While containerships have been diverting away from the Suez Canal since mid-December, tankers and bulkers have finally made the call to follow them as US and UK air strikes against the Houthis failed to stem attacks and insurance rates spiked in response.
Maritime traffic through the danger zone is down significantly: Lloyd’s List Intelligence vessel-tracking data recorded a 38% slump in cargo-carrying traffic through the Bab el Mandeb Strait compared with early December.
Suez Canal vessel transits plunge 34% in seven weeks, with further drop on cards
Weekly Suez Canal traffic has dropped 34% compared with the end of November, when the Houthis began attacking commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea, Lloyd’s List Intelligence data shows.
Principal analyst Michelle Wiese Bockmann and data analyst Bridget Diakun reported how some 290 cargo-carrying ships over 10,000 dwt transited in the seven-day period ending January 14, compared with 440 for the week ending November 26, just a few weeks after the Houthis’ first significant attack, the hijacking of car carrier Galaxy Leader (IMO: 9237307).
The largest falls by vessel type were seen for liquefied natural gas carriers and liquefied petroleum gas carriers.
Chinese tonnage rises in Red Sea despite Houthi attacks
While containership transits through the Red Sea have plunged since the Houthi escalation in December, the proportion of China-linked tonnage appears to have surged, much of it involving trade with Russia, reported APAC editor Cichen Shen and data analyst Bridget Diakun.
As many as 17 out of the 27 China-related vessels identified by Lloyd’s List as still passing through the Red Sea since mid-December have involved port calls in Russia.
K Line and NYK finally divert vehicle carriers via Cape of Good Hope
Japan’s NYK and K Line have also begun to divert their vehicle carriers from Asia bound for the Mediterranean and northern Europe via the Cape of Good Hope, reported markets editor Rob Willmington.
The second- and fourth-largest operators of pure car and truck carriers respectively are among the last car carrier service providers to abandon the Red Sea route following the Houthi attacks on shipping from November.
Gemini Cooperation in ‘strong position’ to compete on deepsea capacity
Gemini Cooperation, the new carrier tie-up announced between fellow European carriers Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd last week, will have fleet capacity at its disposal that could match or even exceed that of the world’s largest line Mediterranean Shipping Company on the trunk liner trades, reported deputy editor Linton Nightingale.
According to initial estimates by London-based analysts MDS Transmodal, Gemini Cooperation could also become the most important player on specific routes, namely the transatlantic and Asia-Middle East trades with up to 40% of market share.
Pace of container freight rate increases slows
Spot freight rates continued to rise last week but at a much slower rate than in recent weeks, indicating that some of the heat is coming out of the increase driven by the crisis in the Red Sea, reported containers editor James Baker.
The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index was up just 1.5% last week, putting it up 125% since the latest string of increases began on December 1. This marked the smallest percentage increase since rates began their sudden surge.
But the rises were not across the board. While rates on the Asia-Europe trade showed signs of finally stabilising, the redirection of capacity away from the transpacific trade pushed up container spot rates on Asia-North America services.
LA/LB close weakest year since 2016 despite strong finish, but uncertainty is shifting eastwards
Despite an improved finish to the year, combined volumes at ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2023 fell to their lowest levels in seven years, as the US’s largest gateway dealt with a post-pandemic hangover and labour uncertainty.
Senior US reporter Tomer Raanan reported that the ports handled a combined 16.6m teu last year, a 12.6% decline from 2022.
