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The Daily
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Container rates rise as Red Sea return threatens 2027 oversupply
Container lines are raising rates even as a gradual return to the Red Sea and Suez route releases capacity into a softening market, according to Stuart Chirls’ reporting. Freightos Baltic Index data show Asia-North Europe rates rose 6% last week to $3,442 per FEU and Asia-Mediterranean rates rose 3% to $3,927 per FEU. Trans-Pacific rates were largely unchanged but stayed elevated, with Asia-U.S. West Coast at $8,126 per FEU and the East Coast up 1% to $9,700.
Trans-Atlantic spot rates rose about $200 per FEU since the end of September to about $2,850. The article ties those gains in part to elevated bunker costs and says carriers have struggled to implement the full increases they sought. The increases follow recent general rate increases tied to 2027 long-term contract negotiations.
Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd’s Gemini Cooperation expect to return nearly all services to Suez routings in the first quarter of 2027, provided conditions do not change, according to Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen’s recent comments. The partners plan a new Asia-Mediterranean service through Suez in November, with its first sailing leaving Shanghai on Nov. 22. Liner analyst Lars Jensen estimated Suez routing had recovered to roughly 30% to 35% of normal.
The article says shorter voyages would increase effective fleet capacity and raise the risk of excess supply in 2027 if demand fails to keep pace, and some forwarders remain skeptical that the gains will hold. Security is the swing factor: the article reports that Iranian forces sank a Dubai-linked container vessel this past week and that Houthi-Saudi violence is raising concern about the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Benchmark diesel price up as market takes a short breather
The DOE/EIA weekly benchmark diesel price, used for most fuel surcharges, rose 9.7 cents to $6.276 a gallon, effective Monday, according to John Kingston’s reporting. That is about 25 cents below the all-time high of $6.529 set Sept. 22, and the increase follows three weeks of declines. ULSD futures on CME jumped more than 21 cents Oct. 13 and settled at $4.9344 after the market concluded that short-term steps such as the Trump administration’s diesel deal with Russia would have limited impact. Mid-morning Tuesday, ULSD was at $4.9457, with oil falling on unconfirmed reports that Qatar and Pakistan had proposed restarting talks to end the Iran war.
The Brent-ULSD crack spread has mostly held between 83 and 88 cents a gallon for about a month, which Kingston describes as stabilizing even though diesel remains stronger than historic differentials. Phillips 66 locked out Teamsters at its Bayway refinery Monday, but the article says operations are said to be continuing normally and prices should not be affected.
Ammonia-powered dry bulk ship completes sea trials
CMB.Tech’s Mineral Europa, which the Belgian shipowner describes as the world’s first ammonia-powered dry bulk carrier, has completed sea trials, according to Stuart Chirls’ reporting. The 210,000-deadweight-ton Newcastlemax, built at China’s Qingdao Beihai Shipyard, will operate under charter to Australian miner Fortescue and can run on ammonia or conventional marine fuel. After trials it took on 1,000 metric tons of green ammonia in a ship-to-ship bunkering at Zhoushan, China, and departed for Australia on Oct. 14. CMB.Tech plans deliveries of 21 ammonia-powered ships through 2029, and Chief Executive Alexander Saverys said many more like it will follow in the months and years ahead.
The business case for ammonia is decarbonization, not cheaper fuel. DNV puts newbuild premiums at 15% to 20% and European green ammonia at roughly five times the price of diesel on an energy basis, with fuel cost the biggest barrier.
Highway pitches shared standards as freight fraud shifts
Cargo thieves now work the gap between brokers and carriers by impersonating carriers, intercepting load data and redirecting shipments, according to Thomas Wasson’s reporting. Highway Chief Commercial Officer Michael Caney says no single vendor can close those gaps and calls current fraud "a direct attack on process." Caney says Highway pays $100,000 if a broker follows its recommendations and the load is stolen anyway, and that it has covered a million loads under the guarantee and lost one. Highway Certified Insurance Agencies launched June 1 with 10 founding agencies that commit to accurate certificates of insurance, VIN-level coverage detail and timely notice of policy changes.
Caney says more parties now touch each load, from insurers and factoring companies to telematics providers, and none is accountable when a theft occurs. He adds that the Supreme Court’s Montgomery ruling in May, which lets brokers face state negligent-hiring claims over the carriers they select, raises the stakes.
Federal prosecutors charge man in Bluetooth CDL exam cheating scheme
Federal prosecutors charged Rudy Romero Nolasco, 42, of Massachusetts, with unlawfully producing an identification document, according to Phil Brink’s reporting. Investigators accuse him of receiving answers through a concealed Bluetooth earpiece while taking commercial driving exams in November and December 2021. The case grew out of an undercover Homeland Security Investigations operation in which Frank Castro offered an agent a commercial learner’s permit for $3,000. Castro was convicted in January and sentenced May 1 to time served, about 23 months in custody. The charge carries up to 15 years in prison, and Nolasco is presumed innocent.
Investigators have not established how many other applicants took part in Castro’s operation. Court records do not show whether Nolasco obtained a full commercial driver’s license or whether other participants drove commercial trucks.
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| Time | Guest | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 12pm | Phillip Brink | Head of Fraud Media and Education at FreightWaves |
| 12pm | Brennan Bailey | Chief Product Officer at Highway |
| 12:20pm | Michael Cervenka | Chief Commercial & Technology Officer at Vertical Aerospace |
| 12:45pm | Bill Stephens | Editor of Trains Magazine |
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Diesel Prices: Up, Down, or Stuck?FreightWaves looks at where diesel prices are headed. |
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Whether container rate gains holdHapag-Lloyd says the Gemini partners expect nearly all services back on Suez routings in the first quarter of 2027, provided conditions do not change. Watch the new Asia-Mediterranean service, whose first sailing leaves Shanghai Nov. 22. |
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Diesel’s next moveThe DOE benchmark rose 9.7 cents to $6.276 a gallon after three weeks of declines. Watch ULSD futures and the Brent-ULSD crack spread for the next direction. |
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Mineral Europa’s maiden voyageThe ammonia-powered carrier left for Australia Oct. 14 under charter to Fortescue. Watch for delivery timing on CMB.Tech’s 21 ammonia-powered ships. |
