During Week 16, the MABUX global bunker indices showed mixed dynamics with no a clear trend. The 380 HSFO index rose by 2.83 USD: from 549.31 USD/MT last week to 552.14 USD/MT. The VLSFO index fell by 1.88 USD (694.83 USD/MT versus 696.71 USD/MT last week), consistently staying below the $700 mark. The MGO index decreased by 11.06 USD (from 906.48 USD/MT last week to 895.42 USD/MT), falling below the 900 USD mark. At the time of writing, there are signs of a downward trend in the global bunker market. MABUX Global Scrubber Spread (SS) – the price difference between 380 HSFO and VLSFO – decreas ..read more

The Middle East’s largest container port, Dubai/Jebel Ali, has re-entered the top 10 ranking of global container ports, overtaking Europe’s biggest port & demonstrating the scale of economic slump in Europe. Dubai overtook two of its nearest competitors in 2023 to make the top 10, a position it previously occupied in 2018. As earlier predicted by Alphaliner, it moved ahead of Hong Kong, which posted its 7th year of consecutive volume declines, and has now lost a third of its container traffic over the past decade. It also overtook Rotterdam, which had moved ahead of Dubai in 2019, but lost ..read more

Global ocean freight container shipping has been impacted by numerous geopolitical and environmental incidents in recent times, and the list got longer over the weekend following an escalation in conflict in the Middle East. In the early hours of Saturday, 13 April, Iranian military forces seized the 14,952 TEU containership MSC Aries while en route to India from the Abu Dhabi port of Mina Khalifa. The incident took place near to the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Arabian Gulf, raising concerns over the safety of ocean freight supply chains in the region. While Mina Khalifa is a main hub ..read more

In a significant escalation of tensions in the Middle East, Iran’s capture of the MSC Aries, a container ship linked to Israel, has reverberated throughout the maritime industry. This development, occurring prior to the missile attacks on Saturday, April 13, 2024, underscores the deepening conflict in the region. Believed to be in response to an Israeli raid on the Iranian consulate in Syria, the capture has heightened concerns about the security of key trade routes and the stability of regional hubs like Jebel Ali. Furthermore, Iran has launched a coordinated attack on Saturday, April 13, 202 ..read more

During Week 15, the MABUX global bunker indices experienced a marginal decline. The 380 HSFO index fell by 3.26 USD: from 553.99 USD/MT last week to 550.73 USD/MT. The VLSFO index decreased by 3.08 USD (696.00 USD/MT versus 699.08 USD/MT last week). The MGO index declined by a symbolic 0.30 USD (from 906.37 USD/MT last week to 906.07 USD/MT). At the time of writing, there was no clear trend in the global bunker market. MABUX Global Scrubber Spread (SS) – the price difference between 380 HSFO and VLSFO – remained nearly static, edging up by a mere $0.18 to $145.27 from last week’s $145.09. Mean ..read more

First methanol mainliner completes maiden trip: a review The world’s first methanol-enabled mainliner, the 16,592 teu ANE MAERSK of Maersk Group, recently completed her first westbound voyage from Asia to Europe. From the ship’s first Far Eastern load port, Ningbo in China, the ANE MAERSK travelled a total of around 15,800 nautical miles to her last European port call at Le Havre in France. Overall, it took the ship a little over 62 days to make this trip. Like most Asia – Europe container loops the voyage had to divert from the Suez Canal to the longer route via the Cape of Good hope. The ANE ..read more

During the 14th week, the MABUX global bunker indices showed a moderate upward trajectory. The 380 HSFO index climbed 6.91 USD, moving from 546.18 USD/MT to 553.09 USD/MT. The VLSFO index rose by 8.49 USD (696.13 USD/MT versus 687.64 USD/MT last week), inching closer to the 700 USD threshold. The MGO index increased by 10.14 USD (from 891.25 USD/MT last week to 901.39 USD/MT), surpassing the 900 USD mark. At the time of writing, the upward trend in the global bunker market continued. MABUX Global Scrubber Spread (SS) – the price difference between 380 HSFO and VLSFO – showed a moderate increa ..read more

Container carrier stock prices, boosted since December by the crisis in the Red Sea and the potential for more ton-mile demand, have corrected more rapidly than freight rates and most lines are now trading below pre-conflict levels. At the start of this week, only one surveyed line, Evergreen Marine, was trading at a premium to its price before the Red Sea crisis. Instead, poor financial earnings have replaced capacity re-routing as the main driver of stock prices with the release of generally weak Q4 earnings accelerating a downward trend that had already started in February. Medium-tier carr ..read more

Over the 13th week, the MABUX global bunker prices generally indicated a moderate decline. HSFO index saw a marginal increase of 0.9 USD, rising from 546.81 USD/MT to 547.71 USD/MT. Conversely, the VLSFO index decreased by 1.78 USD, settling at 689.92 USD/MT compared to 691.70 USD/MT the previous week, remaining below the 700 USD threshold. The MGO index experienced a more pronounced decline of 13.65 USD, dropping from 909.35 USD/MT to 895.70 USD/MT, breaching the 900 USD mark. As of the report’s writing, this downward trend in the global bunker market persisted. MABUX Global Scrubber Spread ..read more

Average operating margins for the 9 leading container carriers (in terms of reporting EBIT) fell below 0 to an estimated -3% in Q4 ’23 the first negative result for the industry in 5 years. It follows extensive red ink in the last 3 months of the year, with 6 out of 9 carriers reporting operating losses in the period. Among the winners in Q4, Evergreen was a frontrunner, logging a 7% margin, becoming one of only 3 carriers to remain in the black in Q4. South Korea’s HMM also narrowly avoided a loss, reporting slim container operating profits of $9m and a margin of 0.7%. China’s COSCO Group wil ..read more