Evidence of carrier rate cutting means that they missed out on the benefits of stronger than expected demand growth.

It has been a strange year in the Asia-North Europe container trade. Westbound demand has far exceeded expectations, which has helped to counteract the influx of big new ships and maintained load factors at roughly the same levels as last year, in the mid-80% range. Yet, spot market freight rates have not recovered from a first quarter slump and are currently tracking at their lowest point of the year. 

Starting with the positive, headhaul demand after eight months was up by 5.9%, according to data from CTS. The year-to-date performance is a significant improvement over the measly 2.9% annual growth registered in 2018. The trade appears to be benefitting from trade diversion related to the US-China trade war, with Chinese exporters looking to Europe to fill the shortfall of US traffic.