Weekly Ocean Operations Update: Asia to Europe, US and Australia 11/04/25

In the first half of April, vessels are fully booked with only a few services rolling cargoes. Volume in the second half of April is expected to remain stable or slightly increase before the China Labour Holiday. Overall utilization is strong, and there are space constraints on some services, with the Western Mediterranean experiencing the most serious restrictions.

Carriers have not reduced rates, and the current rates for the second half of April are expected to remain in place. BCO volumes are increasing more rapidly than those of NVOs, and the forecast since April has continued to strengthen. A surge in volume is anticipated before the China holiday, with further increases likely from mid-May.

Current capacity changes remain unstable due to the unpredictable swapping of vessels between trades, and blank sailings are expected to increase. The Gemini service is demonstrating over 90% schedule reliability based on ETD calculations, with full services and shuttles, though actual ETAs need to be closely monitored.

Port congestion and delays continue to occur at ports of discharge, especially in Antwerp and Rotterdam. Some vessels may omit these ports to reduce delays. Schedule disruptions across all alliances are ongoing, with no signs of improvement. UK ports are performing better than other North European ports, although there may still be shifted port calls between Felixstowe and London Gateway.

For North Europe, the weekly normal capacity is approximately 335,000 TEUs. Capacity reductions for the recent weeks are as follows: Week 14 was down by 6%, Week 15 by 11%, and Week 16 by 6%. Week 17 will be down by 6% and Week 18 by 2%. 

For the Mediterranean, the weekly normal capacity is around 213,000 TEUs. Capacity remained steady in week 14, but dropped by 7% in Week 15. In Week 16 there will be a reduction of 5% and Week 17 will see a 10% decline, but week 18 saw will see no reduction.

Overview by trade lane

FEWB summary:

Rate and capacity update as of April 11, 2025:

Oceania summary:

Rate and capacity update as of April 11, 2025:

Transpacific summary:

Rate and capacity update as of April 11, 2025: 

Asia port updates

Market intel: Europe

ONE and its Premier Alliance partners have recently modified their United Kingdom coverage on the Europe to South Asia 'IOX / INX' service. From June onwards, the service will call at Southampton instead of London Gateway Port. With all other calls remaining unchanged, the full rotation will therefore read: Karachi, Hazira, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Southampton, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Karachi (Source: Alphaliner)

MSC's new standalone Phoenix service on the Asia - Europe trade has been plagued by frequent setbacks with her commencement date and continues to leave much to the imagination in regards to its upcoming vessel lineup. The latest delay has stretched the starting lineup back to the first week of May with the maiden voyage of the MSC CANCUN forecasted to depart Busan on May 04. In just the past four days alone we witnessed long-term schedules drop the first two vessels, the MSC SHANELLE V and MSC MARIA CLARA which are both in shipyard, in favor of the MSC CANCUN and another TBN. (Source: eeSea)

Market intel: Oceania

 Patrick Terminals

• Brisbane: Delays approx. 0.5 days
• Fremantle: Delays approx. 0.5 days
• Sydney: Delays approx. 3-4 days
• Melbourne: Delays approx. 0.5 days

DP World Terminals

• Brisbane: Delays approx. 3 days
• Fremantle: Minimal delays approx. 0.5 days
• Sydney: Delays approx. 0.5 days
• Melbourne: Delays approx. 1 day

VICT

• Melbourne: Delays approx. 1.5 day

Market intel: Americas

Primer Alliance service – PN4 remain suspended.

• The PN4 service, scheduled to commence in May of 2025, will remain suspended until further notice.
• PN4 svc original serving Shanghai / Ningbo to PNW area included Vancouver / Tacoma. 

(Sources: ONE)

MSC additional blank sailing in APR & MAY.

MSC - Orient

• Additional two blank sailings on the MSC - Orient. The weekly service which calls Long Beach, Oakland, and Portland additionally replaced slots 4 and 6 with TBN's for the foreseeable future - approximately halving the capacity that expect from this 10.6K TEU service in next 8 weeks. 

MSC - Pearl 

• Pearl service that also calls Long Beach and Oakland just revealed another blank in April and two more TBN's on the vessel lineup in May.

Equipment update by carrier

Correct at time of publication on April 11, 2025. Please find attached below.