India Freight Forwarding Services

'Turbulent market' sees major carriers favour owned tonnage over charters

The world's largest container lines have accelerated their move away from chartered tonnage, with owned vessels now accounting for almost two-thirds of their fleets. According to new analysis from Sea-Intelligence, the 12 largest global carriers have increased the percentage of owned vessels in their fleets from 43% in January 2020 to 63% - a dramatic structural shift in fleet strategy. Between January 2020 and March 2025, as the average chartered ratio fell 2.5 percentage points a year, but has since accelerated to 4.5 percentage points. Sea-Intelligence's analysis covers MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, Cosco, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Evergreen, HMM, Zim, Yang Ming, Wan Hai, and PIL. The biggest move away from chartered tonnage has been by MSC, HMM and Wan Hai, while Hapag-Lloyd has made "essentially no change at all". Maersk, Cosco and Zim have also made only limited adjustments to their ownership mix. On a relative basis, Wan Hai and HMM have recorded the most significant changes. Sea-Intelligence noted Wan Hai had eliminated chartered vessels from its operated fleet entirely, while MSC, CMA CGM, Evergreen and PIL have roughly halved their exposure to charters. MSC, HMM, CMA CGM, Evergreen, Zim ,and Wan Hai have all expanded their share of operated capacity, with CMA CGM and Evergreen also significantly increasing the proportion of owned tonnage in their fleets. "Based on the developments seen in the data, we are leaning towards a hypothesis that, in the extremely turbulent market over the past six years, it is has been instrumental to acquire owned tonnage, rather than rely on the charter market, in order to grow market share substantially," said the analyst. "This would appear logical, as in this period, the market has frequently been characterised by insufficient availability of capacity, and hence, owning vessels would be a significant strategic advantage," it added. The findings come as the containership charter market continues to favour the owners, according to Braemar, which said vessel availability remained exceptionally limited across virtually all size segments. Prompt and forward positions remain scarce, it noted, leaving owners under little pressure to soften rate expectations. Braemar highlighted a series of recent fixtures illustrating the strength of demand. They include the 4,200 teu Fu Yang Shun Da, due for delivery later this year, reportedly fixed by X-Press Feeders on a two-year charter at around $51,000 a day. Further down the size range, the 1998-built, 2,456 teu Shengtang is reported to have secured a six-to-eight-month charter with Centrans at $60,000 a day, despite its age. The buoyant sentiment also extends to sale and purchase activity, although a shortage of available open tonnage continues to constrain deals. Braemar said the second-hand market remained "full of enquiry across all segments", with demand from buyers continuing to outstrip the number of ships available. As a result, no reportable second-hand transactions were concluded this week, despite numerous vessels being under negotiation. The broker added that, unlike previous years, it was not seeing any seasonal slowdown in buying interest during the summer. Meanwhile, newbuilding activity also remains healthy. Braemar highlighted Songa's order for two firm orders, plus four options, for geared 1,300 teu containerships at China's Guangli Shipyard, with deliveries scheduled for 2028-29. Given the limited orderbook in the feeder segment, and the ageing profile of the existing fleet, Braemar said the investment was likely to prove well-timed. While chartering activity may ease seasonally this month, Braemar forecasts the market balance is unlikely to shift unless vessel availability improves substantially. "Unless we see a meaningful increase in available tonnage, which at this stage seems highly unlikely... the overall market balance looks set to remain firmly in owners' favour," it said.

