Latest news with #Freightos
Yahoo
a day ago
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New week sees ocean container rates soar
The pause in the tariff fight that amounted to a trade embargo between China and the United States has seen a marked increase in container shipping rates, particularly on trans-Pacific routes. The Freightos Baltic Index this past week saw Asia-U.S. West Coast rates fall 1% to $2,767 per forty-foot equivalent unit. While Asia-U.S. East Coast prices declined 6% to $3,979 per FEU, container rates on the Asia to North America route have again soared amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing. This surge can be attributed to the looming deadline for a trade agreement, set for Aug. 14, and the potential for increased tariffs if negotiations falter. The anticipation of heightened tariffs has led to a rush among shippers to import goods before the deadline, consequently driving up rates sharply this week. General rate increases and peak season surcharges by carriers that went into effect June 1 saw prices to the West Coast spike by 72% to $4,765 per FEU, while East Coast prices climbed by 44%, reaching $5,721 per steep rise highlights the urgency among shippers to expedite deliveries, opting for shorter transit times amid uncertainty, said Freightos research chief Judah Levine, in a note. This urgency is further compounded by the strategic scheduling of additional capacity by carriers to the West Coast, aiming to accommodate the increased demand. Indeed, carriers have scheduled record capacity levels, extending through July, to cater to the augmented demand on this route. SONAR data for June 1-4 correlated the increases, as spot rates from Yantian to Los Angeles rose from $5,610 to $6,000 per FEU, while prices from Ningbo to LA moved from $5,151 to $5,431. Moreover, the swelling demand for trans-Pacific capacity has induced congestion at major Asian ports, including in China and Singapore. This congestion presents a bottleneck, testing the resiliency of supply chains. However, officials at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have assured stakeholders that they are equipped to manage the increased cargo volumes without significant delays. On the Asia-Europe route, a similar trend in rising rates is observed, albeit driven by different for containers destined for Northern Europe have increased by $300, to $2,650 per FEU, while those bound for the Mediterranean saw a rise of about $600, reaching $3,575 per FEU. The fluctuations here are partially due to some carriers rerouting vessels to meet the heightened trans-Pacific demand, said Levine. That has inadvertently reduced capacity on the Asia-Europe routes. This shift has exerted upward pressure on prices, exacerbated by congestion at European ports. Despite the clear upward trajectory, market skepticism remains as to whether these increased rates are sustainable, given the relatively flat overall demand on these routes. Even so, the rates hold firm at double their 2019 levels, buoyed by constraints such as capacity limitations from Red Sea route diversions. Missile attacks on Israel by Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to make the Suez Canal route too unstable for most major container carriers. CMA CGM of France is the exception and recently announced additional scheduled services in the region. The American battle group led by the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman recently exited the Red Sea after an intense month of bombing campaigns against Houthi targets. Find more articles by Stuart Chirls ports will hurt jobs, US maritime revival: AAPA Texas port completes $625M ship channel deepening project'Fear and uncertainty' driving up China-US container rates The post New week sees ocean container rates soar appeared first on FreightWaves.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
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Trans-Pacific Ocean Freight Rates Continue Their Ascent on More Front-Loading
Trans-Pacific ocean spot freight rates have kept their foot on the gas in the wake of a rush of imports from China into the U.S. as trade and tariff uncertainty pervades between the countries. On Friday, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) calculated a surge of nearly 31 percent from the week prior out of the Chinese city across all markets, with West Coast-bound spot rates skyrocketing 58 percent to $6,243 per 40-foot equivalent unit (FEU). Rates soared 46 percent to $5,172 per container headed to the East Coast. More from Sourcing Journal How Should Brands Think About Cross-Border E-Commerce Amidst Uncertainty? As CMA CGM Flirts with Red Sea Comeback, Will Others Follow Suit? Can Tech Plug the Gaps Between Immigration Policies and Reshoring Aspirations? The weekly 30.6 level gain to 2,072.71 points represents the second-largest individual gain tracked by the index, following the final week of December 2023 as ocean carriers began avoiding the Red Sea en masse. Abercrombie & Fitch is one apparel retailer that has already baked in higher freight costs for their second quarter, chief financial officer Robert Ball said in a Wednesday earnings call. All the major indices that monitor ocean freight rates have indicated significant jumps to close out May, with the SCFI showing the highest increases. According to Drewry's World Container Index (WCI) posted Thursday, freight rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles leapt 17 percent to $3,738 per FEU in the past week and 38 percent since May 8. Spot rates to New York have risen 14 percent in the past week to $5,172 per container, and have accelerated 42 percent in the past three weeks. These numbers buoyed the overall WCI to 10 percent growth to $2,508 per container, marking the first double-digit rise in the composite index since last July. For Freightos, Asia-to-U.S. West Coast prices increased 13 percent to $2,788 per FEU, according to data revealed on Wednesday. The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) bucked the trend of the other benchmarks, with Asia-to-U.S. East Coast prices seeing a bigger jump than their West Coast counterpart. Spot freight rates per container increased 20 percent to $4,223. 