The approaching Lunar New Year brings continued blank sailings, according to the latest analysis from Flexport, and and efforts to keep inflation in check go transatlantic.

The freight forwarder said Transpacific Eastbound (TPEB) rates to the U.S. East Coast (USEC) continue to see softening while rates to the U.S. West Coast (USWC) show signs of leveling off.

"The ocean carriers will plan more blank sailings for Q1 2023, most to take place one to two weeks prior to Lunar New Year. The goal is to curb both excess capacity and continue to improve schedule reliability by easing port/terminal congestion," Flexport said.

Between Asia-North America, in general, the report noted that improvement on vessel count as well as improvements to the berthing delays (20 days).

"Low TPEB demand has played a role in clearing port and rail congestion," it added.

For Asia-Europe, the freight forwarder said there has been a positive increase in demand and booking intake.

"This combined with a higher number of blank sailings in the coming period will result in tighter space in the lead-up to pre-Lunar New Year," it added, also noting that rates are still under pressure but not decreasing as dramatically due to a more balanced supply and demand situation.

"Space has constricted as a result of an increased number of blank sailings and improved demand," Flexport further said.

For North America to Asia, the freight forwarder said capacity, congestion, and equipment have all improved amid a continued drop in market demand, but rates have not fluctuated much.

"All services to APAC have low capacity utilization levels with no space constraints," it added, noting that congestion has been cleared out across most North American container yards with improved operations as a result of less demand.

"Congestion does persist in limited pockets around the Gulf and South East Coast," Flexport said.

In terms of rates, it added that the floating market rates are "not fluctuating anywhere near as rapidly on the outbound trades as much as the inbound trades."

"Rates are trending slightly downwards MoM and QoQ on certain lanes from coastal ports (USEC, USWC) to Asia base ports in China, Japan, Taiwan, S. Korea. Other lanes are displaying stability in rate levels," Flexport said.

It added that space is "open and manageable" with Cargo Read Date (CRD) to Estimated Time of Departure (ETD) lead times improving from Q3 to Q4 significantly from 3-4 weeks to 2 weeks across most lanes.

Meanwhile, regarding air freight, Flexport said for North China — which includes Shanghai — TPEB demand in the market is on the rise, and that trend is expected to continue through the Christmas holiday.

The freight forwarder added that tates have also increased compared to the week prior. Far East Westbound (FEWB) demand and rates remain stable.

For South China — Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Hong Kong — Flexport said the market is picking up and space is starting to become congested.

"Both TPEB and FEWB rate levels have increased in response to the higher demand. Due to heavy snowstorms in Alaska, some freighter capacity has been canceled," it added.

"The Chinese government recently announced an ease in Covid restrictions so cross-border traffic is expected to gradually resume," Flexport said.