China’s May Day holiday, lasting five days from Saturday, will delay liner operators’ planned rate increases, and cargo volumes ex-Asia have dipped below expectations, further hampering
contract negotiations with transpacific shippers.
Shipping line hopes were raised on 14 April, when the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index showed Asia-US west coast rates had hit a five-month high of $1,668 per feu, capping four consecutive weeks of increases.
Linerlytica noted that while capacity utilisation on both lanes had been “decent”, as a result of blanked sailings, the May Day holiday in China is expected to affect cargo volumes, especially as capacity is higher than during the lunar new year break.
It has been estimated that at least 440,000 teu of capacity has been blanked this month.
Read more in an article from the Loadstar