Spot rates from Asia to the US are down post-Lunar New Year as we enter the traditional slack season. Carriers built rollover pools, as usual, to help fill vessels after the holiday, but rate levels are still softening and are slightly lower than they were at the same time last year during the early stages of the Red Sea crisis.
The new ocean freight alliance structure has launched, and there has been schedule disruption on several trades while the new rotations settle into place. The Premier Alliance, which had been under review by the US Federal Maritime Commission, has officially been approved.
With the extreme uncertainty surrounding tariff policy, there are many unknowns for the year ahead. The Journal of Commerce reports a recent upgrade to the Global Port Tracker (GPT) for imports through April despite the constantly changing tariff landscape. With negotiations for the 2025-2026 ocean freight contract year underway, the supply and demand balance will impact whether ocean carriers can secure the meaningful rate increases they seek over last year’s levels.
Most of the major global container carriers have stated that they will continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and the Red Sea/Suez corridor. They indicate that they will not shift their main East-West services back to the Red Sea routings until a later date when stability and safety are more certain.
As carriers are planning their capacity for the year ahead, forecasting remains critical. Please communicate your forecast to your service provider as soon as possible to ensure appropriate capacity allocation.
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Rachel Shames
VP, Pricing & Procurement
CV International, Inc.