Market Situation – Compass – January '26

Market/Trade Information

Asia

• In Northeast Asia, ocean freight demand remains soft at the start of 2026. The post- holiday slowdown, combined with high inventories in the United States and Europe, is putting downward pressure on demand. Typically, ahead of the Chinese Newyear, volumes are rushed and freight rates follow an upward trend; however, this increase is most likely temporary. In other regions, rates remain relatively high, mainly due to local congestion (e.g., at Port Klang)

  • Shanghai, the world’s busiest container port, has reported its containers throughput for the full year 2025. This marked a consecutive record year for the Port of Shanghai, with volumes exceeding 55 MTEU, representing growth of 6.9%. Singapore, ranked second globally, also reported record volumes, reaching 44.7 MTEU, which represented an even higher growth rate of 8.6%.

Europe/ Mediterranean / Black Sea

• Bad weather conditions, mainly in Southwest and Western Europe, have caused multiple delays across numerous seaports and inland ports. A winter weather spike in Northern Europe has further disrupted port operations, resulting in numerous ocean vessel diversions. When a vessel needs to deviate, carriers typically fall back on the bill of lading clauses stating that all additional costs for on-carriage or connecting transport are for the account of the cargo owner.

• More recently, ports in the Mediterranean and North Africa have been impacted by

  severe storm winds, bringing port operations to a complete standstill. In some cases, vessels were required to seek shelter for safety reasons.

North and Central America

• On the Trans-Atlantic trade, the Ocean Alliance (CMA CGM, COSCO, OOCL and EMC) has decided to merge two services into a single service. This decision will also impact the service offering of ONE, which has a VSA agreement on these routes. As a result, Baltimore will no longer be served directly by these carriers.

• Hapag-Lloyd’s port and infrastructure company, Hanseatic Global Terminals, will

  become the sole owner of FIT (Florida International Terminal). FIT operates the

  Southport terminal at Port Everglades in Florida.

• The U.S. East Coast was hit hard by heavy snowfall at the end of January, forcing ports to fully close and causing disruptions to landside operations and vessel schedules. The main ports affected are in the New York area, as well as in Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and Norfolk. Inland terminals in the northern United States are experiencing disruptions because of these weather conditions.

• Cargo moving from Mexico into the U.S. may face new tariff risks following a White

  House executive order that established a mechanism to impose additional duties on import from countries supplying oil to Cuba.

Latin America

• Latam demand remains weak from Asia due to full inventories and limited buying

  activity. Rates are declining and it is expected that after the Chinese New Year, carriers will implement blank sailings to mitigate the rate drops.

• CMA CGM has berthed its first vessel at its newly constructed offshore container

  terminal at Puerto Antioquia in Colombia.

• Cosco Shipping Specialized Carriers, the group’s multipurpose division, has launched a direct service to South America, targeting the growing Chinese exports of EVs and components to the region. One of the strategic hubs for this service will be the new Chancay Port in Peru.

   

Red Sea and Gulf area

• Maersk is reported to be waiving its ‘transit disruption surcharge’ on vessels traversing the Red Sea on its India–U.S. East Coast service, two years after introducing the emergency measure. The move appears to mark a shift in the pricing of routes involving the Suez Canal and Red Sea passage. Maersk says it will take a "stepwise approach" to Red Sea passage dependent on security in the area. Xeneta estimates it could take 3 to 5 months for Suez routings to be broadly reinstated. Carriers are expected to resume operations gradually to avoid port congestion and to prevent a sudden surge in capacity.

Africa

• The African continent remains an attractive destination for carriers, as volumes on multiple trades to Africa continue to show strong growth. Maersk and CMA are reorganizing their joint Far East-West Africa coverage after the trade grew more than 30% last year. MSC had already decided last year to significantly upgrade its Far East- West Africa capacity with a fleet of ULCs on the trade. Despite the growing volumes, the SCFI reported a 27.4% year-on-year decline in rates.

General information

• The acquisition of Hutchison Ports had become uncertain. MSC’s TiL and Blackrock wanted to acquire CK Hutchison; however, China’s COSCO demanded a majority stake in a joint acquisition. Chinese authorities have indicated this as a key condition for approving a deal.

• The first financial reports of all shipping lines show a challenging year ahead. Most container carriers have released their first financial results, showing a common trend of approximately 50% lower income. Maersk has already announced it will cut 1.000 jobs to reduce costs, after reporting its first negative quarterly net result in two years in Q4 2025. HMM is offering early retirement options for employees aged 50 and above. CMA CGM has established a joint venture with the U.S.-based Stonepeak, allowing CMA to receive $2.4 billion from Stonepeak for a 25% stake in the new joint venture, ‘United Ports LLC’. More rationalizations and actions by carriers to address weak market forecasts are expected.

• MSC has strengthened its position as the world largest container carrier, achieving an above average market fleet growth of 11.7%. Fleet growth at Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and ONE was below average. ZIM was the only major carrier to reduce capacity in 2025 and lost its #9 size ranking to Yang Ming.

• Hapag-Lloyd recently acquired 100% of ZIM’s shares. The intention is to maintain shipping routes. With a fleet of 16 vessels, New Zim will directly connect Israel with major global ports in the EU, US, Mediterranean, and Black Sea. Hapag-Lloyd will take over ZIM’s international operations, including shipping routes between East Asia and the Americas, between Asian ports.