Freight Market Update - December 8, 2022

From the Editor’s Desk

Greetings!

We aim to consistently bring the weekly news, potential trades, and trends of the freight market right to your fingertips. We hope you cherish this weekly market update as much as we did while curating it for you.

It would help us improve ourselves if you could follow us and share your valuable feedback. We are always looking for ways to improve and level up our performance.

It is our single-minded focus to make this newsletter the best it can be. Thank you for reading it, subscribing to us, and sharing your valuable feedback.

Key takeaways for the US

• Korean strikes continue and are spreading further

• Chinese truck drivers are expected to submit COVID tests every 24 hours. This is causing delays and makes delivering containers on time difficult

• North America - Europe Tradeline capacity has been increased to 4,000 TEU ships. These have entered the market

• Labor strike is expected in the West of the USA

Read on for more in-depth updates.

Ocean Freight Market Update

Asia to North America Shipping

U.S / CA 

Strikes and tests progress

• Shanghai ports have been closed for 11 hours (WGQ) and 19 hours (YS) due to strong winds on 29 and 30 November.

• The berth congestion has been stabilized with minor waiting delays that are of one day (WGQ) and 0.5 - 1 day (YS).

• All Korean ports are facing a truckers’ strike since 24 November. This includes Pusan, Kwangyang, and Incheon.

• During this strike period, the export delivery and import pickup have been impacted severely if not suspended.

• Chinese truck drivers who have been responsible for transporting cargo to ports are required to submit a COVID test every 24 hours. This makes it hard to deliver the cargo in time and delays the processing time. 

• Furthermore, this Chinese New Year will result in further delays owing to the COVID testing procedures. The workers will get delayed while returning to work and during extended leave periods.

• Rolling issues have expanded to a majority of carriers.

• For the month of December 59 blanks sailings have been announced for the Transpacific Eastbound trade lane, reducing 29.1% from normal capacity.

Conclusions

Rates: The rates have continued to drop in terms of Transpacific trade. Nevertheless, it is much less compared to the previous weeks.

Space: Space is open and with no equipment issues for Asia Pacific to North America.

Recommendation: We recommend blank sailings to continue. Book at least two weeks prior to the date your cargo gets ready.

Turkey to North America Shipping

• The global situation is stable on both the East and West Coast. However, there are some exceptions that have been listed below.
• Vancouver is improving consistently as its yard capacity has decreased and the volumes have softened.
• Port congestions at the Port of LA and the Port of NYC have returned to their pre-pandemic levels.
• The Port of Savannah and the Port of Houston are still witnessing some levels of congestion with the 31 and 11 vessels waiting respectively.

Conclusions

Rates: The rates are notably stable and remain the same.

Space: Spaces are open and there are no issues with equipment.

Equipment: There are no significant issues with capacity except for Hapag Lloyd.

North America to Turkey Shipping

• The capacity has increased by almost 40% in WK49 and WK51.

• This is because larger vessels have entered the NEUR to USEC market

• The additional capacity will be added by Evergreen on the same loop (TAT2) from next week with the Tampa Triumph (14000 TEU ship).

• This is notably the largest vessel every deployed on this trade lane.

Conclusions

Rates: The rates are the same as last week.

Space: Spaces are open for the vessels after 2-3 weeks.

Capacity and equipment: No capacity issues and equipment shortage.

Terminal Updates

The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) will break ground early next year.

This is for a project to build two post-Panamax berths at its Ocean Terminal in Savannah.

The construction will begin in early 2023 and the first berth can be expected to be completed in early 2025. 

A second large berth will be completely ready and open for use by 2026 in the Ocean Terminal.

Houston Port will postpone its sustained dwell fee. It was originally scheduled for December 1, 2022.

Due to delays from the port’s external software developer, the issues have ensued which has been confirmed by the port on 30 November.

Intermodal Updates US

• The brokered agreement reached between the labor and the rail has been rejected by four of the Unions.

• However, 8 of the Unions have approved it.

• The present cooling-off period is set to expire on 8 December 2022.

• There might be a strike on 9 December 2022.

• The deadline date is fast approaching and the potentially Dangerous Goods and Temperature controlled shipments may be expected to be restricted.

• This restriction is imposed by the rail operations as they prepare to embark on a potential shutdown.

US Domestic Trucking Trends

• The truckload spot market is witnessing one of its prime periods.

• This began ever since the start of the quarter and is continuing as the holiday time-sensitive products make their run before Christmas.

• This might not be a long-term trend.

• But it has a potential peak effect on the truckload market.

Parting Thoughts

After perusing the given updates, we can conclude that the market is steadily improving with good progress. One needs to be careful about the routes they pick for their cargo movement owing to the strikes at Korean ports.

Chinese ports might also not be a good option until the situation stabilizes. The cargo truck drivers are undergoing 24-hour COVID tests which might delay your delivery time. It is also a disadvantage for workers taking long leave and those returning to work after the festive season.

We can expect a steady and consistent increase in the market owing to these trends. It is all a matter of accurate research and informed decision-making.

We are grateful that you perused our newsletter till the end. Be sure to subscribe to us and stay notified about the latest weekly market updates.