'Surging demand and these restrictions on capacity from out of place vessels and port congestion [at Chinese ports] are putting significant upward pressure on container rates,' said Judah Levine, head of research at Freightos, in Wednesday's weekly update. 'Rates are at their highest level since late February, and GRIs announced through mid-June could push prices up thousands of dollars more if demand stays elevated and congestion remains an issue.' Ongoing front-loading of imports will lead to big increases in spot rates on June 1, according to data from Xeneta. 'Average spot rates will rise at least 18 percent from the Far East to U.S. West Coast and 14 percent into the U.S. East Coast,' said Emily Stausbøll, senior shipping analyst at Xeneta. 'Data is being received from shippers paying far higher rates than this, so the market has the potential to increase even more dramatically in early June.' While a June spike could be in order, the combination of importers' front-loading and ocean carriers moving more shipping capacity to the trans-Pacific trade lane could be what slows rates down in the second half of 2025. Drewry's Container Forecaster expects the supply-demand balance to weaken again in the latter six months, which would cause spot rates to decline again for the back half. But the volatility and timing of rate changes will depend on the outcome of the ongoing legal challenges to President Donald Trump's tariffs and on possible capacity changes related to the introduction of the U.S. port docking fees on Chinese ships, which are uncertain. Xeneta's Stausbøll projects a longer-term decline in the third quarter as well, particularly when the expected period of front-loading ends. 'While tariffs are lower, they are still higher than they were previously, so there is every likelihood this will subdue consumer demand,' Stausbøll said in a May 21 blog post. 'Once shippers have built up inventories, they will not continue to front-load imports. Demand will therefore ease and carriers will once again be struggling to fill their ships. This means the traditional Q3 peak season will arrive earlier in 2025, but it should not take too long for spot rates to soften and continue the downward trend seen during Q1.' Currently, the base tariff rate on the majority of Chinese products is 30 percent after the U.S. and China entered into a 90-day tariff rollback. The agreement lowered the tariff rate from 145 percent for U.S. importers until Aug. 14. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
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China Airlines Launches Digital Booking on WebCargo by Freightos®, Digitalizing Key Global Trade Lanes
Integration brings instant digital pricing and booking to one of the world's largest cargo carriers on critical Asia-Europe-Americas routes, at a time when these routes are grappling with uncertainty SINGAPORE and BARCELONA, Spain, May 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Freightos (NASDAQ: CRGO), the leading digital freight booking and payment platform for the international freight industry, today announced that China Airlines (CAL, a top-15 air cargo carrier, will be launching on Freightos' WebCargo and 7LFreight platforms. Starting next week, thousands of freight forwarders will have instant access to China Airlines' rates, capacity, and eBookings across a network of 85 aircraft serving 192 destinations in 29 countries. Forwarders can now digitally search, quote and book shipments with China Airlines — directly through WebCargo's booking platform, with live integration to the leading rate management and quoting platform. Freight forwarders can even book directly from their transportation management systems (TMS) where these are integrated with WebCargo. "We're excited to bring China Airlines, a major player in Asia-Pacific air trade, to Freightos' leading air cargo booking platform, including both WebCargo and 7LFreight," said Zvi Schreiber, CEO of Freightos. "Our customers–airlines, freight forwarders and shippers–are currently grappling with fast-changing tariff uncertainties. The ability to instantly and transparently book air cargo is an important tool for maintaining agility during this time and to keep world trade flowing." The initial rollout will span major hubs across the United States, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Japan, along with 14 destinations throughout Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia including Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. In future phases, WebCargo Pay instant payment will be available for China Airlines bookings, enabling forwarders to manage bookings and payments in one streamlined workflow. This integration will include general cargo, express rates, ULD bookings and contract rates. "Digital transformation is a key pillar of China Airlines' strategy to better serve our forwarder partners through real-time access to our capacity and rates," said Eddy Liu, Senior Vice President, China Airlines. "By joining Freightos' digital platform, we're meeting our customers where they are, as part of our commitment to simplify air cargo and exceed customer expectations in a digital-first world." Forwarders using WebCargo can access China Airlines' offerings here or learn more about rate management, quoting and digital sales solutions here. About Freightos Freightos® (NASDAQ: CRGO) is the leading vendor-neutral global freight booking platform. Airlines, ocean carriers, thousands of freight forwarders, and well over ten thousand importers and exporters connect on Freightos, making