Freight rates for container exports from China continued to decline in the eight week of the year despite transportation capacity adjustments.

According to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), a measure for spot prices for container exports from Shanghai that do not include terminal handling charges (THCs), fell 2.9% to 946.68 points (SSE). For the seventh week in a row, the composite indicator has been falling.

On east-west trade lanes, spot rates for containers from Shanghai to Europe fell 3.1% to US$882 per TEU, which have trended down for seven weeks in a run, and to the Mediterranean, rates waned 1.7% to US$1,605 per TEU.

Average prices fell 3.1% to US$1,234 per FEU on the route to North America's west coast, where they have been falling for four weeks in a row, and 4.2% to US$2,391 per FEU on the route to the east coast, where they have been falling for 38 weeks in a row.

According to Japan International Freight Forwarders Association (JIFFA), spot prices for containers from China to the Middle East Gulf on north-south lines fell 4.6% to US$1,029 per TEU. Remaining bearish for three straight weeks, they have managed to remain above the US$1,000-per-TEU level since September 2022.

Spot rates dropped 6.2% to US$346 per TEU for exports to Australia and New Zealand, which have been in the single digits since October and have fallen as low as those for cargoes to Japan. Container spot prices to South America remained steady with a marginal drop of 0.1% to US$1,507 per TEU. They have, however, stayed higher than pre-pandemic values since the beginning of the year, ranging between US$1,400 and US$1,500 per TEU. Spot prices for African shipments fell across the board.

Furthermore, spot prices in intra-Asian seas fell 1.5% to US$326 per TEU on the route to Japan's Kansai region and 1.2% to US$336 per TEU on the route to Japan's Kanto region. Container rates to Southeast Asia fell 3.7% to US$155 per TEU, while rates to South Korea fell 1.4% to US$208 per TEU.

Two container vessels collided on the Long Tau river in southern Vietnam on 11 February. The two ships and many containers were severely damaged.

The 2,038 TEU Wan Hai 288 and the 920 TEU Resurgence are the two involved vessels. A number of boxes from the first ship were destroyed as the port bow of the vessel was hit by Resurgence, whose bow was crunched in the incident.

According to reports, Wan Hai 288 suffered a grounding incident after the collision and was towed to a nearby repair yard, while Resurgence went to a container terminal at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam for inspection operations.

The Singapore vessel, Wan Hai 288, was sailing towards a port in Ho Chi Minh City when it collided with the Bahamian vessel Resurgence, which was going in the opposite direction, according to a report by the Vietnamese newspaper VnExpress.

The upcoming break-up of the 2M alliance is going to lead to a change in the competitive makeup of the deep-sea networks, according to Sea-Intelligence.

More specifically, although the formal break-up will not happen until January 2025, gradual changes are likely to happen during the two-year transition period.

In the hypothetical case that the other two alliances remain intact, and that the orderbook gets delivered on time, the changes in the capacity market share with a 'pure' break-up of 2M on the Transpacific would look like the following graph.

MSC will be stronger positioned compared to Maersk, but it will, still, be slightly smaller than THE Alliance, and the Ocean Alliance which will be in an extremely strong position in the market, according to Sea-Intelligence report.

An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale occurred on the border between Turkey and Syria, on the morning of 6 February leading many Turkish ports to face operational challenges.

As it is already known, LimakPort Iskenderun, located in the Mediterranean coastal town of Iskenderun in the southern Turkish province of Hatay, was severely damaged, forcing the port authority to suspend the port's operations.

Therefore, global container carriers are taking measures to deal with the operational difficulties in the region. Maersk and COSO have already published customer advisories to inform about the impact on their operations and services.

Given the situation at Iskenderun, Maersk said it will need to perform a change of destination for all bookings bound for the Turkish port or already on the water.

The Panama Canal reports that the 11,000 TEU container vessel Cape Kortia suffered a fire outbreak in its engine room on 30 January while moving toward the PSA port in the Pacific.

The boxship remained briefly on its way to the Pacific Access Channel until it got removed by the Panama Canal staff.

According to a Panama Canal announcement, these maneuvers occurred during its regular transit window and did not cause delays to other ships transiting the Panama Canal.

The fire outbreak is under control, according to Panama Canal, while no injuries were reported during this incident. The relevant authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.

Another vessel seems to have been affected due to the fire accident of Cape Kortia, but at the time of writing the name of the affected ship is not known.