Trends To Watch
- Transatlantic Westbound (TAWB) – Rates have been steadily declining throughout Q1 thanks in part to the easing of port congestion.
- LATAM Northbound (LANB) – Schedule reliability has nearly doubled due to lessening port congestion on both ends of the trade.
- Air capacity out of Asia has been cut due to dropping rates shifting much cargo back to ocean.
- Airlines have begun retiring freighters and some charters have been canceled, leading to capacity being nearly on par with pre-COVID numbers.
- In trucking news, the majority of U.S. ports and rail ramps are moving smoothly, with few, if any, delays to be found.
Trade Lane Rate Trends
Ocean
TPEB – up FEWB – down TAWB – down ISC » U.S. – down
Air
TPEB – down FEWB – down TAWB – down
The Week In News
MSC Takes Delivery of the World’s Biggest Ultra Large Container Ship
The largest container ship ever built—with a carry capacity of 24,346 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs)—launched last week. Owned by Bank of Communications Financial Leasing, the ship is chartered to Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). Chinese officials took the opportunity of the MSC Irinia’s maiden voyage from Zhoushan to highlight the developing expertise of the country’s shipbuilding industry, giving the more established builders in Korea and Japan a run for their money.
West Coast Wipeout: Los Angeles, Long Beach Imports Still Sinking
The Port of Los Angeles has now dropped to third place for throughput at a U.S. port, behind the Port of New York and New Jersey and its own neighbor, the Port of Long Beach. Total throughput at LA in February dropped to 487,846—that’s a drop of 43% year on year. The article quotes Nerijus Poskus, Flexport’s VP of Ocean Strategy, as saying “I think a lot of the transition from the West Coast to the East Coast is permanent.”
Source from Flexport.com