Drewry released WCI data on October 15, reporting at $4,485/FEU, ending three consecutive weeks of decline. Asia-Europe routes led the gains: Shanghai-Rotterdam +6% to $3,522, Shanghai-Genoa +7% to $3,945; trans-Pacific Shanghai-Los Angeles +3% to $7,884, Shanghai-New York -1% to $10,075. The shipowner plans to raise the Asia-Europe FAK price to US$4,500-4,800 from the 19th, but the resumption of Suez sailings will bring additional shipping capacity, so the implementation is questionable.
The U.S. Central Command stated that the United States and its partners have "controlled" the Strait of Hormuz, and more than 40 merchant ships have passed through it in the past 24 hours. However, the frequency of attacks on merchant ships has hit a record high recently. A container ship and a bulk carrier have sunk near the strait in recent days, and freight rates on the U.S.-Japan crude oil route have skyrocketed.
According to gCaptain (source Reuters), the Trump administration is considering easing sanctions on the "shadow fleet" transporting Russian oil to stabilize soaring tanker freight rates; on the same day, the United Kingdom expanded sanctions on Russian oil and gas, adding 2 energy companies, 12 shadow fleet tankers and financial networks.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) will implement mandatory comprehensive inspections and sea trials for ships 25 years old and above from now on. Only ships that have passed the inspection can be allowed to transit at your own expense. The operating costs and risk of delays for older ships will increase.
Zhoushan successfully implemented the world's first green ammonia fuel ship-to-ship bunkering operation, accumulating key real-ship experience for the commercial operation of ammonia fuel-powered ships. It is a landmark breakthrough in the field of green ship fuel bunkering in China.
The German cabinet passed the National Action Plan for Climate-Friendly Shipping, which contains 47 items of measures and approximately 400 million euros (US$449 million) in funding, covering green shipping corridors, alternative fuel infrastructure and financial incentives for ship renewal, to simultaneously promote the decarbonization of ocean and inland shipping fleets.
Zhonggu Shipping and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding have joined forces for the first time to order two 14,000TEU-class large green container ships to further expand coastal/premium shipping capacity and highlight the recovery in domestic demand for large container ships.
BDI fell another 4.6% to 2,545 points on Thursday, a new low since June 30; the main ship Capesize index plummeted 8.5% to 3,322 points (the lowest since early April), Panamax fell 2.2% to 2,356 points, and Supramax bucked the trend and rose slightly by 0.6%. Weak iron ore and coal transportation demand continued to suppress the large ship market.
Xeneta data shows that at the end of September, the global container ship on-time rate dropped another 2 percentage points month-on-month to 27%, declining for the fourth consecutive month, with the average delay rising to 6.0 days, reflecting the continued deterioration of shipping schedule reliability under the normalization of the Red Sea/detour.