world trade faster, more efficient and more resilient. The Freightos platform digitizes the trillion dollar international freight industry, supported by a suite of software solutions that span pricing, quoting, booking, shipment management, and payments for global businesses of all shapes and sizes. Products include Freightos Enterprise for multinational importers and exporters, Freightos Marketplace for small importers, WebCargo and 7LFreight by WebCargo for forwarders, WebCargo for Airlines, and Clearit, a digital customs brokerage. Freightos is also a leading provider of real-time industry data via Freightos Terminal, which includes the world's leading spot pricing indexes, Freightos Air Index (FAX) for air cargo and Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) for container shipping. More information is available at Photo: Media Contact Tali Aronsky PR Lead, Investor Contact Anat Earon-Heilbornir@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Freightos Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NRF VP: Retailers ‘Need Clarity' on New China Tariff Deadline
Although the Trump administration's 90-day rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports has given retailers some breathing room to bring more product into the U.S., retailers remain largely in the dark over how to react once the Aug. 14 deadline looms. Due to the tariff truce, duties on most goods from China are now at 30 percent, well below the 145 percent total the tariffs escalated to ahead of the détente. More from Sourcing Journal US Ports Warn of $6.7B Bill if 100% Tariff on China-Made Cranes Kicks in Walmart Says It Will Increase Prices on Some Goods Because of Tariffs Hapag-Lloyd: China-to-US Volumes Surge 50% Since Tariff Rollback 'We still need clarity from the administration on what happens post-Aug. 14,' said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation (NRF). 'I don't think they've figured it out yet, to be honest.' In a webinar hosted by freight booking platform Freightos Monday morning, Gold noted that the question remains whether the tariffs will increase again to 145 percent if a deal is not made—which he believes is not likely. But he didn't rule out the possibility of an 80 percent or 100 percent tariff based on President Donald Trump's prior communications on Truth Social, as well as numbers initially touted during his election campaign. The China deadline isn't the only one on U.S. retailers' minds, with the original 90-day pause of country-specific reciprocal tariffs ending on July 9. 'Right now, you're going to see more front-loading as folks are trying to rush between those two different expiration dates. The front-loading we've seen to date does not include the holiday merchandise for later in the year, because the order is typically placed now or last month, and that doesn't start coming in until late summer,' Gold said. Gold predicts a 'ramp up' in the next few months by retailers looking to get holiday merchandise into the U.S., further pulling forward the traditional August-to-October peak shipping season. 'A lot of retailers are going to try and beat that Aug. 14 date from China not knowing what's going to happen,' Gold said. 'Retailers don't want to get caught with product, and then the tariff goes back up to 80 or 100 percent, or higher.' During the webinar, Gold observed the similarities within the current environment on the trans-Pacific trade lane as that of during the Covid-19 pandemic. The decline in capacity due to blank sailings and vessel swaps from when carriers adapted lower demand had already begun to reverse once the 90-day rollback was initiated. 'You're already starting to see the peak season surcharges starting to come into effect and see increases in freight rates,' said Gold. 'It's great that we got the tariff rate down, but now you're seeing an increase in shipping costs. Again, retailers are going to pay one way or the other, and those costs are going to get passed along, unfortunately.' Judah Levine, head of research at Freightos, noted his company has seen demand already 'pick up sharply,' which could make it more difficult for businesses to secure ocean freight space in the short term. Exacerbating that concern, fewer empty containers than usual are headed to China from the U.S. due to the previous falloff in trans-Pacific volumes. 'Those volumes are rebounding alongside vessels and equipment that are now out of place and are being shifted back into place, but will take some time,' said Levine. 'The quick restart could also mean a big bump in the number of vessels and container volumes that are going to arrive at U.S. ports in a few weeks. So taken together, shippers could face some difficulty securing space and some congestion and delays the next few weeks, mostly with origins in East Asia and the U.S.' Congestion and equipment shortages would likely subside as vessels and equipment moved back into place, making them less of a long-term concern than the future of the tariffs. While one of the major purported long-term goals of the tariffs was to incentivize reshoring or nearshoring, much of that has yet to take hold, Gold said there hasn't any clear trend that new U.S. manufacturing activity has been spurred on. 'You've seen a lot of announcements from a number of companies about making investments here in the United States, but that's going to take time before those investments actually take effect,' Gold said. 'It's limited, and all the uncertainty over the tariffs makes it very difficult for folks to make those decisions when tariffs can change at a moment's notice.' Gold noted that a manufacturing renaissance would still rely on imported inputs and components, which themselves are subject to tariffs. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Freightos Ltd (CRGO) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Record Transactions and Strategic ...
