Transpacific Eastbound (TPEB) ocean capacity remains open and available post-Lunar New Year (LNY), according to the latest report by Flexport, noting that the space and volume crunch around LNY "appears back to normal."
Nonetheless, the freight forwarder noted that market capacity has remained higher than in years past as it anticipates routine blank sailings to continue in attempts to stabilize rates.
For the same Asia-North America trade, Flexport said the low TPEB demand is further playing a key role in keeping West Coast port and rail congestion low.
For Asia-Europe, it noted that space remains open in the second half of February.
Nonetheless, booking intake is gradually improving, but volumes for the next few weeks are still at a low level.
Flexport said as a result, rates are still under pressure due to a demand/supply imbalance.
More blank sailings in early March
"[We're] still seeing around 15% blank sailing average in weeks 8/9/10 to adjust for the decrease in demand. Expect the carriers will have more blank sailings into early March," it added.
For North America-Asia, Flexport said capacity is available across all major services, supply has far outpaced demand, and carriers are digging for volume opportunities.
"All services to the Asia Pacific (APAC) region have very low capacity utilization levels with no space constraints," it added, noting that congestion has been cleared out across most North American container yards with improved operations as a result of less demand.
The freight forwarder said extended blank sailing programs had not been introduced or considered, so the outlook for Q1 is that most of the existing capacity will remain in place.
"Agricultural season kicking up in Q1 may have an impact on capacity availability in the near future. Even with that peak, the outlook is for supply to remain greater than demand," it further said.
Meanwhile, it added that rates are trending "slightly downwards" month-on-month and quarter-on-quarter on certain lanes from coastal ports to Asia base ports in China, Japan, Taiwan, S. Korea.
Flexport noted that all carriers are "trying to push cargo onto these lanes/services."
In terms of air freight, the freight forwarder said for North China — which includes Shanghai — market demand is low and being outpaced by supply. Rates also remain unchanged from last week.
It added that for South China — Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Hong Kong — demand continues to be low after the LNY holiday, with rates having dropped from the week prior.
For Taiwan, Flexport said the market is "slack, and demand is low." In Korea, it said demand is slack, with the market unlikely to pick up anytime soon.
Flexport added that demand ex-Southeast Asia overall remains low with widely available capacity.
