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Dear Clients, Overall Market conditions ex North and Southeast Asia into all Australian ports remains mixed. From NEA bookings through August and into September appeared stable with some carriers advising vessel were "almost full". From SEA we are seeing congestion at the main transhipment ports and space starting to tighten because of this congestion and an increase in bookings. Globally though, market conditions are underwhelming by carriers' views. This has helped somewhat with keeping a cap on price increases and not seeing rates run away like we did in 2024. GRI announcements Rates have softened a little from NEA to AU in September dispute historical trends show rates increasing this time of year in the lead up to the Chinese Golden Week holiday (1st-8th Oct). Blank Sailings Shipping lines are continuing their blank sailing programme whilst trying to push through GRI's. This is expected to be aided during the back end of Sept by the anticipated rush of bookings prior to the Golden Week holiday in China as we have previously advised. MUA signs EA's with Victoria International Container Terminal & Hutchinson Ports The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has signed 4-year Enterprise Agreements with both VICT terminals in Melbourne and Hutchinson Ports (Sydney & Brisbane). This should secure operations for both stevedores continue until mid-2029 with minimal Union disruption. (hopefully). Timely reminder to think about Marine Insurance We have seen 2 instances over the last few months (none directly involving the AU trade thankfully) of damage to vessels. In August 2025, cargo onboard the MARIE MAERSK caught fire resulting in significant damage to the vessel and containers. Maersk shipping line has now declared a "GENERAL AVAERGE" in relation to the incident. Why is this important? This means that shippers with cargo onboard will share in the costs associated with saving the vessel and salvage operations, even if your cargo is NOT damaged. All cargo owners will have to foot a security fee (deposit) before they can have access to their cargo. If cargo owners have a marine insurance policy, usually they would have coverage for General Average and claims can be handled by your insurance underwriter. If you don't, cargo owners would be footing the bill personally and it's likely to run into the 10's of thousands of dollars. The second incident happened WED 10th SEPT where more than 60 containers fell overboard whilst the vessel MISSISSIPI was at berth in the Port of Long Beach. Currently it's unclear what caused the container stacks to collapse and extent of damage to the ship, the remaining containers on board and the very wet cargo floating in the port. All reports are that the port returned to operation the same day, but the berth where the Mississippi is docked, remains closed. Top 30 Global Port Throughput in H1 2025 Half year stats have been released by Alphaliner for global container throughput. As you will see, Australia doesn't crack a mention in the top 30 and to put into context, MELBOURNE (which is Australia largest container port by volume) moved 3.396million import TEU in 2024 compared to number 30 on the list at 6.710 million TEU 
Should you wish to discuss any of these points, please don't hesitate to reach out to your key contact @ Transways Logistics International. |
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