Release Date: May 20, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Freightos Ltd (NASDAQ:CRGO) reported record revenues and a 21st consecutive quarter of record transactions. The company facilitated over 370,000 transactions in Q1, marking a 25% increase from the previous year. Freightos Ltd (NASDAQ:CRGO) added 4 new carriers to its platform, increasing the total to 71 carriers. The launch of the Freightos Enterprise software as a service solution creates new sales and cross-sell opportunities. The company achieved a gross margin improvement to 66.8% on an IFRS basis, up from 62.6% the previous year. Freightos Ltd (NASDAQ:CRGO) is sensitive to fluctuations in trade volumes, which can impact platform transactions. The company experienced a dip in China-US transactions due to high tariffs, although this lane represents less than 2% of total transactions. Economic uncertainty or downturns can be a headwind for closing solutions revenue. The potential reopening of the Red Sea could lead to a drop in ocean freight rates, affecting revenue. Freightos Ltd (NASDAQ:CRGO) remains cautious about further M&A activities due to a focus on preserving cash for profitability goals. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 2 Warning Signs with CRGO. Q: What factors could potentially affect Freightos Ltd's ability to meet its targets for the year? A: Tsvi Schreiber, CEO, explained that the platform segment is sensitive to trade volume fluctuations, which can cause short-term headwinds. However, the long-term growth potential remains significant. The solutions segment is sensitive to macroeconomic conditions, and economic uncertainty can impact the ability to close large enterprise deals. Recent trade policy changes have caused some hesitancy among enterprise customers, but the situation has stabilized for now. Q: How does the diversification of supply chains impact Freightos Ltd? A: Tsvi Schreiber, CEO, noted that supply chain diversification can be a tailwind for Freightos. The company benefits from market volatility as it provides valuable tools and data for navigating changes. The ongoing disruptions in global trade, such as the Suez Canal closure, create opportunities for Freightos to offer alternatives and solutions. Q: What is the expected impact of the new trucking partnership in the US on Freightos Ltd's revenue? A: Tsvi Schreiber, CEO, stated that the new partnership will enable Freightos to offer comprehensive door-to-door services, integrating air and ground transportation. While the immediate impact may be limited, it is expected to build over time, attracting more customers and increasing platform stickiness and competitive advantage. Q: Why does the guidance imply potential acceleration in transaction growth, while the GBV outlook appears more conservative? A: Tsvi Schreiber, CEO, explained that the company is cautious about GBV due to potential price drops in the market, especially if the Red Sea reopens. While transaction growth is expected to continue, GBV could be affected by tariff-related slowdowns and changes in air freight rates. The revenue impact is limited as much of the transactional revenue is based on flat fees. Q: What constitutes the economic moat for Freightos Ltd, and can competitors replicate its business model? A: Tsvi Schreiber, CEO, emphasized that the primary moat for Freightos is its network effects, with a strong network of buyers and sellers. While there is some competition, Freightos's comprehensive platform offering air, ocean, and trucking services, along with its extensive network, creates a significant competitive advantage. The platform's comprehensiveness and liquidity make it difficult for new entrants to replicate. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