Geo-political uncertainty propels Lufthansa Cargo's Q2

Lufthansa's logistics division - whose main component is Lufthansa Cargo, posted an adjusted EBIT in Q2 of €116m, an increase of 58% on the same period last year while revenues were up 27% year on year (YoY) to just over €1bn. Commenting on the quarter at conference call in Frankfurt earlier today, attended by The Loadstar, group chairman and CEO, Carsten Spohr, said: "The second quarter operating environment for air cargo was anything but easy, the conflict in the Middle East affecting the reliability of global supply chain networks which had to be adjusted at short notice in an environment like this, one thing becomes clear once again. The more complex and unpredictable the global economy becomes, the more a growing cargo business, like Lufthansa Cargo, shows its worth." He continued: "In particular, the crisis in the Middle East triggered a surge in demand on routes to the Far East and for our new and now almost daily, trans-Pacific connection, as well as our new intra-Asian routes." He went on to highlight that "this commercial success was the result of the consistent execution of our strategy and our increasingly strong focus on high-margin products, semiconductors and more and more IP server equipment for the growing AI-driven investments in computers around the world and data centres". In a statement issued before the conference call, the Group noted that in the context of a significantly changed market environment, due to the conflict in the Middle East and the corresponding reduction in competitors' capacities in the region, Lufthansa Cargo's freight business had "gained momentum in overall terms". The reduction in the volume of capacity on the market and the strong rise in fuel costs led to a significant increase in yields compared to previous quarters. Demand was driven by continued strong business in the Asia/Pacific region in particular. This was reflected in an increase in cargo tonnage. India had also performed strongly. Higher fuel and charter costs in particular had a negative impact on expenses. Capacity, expressed as available cargo tonne kilometers (ATK), grew a modest 2% versus the previous year mainly driven by 6% bellyhold growth, particularly from Italian airline subsidiary, ITA Airways. Traffic, expressed as revenue cargo tonne kilometers (CTK) increased 3% YoY while the cargo load factor was stable at 62.9%. Mr Spohr also drew attention to the modernisation of Lufthansa Cargo's ground infrastructure. "At the end of June, we brought the first and most important phase of our new Frankfurt cargo centre into operation. This will make our handling operations even more reliable, more efficient, and more productive, and obviously will contribute to the premium positioning of Lufthansa Cargo." He also remarked on the Group's internationalisation strategy which was beneficial to Lufthansa Cargo with the integration of the marketing of ITA Airways' cargo capacity and closer co-operation with other passenger airlines in the Lufthansa portfolio.

Rates still in decline, but optimistic carriers look for an August spike

Container spot freight rates on the transpacific and Asia-Europe trades saw another week of single-digit declines, in the absence of carrier-led price hikes. But, on the contrary, it appears that despite relatively tight capacity, carrier discounting on Asia-Europe and transpacific tradelanes was largely the cause of this week's weakness. Drewry's World Container Index (WCI), saw the spot rate on its Shanghai-Rotterdam leg decline 3% week on week, to finish at $4,677 per 40ft, while the Shanghai-Genoa route was weaker, with a 6% drop to end the week at $5,630 per 40ft, and analysts at Linerlytica reported "carriers offering rates below $5,000 per 40ft, as support for the 1 August rate hike is quickly waning". Meanwhile, today's Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) - which records rates quoted for the forthcoming week and, as such, can indicate the behaviour of the following week's WCI (as it did last week) - suggests further gentle declines next week, again in the absence of FAK hikes, with spot rates to North Europe and the Mediterranean both down 4% against last week. Drewry noted that with "demand continuing to ease, carriers are focusing on capacity management through blank sailings to prevent further rate erosion", and reports that "three blank sailings are scheduled on the Asia-Europe trade next week, compared with four this week". This will be likely supported by another attempt to hike rates through new FAK level in mid-August - MSC announced today that it intends to implement a new FAK level on 15 August, of $7,800 per 40ft, on Asia-North Europe shipments, and $6,700 per 40ft on Asia-Mediterranean. Meanwhile, on the transpacific, carriers are expected to try and increase prices over the coming week, after the WCI this week saw its Shanghai-Los Angeles route fall 2%, to $5,739 per 40ft, while the Shanghai-New York spot rate was flat, at $7,578 per 40ft. US west coast forwarder Freight Right said the transpacific drop came about after "ocean carriers allowed rates to fall to stimulate market demand and bring pricing back to temporary market equilibrium". Tomorrow - 1 August - will see the latest round of GRIs applied on transpacific shipments, the hikes ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 per 40ft, depending on carrier. Today's SCFI appears to reflect optimism among carriers (which make up around half of the index's respondent set), with rates from Shanghai to both east and west coasts jumping 12.5% week on week. "Whether those increases hold will largely depend on sustained cargo volumes," Freight Right said. "If demand remains steady, as importers continue shipping under the now-clearer tariff environment, carriers may be able to maintain rates near current levels, or modestly higher. However, if demand fails to strengthen, the market could quickly settle back toward today's pricing after a brief August spike," it explained. Drewry added that carriers were hoping to support the GRIs through increased use of blanked sailings, "following softening demand and the slowdown in front-loading activity". According to Drewry's Container Capacity Insight, eight blanked sailings are scheduled for next week, compared with seven this week. In addition, this week also saw Chinese carrier BAL Container Lines cancel a plan to offer a one-off 14,000 teu extra loader to the US west coast, with the vessel instead being chartered to Maersk to be deployed on the Asia-Europe trades.