Did You Know That..

…Container shipping stocks soar as Middle East peace prospects sink.

·Zim share price is up 21% since beginning of month, Maersk up 18%, Hapag-Lloyd up 15%

·Stock traders are betting that recent events will delay reopening of Red Sea route

·Moves in liner stocks are mirroring upswing in container freight futures

Bad news is often good news for shipping stocks. There is bad news for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which is good news for container shipping stocks, because it lowers the chance of a near-term return to the Suez route that would inject a large amount of effective capacity into container trades.

…Here's the first market information update report after CNY from our friend Steven Yuan of FS China. Many factories have not fully resumed operations after the Chinese New Year, so the volume of goods in the market has not rebounded quickly. On the other hand, the new alliances started operating in February, triggering more intense competition among them. As a result, market prices have been falling continuously.

The current market FAK price is around $2,200 to $2,300/40HQ.

…Asia-Europe demand growth could see short-term plunge if Red Sea crisis eases suddenly. Even over a three-month transition period, a return to Red Sea transits could lead to a 10 percentage point drop in Asia-Europe demand growth, which would be exacerbated by the freeing up of significant amounts of capacity due to shorter sailing times. Empties are increasingly being repositioned to Asia from North America west coast ports as it is faster than moving them from Europe due to vessels having to sail around the Cape of Good Hope.

…While spot rates across the major deepsea trades have been on the decline since the turn of the year, long-term contract rates appear to be heading in the other direction, according to new analysis from freight rates benchmarking platform Xeneta. It found that contract rates on the Asia-Europe trade recorded on its platform on 1 January were 57% higher than at the same point the year before.

…Trump’s ‘massive’ reciprocal tariffs plan is recipe for front-loading.

·Reciprocal tariff rates to be set on April 1; implementation timetable still unknown

·Globe-spanning tariffs should spur frontloading in transpacific and transatlantic trades

·Prior to tariff effects, container spot rates have continued to decline. The SCFI is down 7% week on week, with Drewry’s WCI down 5%

The National Retail Federation warns that Trump’s newly announced reciprocal tariffs ‘will be extremely disruptive to our supply chains’. There is not much US importers can do in defence — except pull cargo forward.

…Better late to the party than not to turn up at all, is perhaps the thinking going on in Delhi this week after the Indian government unveiled ambitious plans to build up a national container shipping carrier. Under the working title of Bharat Container Line, proposed as a sister company to the already announced public-private enterprise, Bharat Global Ltd, which Delhi promises to use as a vehicle to bid for overseas port assets.

…China pushes rail services to Central Asia. Chongqing has launched its first direct railfreight service to Afghanistan. The first train is now on route, carrying 55 containers of communication equipment.

…Regional container trade imbalances increase 33% from 2019 to 2024. The East and Southeast Asia region exported three teu for every one imported in 2024, while North America imported 2.5 teu for every teu exported. BIMCO chief shipping analyst says the increase in trade imbalances has been driven by faster export growth from East and Southeast Asia compared with all other regions except sub-Saharan Africa.

…Qatar Airways transports millions of roses for Valentine’s...Qatar Airways Cargo delivered 2,800 t of fresh-cut roses from Kenya and South America to markets in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia for Valentine’s Day.

…India and Vietnam are 2 of the fastest growing regions for container shipping and trade between the two countries are also growing. However, the Zhonggu/VIMC service is largely symbolic as it uses small 500 teu ships with sailings every three weeks.

…Taller men marry earlier, but shorter men have longer relationships.

…Gorillas have musical preferences too, just like humans.

…There are 252 different types of headaches.

Wishing you all a fruitful rest of the week !