Box lines offer reduced Asia-Europe rates ahead of alliance restructure
Liner operators are discounting Asia-Europe freight rates for the first two weeks of January, as they fight for market share ahead of the reshuffling of container shipping alliances in February.
On 27 December 2024, the Shanghai-North Europe rate gained just 0.5% from the previous week to close at US$2,962/TEU, after declining for the previous three weeks. Consultancy Linerlytica observed that spot rates for the first two weeks of 2025 remain very volatile with initial hikes followed by subsequent rate cuts as carriers continue to jostle for market share ahead of the alliance reshuffle in February.
Market leader MSC will become a solo operator in February, after its 2M partner Maersk Line leaves to start Gemini Cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd. The latter is jettisoning THE Alliance, which will be renamed Premier Alliance in February. However, MSC will be cooperating with Premier Alliance in the Asia-Europe trades.
On 30 December 2024, the EC2412 (December 2024) contract for the Asia-Europe freight futures was settled at 3,445 points, which was 4.4% higher than a week before. Despite the stronger finish that month, futures for 2025 traded lower over the past week, with the main contract for EC2502 (February 2025) falling 13% week-over-week on lower daily volumes.
Linerlytica commented: “Traders shrugged off the SCFI North Europe rebound on 27 December, as attention shifts to the lacklustre rate hikes in January which could foreshadow a steeper rate decline in February post-Chinese New Year.
Carriers are still offering discounts for the first 2 weeks of January despite healthy capacity utilisation as they gear up for the alliance reshuffle that will take place in February. Maersk has already reduced its online quotation for January shipments to US$4,800 per FEU, triggering rivals to respond accordingly. This has resulted in reduced settlement prices for Asia-Europe freight futures.
