29 Jan Asia–Europe Capacity Increased Ahead Of Lunar New Year
This month has seen shipping organisations add vessel capacity across Asia–North Europe routes as exporters work to transport goods prior The Lunar New Year closure which starts on 17th February and spans up to 3 weeks.
This demand has seen capacity reach unprecedented levels, with a record 1.15M TEUs scheduled for deployment along this trade route in January, while blank sailings have removed only about 25,000 TEUs. This capacity is expected to moderate in February, with planned deployment slowing down to just over 1M TEUs.
Rising spot freight rates are reinforcing the strength of pre–Lunar New Year demand with major indexes showing steep increases since early October and the Asia–North Europe spot rates now exceeding $2,700 per FEU; more than double early October levels. In addition, container volumes on this trade route were up nearly 8% over the first 10 months of 2025, mostly attributable to the ever-evolving US tariff policies that saw Chinese exporters pivot towards European markets.
Whilst this strong demand is reflective of the pre-Lunar shipping period, there is industry speculation that it may also be due to frontloading being done in response to the wider uncertainty currently reverberating throughout global trade.
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