15 Apr April Blank Sailings On The Rise Whilst Long Term Contracts Finalised
The combination of freight rates reaching new lows this year and increased capacity in the upcoming months as more ships hit the water, is expected to see the number of blank sailings increase in April as carriers seek to finalise their annual service contracts with shipping organisations.
According to Drewry a total of 69 sailings are expected to be cancelled during April to create an artificial supply and demand imbalance as they look to finalise annual service contracts by the 1st of May.
This raft of cancellations comes as trans-Pacific spot rates sit at 15-month lows with rates from North Asia to the West Coast at $1,600 per FEU and at $2,600 per FEU to the East Coast, alongside an expected increase of 19% in Trans-Pacific container capacity to the US West Coast.
While there appears to be no impact from the blank sailings now, the new tariff scheme and the associated chance that parties will try to frontload imports to avoid them means that there is a risk that container capacity will be limited in the upcoming months.
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