which has impacted greatly not only on any passenger aircraft space availability but also on charter availability. This has made availability difficult for the rest of November.

Americas

• Not much has changed with the Americas market from week to week.
• Rates to almost all South American destinations are still continuing to increase as space is a big problem at the moment.
• There are some severe congestion problems at many US airports meaning when hauliers are trying to collect any imports they are having to wait in queues that are 5 to 6 hours before they can get loaded.

Europe

• The UK has now begun a month long lockdown which will see passenger aircrafts reduce their services and this will obviously have a knock on effect to the rates we are able to buy and space we are able to secure.

European Road Freight Market Update

There will be increased demand for European equipment in the coming weeks due to Black Friday, Christmas build up and Brexit stock preparations. This in turn will drive up rates.

With the Christmas season fast approaching, we would like to advise you of the last departure dates on our European Export services for 2020.

 The dates are as follows:

The information that is available in the Weekly Market Update comes from a variety of online sources. Click below to learn more about how Zencargo can help make your supply chain your competitive advantage.

Get In Touch